Olympus US just announced that it will ship the AIR MFT camera in USA too. First preorders are available at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), GetOlympus (Click here) and BHphoto for $299 (Click here).

Here is the full press text:

Olympus has announced the US release of the Air A01, a smartphone-controlled camera with a 16.05MP Micro Four Thirds sensor. The Air A01 is shaped like a lens and connects directly to your smartphone so that your phone’s screen effectively becomes the camera’s live view display. While the Air A01 looks like a lens, it is really a camera that is designed to combine the quality of a larger image sensor and versatility of an interchangeable-lens system with the ease and convenience of a smartphone.

Once attached to your smartphone, the Air A01 connects to it wirelessly via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and uses the OA Central App to control the camera’s settings. The app provides a means of image composition and review, direct-to-cloud uploads, and six shooting functions to help edit your photos and full HD 1080p videos. The app also facilitates working with the camera in a remote manner to better suit working from high or low angles, uncoupled to your smartphone.

The 16.05MP Digital Live MOS Sensor pairs with Olympus’s TruePic VII image processing engine for enhanced image quality, especially in low-light situations, with a sensitivity range of up to ISO 12800. This processor and sensor combination also affords a top shooting rate of 10 fps for up to 23 frames, full HD 1080p/30 video recording, a top shutter speed of 1/16000-second, and the ability to record both raw and JPG files.

The Air A01 uses a FAST 81-area contrast-detection AF system, which quickly locks on focus and can be configured with Face Detection AF or Eye Detection AF settings for more critical control. Images and movies can be stored internally on a microSD memory card, directly on your smart phone, or uploaded to cloud-based storage sites using the built-in Wi-Fi and your smartphone.

Utilizing a Micro Four Thirds mount, the camera accepts a wide variety of lenses, including the use of third-party lenses via optional lens mount adapters. It is available in a body-only option in black or white, or in a kit with ablack 14-42mm EZ Lens or a white 14-42mm EZ Lens.

Light Color 4K by Giulio Sciorio.

Hands On: Panasonic Lumix DMC-G7 (Popphoto).
Even older “selfies”: Self-portraits from early 20th and 19th century (TheNakedCamera)
Panasonic 4K Photo reaches to grab stills-from-video dream (Dpreview).
IBELUX 0.85 on MFT camera at DC.watch.
Panasonic G 42.5 mm f/1.7 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. – sample images (Lenstip).

Rhys Moses‎: “Here’s a post about one of the coolest/most dangerous festivals in Japan. I took a bunch of pics and video of the event, using the GX7 + the 12-35mm F2.8 lens. http://sixdayschiba.blogspot.jp/2015/06/to-tennousai-festival-machiyaminami.html“

Gianluca Bertoni
Alpe di Siusi
OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 Mark II, Olympus 12-40 f/2.8

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This is the weekly selection:

Imaging Resource posted their full E-M5II review and writes:

Perhaps where the Olympus E-M5 II impressed us most was when we had to crank up the sensitivity to shoot in low light, though. Its high ISO performance belies its Micro Four Thirds sensor size, and actually manages to rival some APS-C sensor-based cameras! All things considered, this is one heck of a package, and at a very competitive price as well. It is, perhaps, one of the best arguments yet we’ve seen for the rise of the mirrorless camera!

E-M5II store links:
E-M5II in Black at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto and GetOlympus.
E-M5II in Silver at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto and GetOlympus.
E-M5II In Europe at AmazonUK, Jessops, WexUK, Namencolor.
First E-M5II leather case on eBay in [shoplink 52300 ebay]Full Black (Click here)[/shoplink] or in [shoplink 52301 ebay]Full Brown (Click here)[/shoplink].

The new Olympus PRO lens manuals are now available for download:
7-14mm PDF manual: support.olympus.co.jp/jp/support/dlc/archive/man_mzded714f28.pdf
8mm PDF manual: support.olympus.co.jp/jp/support/dlc/archive/man_mzded8f18.pdf

Olympus Preorders:
7-14mm f/2.8 PRO lens: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, GetOlympus, WexUK, AmazonUK, AmazonDE, Digitalrev.
8mm f/1.8 PRO lens: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, GetOlympus, WexUK, AmazonUK, AmazonDE, Digitalrev.
Titanium E-M5II: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, GetOlympus, WexUK.

Thanks to the anonymous source who shared this.

ImagineVision announced a new 4K capable Micro Four Thirds camera. It has a 16MP sensor and can shoot up to 102,400 ISO. It’s meant to be used remotly and as a drone camera. If you can read Japanese you get the full info here: imaginevision-tech.com.

(Click to enlarge the image)

Reminder: Months ago VLSsymposium (PDF file here) unveiled the first info about the new 16MP 3D stacked Olympus sensor:

A 3D stacked CMOS Image Sensor with Global-shutter mode and high speed capturing mode:
The paper by Toru Kondo et al. from Olympus Corp. will describe a 16Mpixel 3D stacked CMOS image sensor with pixel level interconnections using 4 million micro bumps.

The two semiconductor substrates are bonded by a 7.6um pitch micro-bump array, and the storage node array is comprised on the bottom substrate to improve parasitic light sensitivity (PLS). Both a 16Mpixel global-shutter mode with a -180dB PLS and 2Mpixel 10000fps high speed image capturing are achieved. (Paper C4-5, “A 3D stacked CMOS image sensor with 16Mpixel global-shutter mode and 2Mpixel 10000fps mode using 4 million interconnections,” Toru Kondo et al., Olympus Corp.)