Image courtesy: ePhotozine

Olympus launched a new project called “Open Platform“. There is also a website for that here: http://opc.olympus-imaging.com/en/index.html. What is it?

ePhotozine writes: “Olympus are showing a new prototype interchangeable lens camera module, using the Micro Four Thirds lens mount and developed with MIT, it is designed to connect to smartphones and tablets. Called the “Open Platform” the camera module is designed to deliver the image quality of Olympus cameras, and connects to smartphones and tablets over Wi-Fi.”

Yes, this is in small words the Olympus clone of the [shoplink 48340 ebay]Sony QX lenscameras (here on eBay)[/shoplink]! :)

Sounds very cool or not?

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Olympus preorders:
Silver E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus. In Europe at Wex UK.
40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus. In Europe at Wex UK.
LH-76 lens hood at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
MC-14 1.4x teleconverter at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
PRF-ZD62 Z protection filter at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
PRF-ZD72 Z protection filter at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
General links to all new Olympus stuff at Adorama.
ALL new stuff announced at Photokina at Amazon.

Panasonic preorders:
LX100 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto. Europe at Panasonic Germany, WexUK, Panasonic Austria, Panasonic France, Panasonic Italy, Panasonic Spain, Panasonic Netherlands, Panasonic Belgium.
GM5 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto. Europe at Panasonic Germany, WexUK, Panasonic Austria, Panasonic France, Panasonic Italy, Panasonic Spain, Panasonic Netherlands, Panasonic Belgium.
GM5 in red at Adorama.
35-100mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto. Europe at Panasonic Germany, Panasonic Austria, Panasonic France, Panasonic Italy, Panasonic Spain, Panasonic Netherlands, Panasonic Belgium.
14mm at Panasonic Germany, Panasonic Austria, Panasonic Spain, Panasonic Netherlands, Panasonic Belgium.

Olympus Japan officially released the E-M1 and 60mm firmware update. Enjoy it guys!!!

Like you know smartphones are killing the compact camera market. That’s why Panasonic came up with a unique solution. They announced the impressive CM1 smartphone with following photocamera specs:
1 inch sensor
20 megapixel
28mm f/2.8 leica lens

It also has:
4.7-inch screen
2.3Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 801
2GB RAM
microSD cards up to 128GB in capacity
Android

For now it’s going to be sold in France and Germany only but if successful it will be sold in many more countries.

Hands-on at Engadget.

Important: I will continually update this post with new links! Because of the huge traffic expect short blackouts. Just reload if that happens.

Preorders (Click on store name to jump on site):
LX100 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto. Europe at Panasonic Germany, WexUK, Panasonic Austria, Panasonic France, Panasonic Italy, Panasonic Spain, Panasonic Netherlands, Panasonic Belgium.
GM5 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto. Europe at Panasonic Germany, WexUK, Panasonic Austria, Panasonic France, Panasonic Italy, Panasonic Spain, Panasonic Netherlands, Panasonic Belgium.
GM5 in red at Adorama.
35-100mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto. Europe at Panasonic Germany, Panasonic Austria, Panasonic France, Panasonic Italy, Panasonic Spain, Panasonic Netherlands, Panasonic Belgium.
14mm at Panasonic Germany, Panasonic Austria, Panasonic Spain, Panasonic Netherlands, Panasonic Belgium.

Previews:
LX100: ThePhoBlographer, Dpreview, Photographyblog, ePhotozine, Cnet,
GM5: Dpreview, ThePhoBlographer, Photographyblog, ePhotozine, Cnet, Imaging Resource.
35-100mm: Photographyblog,

Videos:
LX100: Intro by Panasonic, 4k sample, First look at Jessops, Panasonic Germany, BHphoto,
Gm5: Intro by Panasonic,

HOT(!) info:
Fantastic CM1 1 inch smartphone from Panasonic (Engadget and in German at SystemKameraForum)
14mm lens gets updated (Photographyblog)
GH4 firmware coming in October (Dpreview)
FZ1000 firmware also coming (Dpreview)
Panasonic also announced the 30mm f/2.8 (43rumors).
Panasonic Interview at Photographyblog.

