There is a good news for all current [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink] owners! A new GH2 firmware update is coming in December. You can read the news here Panasonic website (Click here). There are many new features and fixes:

• – New video mode which is suitable for editing video recorded at high bit rate (24Mbps)
• – New functional option with Power Zoom Lens ([DISP FOCAL LENGTH (Display of Focal Length)], [STEP ZOOM], [ZOOM RESUME], [ZOOM SPEED] and [ZOOM RING*])
• – Full area enlargement of AF area setting
• – Improvement in the speed of consecutive shooting when shot with auto bracket
• – Increased number of recordable images in consecutive shooting
• – [EX.TELE CONV. (Extra Tele Conversion)] can be set ON/OFF separately in photo or video recording
• – More accurate light adjustment of built-in flash
• – Improvement in the AF performance in video recording
• – Synchronization of alarm volume for low battery with [BEEP VOLUME]
• – New [HALF-PRESS RELEASE] function
• – Improved NR (Noise Reduction) in high sensitivity shooting
• – ON/OFF control of the touch-screen

Just a reminder. The GH2 got a $200 discount at Amazon (Click here).

Photoscala (Click here) analyzed the latest Panasonic financial report. In summary, Panasonic lost 6% sales in the second fiscal quarter and the division “Digital AVC Networks” (which includes the digital cameras) had a 7% loss compared to last years quarter.
Panasonic also announced a new group organization (Click here to download the pdf).

Editor’s note: Neither Olympus nor Panasonic are doing very well this year. But I also saw that other companies are having problems. Strong YEN, Tsunami, Fukushima and now the Thai flood. There are many reasons why japanese companies are having a bad year!

The old beauty: The Panasonic [shoplink 14828 ebay]Panasonic GF1[/shoplink]

Our reader TAGO (Thanks!) found the reason why the current GF cameras Panasonic by reading an old article at http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/interview/20090909_314443.html (Sep. 2009).

Here it is: “The External terminal for EVF,it is necessary to run through high-frequency parallel data. In that case, EMI increases and cannot confirm a standard. Therefore, GF1 cannot output data of more than 200,000 pixel to the external terminal.”

So it sounds like it is not a bade joke or marketing trick if the new LVF2 adapter will not work on your GF cameras. The new adapter has 1.44k dot and that’s an amount of data the “old” connections of the GF1/2/3 cannot handle!

The author of the Extreme eye macro video on top wrote: “Who needs the nanoha when all you need is an old pentax lens and some 2 dollar extension tubes!“

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 Review (Neocamera).

Bokeh comparison @ 200mm and 300mm (m43photo).

Olympus Seeking Flickr Member Photos for PEN Ads (Photographyblog).

Panasonic G3 Lumix 45-175mm X lens review – Part 3 (Soundimagesplus).

And here are the Olympus refurbished cameras and lenses ending today and tomorrow:
[shoplink 26645 ebay]Olympus E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26646 ebay]White Olympus 75-300mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26647 ebay]Olympus E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26648 ebay]Olympus E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26649 ebay]Olympus E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26650 ebay]White Olympus 75-300mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26651 ebay]Olympus E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26652 ebay]Olympus E-PL2 with kit lens[/shoplink]

LisboAnamorphic in CinemascopE from Seb Farges on Vimeo.

Our friend Seb Farges posted another nice video using the GH2 with the tiny [shoplink 25880 ebay]Berthiot anamorphic 2X[/shoplink] lens and the [shoplink 25881 ebay]C-mount Fujian 35mm f/1.7[/shoplink] lens. Well done Seb! Also Andre Reid from EosHD is a big fan of anamorphic lenses. And you should absolutely check his newly written EOSHD Panasonic GH2 Shooter’s Guide!

P.S.: Search links for the Berthiot anamorphic 2X on [shoplink 25880 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and for the C-mount Fujian on [shoplink 25881 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Image courtesy: Quesabesde.

The Japanese website DC.watch (click here for the google translation) had a small talk with Panasonic about the new X lenses. The google translation tool is doing a very bad job so I ask my japanese readers to check if the news I am reporting here are 100% correct. These are the highlights I filtered via the terrible translation:

1) Future X lenses could be weatherproof.
2) Panasonic considers the X lenses to be like the [shoplink 26554 ebay]L lens series from Canon[/shoplink] (also top high quality).
3) The best selling Micro Four Thirds lens is the [shoplink 14796]20mm f/1.7 pancake[/shoplink] (I guess this is no surprise at all for all 43rumors readers).
4) Panasonic is still producing some Four Thirds lenses like the [shoplink 26552 ebay]Leica D Summilux 25mm f/1.4[/shoplink].

As you know the first two new X lenses are already in Stock in most stores (excpet in USA where Panasonic let’s you wait months before you can find them in Stock):
Panasonic 14-42mm X search links at [shopcountry 25104].
Panasonic 45-175mm X search links at [shopcountry 25103].

Two more X lenses will be announced in January, the 12-35mm and 35-100mm constant aperture lenses. I hope to get some details about them soon.

Today Olympus made his biggest share value gain since 1973! After Mr. Kikuawa resign the shares went up by 23%! Some readers asked me to highlight an argument in defense of Olympus: Not all $687 million fees where paid cash! The sum includes a $443 million buyback of preferred shares.

And there is one more article you have to read. It explains the difference and clash between two different mindsets, the western philosophy from Woodford versus the traditional way of doing business from Kikukawa. You can read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/business/global/olympus-chairman-resigns-amid-widening-scandal.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hpw (Thanks Thomas for sending me this).

P.S.: I am a big fan of Olympus company and history. And I truly wish that story can soon be over. I want to talk about future cameras again :)