Egami (translation here) patented the Till Lens design you can see here on top. As usual with patents we will not know yet if such a lens will ever be produced for the mass market or not. And I don’t know if such a lens is really needed for the MFT system (what do you think?).

Reminder: The German company BIG has shown the BIG Shift Lens 4,5 / 15 mm MFT lens at Photokina. A lens that is directly based on the [shoplink 33839 ebay]Voigtlander Heliar 15mm f/4.5 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] design. On sale next year for 999 Euro.

Megapixel posted this videointerview with Sebastian Drawert from Panasonic. These are the key info from the interview collected by Megapixel:

• The huge success of the GH2 as a video camera was a surprise to Panasonic.
• The development of the GH3 was at least in part the result of a great deal of feedback from pro videographers.
• The GH3 abandons the multi aspect ratio sensor used in the GH2 in order to improve image quality according to Mr. Drawert .
• While the GH2 was a 60% video and 40% stills camera the GH3 is more of a 50%-50% according to Mr. Drawert.
• The GH3 we saw in photokina didn’t have focus peeking – this is not a hardware issue and might be added later on in firmware (although nothing is set at this point).
• Although Panasonic did not announce a sound grip (like Sony did with the A99) this is an option Panasonic will definitely look into.
• Panasonic showcased two new prototype lenses in photokina 2012 – a 150mm f2.8 (300mm in 35mm equivalent) and a 42.5mm f/1.2 (a 85mm in 35mm equivalent). Both lenses should be available next year.
• Panasonic developed applications for the GH3 for both android and iOS based devices including ones which uses the cellular device’ GPS (so no internal GPS is required by the camera) as well as a remote etc.
• It is possible to view images on the computer from the camera in “real-time” however bandwidth limitations meas that RAW image will still take 20-30 seconds to transfer.
• Panasonic currently doesn’t have plans to allow developers to create apps for its cameras but it doesn’t rule anything for the future and will continue to evaluate the development of the connected camera market.

Thanks Megapixel for sharing the interview!

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Panasonic and Olympus Preorder Links with specs and price:
Special GH3 page at Amazon (Click here) and a full Olympus presentation page at Amazon (Click here).
GH3 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), Panasonic US and in Europe at Wexphotographic UK and Technikdirekt.
35-100mm X lens at Amazon (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), Panasonic US.
E-PL5 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here). In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France,
E-PM2 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here). In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France,
XZ-2 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
60mm macro at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
12mm Black prime lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
15mm cap-lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).

[shoplink 25320 ebay][/shoplink] Image on top: The [shoplink 25320 ebay]Four Thirds Olympus 12-35mm f/2.0 lens[/shoplink].

Many times we read on forums and websites about the possibility that Olympus may use larger sensors on future Four Thirds cameras. But would current FT lenses cover a larger circle?

Lloyd Chambers (Click here) tested the [shoplink 25320 ebay]Olympus SHG 14-35mm f/2 ED[/shoplink] on the Nikon D800 and proved that the image circle is 23mm while the MFT diagonal 21.3mm. SO no, there is no chance FT lenses would work on larger sensor cameras. Lloyd seems to be surprised because he speculated that the image circle would be much larger: “based on the fact that the performance of the SHG lenses is so outstanding, even compared to Leica M glass.”

I bet many here would love to get some of these super FT lenses in a more smaller and native MFT package!

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14-35mm f/2.0 on [shoplink 25320 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] 35-100mm f/2.0 on [shoplink 25119 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Dear readers,

this is just a short note to tell you that the last three days we worked on transferring 43rumors and mirrorlessrumors on a new server. We did a complete new installation and theme upgrade. There are still some issues to fix and I would like you to help me to send the problems you find on the website. One of them is that messages written through the contact form when using Chrome Browser are not being sent. UDPATE: Cna you pelase try to send me a message through the contact form? And If it doens’t get send please let me know what Browser, OS you are using and from what country you are sending it. Thanks!