Press release:
LX100: Dpreview, SystemKameraForum (German), Lemondedelaphoto (French), Quesabesde (Spanish), Dicahub (Korea), Photoscala (German), DC.watch (Japanese).
GM5: Dpreview, SystemKameraForum (German), Lemondedelaphoto (French), Quesabesde (Spanish), Dicahub (Korea), Photoscala (German), DC.watch (Japanese).
35-100mm: Dpreview, SystemKameraForum (German), Photoscala (German), DC.watch (Japanese).
GH4 firmware update  Dpreview,
FZ1000 firmware update Dpreview,
CM1 at Photoscala (German), Video by Panasonic Germany.
14mm update at Photoscala (German), DC.watch (Japanese).

Poll:

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Reminder: Today new(!) Olympus Preorders:
Silver E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
LH-76 lens hood at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
MC-14 1.4x teleconverter at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
PRF-ZD62 Z protection filter at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
PRF-ZD72 Z protection filter at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
General links to all new Olympus stuff at Adorama.
ALL new stuff announced at Photokina at Amazon.

Preorders, specs and price info (Click on store name to open the direct product page in a new tab):
Silver E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus. In Europe at Wex UK.
40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus. In Europe at Wex UK.
LH-76 lens hood at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
MC-14 1.4x teleconverter at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
PRF-ZD62 Z protection filter at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
PRF-ZD72 Z protection filter at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
General links to all new Olympus stuff at Adorama.
ALL new stuff announced at Photokina at Amazon.

Reminder: Panasonic will announce the new products at 14:00 (German time) which is 5:00 in San Francisco, 08:00 in NYC and 22:00 in Tokyo

Press releases:
Robin Wong, Full E-M1 firmware update info at 43rumors, Silver E-m1 and fw info at DPreview,  40-150mm at Photoreview, E-M1 at ThePhoBlographer, 40-150mm at ThePhoBlographer, DSLRmagazine (Spanish), 40-150mm lens press at Dpreview, 40-150mm at SystemKameraForum (German), Silver E-M1 and fw at SystemKameraForum (German), E-M1 at OpenPN (French), 40-150mm at OpenPN (Click here), Fotointern (Suisse), Silver E-M1 LeMondeDeLaPhoto (French), 40-150mm LeMondeDeLaPhoto (French),

Image samples:
First image smaples taken with the 40-150mm PRO lens by Pekka Potka.

Note: Firmware 2.0 for the E-M1 is ocming on September 24! No 4K coming with that update. But the weird thing is that I have images of 4K on the E-M1! Will post them tomorrow after all that announcement buzz. Hope Olympus will explain what’s going on after my “leak”. One of the 4K beta testers is upset with Olympus not releasing the 4K fw yet (Nabil Fathi on Twitter).

Poll:

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Images:

Panasonic announced the development of the new 30mm f/2.8 macro lens. Here is the official press text:

Development of the 30mm/F2.8 Digital Interchangeable Macro Lens

Panasonic is announcing the development of a new digital interchangeable lens – the 30mm/F2.8 single focal length macro lens based on the Micro Four Thirds system standard.*1

The new 30mm/F2.8 macro lens enables not only life-size macro photography but also offers further versatile styles of capturing photos, such as landscape photography thanks to a focusing distance of 60mm (35mm camera equivalent). For high precision focusing in macro photography the new lens also supports 240 fps high-speed AF, while integrating optical image stabiliser. It features a sophisticated exterior design in metallic finish for the stylish appearance.

Panasonic is committed to continuous development of imaging products to meet the diverse needs of customers in the expanding Interchangeable Lens camera market.

*1: Details of the product specifications, the date of release and the price are yet to be advised.

･Product image shown above is not final.

･Design and specifications subject to change without notice.