Like so many other websites also Michael Reichmann from Luminous Landscape chose the Olympus E-M1 as camera of the year 2013. He writes:

Simply put, the Olympus O-MD E-M1 is that company’s new flagship camera, and while not inexpensive, provides proof that Olympus is run by engineers and product marketing folks that actually understand the needs of photographers. Sadly, this is not something that one can say for all camera companies these days.

Good job Olympus. Now let’s see if the new E-M10 will be the next praised and well selling Olympus camera…

E-M1 Store Links:
Olympus E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto, Amazon DE (via DL), Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL), WexUK, Topshot FI, CameraWorldUK.
Olympus E-M1 with 12-40mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK and CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-50mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK, CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
E-M1 Hariz case in [shoplink 43405 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] or [shoplink 43406 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink].

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UPDATED: I don’t know what this could mean for the digital camera business future. But Panasonic just announced a new joint venture with TowerJazz (press text as pdf here). The key info here is that Panasonic sold 51% of three semiconductor manufacturing facilities to TowerJazz which now owns 51% of the new created joint venture company. Panasonic still keeps the 49%.

The transferred plants are from Hokuriku:

More info: Image-Sensor-World, Bloomberg.

The New York Times reported an analysis from Credit Suisse saying that the camera market will move towards an oligopoly where only big companies like Nikon, Canon and Sony will survive. Credit Suisse imaging analyst Yu Yoshida said that mirrorless cameras “are sputtering as buyers put connectivity above picture quality“. And sales are not growing in EU and USA because “consumers tend to equate image quality with size and heft“. For them solutions like the [shoplink 43613 ebay]Sony QX lenscameras[/shoplink] are more likely to be the future.

My note: I am used to these kind of forecasts. I remember of dozen of articles published many years ago saying that Olympus or Panasonic or other small companies would close their camera business the year after. As usual analysts tend to forget t 1) see the full picture (Olympus medical needs the camera business) 2) To understand the Japanese company culture and proud of history 3) their lack of seeing what’s really the future in the tech world.

I believe there will be always be a reason for mirrorless cameras to stay in the market. You cannot cheat physics. If you want the best quality you need larger sensor/cameras/lenses. Obviously, a question could be…do we need that more quality? Most of the people certainly no. But there will be always people who want to step up from the usual (and poorer) smartphone camera quality.

43rumors readers Andras sent me that message:

“I changed my gear from 5d+40mm 2.8+50mm 1.4 to a used gf1+20mm+14mm+oly kit lens. the 5d had a wonderful IQ and i loved full frame, but it was just way to big to carry around. and very aggressive for street shooting. i make way more and better pics with the 43 setup. but at a bar i lost my lens bag. so i asked my girlfriend who makes shoes and bags to make a replacement. totally dedicated to the pana 20mm. i think it looks awesome.

pics by me if you are interested:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pentakx/“

Cool!

Sunday morning, turning to winter (Lumix GM1 footage) from Martin Wallgren on Vimeo.

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Martin: “I just received a GM1 from Panasonic, and shot a short film with it today, see what you think! The camera is a fantastic video and stills machine, love it already… Cheers, Martin in Sweden https://vimeo.com/81337124 (video on top)”

Desy: “Just wanted to share my work with the Olympus OMD EM5! http://desycheng.com/travel-journal/2013/12/7/la-2013”

Gnat: “I would be honored to have my new site and work shared. I am committing to m4/3 full time and this new site chronicles the change and my experiences. I am no pro but enjoy shooting all types of subjects all over the globe: www.olyallthetime.com”

Aaron: “I wanted to share with you a short film I had the pleasure of shooting with a Panasonic GH3, and the Rokinon Cine lenses. http://youtu.be/7cAp8UxHr2o”

John: “New video on rigging the GH3 and GX7: https://vimeo.com/81153160”

Dario: “https://vimeo.com/81284635”

Luke: “I thought I’d share with you some of my recent work using Olympus EM-1 for stills and a Panasonic GH3 for video. Hopefully it is interesting and inspiring for some of your readers. I’ve been doing model portfolio shoots for Scene Models using my EM-5 and now the EM-1, best place to view them is on my tumblr. As well as completing a music video on my GH3 a link below for a music video I made using the Panasonic GH3. The Gh3 was great because I could shoot at 50fps in 1080p and also being so small it made some of the camera moves and hand held shooting much easier.
Music video link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9uu6pDsdxg
It would be great if you could link to my tumblr, instagram and Facebook so people can see more of my work if they are interested.
tumblr: http://lukecarlthompson.tumblr.com
instagram: @ lukecarlthompson
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Luke-Thompson-Photographer/281250218945?ref=hl”

Russ: “Wanted to share with you a video we made for the state of Oregon around bicycles and tourism. It was shot all with a GH3 (a few GoPro shots), the 9-18mm Oly and 35-100 Pany. The challene of the shoot was we had to carry all the gear by bike (jib, tripod, slider), so having a small but powerful camera like the GH3 was essential! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75jT2VMjBx0”

John: “After buying the OMD EM1 I decided to do an article about extension ISO and when it’s appropriate to use…http://photolisticlife.com/2013/12/05/should-you-use-extension-iso/”

Hinting: “It is easy to see gm1 with m43 lenses with the simulation, but how about adapted lenes? I will upload a couple of albums on gplus. Here is the first one with leica lenses. https://plus.google.com/115255826572441766446/posts/3m9LT1RDiqV *** adapter lenses user should know the gm1 is forced into electronic shutter with adapted lenses. It is a suprise for my as this is not the same as other lumix G”

CPL: “Sarah [Super Slow Motion] GH3 [CCTV Lens] Anamorphic: http://vimeo.com/81279653”

Alex: “I am a fan of your website  and I really enjoy getting myself updated about  Micro four thirds systems from your website. I thought you might be interested to see this video from YouTube and share it with other fans if you want to. http://youtu.be/JFwF16RiWDc”

Marc: “This is for the Reader’s Roundup: http://vimeo.com/80173952
I did a short movie about my California Trip. All clips are shot in or around Aptos, CA. I used the Panasonic GH3, with the Panasonic 7-14, 20, 14-140 and 100-300 mm lenses. I did a little bit of everything: Lens Flare, Beach, Water, Night and Low Light, Time Lapses, Optical Flow, Frame Blending etc. I edited with Final Cut Pro X This is a nice example to show the advantages and disadvantages of the overall stunning Panasonic GH3. I hope you like it!”

