You still remember the Sony-Olympus joint press release saying they would work together on the digital dying compact camera market? This is how they are going to revive it….make “Lens-Cameras” directly for smartphones!
The New Sony QX cameras are already available for preorder at Amazon US (Click here to see them)! Here are all direct links to the two different cameras and colors and accessories:
Black QX100 (Click here).
Soft Carrying Case for DSC-QX100 (Click here).
Black QX10 (Click here).
White QX10 (Click here).
Soft Carrying Case for DSC-QX10 (Click here).

These QX cameras are based on current Sony compact camera tech. And It’s easy to guess that Olympus will launch them soon too. Just take some compact camera sensor and lens, get rid of the classic body and sell them as QX. Is that the future?
I really would like to hear opinion on that, because as a classic photographer I cannot imagine this would work for me…

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Egami spotted a new Olympus patent describing a 15mm f/2.0 lens. It’s quite an “unusual” focal length and I don’t think this lens will make it into mass production. Anyway, you never know…GX7 and Olympus 12-40mm patents now became…real products :)

Back in January Tamron announced a new 14-150mm F/3.5-5.8 Di III VC Micro Four Thirds lens. At the time they didn’t unveil neither the release date nor the price. After 9 months(!) Tamron website still doesn’t disclose the release date and price. The lens is listed on BHphoto too but without any useful info.

Some of our readers got any hint about the lens release???

Here are the lens specs:

Berlin Shadows from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

Metabones Speed Booster for Micro Four Thirds – Review at EosHD.
Nothing to fear from Olympus ISO values (DuncanMartin).
Olympus E-P5 Review at Atmtxphoto.
Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 review at Zuikoholics.
Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II review at Admiringlight.
GX7 test at Chip.de.
Best lenses for your Olympus PEN E-P5: Zooms and Primes (DxOmark).
E-P5 challenges E-M5, epic battle breaks out! (Mu-43).
Panasonic Lumix GX7: primeras muestras (Quesabesde).
Lumix G HD 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 review at M43photo.
Panasonic G6 – Metabones Speed Booster – Focus Peaking – Part 1 (Soundimagesplus).
Street Shooting with the Olympus OM-D and 14-42mm Zoom (TheDigitalStory).
Panasonic 100-300mm f4-5.6 review at ThePhoBlographer.
Meet lifestyle photographer Kristen Jensen and check out the new Panasonic GX7 at Cameta.
Using the M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 as a Landscape Lens (MirrorlessLessons).
New free Olympus Magazine issue (Olympusmag.co.uk)

PRNewswire reports that Panasonic invested in Pelican Imaging:

“Pelican’s array camera technology is extremely innovative; they’re pioneering the next generation of video and image capture,” said Patrick Suel, Venture Partner at Panasonic. “We think there are broad applications for depth-enabled imaging in many industries.”

Pelican Imaging CEO and President Chris Pickett noted, “We’re extremely pleased to add Panasonic to our investor group, which includes other industry leaders like Qualcomm and Nokia. Our relationship with Panasonic will provide further market leverage to bring Pelican’s solutions to multiple market segments.”

Image Sensor World reports that “Pelican array camera provides depth information of the captured scene, allowing users to refocus after the fact, create 3D models, and perform an unprecedented range of edits. At under 3mm thickness, Pelican’s array camera is said to be about 50% of the thickness of the best-in-class camera modules shipping in mobile phones today (not clear what resolution is compared).“

The new Cinema Camera is shipping in small quantities and Blunty posted that first (very long) unboxing video. Let me know if you got your preorder and if you have some tests to show on 43rumors! Thanks!

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema preorders in USA at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and in Germany at Technikdirekt, in France at pbs-video. In Sweden at macoteket, scandinavianphoto, protel.jetshop, webhallen.

There are five new Olympus E-P5 reviews to read: At Petapixel and Pixelmania (dutch) and Der Spiegel (German) and CameraLabs and TheOnlinePhotographer and Admiringlight and JJsemple. More or less they all say the same. It is a very good camera but the price and the competition are the main problems Olympus has to face. As you read on the New York Times (Click here) Olympus said that its sales of its signature mirrorless model, the PEN, had fallen 12 percent in the first quarter (below its expectations).

I hope Olympus learns the lesson and will be more courageous next time. Too many different and very similar PEN’s out there. And most of the time to pricey when they come out (and very cheap after 1-2 years). I hope the new E-M1 will not share the same fate of the E-P5 :(