A couple of months ago the italian website qtp.it launched the Four Thirds Alive Petition (Click here). They now got an answer from Olympus: ”

Dear Mr./Ms. qTp.it, Italian Photocommunity,
Thank you for your e-mail regarding our E-system products.
First of all, we are very grateful for your loyalty to Olympus and for all the support you have given us for over these many years since [shoplink 21891 ebay] OM-system [/shoplink].
Here are our idea and plan for the future:
In regard to the demanding requirements of professionals and high-level amateurs, the durability and speed, the PEN is still unable tocover the Four Thirds fully. Therefore we need the Four Thirds.
Therefore, when users of the E-system want to make a replacement purchase, we recommend the high-end Four Thirds series like the [shoplink 17163]E-5[/shoplink] for the durability and speed, the PEN for consumer-friendly, small and lightweight. We will make efforts to meet customers’ requests in these series.
We will be constantly making efforts to improve our products and services, and your continued support for Olympus would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Best regards,”

Thanks qtp.it for your effort!

Links:
– The OM system on [shoplink 21891 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] – The Olympus E-5 at [shopcountry 17163].

Plan séquence filmé au GH2 avec le [shoplink 14818]9-18mm d’Olympus[/shoplink] et le glidecam hd 1000 ([shoplink 21882 ebay]Click here to see the glidecam auctions on eBay[/shoplink])

Japan’s factory not back to normal until autumn (AmateurPhotographer).

Olympus SZ-20 Digital Camera Review (ePhotozine).

ReWo GH2 cage full review (EosHD).

Olympus EP-2 or FujiFilm X100: Which Photo is Which? (ThePhoBlographer). Fuji X100 preordes at [shopcountry 19929].

Nokton for sale at LL-forum, photovillage and [shoplink 15659 ebay]eBay[/shoplink].

Ahhhh! The Cliq photoshow 2011 in September has been deleted (Source: PDN, Found via: Photorumors). The Cliq show will mere with the CES show! That’s a short excerpt form the press release: “The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and PMA International have agreed in principle to move the 2011 PMA International Convention and Trade Show (aka CliQ 2011) to colocate with 2012 International CES, January 10-13, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nev.”

So where are all big camera makers going to show their cameras? I have a huge garden in front of my house. I could organize a barbecue with Olympus and Panasonic. Joke apart. A wonder what’s the reason behind that decision. Sounds like some of the big ones maybe would not have participated or would not have announced new products?

Good news for all Panasonic GH2 owners! Vitaly (the hacker) managed to dump the firmware of the Panasonic GH2! He can now start the reverse engineering process. It will take some time to understand the GH2 code. But we now have to right to dream the new features we would love to add to our GH2 (50/60P for example?).

There is also one more good news. Unlike the GH1 the GH2 video uses the RAM instead of ROM. You could be able to update the hacked software without to have to install one firmware hack update after another! Go Vitaly go!

Follow the forum post form Vitaly at www.personal-view.com

P.S.: Don’t forget to support Vitaly’s work with a small (or huge) donation!

The dpreview forum user “Morepix” found something really interesting about the GH2:”
1) The NR +2 shot had less noise and slightly less fine detail than the NR 0 shot.
2) I ran Topaz DeNoise on the NR 0 shot and compared the NR +2 image OOC. By comparison, the NR 0 shot with Topaz processing was better in every respect than the one with in-camera NR.
3) For some reason, the NR +2 shot showed chroma noise (blue) which the NR 0 shot did not.
4) My conclusion: Don’t use in-camera NR on RAW images. But if you want to clean up noise at higher ISO, Topaz does the best job I know of.”

ISO Test GH2 vs X100 (Dpreview forum)
Panasonic GF2 review at Blog.Paran.
PL-Mount and otherwise, cine-style lenses are proliferating (ProVideoCoalition).
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS18 / FH5 review (CameraLabs).

There are three refurbished E-PL1 cameras you can now get on Olympusmarket: First black E-PL1 on [shoplink 21833 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Second black E-PL1 on [shoplink 21834 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and a silver E-PL1 on [shoplink 21835 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Links to:
GH2 at [shopcountry 16254].
GF2 at [shopcountry 17361].
Fuji X100 at [shopcountry 19929].

Olympus has revised it’s business results forecasts for the fiscal year that ended on March 31. The net sales are 2,1% lower than expected and the net income has fallen by 50%. Olympus said the decline of digital camera sales is caused by intensifying market competition and by the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Yesterday I had a talk with three of my best sources. All do confirm that Olympus and Panasonic will soon go back to 100% full production capability. There are only minor problems with external suppliers that could delay the way back to the “normality”. Olympus and Panasonic plants were not particularly damaged by the Tsunami disaster. They don’t have to face the huge problems Nikon Canon and Sony do have. I don’t want to sound cynical (that’s just a pure marketing and business information) but Olympus and Panasonic could take advantage of the situation because it looks like Canon-Nikon-Sony too will not be able to produce enough cameras to avoid a price increase on their cameras. Is that a chance for Oly and Pana to increase their market share?

P.S.: I expect new product announcements next week by Panasonic and in June by Olympus. So stay tuned!

Goyo (Click here) made five new C-mount primes lenses that do cover the whole 4/3 sensor! Those are 12-16-25-35-50mm f/2.0 primes! To bad they don’t have a native m43 mount because otherwise this would be an amazing news. You will need to buy the C-mount adapter ([shoplink 21797 ebay]You can get them here on eBay for $8-$20[/shoplink]) to use those lenses.
On their website you can find sketches of the optics (no real pictures). They look pretty big. But finally we have some new lenses we can play with :)
There are no info about availability and price. And I didn’t fin any Goyo Lens on [shoplink 21799 ebay]eBay (only…”Toyo”! Is it the same?)[/shoplink]. That’s the list of the new lenses you can find on Goyo’s website:

Links:
C-mount adapter on [shoplink 21797 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Goyo and Toyo lenses on [shoplink 21799 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].