Olympus Australia published five new videos on youtube (Click here). Those are very well made videos that do explain in an easy way some of the new [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink] features:
Exploring the Electronic View Finder (Click here)
3D Tracking Autofocus (Click here)
FAST Autofocus (Click here)
9 Frame Per Second Shooting (Click here)
5 Axis Image Stabilisation (Click here /also posted on top of this post).

Dpreview (Click here) posted a new E-M5 hands-on. I like that statement from Richard Butler: “indeed its ergonomics are comparable to high-end DSLRs such as the [shoplink 29323]Pentax K-5[/shoplink]”. If you ever hold a K-5 in your hands than you know this is a very good news :)   And he also posted an interesting small bit of info about the focusing speed with the 12-60 Four Thirds lens. Apparently focusing is much faster on the E-M5 than on the E-PL3.

A great camera indeed. Can’t wait to see how the GH3 will do against the E-M5 :)

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Full Preorder list:
1) Black E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
2) Silver E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here), and Amazon Japan (Click here).
3) Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
4) Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Redcoon Deutschland (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
5) Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
6) FL-600R wireless flash at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
7) MMF-3 Four Thirds adapter at
Amazon (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
8.) HLD-6 power battery holder at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).

For those of you that are waiting for the E-M5: BHphoto (Click here) says the E-M5 will be available on April 10th. And Amazon Japan (Click here) reports that the camera will ship on March 30th. Don’t know yet how many E-M5 cameras will be produced per month and how many preorders Olympus got. So you may will not get the camera on those days. At least on Amazon the E-M5 preorder hype looks like to be over and the E-PL1 is the king of the mirrorless ranking again :)  -> Click here to see the ranking. Also the Panasonic GF2 is selling well and probably super interesting after the recent hack release!

But there are (again) many new E-m5 news and previews today:
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Preview at Photographyblog (Click here). And image samples (again at Photographyblog) and at Tomshardware (italian). Extreme ART filter image sample on Flickr (Click here). The swedish magazine Fotosidan (Click here) posted a camera preview. A hands-on at AP (Click here), Techradar (Click here) and a spanish hands-on on youtube (Click here). Test shots and video-illustrations (stabilization, AF, live bulb) at Onfoto Russia (Click here and Click here). A video shot with the E-M5 on vimeo (Click here). The english E-M5 manual (Click here to download the pdf).

E-M5 preorder search (Click on names): [shopcountry 29074].

Nanoha 5X MFT Macro Lens from Texas Media Systems on Vimeo.

For the very first time the Yasuhara x5 macro lens has been reviewed at ePhotozine (Click here): “I enjoyed using the lens which opened my eyes to textures that you don’t normally see. Objects took on a whole new life at this magnification.” The only real major drawback is the relative slow aperture of F/11.

More info about the lens here: yasuhara.co.jp/​nanoha/​index-e.html. P.S.: Yasuhara is known for making [shoplink 26291 ebay]M-mount lenses and cameras[/shoplink].

The [shoplink 23577]Olympus 45mm f/1.8[/shoplink] got tested by the team from DxOmark (Click here): “We have here another very fine and impressive lens, and one that is fully capable of holding its own against APS-C cameras and also against certain full-frame models. The results are convincing: in terms of image quality, these micro 4/3 modules are a clear success. Olympus certainly appears to have risen to the challenge of combining compactness with quality!”
DxO really loves m43 lenses :)
The Olympus 45mm f/1.8 is a nice and relatively cheap lens: [shopcountry 23577].

Something else: The Fuji X PRO 1 is shipping in Japan and it already reached a “cheater value” of $2,699.99 on [shoplink 29268 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. I will mark the price and see what the cheater price on the [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink] will be….I think it will go close to the X PRo 1.

P.S: Fotommundus (Click here) has the new Sigma 30mm lens for Micro Four Thirds in Stock!

Websites are now daily publishing new [shoplink 29074]E-M5[/shoplink] tests and FourThirdsUser (Click here) published a very interesting ISO comparison between the E-M5 and E-P3. Just look at the the 12800 ISO comparison (here the E-M5 and here the E-P3). The difference between the two cameras is impressive! At least one stop, probably even a tiny bit more! What do you think? After seeing the RAW files, and now these JPEG comparison I assume that the E-M5 is on his way to (may) become the m43 camera with the best JPEG quality. I like that [shoplink 29074]E-M5[/shoplink] and you?

More news:
And the french website Focus Numerique (Click here) posted a new interview with Mr. Terada (Bit no big news to find here). More E-M5 images samples at Onfoto (russia) and Letsgodigital (Click here). Updated preview at DSLRmagazine (spanish) and new preview at Pocket-Lint (Click here). And a very nice report ahs been publsihed by Gakuranman (Click here).

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Full Preorder list:
1) Black E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
2) Silver E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here), and Amazon Japan (Click here).
3) Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
4) Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Redcoon Deutschland (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
5) Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
6) FL-600R wireless flash at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
7) MMF-3 Four Thirds adapter at
Amazon (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
8.) HLD-6 power battery holder at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).

Too bd the price is so high because otherwise this lens would be mine! The lens is currently available for preorder on [shoplink 29193 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] for 1.299 Euro. The specs of the lens are amazing but I am surprised no big website posted any single image sample taken with it! So I spent some time to find them for myself. I got two images:
1) Full size image taken at full f/0.95 aperture on Flickr (Click here). There is a visible longitudinal chromatic aberration but the lens is very sharp and contrast is also good.
2) A small size image is available at Mapcamera (Click here). Aperture is unknown.

The [shoplink 15659 ebay]Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95[/shoplink] lens is smaller and lighter than the 17mm. And here is the lens on the GX1 and the lens on the E-M5. Let me know if you can find more image samples! Thanks!

P.S.: A cheaper alternative is the [shoplink 29238 ebay]Schneider 17mm f/0.95 (Click here to see it on ebay)[/shoplink] C-mount lens.

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0 gets DxOmarked (Click here): “With its extraordinary sharpness for a micro 4/3 lens, the [shoplink 23576]Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0 is a winner.Pitted against the Nikon 1 NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8, this Olympus 12mm holds an overwhelming advantage. Even more impressive is the fact that this lens can compete with much bigger lenses, such as the Canon 24mm L-series mounted on a 7D. In short, it really does seem that a high-quality, fully micro 4/3 camera-lens combination is perfectly capable of replacing an APS-C combination”

Honestly, I couldn’t agree more!!!

Olympus 12mm price check: [shopcountry 23576].

P.S.: A couple of days ago they posted the Panasonic 14-42mm X lens review (Click here to read it)