A short update to give you one more messy news about Olympus. The day after Woodford abandoned the plan to be re-instaed as CEO he sued Olympus. “I will most definitely be suing Olympus,” Woodford said Friday at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Tokyo. And the “The Kyodo News Agency had heard that the panel would advise the company suing over 10 existing and former executives for a total equivalent to $1.2 billion for hiding losses for 13 years” (Electronista).

What else can I say? It’s a mess and it’s pity that there is no way to solve the problem in a fast way.

Big japanese Olympus shareholders refused to sustain Woodford in his battle to be reinstated as CEO of the company. Reuters reports that: “The company’s main lender and major shareholder Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) is backing existing management led by CEO Shuichi Takayama, which is seeking a capital tie up with a rival company to bolster its finances.”

And “Local media has reported that Sony, Fujifilm Holdings and Panasonic Corp are among the candidates that may ride to the rescue of Olympus.”

In short: Japanese shareholders hold together against the foreign influence on Olympus. This will lead Olympus to make an agreement with another japanese company to realign their financial situation. I vote for Fuji. They have both a long camera history and would certainly create some amazing new products.

UPDATE: Here is the full statement from Woodford: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/michael_woodford_statement_on_why_he_quit_olympus_fight_news_311023.html.

Exactly on Midnight SLRmagic officially announced their new top quality Hyper Prime 50mm f/0.95 Cine M-mount Cine lens. Even if it’s not a native Micro Four Thirds lens you can use it via M to m43 adapter ([shoplink 28038 ebay]Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink]. Unlike the Noktor this is a high quality lens made specially for people looking for superb bokeh. It’s actually five times cheaper than the [shoplink 23018 ebay]Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95[/shoplink] and we have been told that it will have almost the same image quality (of course we have to see real tests to see if they are claiming the truth). Our friend Seb Farges tested the new lens on the [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink]. After the video you can read the full lens press release and specs.

World Premiere !!! SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE T0.95 / 50mm Part I : The Night Tests from Seb Farges on Vimeo.

PRESS RELEASE
NEW: THE SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95
SLR Magic expands its M mount lineup with a new normal focal length lens

Hong Kong, China (January 1, 2012)  – SLR Magic opens up the M mount lens lineup with the new SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 ultra fast normal focal length lens. The world’s fastest interchangeable camera lens with an image circle beyond full frame coverage in its focal length, the SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 concept lens will be publicly available for experience testing in September 2012 at Photokina in Cologne, Germany.

The field of view of this new HyperPrime Lens corresponds to a 50mm lens in 35mm format. It is optimized to be shot wide open. This ultra fast normal focal length prime lens opens up many new creative composition opportunities, particularly in the fields of available light, in portrait, and street cinematography. Built with modern non aspherical lens technology, the lens excels at defocusing busy backgrounds at T0.95. A minimum focus distance of 0.70m allows for artistic bokeh effect. A fast maximum aperture of T0.95 makes the SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 ideal for available-light photography.

Our highest priority in the development of all HyperPrime lenses is to fulfill the demands of professional cinematographers and photographers. The design and build of the SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 is solid and reliable.

The SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95, a concept lens, will be available from authorized SLR Magic dealers by the end of September 2012.

Technical Data
SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95
Lens Type: Fast normal lens with seven Tantalum glass elements to  ensure superior cinematic performance.
Compatible Cameras: All RangeFinder M mount, LM mount for cinematography,  E-mount, and micro four thirds cameras
Optical Design: 12 elements in 7 groups
Distance range:  0.70m to ∞, combined scale meter/feet
Aperture:  Manually controlled diaphragm, 12 aperture blades (circular), Lowest value 16
Bayonet:  M-mount, E-mount, micro four thirds
Filter Mount: 62mm; filter mount does not rotate.
Surface Finish: Black anodized
Length to bayonet mount: approx. 95mm (approx. 3.74in) without hood approx. 110mm (approx. 4.33in) with retractable hood
Largest diameter: approx. 73mm (approx. 2.87in)
Weight: approx. 975g (approx. 34.39oz)

Andrew Chan
Product Manager

A short message to wish you all a Happy New Year!!!