New features:
There will be a small design change soon and also (finally!) a new iPhone and iPad version.

Personal note:
The last 10 days I was very busy because I moved from the mountains to Antwerp where I will stay for the next four months. SO again sorry if I didn’t manage to answer your question on the comment section or via email. I was super stressed.

Thanks!

Back in January Astro joined the Micro Four Thirds system and said they would make a new 4K camera. The full specs of the camera are now available at astrodesign.co.jp. It is a camera made for Geometric data capturing for academic, commercial, military, etc. application Social property scrutiny and maintenance for road, tunnel, bridge, etc. Cinema and broadcasting. Definitely not a mass product and something 99,999% of the 43rumors readers will not buy. But hey, it’s a mft camera and we need to welcome the small Japanese company! :)

Image courtesy: Amos Chapple.

Amos Chapple is a Pro Photographer using Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses. He sent me a new mail I am posting here as it is:

“Italian Vanity Fair magazine have been buying my work fairly regularly and have used four images of mine in the past four months. Two images have been used as double-page spreads. The magazine runs a tight ship; image quality is thoroughly checked before they print things, and guess what? All of it was shot with M43 kit :)
Here is a link to the proofs: http://imgur.com/a/EHdbq
All pics taken with a [shoplink 16254]GH2[/shoplink]. Most of these images have also been used in newspapers and magazines throughout Europe including the Guardian, Daily Mail etc.
I don’t think the image quality of M43 is as good as full-frame DSLRs but it’s nice to know that if you’ve got good content you can use M43 kit without worrying about the sensor size.
All the best for now, keep up the great work!”

This is just to say once again that if you have talent you can achieve superb results with any camera system. No need to go Full Frame to be a PRO :)

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Private note: I am back from the mountains and will live for four months in Antwerpen. Will be back in my isolated place on the Pyrenees in France by February.

Purple Dance from Seb Farges on Vimeo.

Tonight Olympus released the new firmware update for the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens. This update fixes one issue: “Unstable exposure of still images taken while recording video while using the lens with a Panasonic camera was resolved.“. More info at Olympus Japan.

And here is the next news roundup:
Greece off the world map? Pics with the E-PL1 at Greekdiaries.
Alternative Handgriffe für die OM-D E-M5 by Pen And Tell.
LX7 underwater housing press release at Photorumors.
Lensbaby Spark Review at ePhotozine.
Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH on Olympus OM-D E-M5 on Diglloyd.
E-M5 photo gallery at Outbackphoto.
New C-mount lens adapter from Metabones (Dc.watch).
Ringfoto-Messe: Neues von Panasonic, Metz und Brenner (Pen And Tell).
Autumn Colours OM-D Event With Steve Gosling (ePhotozine).
Panasonic G5 review at Digital-photography-school and Steve Digicams.
Olympus 75mm test at Lydogbilde.no
60mm macro image samples at http://footlessfish.com.
Bruno: “A few weeks ago, you shared the astro-photography time lapse I made with my E-P3 for which I got many positive comments from many of your readers.  I’ve now finished processing the second part of that time lapse, where I mounted the camera on the structure of the 11m mirror of the South African Large Telescope during night time operation!  Yes, a mirrorless camera mounted on an 11m mirror!  It’s a very unique perspective and the whole thing looks like you are looking through the opened hatch of a spaceship! The video was made for outreach purposes to explain what happens in a typical night at SALT.  I’ve got about 14h of “on sky” footage with different scientific projects being done one after the other.  The resulting video starts with a minute of pictures explaining how the telescope is built and how it works, then goes to the night sky taken from a point of view of what SALT sees.  All the technical details are at the end of the video, I hope you will enjoy it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXEJRr1oBZw&hd=1”
TVSmith: “Tanjung Sepat, Dramatic Tone Art Filters, Kite Park, Bukit Gasing, Morib Gold Coast and many more images…Featuring the OM-D, PENs and the occasional Galaxy S3, all in one place at: http://www.tvsmith.my/“