Strange Panasonic 12-35mm Shakiness (w/14-140mm comparison), GH3 on tripod, image stabilization is off, manual mode, shown @200% from John Bklyn.NYC on Vimeo.

CameraLabs (Click here) just posted the full Panasonic 7-14mm lens review. The lens got a “Highly Recommended” mark by Gordon (the reviewer). So far s good but…there is also a not so good news for Panasonic. A DVXuser forum member sent me the link to his post where he explains an issue encountered on the 12-35mm X lens. Apparently the IS remains active even if you set it as “off”. And that’s a real issue for long exposure pics and causes a “shimmer” on the image. There is an example you can see here at http://vimeo.com/59358100 (video is also embedded on top).
The tester came to the conclusion that “this lens is not very suitable for tripod work or still photography with long exposures“.

UDPATE: A very detailed report of the issue is also available at Personal View Forum. There are more videos to watch like this one:

Panasonic 12-35mm Shakiness (Test #2 w/new lens) — unacceptable image jitter on tripod even when IOS is turned off from John Bklyn.NYC on Vimeo.

I hope Panasonic acknowledges it!

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Store price check links for the…
Panasonic 7-14mm lens at [shopcountry 14822] Panasonic 12-35mm lens at [shopcountry 31225]

The video on top shows a comparison between the newly announced [shoplink 35724 ebay]Jackar 34mm f/1.8[/shoplink]  lens and the [shoplink 14881 ebay]SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC[/shoplink]. Both are certainly not the best lenses for the MFT system but some of you might found them to be a good cheap alternative to other lenses.

The Jackar lens itself can be bought on [shoplink 35724 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] (found via Slidoo).

Image courtesy: Photozone.

Photozone (Click here) published the full Olympus 60mm macro review: “The question of the day is whether to prefer the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 ED macro over the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH OIS ? As far as the key aspects is concerned the Leica lens may be a tad sharper whereas the M.Zuiko has a slight edge on the bokeh side. The choice is yours. :-)”

More tests:
E-PM2 tests at Digitalcameraworld.
Bokeh comparison @ 20mm and 19mm at M43photo.
GH3 test at Optyczne (translation here).
E-M5 review at Microfourthirds.
E-PL5 + Cooke Kinic 25mm F1.5 at DC.watch (translation here). That lens costs around 300 dollars/Euro on [shoplink 36682 ebay]eBay (Click here to see auctions)[/shoplink].

More news:
Dpreview also shared the first imrpession about the XZ-10 (Click here to read the article).
As I told you yesterday, there is no day without a new GF or GX deal. Today you can buy the White GF5 with kit zoom for $349 at Amazon (Click here).

Let me catch up with some major new MFT reviews:

The video on top shows an EM-5 Battery Grip Review & Test by WhatDigitalCamera. And Thom Hogan posted his review of the E-M5 at SansMirror.com.

SLRlounge posted the first part of the “Big Panasonic GH3 Review”. Also Naturalexposures posted a new chapter about the GH3.

E-PL5 review at Digital-photography-school.

CameraLabs (Click here) tested the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens: “The Olympus 45mm f1.8 is arguably one of the best lenses for the Micro Four Thirds system, whether you’re using an Olympus or Panasonic body. This lens is so small and light you’ll hardly know you’re carrying it around, yet is capable of delivering industry-leading performance with pin-sharp details across the entire frame right into the extreme corners.”

Fotopolis (translation here) posted the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 review. The English version should be online soon on their partner site Lenstip.

This is the very first time you can see some image samples taken with the new Nokton 42,5mm f/0.95 lens. Here are the links to the three images. Please be aware that the photographer made the mistake to write 25mm instead of 42,5mm on the title. He will correct it soon :)
F/0.95: http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000145739/SortID=15702607/ImageID=1443875/
F/1.4: http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000145739/SortID=15702607/ImageID=1443878/
F/2.0: http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000145739/SortID=15702607/ImageID=1443881/

So…what do you think? Is it good enough for you?

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Still no info about the availability of the lens. Save this search on Slidoo to be notified when the lens will be available for preorder on eBay.

Thanks Nanoka for sharing the links!

PhotoNewsReviews posted this Panasonic 14-42mm II hands-on video at the CP+ booth in Japan. As you can see this lens is really the only “news” you find from Panasonic. It’s the biggest show of the year right in heart of the camera industry and I am still surprised to see the most Japanese companies didn’t unveil any major new camera or lens. Photokina was five months ago and no other big shows are coming this year (no Photokina, CES was in early January). You have an idea what’s going on?

By the way, if you find more videos of the show feel free to share! Thanks!

UPDATE -> More CP+ pics and reports:
Olympus 75-300mm hands-on at DSLRmagazine (translation here).
XZ-10 hands-on by DSLRmagazine (translation here).