(FT4) Ricoh is the first MicroFourThirds competitor

Image of the Ricoh Caplio GX200 (not the rumored camera! We hope to receive some pictures of the new camera soon)

Dear readers,

this time we do not publish Olympus or Panasonic rumor, we have a Ricoh rumor. But the thought it will interest you to know that Ricoh will become the first MicroFourThirds competitor. They will release a compact mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses. How do we know that? Our trusted sources confirmed that (and also some new ones).

We have only few informations:

– Announcement around November 10-12 and in store on December (99% chance the rumor will become truth)

– APS-C sensor (99%)

– Very similar in design and size to the Ricoh Caplio GX200 (80%)

– They will have their own mount…Not the rumored Pentax K-mount! (70%)

– It will use the new Epson EVF! (50%)

Some of our sources told us that the camera will beat the and specs.

As soon as we receive more specs and hopefully images we will post it on 43rumors.

(FT3) UPDATED -> Letsgodigital says it: “Ricoh mirrorless camera by early November”

I received this rumor 2 months ago and now Letsgodigital confirms our rumor. The Ricoh mirrorless camera will probably be unveiled early November. No MicroFourThirds mount, it will have a K-mount (Pentax).

http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/23501/system-camera/

UPDATE: We just received this text: “Good morning all,
and first congratulations for the nice work (was impressed by your exclusive hint on the Fuji forthcoming µ43 camera; as a S5 Pro user, it is little to say I was interested in these news…).
This message is motivated by the fact that I am aware of the «Ricoh solution» to appear by early November – I am not aware of the precise date of the announcement. It won’t indeed rest upon a µ43 mount but your subsequent assertion is just plain wrong; neither will it build upon any K-mount filiation. First remember that Ricoh is making cameras because they love pictures but that this remains a hobby; as you can feel from the GR series, they just feel free of having their own proper way of feeling photography, that at times leads to true innovations – as a matter of comparison, just look at the evolution of the G series cameras from Canon. They have just no incentives of any kind to re-package old-fashioned solutions. The Ricoh system to appear by early November is a breakthrough in digital photography; you want to hear about true innovations and not mere commercial increments, believe me: with the Ricoh approach, you will have a picture of nothing less than another understanding of photography for the digital age.

a little bit of everything…


Lumix GF1 + 14-45mm does Sumo!

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Luminous Landscape compares the Canon PowerShot G11 with Panasonic GF1….who wins? You already knew it or not? ;)
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Tcholakov tested the new Adobe Lightroom 3 beta: http://pavel.tcholakov.net/2009/10/lightroom-3-beta-begins-with-big-improvements-in-image-quality/
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Amazon.com has a new estimated arrival date for the Panasonic 7-14mm Lens: October 28 2009!
via: dpreview
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(FT3) Next Olympus MFT specs? Via Zone-10

Zone-10 tells you a little more about the next Olympus MFT:

1. Model name may not necessarily be the E-P2. The “Pen Footprint” may be for a specific model, but the m43 standard is for a sensor-chamber and lens-mount design and does not dictate the shape of the rest of the camera. Expect this camera to have increased thickness and height as compared to the due to the built-in EVF and not quite so rectangular-shaped. A little more “muscular” looking with some characteristics not making it as cute as the E-P1.

2. This camera will have an articulating LCD monitor similar to that found on the E-620, but with higher resolution.

3. There will be a built-in EVF with diopter adjustment on the viewfinder optics. Resolution of this EVF is not known at this time, but may be SVGA in resolution.

4. In step with the constant evolution of processors, this camera will be equipped with the TruePic V+ processing engine that is similar to the TruePic V, but with support for additional video aspects and additional Creative Art filters.

5. Battery is shared with the E-P1 and it is likely going to have a CF card slot in addition to SD. This spec may change, but the target audience for this camera is still heavily invested in CF.

6. Expect a new lens, possibly a “Wide-Standard” prime lens to be introduced with this model with better specifications. Wide-Standards are typically those within the 35-42mm (FF35mm Equivalent) range. As the camera itself is larger than the E-P1, the lens may also be a little larger too, which will result in better optics.

7. Auto-focus is improved with faster performance and better low-light capability.

8. I.S. will have improvements as well as a new feature not previously seen in Olympus bodies.

Link to the original article: zone-10.com

Sony EVIL plans?

We are still missing some MicroFourThirds competition. Now there is someone who claims to know something about Sonys EVIL System!

“…The evil cameras will be small, high performance; you’ll be able to use older lenses with an adopter. The cameras will be “APSC CMOS size” based. Because of close flange distance, therefore smaller diffraction, lens design will be simpler, smaller, and resolution will be on par with FF. With checkerboard pixel pattern, similar to their ClearVid CMOS pattern, expect 25 MP cameras with 50 MP performance soon, but not initially….”

There is more to read at http://sonyalpharumors.com/

(FT3) Olympus says there will be no E-3 successor (for now)…

Colorfoto.de asked Olympus Germany if they are planning to soon release the E-3 successor:
…Olympus Germany said to colorfoto.de, there is still no definite timetable for the introduction of a possible follow-up model. For the foreseeable future the E-3 will remain the top model…” and “…In any case, Olympus also confirmed that they will continue to develop the E-system parallel to the Micro Four Thirds system.”

Read the original article in german or choose to read the english google translation

(FT2) E-5 Suisse rumors…

http://www.dslr-forum.de/showthread.php?t=565731&page=5

At a Oly event in Switzerland Olympus employee mentioned the following specs for the  successor: higher resolution, high-resolution display, a new AF module, more FPS, better Viewfinder. The E-3 successor will be settled a class above the E-3 …

Original german text:

Bevor ich das 14-35 2.0 zulegte liess ich mir persönlich im Gespräch an einem Oly-Event hier in der Schweiz versichern, dass ein Nachfolger kommt. Der Herr erwähnte folgendes: höhere Auflösung, hochauflösender Display, neues AF-Modul, mehr FPS, Sucher gleich E-3 oder grösser(!). Näher ins Detail wollte er nicht. Nur so viel, der E-3 Nachfolger wird sich deutlich von allen anderen Oly-Kameras abheben und eine Klasse über der E-3 angesiedelt werden… Ebenso werde sich damit die Rausch- und Dynamikdiskussion erledigt haben!