….And the first weeks for the year promise to be exiting with new Olympus and Panasonic m43 products coming soon ;)

UPDATE: On midnight there will be the first product announcement of the year by SLRmagic :)

The Taiwanese company Ownuser announced the start of the GH2 battery grip sales. Here is the official press release:

“Dear Customer
We will tell you a good news. PANASONIC GH2’s grip is already on the market in 2011/12/20. On this website, you can get more product information.
http://www.ownuser.com.tw/e_mig_pgh2.html
On this website, you can buy products through PAYPAL (online credit card page, like EBAY)
http://www.ownuser.com.tw/e_paypal_panasonic.html

MIG-PGH2 has four purchase specifications
(1) MIG-PGH2B = only BODY (B = BLACK)
(2) MIG-PGH2AB = BODY + MEB-03-c (A = external AA battery pack)
(3) [New specifications] MIG-PGH2RB =BODY + mini IR 2B & RHS (R = IR Remote, not the wired remote control)
(4) MIG-PGH2RAB = BODY + MEB-03-c + mini IR 2B & RHS

We recommend to buy (1) or (3).
Because AA batteries is not recommended as the main power supply that use on GH2 cameras.
Thanks for your business and support, wish you and your family a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Best regards,
Sincerely,
Ownuser Customer Service”

Soon the battery grip will be on sale on eBay too ([shoplink 27770 ebay]Click here to search for Ownuser stuff on eBay[/shoplink]).

Jeu de Société from SCHAZ on Vimeo.

Simon: “Just wanted to share this promo video that was shot exclusively with a GF1. CrumplePop (makers of awesome VFX) is featuring it on their blog! Check it out: http://crumplepop.com/blog/”

Travis: “I shot a bunch of video and stills at the regional bouldering competition my son competed at this weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02r6ArAnvHY
The gym is extremely dark so I used the 25mm F1.4 the entire time. Even the 45mm F1.8 wasn’t fast enough for the “cave” where most of the climbing took place.
One thing I can say is that the new AF improvements are significant. I now use AFC for video always. The expanded touch screen for AF is also a huge bonus. I also didn’t really miss the high bit rates from the hack at all. Hopefully, the new firmware will be hacked soon so we can have the best of both worlds.
This footage was basically unedited in terms of color and affects. The only thing I did was add in some sharpness because I didn’t have it set to do that in camera.”

Andrew: “Hello, I wanted to share a unique single-take music video which I shot on the AF-100 with a PL mount Cooke 18-100 T.3 lens: http://vimeo.com/32183353. I also recently co-directed a full length climbing film on 2 AF100s. here is the trailer:  http://vimeo.com/akorn/a-fine-line-film-trailer”

Brian: “I wanted to share a promotional video that I shot on a Panasonic GH2 for Anime World Chicago. No hacks or expensive toys. Just my camera, the 20mm pancake lens, and a tripod. http://vimeo.com/29159618”

Mike: “just sharing, shot with GH2 and 5N…..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_my1pDzWzc ab geht’s nach Africa/Kenya morgen, bin ende Dec wieder zurück. wünsche dir schöne weihnachten!”

Farrukh: “Created our first video clip with the EP3 and the PL 25mm. Love the combo! http://implausibleblog.com/2011/12/19/winter-llama-walk/ and http://implausibleblog.com/2011/12/23/world-dreams-uk-final-amika/”

Hakan: “Here is a little bit of everything, I took your words in plain ” Enjoy the time with your families and take some nice pictures of them”: http://vimeo.com/34190358”

Alex: “Not really a rumor, but wanted to share a funny Christmas music video. Shot with Panasonic GF1 and Sony EX3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlMQ7ZeWew0”

P.S.: Digitalcamerainfo (Click here) is giving away a 9-piece grand prize worth over $4000. They are going to reveal one piece of the prize everyday until New Year’s, starting with a Sony NEX-5N.