Rumors/news summary
Good Morning!
Last week we posted quite a bit of new interesting rumors and news. I thought it was worth to make a summary of all the most important articles posted on 43rumors:
Hot discussions
Thom Hogan shared his thoughts to the question: What is the future for Olympus?. It’s definitely worthy to read! Please take a look at the comments which are also very interesting!
Zone-10 explains why 2011 is the Year of Olympus. And yesterday we asked you “Who do you think should join Micro Four Thirds?“.
Reviews
A very enthusiastic Panasonic GH2 review at Luminous Landscape. First Fuji X100 preview with real image samples (JPG and RAW) have been posted at Quesabesde. And we also posted the very first GH2 + Zeiss Cp lens image samples!
Rumors
(FT5) Panasonic G3 (and new lenses?) by end of March/early April
(FT3) After Pentax also Nikon will announce a tiny sensors mirrorless system? The “nikon coolpix pro”
A Mirrorless spring roadmap
(FT5) Next Olympus product announcement in May/June (but no pro camera yet?)
Did you read everything? Are you ready for the new week? 
The 43rumors guys!
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Recent comments
Comment from YouDidntDidYou: Sony are great at selling products to pe...
Comment from Vlad: 1. My bad, I meant Oly here. They may ha...- Comment from YouDidntDidYou: 5. found this too on cnet uk "The Lumix ...
Comment from YouDidntDidYou: 1. Pretty sure Panasonic has the money, ...
GreyOwl
2 years ago |Yes and Yes!
YouDidntDidYou
2 years ago |hi Admin
had a busy weekend so didn’t get a chance to comment on your posts, anyways my thoughts;
1. I think Olympus/Pansonic will the first to introduce downloadable apps to cameras (hopefully open source).
2.I think Olympus will continue to grow in the small DSLR form segment of the market.
3. I would like Fuji to micro four thirds/four thirds as they have the right attitude, heritage and very little to lose…
4. Canon/Nikon have been holding back the market for years, as cameras aren’t when they should be in terms of development and they will to deservedly continue to lose market share.
5.Panasonic will introduce cameras that will communicate with their other products.
6.Pen and Lumix phones to hit the world market in 2012…
7. Global shutter and in built variable ND filter in the GH3.
Vlad
2 years ago |Some caveats here:
1. This will take time and money, which I am not sure they have
2. I doubt that, but I certainly hope so
3. Fuji will be a good addition, but, given the X100, they are heading in another direction
4. Canikon can reverse the trend every quickly by introducing similar products and they do have time and money; the only way to “kill” them would be through some great well-marketed innovation, which frankly I don’t see happening for the time being
5., 6. and 7. – how do you know that?
YouDidntDidYou
2 years ago |1. Pretty sure Panasonic has the money, and Olympus has shown their intention of sharing (blue tooth module), introduction of art filters and different colour models.
2. I see an lot of Pen cameras out in the wild in the UK and garner a lot of postive feedback from their owners, the same can not be said of Sony Nex or Samsung NX.
3. Fuji joining Four Thirds is my wishful thinking however X100 (one model) doesn’t indicate a direction…
4.Canikon are running out of time and I feel they are start to lose goodwill amongst their customers.
5. Just something I wrongly or rightly pick up from Panasonic global marketing.
6.the Pansonic Lumix phone is due very shortly for release in Japan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn3U-ZRWWzg
7.Is wishful thinking, but I do remember the GH2 engineers saying they would of liked to put more features in instead of te 18 million megapixels, also Pansonic have hinted that global shutter is about a year away…
***previous Four Third Forum posts by me***
Feb 2008 Re: What would you like to see in the next Lumix DSLR?
Colour bracketing and also a 1:1 square format would be nice….
also see this post from July 2009 http://fourthirds-user.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4658 note the results of my poll lol
four-thirds camcorders
I can really see Panasonic going micro four thirds for their camcorders for a number of reasons;
1.being the first to market as I’m sure their competitors are thinking of introducing camcorders with inter-changable lens at the lower end of the market
2 it will grows sales as most people at the moment just buy a camcorder and leave it at that, never buying accessories
3. SLR users getting the video bug as well as event/wedding photographers/journalists being forced into video due to market conditions
4. the introduction of the G1H could stagnate/damage sales of their camcorders
Vlad
2 years ago |1. My bad, I meant Oly here. They may have the intention, doesn’t mean they have the money.
I am not worried about Pana’s health, but I also do not think they are targeting the still image market as a whole.
2. No offense whatsoever, but what you see on the street is hardly indicative of Oly’s share or the company’s health. They do own a big part of the mirrorless market, but until now they basically had no competition. I have a lot of reasons to believe that NEX is killing now.
3.(1)Introducing a new model, especially something high-end, innovative and well thought-out, involves some serious costs. They made the X100, not a m43 camera. (2)After many years without interchangeable lens camera they still went for a fixed lens for the pro segment. (3)According to Fuji there will be other X-series cameras.
