The revenue made by Olympus with the Imaging division. Graph made by Photoscala.de

One thing is sure. it’s time for Olympus to wake up and change their product and marketing strategy. The last “Consolidated Financial Results for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2011″ describes a terrible situation for the Olympus Imaging division. The company as a whole is not doing bad at all with the medical division still signing a big “+” in both sales and net profit. But the Imaging division revenue of the year 2010-2011 is halved compared to two years ago (See the graph on top. Thanks Photoscala!). Photoscala made a detailed analysis of the report. Olympus did lose “only” a 5% in the Japanese market but around 30% in US, Europeans and other Asian markets!

And the biggest failure for Olympus is that they are year for year selling less cameras while the digital camera market as a whole is growing! See the next graph made by Photoscala.de:

In short, Olympus is doing very bad outside Japan. And it continually loses market share and that’s a bit surprising if you do consider the recent Micro Four Thirds success. Probably Four Thirds is indeed almost a dead system (from a sales point of view) and maybe Olympus didn’t manage to be as good as Panasonic in selling Micro Four Thirds products. But that’s just my speculation. They need to rethink their product and marketing strategy. They have a history of innovation and certainly a group of top engineers. It’s the product and marketing strategy that fails. This is a huge wake up call for Olympus!

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Read the full article from photoscala in german or via google english translation.

DPreview (Click here) posted the full Fuji X100 review. You can have a lot of fun by comparing the results with Micro Four Thirds cameras. Dpreview likes the camera but recognizes that :”Ultimately, perhaps the biggest problem for the X100 is that it’s competing in today’s marketplace with the new breed of compact Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras, and it’s not exactly cheap in comparison.”
Look for X100 preorder options by clicking on the direct shop link at [shopcountry 19929].

Panasonic G3 first look at Amateur Photographer.
Panasonic G3 preview at Imaging Resource.
Look for preorders at [shopcountry 22077].

Panasonic GH2 and Lensababy test at Dailystaley.

SLR MAGIC Toy Lens 1.4/26mm test at Photoblossoms. You can buy the lens on [shoplink 18603]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

The Tiny Mini Micro Four Thirds Camera. Exclusive Hands-on! (Micadget).

Gary Fong Micro Four Thirds Puffer Launched, Reviewed (Digitalcamerareview).

Daytone Bikeweek taken with the E-PL2 (Craig Litten).

Wanderlust Pinwide pinhole cap tests at Exposingpixels.

This post gets continually updated. Latest addition are on top of each categories. UPDATE: preorders now available!

Links to preorders

Preorder the black,white, red or brown G3 at Amazon US (Click here)
Now preorders in Europe too! At Amazon UK (Click here).
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 14-42mm Lens Kit at Bhphoto (Click here)
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 Camera Body at Bhphoto (Click here)

Reviews and Previews

First look at Amateur Photographer.
Full review at Techradar: “Panasonic appears to have a winner on its hands. The Panasonic G3 manages to combine the best elements of the G2 and GF2 and as a result is a camera that is likely to find favour with many enthusiasts, especially those who like street and reportage photography.”
Systemkameraforum.de G3 test (You need to be a registered member)
First Impressions Review at ePhotozine.
Hands-on preview at Dpreview.
HOT! Full G3 review at Photographyblog. And the camera earns 5 of 5 stars!!! It’s an “essential” camera: “The Lumix DMC-G3 is the most well-rounded Panasonic compact system camera to date”
HOT! Interview with Panasonic at Photographyblog (Nice job Photographyblog!). Panasonic confirms they will launch the m43 version of the [shoplink 16340 ebay]Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 Four Thirds lens (Click here to see that on eBay)[/shoplink]. And there is a small surprise, it will be Leica branded!
G3 unboxing (Photographyblog)
G3 size comparison (Photographyblog)

Image and video samples

Test images at Imaging Resource.
Image samples on Flickr (taken with beta firmware).
Panasonic G3 presentation from Panasonic Uk on youtube.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 hands-on and interviews at London 2012 HQ on youtube.
Panasonic DMC G3 first look from PhotoRadar on youtube.
Another G3 presentation video (italian) on youtube.
Stuio scene comparison at Dpreview.
Samples gallery at Dpreview.
ISO test at Focus Numerique
First video sample on youtube

