According to EosHD a new Panasonic GH1 hack allowed to increase the bit rate to 24Mbps!

The Hacker is called “tester13” and you he is active on dvxuser.com

He even doesn’t own the Panasonic GH1. So may you help him to buy one by donating via paypal  (click here -> the money goes directly to him not to 43rumors!)

Do you have an idea on how to make pressure on Olympus and Panasonic to create cross-compiler environments?

In his latest post (click here to read it) explained the importance of having “open mounts”.

Some excerpts:

MicroFourThirds: “One of the things that is pushing their success amongst current DSLR users is that you can get a mount adapter for virtually any mount.”

About Samsung: “They simply don’t see the mount issue that’s holding them back. Where Olympus is quietly encouraging mount adapters, Samsung isn’t.”

The future: “it’s a game of keeping losses to a minimum to slow the contraction that happens after market saturation. I know I’m repeating the same thought, but the solution is simple: redefine what a camera is. Right now, Panasonic and Olymus are closer to doing that than Nikon and Canon.”

Let’s see how Thom Hogan would redefine the camera:

• “Modular. Remember that non-stop technology march? Well, we can completely junk our equipment every time a sensor generation comes down the pike, or we can just replace the sensor module. Which would you prefer?
• Programmable. This necessarily doesn’t mean you, the user, has to write programs. It means that there’s a known API to the underlying hardware (and modules!) and a way to take advantage of it. Whatever you need to do, there should be an app for that, not a dedicated feature with restrictive parameters.
• Communicating. The camera sits in the middle of so many processes and initiates most of them. But right now we’re using Sneaker Net to communicate (that’s an reference to the old practice of taking a disk out of your computer and going down the hall to put it in another one in order to move files). But here’s another thing: cameras should be able to communicate with other cameras, other camera accessories, and things outside the camera world, all simultaneously. Right now most of the communication that is done by our cameras is proprietary, highly restricted, and often sequential.“

I would love to see such a camera system and you?

Firmware1.3 v.s. 1.4 – Focus speed test for Olympus E-P1 (17mm/2.8) (via fotoactualidad)

E-P1+20mm f/1.7 AF SPEED ver1.4

Click on the links to visit the panasonic compatibility information page:
• Compatibilities of DMC-G2 and DMC-G10 NEW
• Compatibilities of DMC-GF1, DMC-GH1 and DMC-G1 NEW
• Compatibilities of DMC-L10K NEW
• Compatibilities of DMC-L1K NEW
• Compatibilities of Four Thirds lens NEW

Leica just released the new Leica V-LUX 20. You pay $699.00 for the Leica version of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 ($335.34).

MicroFourThirds user will probably be more interested in knowing more about the new Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 (check out leicarumors). Does this mean the “older” Leica 35mm f/1.4 will become cheaper? It’s a Leica! Forget it!

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/oima_slr_penfirmware.asp?intCmp=geto_rdrct_penfirmware

Auto Focus Performance
This update will improve camera AF performance when shooting both stills and videos with the E-P1, E-P2 and E-PL1 cameras when using any Micro Four Thirds or Four Thirds lens. Auto Focus Lock time when shooting stills is improved by 15%. Auto Focus tracking accuracy when shooting movies is also improved.

Viewfinder/LCD Simultaneous Playback Function
This upgrade also brings additional display functionality to the E-P2 and E-PL1 cameras when fitted with the VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder. Photographers using these combinations can now view menu and recorded images on the LCD while the VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder is in use.

Movie-Still-Compatible (MSC) Lens Compatibility
This update also ensures that like the E-PL1, the E-P1 and E-P2 camera models are fully compatible with and able to take advantage of two recently announced and soon-to-reach market lenses; the M. Zuiko Digital™ ED 9–18mm F4.0–5.6 and M. Zuiko Digital ED 14–150mm F4.0–5.6 lenses. Olympus is designating these two lenses as MSC, or Movie-Still-Compatible. They are optimized for shooting high definition video with accurate and silent autofocus.

26 cameras of the 80 most sold DSLR (during the last week) listed on BCNranking are Panasonic or Olympus cameras.

From the most sold 80 DSLR:
17 are Canon cameras
14 Olympus cameras
12 Panasonic cameras
12 Nikon cameras

Ranking+ camera:
10 Black Panasonic GF1+20mm
15 White Panasonic GF1+20mm
16 White Olympus E-PL1 +14-42mm
20 Red Panasonic G1 +14-45mm
22 White Olympus E-PL1 (double kit)
30 Silver Olympus E-PL1 +14-42mm
35 Black Olympus E-PL1 +14-42mm
35 Silver Olympus E-PL1 (double kit)
40 Black Panasonic G1 +14-45mm
41 Black Olympus E-PL1 (double kit)
44 Black Panasonic G1 (double kit)
47 Red Panasonic GF1+20mm
48 Silver Panasonic GF1+20mm
61 Olympus E-620 (double kit)
61 Black Panasonic GF1+14-45mm
64 Silver Olympus E-P2 +14-42mm
65 Olympus E-P1 (double kit)
66 Black Olympus E-P2 +14-42mm
66 Blue Panasonic G1 +14-45mm
70 Gold Panasonic G1 +14-45mm
71 Silver-Brown Olympus E-P2 +17mm
74 Olympus E-620 +14-42mm
74 Panasonic GH1 +14-140mm
77 Silver Olympus E-P1 +17mm
79 Red Panasonic G1 (double kit)