[shoplink 31617 ebay]Super Angulon for Contax mount[/shoplink].

Schneider will unveil the new Micro Four Thirds lens (or lenses) sometimes between 11 and 12 am Berlin time. I am still not sure about how many lens we will see but these are newly designed lenses and one of the them is certainly a wide angle Super Angulon.

—-
A selection of current non m43 Schneider lenses:
[shoplink 27395 ebay]Xenon 16mm f/1.2 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27387 ebay]Xenon 25mm f/0.95 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27389 ebay]Curtagon 35mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27391 ebay]Componon 50mm f/1.4 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27390 ebay]Xenon 50mm f/1.9 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27394 ebay]Xenar 50mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27388 ebay]Xenar 75mm f/3.5 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27392 ebay]Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27393 ebay]Xenar 180mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].

[shoplink 31617 ebay][/shoplink] Image on top: A [shoplink 31617 ebay]Schneider Super Angulon lens[/shoplink] (not the new onw for m43).

Double good news folks! First, the new Schneider Micro Four Thirds lenses will definitely be announced tomorrow! The second good news is that it is highly possible that this are completely newly designed lenses for the Micro Four Thirds mount. I had the “fear” that Schneider may just announce current Cine lenses with just a modified m43 mount. This is very likely not going to happen. So cross the fingers guy, we will see some super new lenses tomorrow!

I have no specs now but it seems that 1) there could be more than one new lens 2) One of these lenses is definitely a Super Angulon wide angle lens.

Super Angulon lenses are Wide angle lenses or Tilt Shift lenses and you can find plenty of them for different mounts on [shoplink 31617 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] or Bhphoto (Click here).

Stay tuned on 43rumors! And let me know if you find some leak :)

Reminder -> Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct

Sources confirmed to me that Panasonic will have a new announcement in July. I am working to get the details but it looks like Panasonic will finally announce the new G5. I am sure it is not the GH3….that is coming in late August/early September!

Meantime a reminder: The Schneider lens announcement should be made end of next week (or the first days in two weeks). And these are the current Schneider lenses for other mounts. Some of them may come in m43 version:

Reminder -> Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct

Photographer Nozomi Tanaka is well known in Japan and well connected to the Japanese companies. In a tweet (Click here for the translation) he confirmed that Olympus will keep the Four Thirds system well alive. And he hopes the rumors about the end of the Four Thirds system will soon quite down. Rumors about new E-xx or E-X models are spreading the web since a while but I got no confirmation from my sources yet…let’s see!

Meantime the E-5 has a $200 Instant rebate and sells for $1499 at Amazon and Adorama.

UPDATE: I added the image from the Olympus presentation

UPDATE_2: You can download the full pdf (Click here).

This rumor and antirumor game is never ending! Reuters now reports that “Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp has no plan to invest in Olympus Corp , President Fumio Ohtsubo told Reuters on Thursday“. Also Olympus denied the deal rumor. We can no more trust Reuters :)

Anyway, Olympus released an official press release describing their plans (Source: Bloomberg). Bloomberg reprts: “2,700 jobs are to be eliminated by March 2014. Most of the jobs being cut are in overseas manufacturing, Sasa told reporters in Tokyo today. The company will close a plant in the Philippines this year and will reorganize others”

The good news is that “The company plans to restructure its imaging business and increase the focus on mirrorless cameras and high-end compact models, it said in the statement.” That is what I needed to hear! Compact camera and Four Thirds camera business is not where Olympus can earn the money in future. It’s an obvious step to focus on the strengths of the m43 business!

According to a couple of our sources Olympus will introduce new PEN cameras in September. And according to them the line up will be “revolutionized“. Currently there are three categories, the E-PM, the E-PL and the E-P series. I have been told the line up will be simplified and the differences will be more “obvious“. Olympus evaluated the PEN sales and user satisfaction. All I can share with you now is that Olympus were surprised by the huge [shoplink 23567]Olympus E-PL3 (Click here)[/shoplink] sales. I am double checking the rumors I am getting about the new Olympus cameras to avoid posting wrong rumors. During the last weeks I got some very intriguing rumor about the next Olympus and Panasonic announcements. Stay tuned guys! I am doing my best to share with you all I know as soon as I can!

UPDATE: The term “revolution” has been used to say that Olympus will change the PEN strategy…not that the camera itslef will have some revolutionary features (at least not that I know of).

To all sources: As usual I try to double check carefully the rumors I get to avoid bigger mistakes. I ask my sources and you reader to share me some info if you have some by contacting me anonymously at 43rumors@gmail.com or via contact form on the right sidebar. If you can use some kind of fake name so that I can recognize you in future. Better if you create a fake gmail account so that we can chat directly. Sources should know that it may pass some time before I post something and that I will rewrite the text in order to hide your style.

P.S.: Links to the current three PEN cameras:
Olympus E-P3 at [shopcountry 23568].
Olympus E-PL3 at [shopcountry 23567].
Olympus E-PM1 at [shopcountry 23565].

Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct

Image on top: The 1 inch compact camera from Sony.

It’s always nice to see how the high end compact cameras (with fixed lens) are evolving. They sometimes offer a great alternative to our Micro Four Thirds cameras because of the ulterior size advantage. My sources told me that Olympus/Panasonic will release the new LX5 and [shoplink 19904]XZ-1[/shoplink] successor within the next 2-3 months (probably July). One rumor I heard many times is that they will both use a larger sensors. This is not a big secret. A couple of months ago Techradar (Click here) interviewed Yoshiyuki Inoue (Panasonic Senior Engineering Planner) who said “one aspect that is being given serious consideration for the camera that replaces the LX5 is increasing the size of the sensor, Panasonic’s Mr Uematsu even joked that it could have a 1in sensor like the new Nikon V1.”. Today Sony unveiled exactly an one inch RX100 camera -> Price and specs at Amazon US (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). So it’s possible that this is the kind of high end camera we will see soon coming from Olympus and Panasonic too! I think it would be a great solution for all of you looking for an extremely compact camera with zoom lens. Don’t you think?

P.S.:
LX5 at [shopcountry 21136].
XZ-2 at [shopcountry 19904].