Official press release

Le monde de la photo.
Engadget
Amateur Photographer
Photoscala.de
DSLRmagazine
Quesabesde
Fotointern.ch
Focus Numerique
Photographyblog
Hybridcams

Hot new features of the G3

16.3Mp Compact System Camera
3.0″ Free Angle Touch Enabled LCD
Micro Four Thirds 14-42mm Zoom Lens
Electronic Eye-Level Viewfinder
Multiple Lens Options Including 3D Still
Intelligent Auto Plus

Poll

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Panasonic GH2 tested with the macro extension tube: “SLR Magic (they create the famous Toy Lens) asked me to test their prototype macro extension tube for 4/3 sensor camera’s. I ended up with creating “Blossom” It’s all shot within 1 or 2 hours in and around my office and privite house. Postproduction was done in less then a day.“

New automatic retractable lens cap for the XZ-1 (DC.watch).

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 Review (Photoradar)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH5 (Cnet Australia).

Samyang 35mm/1.4 + NEX5 + Canon 550D + Lumix G2 + Samsung NX10 (Dpreview forum).

Sensor Size Doesn’t Matter (Seriouscompacts).

0.95 NOKTON a test by Dario Viola (Vimeo)

The Nokton i in Stock in Belgium at pch.be (Click here), in US at Photovillage (Click here) and of course on [shoplink 15659 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Lomo Effect – Olympus E-PL2 vs Lomo LC-A ([shoplink 21930 ebay]Click here to see the Lomo on eBay[/shoplink])

Review of the Pinwide Pinhole “Lens” for Micro Four Thirds Cameras (TheDigitalStory).

Advantages of DSLRs over video cameras (EosHD).

A new german Fuji X100 forum (http://www.fuji-x100-forum.de/). Visit it! ;)

NAB 2011 – Odds ‘N’ Ends (ProVideoCoalition).

Mails from our readers

1) toto22: “Not a rumor, unfortunately, :-)!
Maybe this will be interesting to someone visiting your site. A group of Russian enthusiasts made a trip which very close to the one made 100 years ago by Sergey Proskurin-Gorsky, the first Russian phorographer made the pics of the Russian countryside in color. There is a dedicated website now, which compares old and new pics of the same locations along the way. The address is as follows:
http://nashural.ru/Starina/chusovaya-100-let.htm
Cheers and good luck!!!”

2) Melvin: “No rumor, but a blog post on micro and 4/3rds usage and the new sensor rumor.
If you think it is a nice read, a link in a little bit of everything post on 4/3rds romors is appreciated.
Thanks very much! enjoy reading your site, keep the good work up!
http://bit.ly/mmU2nm”

P.S.: Today I am out with my family all the day. Will not be able to answer your emails! Have a nice Sunday!

Solomon Chase announced the dead of Noktor on Twitter: “Sadly, Noktor has come to an end. Thank you to all our customers and supporters. On to bigger and better things!“. The Noktor.com website has been shut down. It’s pity. They had a huge momentum at the time of the launch. They didn’t manage to exploit it. I have one of the Noktor lenses and I use it for mainly for video production. Wide open it isn’t good enough for stills. The [shoplink 15659 ebay]Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95[/shoplink] is definitely the much better choice.

The only place were you have some chance to find a Noktor is [shoplink 15629 ebay]eBay (No auctions yet)[/shoplink]. What are the alternative lenses you can buy? Easy:
1) There are plenty of fast  50mm C-mount lenses on [shoplink 21920 ebay]eBay (Click here and you will find plenty of Navitron, Angenieux, Canon and Noctilux lenses[/shoplink]). They are far cheaper than the Noktor but you also have to buy an adapter.
2) JJeying sells reworked 55mm f/1.0 Kowa lenses on [shoplink 21919 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. You don’t need any adapter.

We Thanks Solomon Chase for his work and we wish him all the best for the future!

P.S.: The Voigtländer 25mm is in Stock at Amazon France (Click here) for 749 Euro only (UPDATE: sold out now!). More links to the lens:[shopcountry 15659]