All those 3 points indicate a direction IMO.
4. Disagree. Where’s that information coming from (customers loosing their goodwill)? Canikon are still doing very well (Canon mostly), they have plenty of resources, huge market share and great brand awareness. If they make a mirrorless today it will outsell everyone.
An important part of the mirrorless market is not addressed – pro models. The first company to introduce such a product will gain some real advantage.
5 through 7 I leave alone
YouDidntDidYou
2 years ago |Sony are great at selling products to people the old fashion way (I won’t elaborate) but somehow I can’t see many Nex 5 or 7 owners upgrading to any new Nex models Sony release, whereas lots of Olympus and pansonic micro four thirds owners have and continue to do so.
Anyways I’ll bookmark this post and come back to it in 15 months to see who was more “right”….
YouDidntDidYou
2 years ago |5. found this too on cnet uk “The Lumix Phone will feature a 3.3-inch touchscreen, Wi-Fi, and DLNA for zapping pictures wirelessly to your telly.”
TheVoiceoverman
2 years ago |Apparently would be brilliant fun. But May/June seems like a LONG way off.
TheVoiceoverman
2 years ago |You can remove this one if you like admin. I was typing with my thumbs on a tablet. It got the better of me.
TheVoiceoverman
2 years ago |Woops. That was meant to say apps would be brilliant fun. Damned Autocorrect.
Creatingdvds4u.co.uk
2 years ago |This a great site- I was able to get my GH2 through rumors.
What i was hopeing to find out is alternative cheaper lenses for the Panasonic GH2. I have seen some for £160 (Samyang 800mm F8 Mirror Tele Lens for Micro 4/3)
On Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150429576901&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
They guys who sell it say its a great quality lense but for the price who knows. I have seen some samples on flickr on some lenses of the same brand and the quality looks goood and the zoom performace too. I may get one as a 800mm lense for £160 sounds good to me. Also from the same brand are lenses that seem to do a great job as well.
For some reason the lense looks like the telescope from the hubble in space or maybe its just me.
Hopefull in futre we may see more mods for the Panasonic GH2 and a battery grip as the original is a bit pathetic.
Ulli
2 years ago |Well, after all the recent rumors and other news, its time to go back shooting again, that way it won’t take long untill the official announcements happen
owczi
2 years ago |As I was reading all those discussions around Olympus’ financial results I noticed my girlfriend’s little digital voice recorder on our desk. I looked at it and guess what the logo on it was. It was Olympus. And on the back of it there is another label that says “Olympus Imaging corp.”. I know that Olympus have been making voice recorders since late 60s and they are quite popular among students, reporters and anyone else who’d ever need a voice recorder. Even when buying it, and I’ve never owned one before, I went straight for Olympus because I remembered the brand from years ago. Unit prices are relatively low, their top of line linear pcm recorder tops above GBP 200, dictation systems somewhat more, and you can buy Olympus voice recorders off the shelf in any shop that sells electronics – but since this is the same division that makes the cameras, you can’t find detailed financial results. I’m wondering if the revenue this part of the business generates is negligible… or is it?
AndyOz
2 years ago |Well it will be interesting to see what this news is. I am trying to put together the dots – could someone like Fuji be joining micro 43rds?
Some possibilities / ideal situations would be:
- Fuji and Oly might have been working together on viewfinders and Oly might release an E-P3 with a rangefinder style and a ‘folded’ EVF with prism as per the Fuji x100
- Fuji might be making a new four thirds sensor with the on-sensor phase detection that I seem to remember hearing about. Olympus might also make a high end camera with this sensor.
Anyway there is some wishful thinking/speculation. If Fuji just joined that would be great for the system.
pdc
2 years ago |Given some of the poor quality (“trash”?) comments we have seen on this site in recent days, how about qualifying each comment with a “Commentator’s Description” so we at least know from what experience the comments are coming – this could get printed on the comment header line. A spinner box could gove choices like:
- Micro Four Thirds Owner/User
- DSLR Owner/User
- Point and Shoot Owner/User
- Not a photographer
- [Fill out own description]
Vlad
2 years ago |And then how would you know if people wrote is true? Maybe we should also do identity checks?
If someone is not a photographer or a m43 user does that mean that his/her opinion on, say, Olympus’ marketing, would be more/less valid?
pdc
2 years ago |Well most people don’t make things up, and if they do, there is nothing you can do about it. But at least the reader will have some appreciation of why the commentator is making a particular comment. From some of the comments made in recent weeks one has to wonder if the commentator is just venting frustration or actually is making a valid point about camera/sensor/lens/processing technologies.
Vlad
2 years ago |I have found the opposite. Most of the time people do make things up so as to give weight to their arguments. Or sometimes people hide behind their status (as a an expert for example) so as not to build an argument – be it because they can’t or they won’t. I think a well-made argument can stand for itself.
Most of those venting can be easily put in a corner by providing some decent logic and I believe that should be enough.