Olympus PEN E-P5 Camera Review

To fellow 4/3 Rumors fans: the 4/3 Rumors Flickr group is off to a fabulous start! In just two weeks, we already have 150 members and 240+ photos posted. These photos are the best of the readers’ work, and really show off what these “little sensors” can do, with street, snaps, macro, portraiture, fashion, landscape, cityscape, product shots, events, you name it. We even have kittens, puppies, and babies!  There is so much quality, that it’s become my de facto “favorites” list, and I hope it will be yours, too. We have shots to show off dynamic range, high ISO, resolution, depth of field, and, of course, industrial design of the 4/3 and µ43 universe. We have sticky discussion topics for introducing yourself, for showing off pro work, and for curmudgeonly punditry. Check us out! Join us! http://www.flickr.com/groups/43rumors/

Sample Gallery: Olympus PEN E-P5 at Digitalcamerainfo.
Olympus E-P5 review at DC.watch.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 Review at digital-photography-school.
Panasonic 7-14mm vs Olympus 9-18mm by Admiringlight.
Olympus OM-D EM-5 + Olympus 17mm f1.8 vs Fuji x100 at Thisisnotaprint.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-XS1 Review at ePhotozine.
Olympus E-P5 guide on google play.
Panasonic GF6 review at Photographyblog.

Andrzej: “Maybe you will be happy to see how 3 different cameras work together http://www.behance.net/gallery/EAT-BEAT-JAPAN/9424173
Panasonic gh2 – wide shots
Canon 60d – close up shots on actres
Canon 5d mark2 – medium shots, and all food shots.“

Preorders:
Black lens at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Silver lens at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).

The new 20mm II lens:
Our hopes of a better AF performance (and little hopes for a better image quality) haven’t been fulfilled. The only new “features” of the new version is the better chassis and the possibility to chose a Silver version. I am not disappointed about the “non-improvement” on the image quality front. This was already great and it’s hard to achieve even better results on such a small piece of glass. But a better AF performance would have been welcome.

That said, let me know if you are going to buy the lens:

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Preorders:
Black lens at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Silver lens at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).

In short:
The new 20mm II version has a new metal finish replaces the original 20mm lenses resin body, and combines with a durable metal mount for a sophisticated premium feel.
Optically the new The LUMIX G 20mm / F1.7 II lens offers the same great performance as the previous model with two aspherical lenses and a multi-coated lens surface for reduced ghosts and flaring

Press text:
Panasonic is pleased to announce the addition of a new single focal length lens, the LUMIX G 20mm / F1.7 II ASPH (H-H020A) featuring a new metallic profile in the Micro Four Thirds standard. It boasts dramatic compactness and light weight despite its F1.7 aperture that enables beautiful soft focus in the background, allowing the subject to stand out impressively.
Comprised of seven lenses in five groups, the new system uses two aspherical lenses to minimize both distortion and chromatic aberration, achieving incredibly high resolution corner to corner. The versatile 20mm focal distance (equivalent to 40mm on a 35 mm film camera) is suitable for wide variety of photography including scenery such as sunsets and dimly lit indoor shots taking advantage of its beautiful soft focus. It supports the Contrast AF system for high precision auto focusing.
Seven blades give the aperture a rounded shape that produces an attractively smooth effect in unsharp areas when shooting at large aperture settings. The new LUMIX G 20mm / F1.7 II ASPH. lens also features a highly reliable metal mount, and uses multi-coated lens element.

Images (Click on it to see a large size version):

Press Text:
Dpreview, ThePhoBlographer, Panasonic Japan, Photoscala,

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I was checking around to see if there was some kind of price drop on the current 20mm pancake lens. No way guys, the price actually went up to $399 at Amazon and BHphoto. And according to the Amazon Ranking the lens still sells well even at that higher price tag. It’s good news that Panasonic did sit down on the success and worked on a new version!

More sources came back to me to tell me the lens will be announced tonight (in USA) or 4-5am London time. So stay tuned on 43rumors to follow live the announcement!

US deals roundup:
Panasonic GF3 with 14-42mm lens (Brown) for $279 at Panasonic store (Click here). Use Coupon Code: “SECRETGF3”.
Black GX1 for $199 at Adorama (Click here). Silver GX1 for $199 at Adorama (Click here).
Adorama also sells the E-P3 with lens and free bag for $349 in Black (Click here) and Silver (Click here).

First we had the Speed Booster (first Leica R to MFT adapter is shipping)  then we had the [shoplink 38940 ebay]Lens Turbo[/shoplink] (coming soon) and now we have a third new adapter offering a 0,72x focal length conversion and 1 stop increase: It’s the Vizelex Light Cannon from Fotodiox Pro (available here at Fotodiox). What I am not sure about is if actually that Vizelex is based on (or has the same) Lens Turbo design or if it’s a completely new lens. These are the full details and the focal length multiplier is the same from the Lens Turbo:

The adapter is priced at $159.95.

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P.S.: The Leica R to MFT adapter is finally in Stock at Metabones (Click here). You can use some great Leica lenses with it:

• [shoplink 38869 ebay]28mm F2.8 Elmarit-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/2.0 on the Speed Booster
• [shoplink 38870 ebay]35mm F2.8 Elmarit-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/2.0 on the Speed Booster
• [shoplink 38871 ebay]50mm F2.0 Summicron-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/1.4 on the Speed Booster
• [shoplink 38872 ebay]90mm F2.8 Elmarit-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/2.0 on the Speed Booster
• [shoplink 38873 ebay]28-70mm F3.5-F4.5 Vario-Elmar-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/2.5-3.5 on the Speed Booster

We got some news from the competition. The Fuji X-M1 has been announced (price and specs at Amazon & full news and review report at MirrorlessRumors). It’s the first time Fuji will play a role in the advanced entry level segment. The camera is made to compete in the same segment as the [shoplink 33622]Olympus E-Pl5[/shoplink] and  ($599) and the [shoplink 37832]Panasonic GF6[/shoplink] ($599). The X-M1 is a little bit pricier ($699 body and $799 for the kit).

Question for you now is:

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Panasonic just announced a new firmware for the GH3 (Click here to visit the page). it will be released in July. These are the firmware fixes:

– “Low Light AF” is added that makes it possible to set focus on the subject in low-lit situations (-3EV). This function is popular in GF6/G6.
– “Silent Mode” is added which suppresses electronic shutter, shutter sound, operation sound and flash emission with a single setting.
– “Exposure Comp. Reset” is added which resets the setting of exposure compensation to ±0 whenever the camera is turned off or the shooting mode is changed.
– Connection problem with Apple Mac computers via Wi-Fi is fixed.

I really like that new “silent mode”. Great firmware update!