Ulli: “Since 6 days my first published foliozine Six Inch Stilettos is available at blurb.com in a printed 90 pages magazine format. The series will be dedicated to one muse grade model every 2 months. Sofar 3 models have agreed with another coming up soon I hope:
http://www.blurb.com/b/4960416-the-girl-from-sukabumi?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget“

After Olympus also Panasonic (Source: Bloomberg) reports  more positive financial situation after years of losses:

The company doubled its profit forecast in October to 100 billion yen ($958 million) in the 12 months ending March 2014 as it benefits from an almost 17 percent weakening in the yen against the dollar this year and boosts car battery sales.

The camera business is a small part from the company. And as we read from previous forecasts reports Panasonic plans to focus more on the high-end camera business. Therefore the GH 4K :)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ70 review at DxOmark.
Kirk Tuck picks the E-M1 as camera of the year.
Modifying Yongnuo RF-603 to work with Olympus (to trigger flashes) at Betterfamilyphotos.
Modifying Yongnuo RF-603 cable to trigger the camera itself at Betterfamilyphotos.
M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 with an OMD EM5 at Samudranil.
E-M1 field test images at Outbackphoto.

Sam: “Not really a rumor, but the Meike extension tubes (http://www.amazon.com/Meike-Automatic-Extension-Olumpus-Panasonic/dp/B00BY0F0P0/ref=pd_cp_p_2) in conjunction with the Olympus body cap lens yield some surprising macro results. See more at: http://samgoldphotos.blogspot.com/2013/12/meike-extension-tubes.html”

Marc: “I’m a big fan of 43Rumors as a user of an Olympus OM-D and and EP-2 and look at your blog every day. On the off chance that you might do a readers round up I wondered if you might like to feature my photography blog. I’ve just done my 200th blog post and that will stay as the current one for a week or so now. http://marcprovins.blogspot.co.uk”

Stefan: “This is not a rumor per se, it´s a tale of my experience after buying Olympus EM-1 and the PRO kit-lens 12-40mm f2,8.
A month ago I decided to expand my Olympus family and let the kit with the EM-1 and that tasty 12 – 40 mm F2.8 lens join my loved EM-5. I knew Olympus had a hit with the EM-5 and I belive they have an even grater hit with the EM-1. I just love it!
Just because I love it so much I was really shocked when I pulled the camera out of its bag to shoot pictures of my son as he was making tricks with his kickbike in an actioncenter. At first I simply refused to belive my eyes, the lens was litterally dangling from the camerabody and I could see the electronics inside. How on earth could that have happened? I had mounted the lend on the body and put the camera into a small tamrac-bag which it fit perfectly in. In fact, this whole summer I have been wearing this bag when I was hiking and biking with the EM-5 and my Voigtländer 17,5 mm F0,95 has been with me everywhere. Granted, it’s not the lightest lens to mount but I adore it and try to use it as my “normal” lens.
Imagine my shock when I pull out my camera after a 25 minutes walk and the lens is, in every sense of the word, broken!
I mean, come on! This is the PRO-lens we have been waiting for. I was actually already saving up for the 40 – 150 mm lens but that is cancelled right now in my mind. I actually have returned the lens to the shop and they are baffled.
They told me that I should contact the Olympus premium support since I have all my gear registered with Olympus but I felt that I simply had to show them what had happened. They need to know.
What worries me the most is that when I examined the lens I could easily see that the bayonett was only secured to the lens with four screws. That in itself does not need to be so bad, what is bad however is that these four screw are tightened into plastic sockets and from what I can see in my lens, three of the four plastic sockets inside has broken from just carrying the camera in a padded bag. It amazes me that a lens this heavy has such a weak construction. It totally belies the tactile feeling you get when shooting with it. It feels like it’s built like a tank! I’m sorry to say that it’s not.
Olympus tells me they will repair the lens at no charge, that does nothing to instill confidence in the lens though. I want to know how they will improve the construction! I wish that they would use metal in the lens instead of plastic. This is not a lens that you should need to leave at home because you are afraid it will break in the bag! This should be the lens you pick when you are going out in a blizzard to shoot pictures, or put in your backpack when you plan to go mountainbiking or trekking. This is THE lens that is meant to be in your pack when you fear for the life of all your other lenses!
I can’t see how I will have my confidence in this lens restored.
There is two reasons I write to you in what must be described as despair. First off, I just found out that other people have had the same misfortune as me so I’m not alone. (See http://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=56256 for example).
Secondly, I feel that you are a positive force online and in the photo community. I love your site and I wish that this will sort itself out somehow without all of us having to return the lens to Olympus for a refund.
I am hoping that you have a good solid relation with Olympus and can bring this to their attention. I’m hoping they will revise the construction and turn the lens into the PRO-lens we all expected.
I have taken a few pictures of my lens but *I find no way to attach them to this message.“