I was working on that rumor since a couple of weeks (and I told you here that there would be a surprise). Now our friend Andrew from EosHD beat me on time and published a part of the surprise ;)

Yes it’s true, Panasonic will announce a new Micro Four Thirds pro lens series. It will be called “X“. What EosHD didn’t mention is that the 14-42mm and 45-175mm lenses will be the very first lenses having that “X” mark! Unlike Andrews speculation there will be no 12-50mm or 45-300mm zooms yet. I have been told the new lenses are an “optical revolution” because they are incredibly compact, do have a high optical quality, powerzoom and inner focusing. The lenses are made with both worlds in mind, still photography and video recording. I am currently collecting info about those lenses but it’s clear that Panasonic is putting very high expectations in this new project. One of the source was actually very impressed by the new kit lens performance. When he saw the lens he thought this would be a new “cheap” zoom lens. But he image quality and the new size and features will have a “WOW” reaction even on more serious photographers. The source strongly believes this will become a very popular line for amateurs and pro photographers!

As I said that is only the first part of the surprise, the second part will be published as soon as I get more out of my sources! Thanks for your patience!

P:S.: I repeat. There iwll be no GF7 yet!

Over a month ago sources told us that new zoom lenses with power zooms would be announced soon. Now our soruces confirmed that both new zoom lenses will have Powerzoom and Inner focusing. And again the size is extremely compact! Also Andrew from EosHD got info about those lenses and said: “The zoom buttons are apparently on the lens itself so it will work with any current Lumix Micro Four Thirds camera.”

Andrew also mentions a new 45-300mm HD OIS. But according to our sources that lens will NOT be announced in late August.

All sources again confirmed that there will be no GF PRO (or GF7) camera yet. Panasonic wants to take some time before to announce the camera!

Image on to shows the current [shoplink 23962]Panasonic 14-42mm[/shoplink] and [shoplink 14816]Olympus 14-42mm[/shoplink] kit lenses.

Over a month ago I posted the rumor about a new 14-42mm lens coming from Panasonic. Now I got the bulletproof confirmation that those rumors were correct! Not only the 45-175mm lens is going to be announced but there will be also a new 14-42mm kit lens. Both will have an extremely compact size. I was told the 14-42mm lens is actually MUCH(!) smaller than the Olympus collapsible [shoplink 14816]Olympus 14-42mm[/shoplink] lens. I would not believe that if the rumor wouldn’t come from known sources!!!

Reminder: Announcement expected by end of August! And you are not going to see the GF7 soon (coming probably in December/January)

Sending rumors: If you have some rumors to share feel free to use the contact form on the right sidebar which doesn’t store your IP address and you don’t need to send me your real name and email! Thanks!

The global shutter circuitry patented by Olympus (found via Egami)

A couple of days ago I told you via trusted sources that Panasonic has the plan to introduce the “global shutter” with the next GH3 camera. And not only Panasonic is working on it! Egami spotted an Olympus patent describing the noise reduction process on a sensor with global shutter. Global shutters can remove the typical effects from current sensors using the rolling shutter like exhibit smearing,skew, wobble, and partial exposure. Wikipedia explains it better: “Rolling shutter (also known as line scan) is a method of image acquisition in which each frame is recorded not from a snapshot of a single point in time, but rather by scanning across the frame either vertically or horizontally. In other words, not all parts of the image are recorded at exactly the same time, even though the whole frame is displayed at the same time during playback. This is in contrast with global shutter in which the entire frame is exposed for the same time window.”

According to Egami the Olympus global shutter sensor will also allow to have much sharper images (you can see an image comparison on their website).

More info about global shutters:
Abelcine
Dalsa

A phantasy GF7 camera designed by Blog-Livedoor (based on the [shoplink 23692 ebay]L1 design[/shoplink])

According to our sources the GF7 announcement has been delayed at least until December (and could be also delayed to very early 2012). Sounds like Panasonic wants to present the camera at the PMA show in Las Vegas (January 8). We are not sure about the reason for the delay. The same sources do confirm that Panasonic will announce the new 45-175mm Micro Four Thirds lens by end of August/early September.

Reminder: The GF7 will be an advanced GF model with plenty of manual controls. The 45-175mm will be an ultra compact and cheap lens.

The polish website Optyczne (Click here) interviewed Mister Michiharu Uematsu from Panasonic. The most interesting points are:

1) When asked why they made use of a 16 Megapixel sensor for the GH2 he answered: “Mainly it is our response to market needs. In the future we want to balance the sensor and optics capabilities.“. So will Panasonic not participate the Megapixel race anymore?

2) And here is the reaosn why you want never see a Panasonic camera with built-in stabilization: “So far, no plans to assemble in a body-stabilized matrices. When recording movies acting to stabilize the matrix generates unnecessary noise on the soundtrack, and increases power consumption, and for all of our equipment we want efficient energy consumption.”

3) Panasonic is also aware that there is a need of more video zoom lenses (like the [shoplink 14802 ebay]Panasonic 14-140mm[/shoplink]) but they will NOT introduce a PRO camera :(

Correction: Gogole translation tool made a huge mistake. Panasonic will NOT(!) make a Pro camera (gogole translation tool didn’t add the “not” word).

The administrator of the Nwpphotoforum (Click here) posted an interview made with Sally Smith Clemens (Product Manager at Olympus USA). Sally talks about the future of the two systems, Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds. Those are the “highlights”:

1) “I want to make sure that we convey the strong sense of responsibility that we feel towards people who’ve adopted our Four Thirds system. We believe in the Four Thirds system – not just as a precursor to Micro Four Thirds, but in the Four Thirds System itself.”
My opinion on that: Interesting that they used the word “responsibility”. It has some negative meaning here because it suggests that they keep the FOur Thirds system alive not becuase of technology reasons but because otherwise current 43 owners would get very angry.

2) “We now have a large array of optics from 16mm to 600mm (thinking in 35mm format). We feel that it is fully matured in that aspect – which is why product releases for Four Thirds have been slower than Micro Four Thirds. There is still quite a lot of room to grow Micro Four Thirds in order to catch up with the Four Thirds System in terms of both product capability and breadth.”
My opinion on that: Compared to Nikon and Canon the Four Thirds lens range is far from being “mature”. Anyway, does it mean there will be no more Four Thirds lenses?

3) “we believe that the market for most of the compact dDSLRs, such as the 420 and 620, is best met by the Micro Four Thirds System. The area which remains in question for some people is the mid range category, such as the E-30. We believe that if they were given a choice, these people would really prefer an E-5.”
My opinion on that: So people looking for the E-30 successor should buy the E-5?

4) “The first thing is that it is important to get beyond the idea of ‘which system will Olympus support and develop.’ Ultimately there is only one system – Four Thirds. While Micro Four Thirds and Four Thirds differ in some aspects, they are ultimately the same thing in terms of image quality and sensor format. Four Thirds is Four Thirds, whether or not it is a dSLR or Mirrorless camera body.”
My opinion on that: Sounds a bit confusing or not?

Like it or not, when I talk with dealers they all say that for them Four Thirds is dead. They do sell Micro Four Thirds only.