The new Panasonic AU-EVA1 can be preordered at BHphoto. The full specs can be read on that PDF file released today by Panasonic. And this is the press text:

Reuters reports that Blackstone plans to sell their 45% Leica shares. And Zeiss seems to be interested to buy those shares. But Zeiss real goal is to become a majority shareholders and that means they would like to buy a part (or all) the shares from the Kaufman family.

If the deal goes through this could have an impact on the Panasonic and Leica partnership too.

Olympus Product Highlights at The Digital Shootout 2017

GH5 E-Stabilization, Monopods, Focus Stacking, and More! (PhotoJoseph).
Panasonic Leica DG 15mm F1.7 shooting experience (Dpreview).
The horrifying truth about radioactive Camera Lenses (Mirrorlessrumors).
Sweet 16: The most popular lenses of 2017…so far (Imaging Resource).
Olympus Playground kehrt nach Berlin zurück (Photoscala).

Plenty of news on the facebook E-M1II group and the GH5 group.

Tamron released the new 1.3 firmware update which improves the autofocus perofrmance on Olympus cameras.

The Tamron MFT zoom is in Stock at BHphoto in Black (Click here) and Silver (Click here).

The History and Science of Lenses

Sony A9 Review for Wedding Photographers (David Stubbs).
In Heidelberg with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the M-Zuiko 12-40mm 2.8 Pro (OlympusPassion).
Zeiss Batis lenses in Bali (Lenspire).
The Problem with Modern Lenses (PetaPixel).

Plenty of news on the facebook E-M1II group and the GH5 group.

Dave: “You might like to share this video shot on the coastlines of southern Australia this winter (last week). Let’s dedicate it to King Canute: he’s been dead for 1,000 years and the waves are still rolling in! Shot on Panasonic GX85 with Lumix 14-140 lens and Olympus 12-40 f2.8.  https://youtu.be/b4LAvbzQZaA“

Panasonic Japan published the full Q1 financial report. A couple of notes:

1) Net profit attributable to Panasonic Corporation stockholders increased by 19.6 billion yen from the previous year (particularly due to growth in the automotive-related business).

2) Increased in AV consumer electronics such as TVs and digital cameras

In all their documents I found nearly no mention of the digital camera business. It’s clear that other branches (automotive industry and so on) are the more important part within the company

The Japanese site Instore reports that the Olympus E-M10II and 14-42mm kit is marked as discontinued in nearly all major Japanese stores.

This may be another sign that the new E-M10III will be announced soon!