That’s a nice piece of a viewfinder! The japanese blog DC.watch.impress tested the Pentax 110 F2.8 70mm and the Zeiss viewfinder turret on the Olympus E-P1.

This is the first time I have seen the Zeiss viewfinder on a MicroFourThirds camera. Click here to see some nice images: DC.watch.impress

In March 2010 MicroFourThirds has been able to expand the japanese DSLR sales share and now crossed the 20% barrier! One year ago when only the Panasonic G1 was available the MicroFourThirds share was 5.5%.
I don’t know if Panasonic and Olympus really expected to have such a huge success when they started the MicroFourThirds “project”.

Click on the product name to jump on the amazon product page:

Source: BCNranking

This is a must read! Thom Hogan talks about the future of digital photography: http://bythom.com/design2010.htm.

According to his predictions DSLR sales will slowly decrease in favor of the new mirrorless camera segment. And the new Cellulars phones will eat the reduce the compact camera sales.

But there are also very interesting considerations about social network integration and video recording!

Noktor pre-orders are now closed but you can still visit the product page and add your email address to be notified when the lens will be in Stock.

In the meanwhile we have some new Noktor news for you:

1) New image samples are available on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/syf0n/sets/72157623669052808/
2) Noktor added a new FAQ page: http://noktor.com/faq.php
3) Ken Rockwell talks about the Noktor marketing strategy.

The only (pre-)reviews to date have been made by Philip Bloom and Steve Huff

Good news for our japanese readers! The Panasonic G2 will be in Stock on Amazon on April 28.
Sadly we have bad news in Europe and US:
– Amazon UK says the G2 will be released on 1 Jun 2010
– In US there is still no known arrival date in Amazon and BHphoto.
– Amazon Germany doesn’t list the camera.

One more thing:
A special G2 offer + BAG is now available in Japan -> http://panasonic.jp/dc/campaign_g2/index.html

Even if this is a non related Panasonic/Olympus post I believe you should read what RiceHigh wrote in his latest post. I believe almost everyone here does read the DPreview tests. A few days ago they posted the Canon 550D review and also compared it with the Pentax K-x.

RiceHigh says that DPreview has not been completely honest in their judgment “In fact, I just have a strong feeling that the writers just don’t want to embarrass Canon against what they have found out and noticed themselves, which is just so obvious and easily noticeable. So, they have to write some words to counter-balance the facts!”

That’s a strong statement “against” dpreview . Do you agree with Rice-High?

Editor’s note: I fully respect Dpreview but I admit that also to me the Pentax K-x images do look better than the Canon 550d images.

I am currently in Antwerpen with my girlfriend’s family. It has been a bit too rainy for my tastes but I really enjoy it here.
I wish you a good time with your friends and your family. And I want to thank you for helping me to keep 43rumors running. I hope to see you next week on 43rumors because I have some good news to tell you. 43rumors will soon have a new professional layout and new amazing features. And of course there will be rumors! All I can tell you now is that MicroFourThirds competition is coming…

But today is not the time for rumors :)
Happy Easter to all of you!!!
A.P.