Why is the GF1 in stock in Europe and out of Stock in USA?

Amazon US has the Panasonic GF1 is in Stock via third party resellers only and highly overpriced.
In this months we noticed how european stores do have Panasonic stuff always in Stock and US stores are often out of stock. Maybe because of the strong Euro Panasonic preferrs to fill the european market first? We also noticed that US stores do only list the black GF1. In european stores you can find the black-white-red-silver GF1!
Amazon Germany (you only miss the red GF1), Amazon UK, Amazon France do have almost all Panasonic GF1 in Stock!

It is a bit frustrating for US buyers!

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The E-P2 is available for preorder at Amazon UK / Amazon US / Adorama / BHphoto / Amazon DE

Rollei resurrection!

rollei
It is not an Olympus or Panasonic news but I believe this news will be interesting for everyone who loves photography. I always liked Rollei cameras! Few months ago the Franke & Heidecke GmbH (the producer of the Rollei cameras and lenses) declared the insolvency. Now a new company, the DHW Photo GmbH wants to resurrect the camera production!
According to available information, the DHW will resume production on an area of 2000 square meters, spread over three floors, with 20 coworkers.
That’s good news!
I wish you good luck!

Original article at photoscala.de: Read in german or read the google english translation.

SOLVED! -> 43rumors technical problem with our form

UPDATE: the contact form problem has been solved. You can send me messages if you want!

Thanks!

Old message:

Dear readers!
We have some technical problem with Aksimet which blocks our form. It doesn’t work since 24 hours and your messages sent through our form are probably lost. If you want to contact me use write me at 43rumors@gmail.com.
I will let you know when the form will work again.
Sorry
Ale

Olympus PROFIT Surprise – up 47% over estimate

Sounds good:
Olympus, which earns about 65 percent of its sales abroad, surged 9.2 percent to 2,900 yen, its highest in a year and the largest gain on the Nikkei 225. The company may report April- September operating profit of 28 billion yen ($306 million), 47 percent more than its forecast, Nikkei English News said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ab5OoDYhwbLI

MISTRAL75 added following interesting information:

“Olympus’s financial results for the second 2009-2010 quarter (June-September) have been published since (on 6th November):

http://www.olympus-global.com/en/corc/ir/financial/pdf/n091106aE_n.pdf

Group half year operating income actually amounted to 28.5 billion yen, down 11.2 percent from 2008-09, and quarterly operating income to 17.2 million yen, up 17.9 percent compared to the same quarter last year. These results are indeed better than the analysts’ expectations.

As for the “Imaging” business unit (= cameras and lenses), sales were down 42.9 percent for the first quarter (April-June) and down 31.6 percent for the second quarter (July-September), each time compared to the same quarter one year before. Operating income tumbled 96.2 percent for the first quarter and “only” 31.6 percent for the second quarter.

So the group as a whole is in a much better condition than the camera business.

Thanks Mistral!

Panasonic financial results are available here: http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/en091030-5/en091030-5.html

Olympus E-P2: All the informations you need continually updated inside this post!


Hands-on by Lori Grunin form CNET US


This page will be continuely updated!

preorders:
– Amazon US: Olympus E-P2 with 17mm f/2.8 Lens and Electronic View Finder $1,099.99!
– Amazon US: Olympus E-P2 with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens and Electronic View Finder also for $1,099.99!

previews (cronological order – newest on top!):
forum-olympus-france.com (in french only)
digitalcamerareview.com (with Autofocus Tracking test-video)
quesabesde.com( hands on video in spanish)
Hands-on by Lori Grunin form CNET US
DCresource
fourthirds-user.com
PhotoReview Australia
pekkapotka.com
The Digital Story
Quesabesde Click here for the google english translation
Imaging Resources
CNET ASIA

First image samples:
dpinterface
43rumors image samples
43rumors E-P2 press photos
mycen.com

Official announcements:
Engadget
Photoscala.de. Google english translation available here.
Photographyblog – E-P2
Photographyblog – new Lenses
dpreview
British Journal of Photography

Videos made with the E-P2
youtube

Everything else:
Dave Etchells (Imaging Insider) talk with Sally Smith Clemens of Olympus about the new E-P2 Digital Pen.

Interesting comments:

Imaging Insider:Autofocus. Only one other problem came to light with the Olympus E-P1 in my shooting, and that was a tendency for the AF system to miss focusing on smaller foreground objects in favor of the background. That still happens with the Olympus E-P2, something I wish they’d addressed with a finer AF point, as is included on the Panasonic GF1.

CNET Asia: As with the GF1, the new Pen digicam has a port below the hotshoe for users to attach the VF-2 EVF. This accessory has a super-high resolution of 1.44 megapixels, almost seven times that of the Panasonic’s. and “On its own, the E-P2 is able to record stereo sound, though often it captures ambient noise as well.” and “The ports for the EVF on the GF1 and E-P2 are different, so they are not interchangeable.” and “The unit we tried was a prototype, so we weren’t not able to find out whether Olympus has fixed the slow focusing problem which plagued the E-P1.

Photoscala.de: E-P2+EVF = 899 Euro
Thanks everyone for sending me the links!

The Lens roadmap…Fisheye, wide and macro lenses also coming!
zuiko_lens_eng

click on the image to enlarge it!