Long time ago trusted sources told me that Panasonic had the plan to upgrade the current [shoplink 14822]Panasonic 7-14mm f/4.0[/shoplink] lens. The day may be close that this will happen because the lens just got discontinued at BHphoto (Click here to check). And only a bunch of them are in Stock at Amazon (Click here to check). The trusted sources told me Panasonic developed a OIS (lens stabilized) version of the lens.

Let’s see if the rumored May 21th announcement turns out to be real (reminder, this is a rumor coming form external websites!).

Our trusted sources already told us that Olympus is sending out the 75mm f/1.8 lens for testing. Now a new source said that the lens will cost around $799 and be released on June 18th! As you know Olympus states that this is the “highest imaging performance M.Zuiko” lens. So it’s actually better than the [shoplink 23576]Olympus 12mm f/2.0[/shoplink] and has the same price. Not bad!

As I told you a price like that is very good if you compare it with similar lenses like the [shoplink 30743]Canon 135mm f/2.0 (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 30744]Nikon 135mm f/2.0 (Click here)[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 30745]Sigma 150mm (Click here)[/shoplink]!

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

The Italian blog Lucidistorte had a meeting in Milan with Mr.Uematsu from Panasonic. In that meeting Mr. Uemtasu unveiled that the new 12-35mm f/2.8 X lens will be announced on may 21th! Apparently Uematsu told them to not officially publish that news but the Italian blog wrote the news anyway :)
Uematsu also said that the 12-35mm f/2.8 is produced in the Panasonic Yamagata Plant in Japan and matches the quality of the Leica lenses! It has nano surface coating, power OIS. powerzoom.

As you know also the Panasonic G5 will be announced so I guess there is a fair chance that the rumor is real! Stay tuned on 43rumors! And don’t forget to follow us on facebook too (Click here)!

P.S: Panasonic soruces told me the lens has not a f/2.0 paerture like the Olympus [shoplink 25320 ebay]14-35mm f/2.0 (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink] becuase a) it would make the lens a lot bigger 2) lot more expensive.

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

A couple of readers sent me a link to that image. It is coming from the Nauticam Europe Wholeslae store. On the image and within the text specification you can read many times GH-3. So what the heck is that? A huge error? Or…they know the GH3 is coming soon?
I think this is probably a marketing trick to promote the [shoplink 30926 ebay]Gibson Underwater Housing by BS Kinetics (for sale here on eBay)[/shoplink].

Canon concept mirrorless camera by David Riesenberg (Click here)

From time to time it’s good to report some bigger news coming from the competition. Particularly when the name of the competitor is Canon :)

Canon released the Q1 earnings call and included some info about the future strategy. Canon says that they will launch compact cameras “offering the image qualities that approaches SLR cameras, with improved design and network connectivity features“. This sounds like they are close to launch the interchangeable mirrorless system. And that word” approaches” may give us the hint that they will use the Four Thirds sized sensor of the [shoplink 30863 ebay]Canon G1X[/shoplink].

UPDATE: CanonWatch (Click here) just released a new rumor saying that “Canon will showcase their mirrorless ILC to selected customers in Australia during PMA Australia at the end of May. The new camera should then be announced in June.”

My two cent: While Fuji and Nikon and Sony have all released different and somewhat unique systems they weren’t really able to dethrone the Micro Four Thirds domination. I am curious to see what Canon will bring!

Egami (Click here) spotted another Olympus zoom patent. It’s a 12-120mm f/4-5.6 lens. The patent contains many variations all with the similar aperture range but with different focal lengths. As usual with patents they are mostly not made to become real products. But I hope that one day I will find some patent showing f/2.0 zooms too! :)

You 43rumors reader already expressed your opinion in favour of fast zooms like the superb (and expensive) Olympus [shoplink 25320 ebay]14-35mm f/2.0 (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 25119 ebay]35-100mm f/2.0 (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink] Zuiko lenses. Let’s see if Olympus will do that!

Last week I told you that Olympus is sending out the 75mm f/1.8 lens for testing to journalists and photographer. Today we have the next good sign for a not so far away lens announcement. The Micro Four Thirds pdf catalog (Click here) has been updated and now includes the lenses. I hope Olympus will announce them in June along the new XZ-2! The 75mm f/1.8 is particularly intruiguing also because Olympus states that this is the “highest imaging performance M.Zuiko” lens. It means it beats the already very good [shoplink 23576]Olympus 12mm f/2.0[/shoplink]!

Curiosity: The Panasonic 12-35mm and 35-100mm X lenses are NOT included in the pdf.

Via Four-thirds.org