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It was only two weeks ago that Panasonic announced the new 20mm pancake. And nobody really seems to remember the event anymore. And when you look at the current Amazon popularity ranking (Click here to see it) you will see how the “older” 20mm pancake lens still sells far…but really far far far better than the new version (You will have a hard time to find the new 20mm version within the top 100). NOTE: The ranking contains both orders and preorders! If you scroll the ranking you will find the G6, E-P5 and other stuff that isn’t in Stock now.

Back to the new 20mm lens: The only new “feature” of the new version is the chassis. All the rest is the same. And that’s the problem. The older 20mm has become a legend while the new version is not. A faster AF or slightly better optical performance would have been welcome. Hopefully Panasonic will listen to us like they did on the soon to come GX7 :)

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Olympus E-PM1 with lens for $249 on [shoplink 40180 ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].

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In case you didn’t know it the Olympus Body Cap Lens now will come in White, Silver and Red too (Source: Olympus Global). I see you jump off chair for joy :)

And if you are considering to buy it than read the two brand new reviews:

Dpreview (Click here) writes:

“It certainly won’t be for everyone, but photographers who are able to accept, and even exploit its limitations could find it a useful piece of kit. At the end of the day I’ve personally rather enjoyed shooting with it”

ePhotozine (Click here) writes:

“For quick results, and a relatively low price, the body cap lens delivers reasonable results, and with an Olympus camera, delivers bright saturated colours, which will look great when shared on the web.”

The body cap lens now sells for $39 at Amazon US (Click here).

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Panasonic issued a new firmware update for the G5 and GH3. Click here to download the fw: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/index.html

These are the new GH3 features:

1. “Low Light AF” is added that makes it possible to set focus on the subject in low-lit situations (-3EV).
2. “Silent Mode” is added which suppresses electronic shutter, shutter sound, operation sound and flash emission with a single setting.
3. “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.
4. Performance of AF is enhanced in use with H-PS14042 and H-PS45175.
5. Connection problem with Apple Mac computers via Wi-Fi is fixed.

These are the new G5 features:

1. Correction of wording on [Motion Picture] menu
   • Correct the wording “60p/60i/30p” of AVCHD frame rate on [Rec Quality] menu to “50p/50i/25p”.
     This update is for PAL broadcast regions only, and you don’t need this update if wording is already “50p/50i/25p”.

It’s summertime (here in Europe) and soon a very hot rumor period will start. We will see plenty of new cameras (OMD, E, GX) and some new lenses. But in between I thought we could may try to do what my colleague Patrick from Fujirumors is doing for months now. Post your full stories and reviews!

If you have some long article you want to be posted on 43rumors send me your text and pictures on 43rumors@gmail.com. You can obviously link back to your blog to promote yourself and your work. I think that could be an interesting way for some of you to get known by the 43rumors community. Some topics I am interested in:

– Professional on field reviews. Unlike DxO or Dpreview what I want is to learn more about the real life use of cameras and lenses! No charts or pixel peeping needed :)
– Testing of little known lenses
– Funny stories around the use of MFT
– System comparison: Example,  switching from DSLR to MFT system

One more thing: After a couple of years it’s about time to change the 43rumors design and to clean it up. From October one I will take some time off from my regular job to work on this. I will tell you more about that in a future post.

Thanks guys!

Unit price in USD

Vitaly from Personal View (Click here) posted more graphs showing unit prices of DSLR and Mirrorlesscameras.  As you can see from the graph on top Mirrorless cameras average price seems to be slightly cheaper but you have also to consider that there are many expensive (FF for example) DSLR cameras rising the average level. The important thing to know is that Mirrorless camera shipments from Japan to oversea seem to stuck and not grow anymore. I don’t know yet what Panasonic and Olympus manager have in their mind to push the MFT system. The only thing I keep hearing from managers is that they want to move more towards the higher end market.

Let’s see…

Get sharp shots with the Panasonic LUMIX 100-300mm f4-5.6 G MFT Lens

Olympus 75mm lens tested at Photographyblog and Thedigitalstory.
Panasonic GH3 review at ThePhoBlographer.
Olympus Tough TG-2 iHS tested at Dpreview.
E-P5 image samples at Fotopolis.
Les Rencontres d’Arles et Olympus (Focus Numerique).
ZZ top testing the OMD (Facebook).
There is a new Apple Digital Camera RAW update on OSX that adds support for the G6 and GF6.
Silkypix added support for the E-P5

Mathieu: “I just wanted to share an article I wrote about using the Olympus OM-D E-M5 as my primary work camera, and how I made the switch from DSLRs. The article covers a number of possible work scenarios including weddings, event reportage and theatrical performances. http://www.bestmirrorlesscamerareviews.com/2013/07/02/mirrorless-on-the-job-episode-1-working-with-the-olympus-om-d-e-m5-as-my-primary-camera/”

Rohith Thumati: “I just published a post comparing the Leica X2, Fujifilm X100S, and Olympus 17mm. It is probably a more controversial post than my last one :)
thumati.com/chronicle/x2-x100s-olympus17mm-test”

Worldwide shipments of DSLR and MR like cameras

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Vitaly from Personal View (Click here) analyzed the worldwide shipment data from Japanese companies and made those graphs.

It looks to me that the Mirrorless sales are stagnating while DSLR is doing pretty well. I have not the experience to tell you why it is so. Certainly Mirrorless lacks in some areas like:

– missing FF mirrorless cameras (except of course the super expensive Leica M niche).
– people perception that “Bigger is Better”.
– Nikon and Canon conservative approach to the mirrorless world.
– Limited marketing resources of companies like Panasonic-Olympus-Pentax compared to Canon-Nikon impressive PR machine.
– limited lens range compared to DSLR systems.
– lack of optical viewfinder tech (except Fuj X PRO 1 hybrid solution).

Shipping by type in Americas and Europe.

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If things will keep going like that Panasonic and Olympus may should consider to reinvest in the DSLR business. Although I don’t think that’s their plan (at least for now). Olympus is supposed to launch a new E-5 successor in early September while Panasonic quietly stepped out of the DSRL market. Maybe they should just make Mirrorless cameras…bigger? ;)

More graphs at Personal View (Click here).