Panasonic GH3: Behind the scenes from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

In my previous post about the new lens roadmap I may have been a bit harsh towards the Panasonic marketing guys :) I will make it good by saying that they had a great idea to involve famous photographers and filmmakers to present the GH3 (preorders here). There is a well made GH3 artist gallery at Panasonic.net (Click here). And on top of this post you can watch the Behind The Scene of the Genesis movie shot on the GH3. On Philip Bloom’s website (Click here) you can read Philip’s and Bruce Logan’s thoughts about the new camera. There is another video shot by Pampuri on vimeo. The Gh3 is really one of the best (if not the best) sub $2000 hybrid still and video camera ever made. The full detailed description page is available here. There are many info…like a description of the heat-dispersing design (take that overheating Sony NEX cameras!).

The GH3 should ship in November (at leats in Asia) and I am watching closely the Amazon Rankings (Click here) that soon will display how well the GH3 is being pre ordered. And here are the updated links to all newly announced Panasonic and Olympus stuff. Feel free to send me new links to other stores too! Thanks!

Special GH3 page at Amazon (Click here) and a full Olympus presentation page at Amazon (Click here).
GH3 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here) and in Europe at Wexphotographic UK.
35-100mm X lens at Amazon (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
E-PL5 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
E-PM2 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
XZ-2 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
60mm macro at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
12mm Black prime lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
15mm cap-lens at Adorama (Click here).

Video review of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

The first Micro Four Thirds camera to be announced before the Photokina show is the intriguing Black Magic Cine Camera (specs and preorders up at BHphoto). Philip Bloom posted this well made review I embedded on the post on top. The original article is available on his website: “The good news is with a M43 mount you can put on any lens with easily available adaptors for PL, M, Nikon, Canon. C mount (make sure they cover sensor). It’s a much more flexible camera lens wise and makes more sense than the EF version here.”

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Something else. Me and my friends form the other rumor websites are surprised about the new Sony RX1 popularity which at least according to Amazon ranking (Click here) is getting a lot of clicks and preorders. We are surprised because we didn’t believe people would spend that much for a fixed lens camera! We are talking about the reasons… but we didn’t came to a real conclusion. You have an idea?

Couldn’t agree more…enjoy the movie!

Lumix G X Vario 12-35 F2.8 Lens Test from Erik Naso on Vimeo.

Time to catch up with some reviews posted the last week:

Reviews:
Panasonic 14-42mm X pancake lens (Soundimagesplus).
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/2.8 Pancake Lens Review (ePhotozine).
Test du flash Olympus FL 600 R (partie 1 at Lepidi).
Olympus OM-D E-M5 vompared with Sony NEX-7, Fujifilm XPro1 and Canon Rebel T4i/650D at Ronmartblog.
Phil Rudin: “My review for the E-M5 and Nauticam NA-EM5 underwater housing is now available at Underwater Photography magazine, UWPMAG.com. This magazine has over 20,000 subscribers that are hard core U/W photo fans. The cover shot is also mine and was taken with the same system using the Panasonic 45 mm macro lens.”
E-PL1 Pictures from a ‘panigiri’ as promised (greekdiaries).

eBay Madness:
Olympus E-P3 Pen Digital Camera Black w/M.Zuiko 17mm f/2.8 45mm f/1.8ED VF-2 by [shoplink 33167 ebay]Adorama on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
The so called “french” Noctilux. The Cetor 35mm f1,3 on [shoplink 33168 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Next cheater price. Nokton 17.5mm for OVER $6K on [shoplink 33169 ebay]eBay Suisse (Click here)[/shoplink].
Olympus E-M5 for $939 by [shoplink 33190 ebay]CameraLand (Click here)[/shoplink] Very Rare Dallmeyer Super-Six Anastigmat 1.9/2 1/2″ 63.5mm (63mm) in C-Mount on [shoplink 33191 ebay]eBay Austria (Click here)[/shoplink].
Most expensive pancake is the Boyer Paris Saphir 1.9/75 Alvar #585907 [shoplink 33192 ebay]eBay Slovakia (Click here)[/shoplink].
Fastest tele lens is the Hasselblad 1:1,3/250mm Zoomatar [shoplink 33193 ebay]eBay Germany (Click here)[/shoplink].
Fastest and most expensive 0.95 lens is the Angénieux Paris M2 35mm 0.95 Ultrafast C Mount Lens [shoplink 33194 ebay]eBay France (Click here)[/shoplink].

There is a first short hands-on of the upcoming new Olympus 60mm macro lens at Precision Camera (Click here): “This lens is awesome. It has a great build quality with responsive AF and very quick macro focus.” There is not a lot of info but I guess we will see a real review very soon!

One mroe little news: Egami found a new Panasonic patent showing a heating warning system. Whenever the sensor is getting hot it says you how much time is left before the camera shuts down.

Don’t know who made this video! Worth to be seen :)

More E-M5 news:
1) a test with the Auto-S 40mm F1.4 at DC.watch.
2) TheDigitalStory bought a third party E-M5 battery from Amazon.
3) The firmware update is back (DC.watch)
4) And I can’t explain this but indeed Italian stores are selling the E-M5 for much less than other European stores! The body only can be found for 777 Euro at ePrice.it (that’s a 22 Euro discount). And so on eBay Italy [shoplink 33122 ebay]here[/shoplink] and  [shoplink 33123 ebay]here[/shoplink].
5) E-M5 plate at Reallyrightstuff.

First Olympus 75mm User Reviews are also up at Amazon US (Click here to read them).

Damian MCGilliCuddy had the chance to test the Olympus 75mm lens and writes: “very well made, compact and light and stunning IQ – its even a good price all things considered…. any downside, on consideration yes!  Olympus a lens of this quality really should come with its matched lens hood at the point of the purchase… seriously“.

Damian is very “close” to Olympus and they may listen to him. The original hood costs $80 at Adorama or 80 Euro at Amazon Germany. On eBay (via Hong Kong) you can buy a third party [shoplink 32155 ebay]standard hood for $15 (Click here)[/shoplink] and a [shoplink 32156 ebay]tele hood for $16 (Click here)[/shoplink].

And now to the preorder options :
In USA Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), J&R(Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Also in Europe  Amazon Germany (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Amazon France (Click here) and Amazon Italy (Click here).
In Asia it’s already available at Amazon Japan, Digitalrev and on [shoplink 31284 ebay]eBay[/shoplink].

While we are still waiting to get our hands on the preordered Olympus 75mm lens Admiringlight posted the final Olympus 75mm review: “I have to say this lens is worth every penny of the asking price.  The absolutely brilliant sharpness, rich color and creamy bokeh make put it among the finest optics I’ve ever had the pleasure to use.“.
And Itmedia (translation here) also tested the Olympus lens. Some image samples at Pen and Tell.

And now le’ts talk about the mostly “non-in Stock” status of the lens. The lens is in Stock in Asia only at Digitalrev and [shoplink 31284 ebay]eBay[/shoplink] for example. In US BHphoto shipped the very early preorders but none is in Stock now. In UK it’s in Stock via [shoplink 33039 ebay]Simplyelectronics[/shoplink] which I suspect imports everything from Hong Kong directly ([shoplink 33039 ebay]although they say it’s shipping from UK[/shoplink]).