AP reports that “Sony has today become the largest shareholder in Olympus as the firms complete a £400m deal first announced last year.” Only in the years to come we will see how far the Olympus and Sony partnership will go when it comes to develop their digital cameras. For now there is no doubt that Olympus will keep reinforcing the MFT system and Sony will do the same with the NEX system. But they may share some tech like sensors, OLED technology and more.

Their first main goal has been defined last year by Olympus President Hiroyuki Sasa “the company might need further collaboration with Sony to turn around Olympus’s unprofitable compact-camera business.” (Source: Wall Street Journal).

The Speed Booster adapter created quite an excitement on the web but it seems that Metabones wasn’t the only one having that smart idea. AN Olympus patent just posted on Egami shows how Olympus is working on a very similar adapter! Now, I don’t know if Olympus will or can ever do this. Metabones also patented the idea and there may be a conflict if Olympus goes into mass production with this…

A tiny bit over a month from now Panasonic will announce the new Micro Four Thirds cameras. But the competition already started with the new 2013 camera announcements. Sony released the smallest APS-C mirrorless camera (the NEX-3n) and there is a small interesting news on the new Nikon D7100 (here at Amazon). It uses an APS-C (1.5x crop) sensor that has an additional 1.3x Crop Mode. In short the camera will have exactly the same 2.x crop mode of our FT and MFT cameras. Nikon writes: “the D7100 has the unique ability to shoot in a 1.3x DX crop mode for both stills and HD video. While in this innovative mode, shooters will gain an extra telephoto boost (2X), and a boost in burst speed to seven fps, with 15.4- megapixel resolution. Additionally, while in this mode, the 51-point AF array covers more of the frame, allowing improved subject acquisition and tracking performance through the viewfinder.”

To bad the camera doesn’t take FT lenses, it would have become a nice FT camera! ;)

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P.S.: Thanks anonymous sender for pointing me out this new feature!

The very first stock of NEX Speed Boosters is shipping on the Metabones site and on [shoplink 36380 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]. What about the MFT versions? Manual focus lenses such as Nikon, Leica R, Contax C/Y, Contarex, ALPA and Rollei will be supported in March, 2013. To get notified when the MFT version will be available you may also save this eBay search on Slidoo (you can change the search country in settings).

Metabones writes that the m4/3 version also reduces focal length by a 0.71x factor. So, the combined focal length multiplier of a m4/3 camera and Speed Booster is 1.4x. (2x from camera x 0.71x from Speed Booster.) The optics are optimized for the smaller sensor size.

That said there are plenty of new tests you have to read to learn more about the quality and features of the new adapter. Dpreview (Click here), EosHD (Click here) and Lensrentals (Click here) tested the Booster. And Robert from LR writes: “The Speed Booster does what they said it would do, much to my shock and surprise“. Overall from what I have seen now the adapters delivers what it promises. And personally I hope they will also make the OM Speed Booster. Suddenly my small collection of OM lenses will be faster…that’s so cool!

Short question:

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List of OM prime lenses. Click on the link to check the price and auctions on eBay: [shoplink 28869 ebay]21mm f/2.0 and 21mm f/3.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28870 ebay]24mm f/2.0 and 24mm f/2.8 and 24mm f/3.5 shift lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28871 ebay]28mm f/2.0 and 28mm f/2.8 and 28mm f/3.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28872 ebay]35mm f/2.0 and 35mm f/2.8 and 35mm f/2.8 shift lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28873 ebay]40mm f/2.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28874 ebay]50mm f/1.2 and 50mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/2.0 macro and 50mm f/3.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28876 ebay]55mm f/3.5 macro lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28880 ebay]85mm f/2.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28881 ebay]90mm f/2.0 macro lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28882 ebay]100mm f/2.0 and 100mm f/2.8 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28884 ebay]135mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/3.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28885 ebay]180mm f/2.0 and 180mm f/2.8 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28886 ebay]200mm f/4.0 and 200mm f/5.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28887 ebay]250mm f/2.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28888 ebay]300mm f/4.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28889 ebay]350mm f/2.8 lens[/shoplink],, [shoplink 28890 ebay]400mm f/6.4 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28891 ebay]500mm f/8.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28892 ebay]600mm f/6.6 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28893 ebay]1000mm f/11 lens[/shoplink].

Lepidi (translation here) reports the serial numbers of the European E-M5 cameras affected by the crack issue:
– Black: BEK501001 til BEK508887
– Silver: BF4501001 til BF4503865
Contact your local Olympus agent if you have that crack issue and they will fix it for you.

Something else: Olympus to Attend Focus with Damian McGillicuddy (Photographyblog).

And finally for EU readers: New refurbished Olympus cameras are on auction at [shoplink 22691 ebay]Olympusmarket[/shoplink]. This includes some of the latest cameras:
E-M5 [shoplink 36922 ebay]auction 1[/shoplink], [shoplink 36923 ebay]auction 2[/shoplink], [shoplink 36924 ebay]auction 3[/shoplink], [shoplink 36925 ebay]auction 4[/shoplink].
E-PL5 [shoplink 36921 ebay]auction[/shoplink].
E-PM2 [shoplink 36919 ebay]auction 1[/shoplink], [shoplink 36920 ebay]auction 2[/shoplink].

Olympus Japan officially announced the new E-M5 firmware update! Please let me know if you see some improvements beside the two mentioned on their page. Thanks!

P.S.: Use your Digital Camera Updater to install the new firmware And thanks to the new (anonymous) source that shared the correct info!

UPDATE: And Olympus Japan reports that the screw on the E-M5 LCD screen may cause a crack. Only a certain range of cameras with specific serial numbers are affected by the issue and Olympus may repair them. Here are the affected camera serial numbers:

UPDATE: The serials on top are for the cameras sold in Japan. here are the serials for Europe: “BEK501001 – BEK508887 (black) BF4501001 – BF4503865 (silver) Should your camera be listed in one of the above serial number batches, please call the free-of-charge hotline 00800 67 10 83 00 to receive support for a free check and repair of your product.“

Panasonic GH3 External Battery w/ P&C GearBox GB-2 DSLR Video Cage (via Cheesycam).

LX7 review at Digitalphotographyschool.
Tilt adapter for Micro Four Third – Part 3 – Simple adapter at Drinkcat.
GH3 images now at Imaging Resource Comparometer.

Alex: “I am still puzzled by the lack of noticing the dynamic range of the GH3, not less after the DxOmark of the GH3 showing it equal to the OMD – Which if you look at the attached can not possibly be true… The OMD is way behind when it when it comes to highlight. The shoot out is from this link: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/50378636”

Farrukh: “Am back at London Fashion Week shooting with an EP3 and the 45mm f1.8. You can see some of my Backstage and Catwalk photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.366779943428268.66758.341504945955768&type=1”

Espen: “Looks like the Nauticam under water housing for the DMC-GH3 is right around the corner, they will showcase the housing at the NAB show in april: http://nab13.mapyourshow.com/5_0/exhibitor_details.cfm?exhid=410905&CFID=89448138&CFTOKEN=ea65bbf280d0a3e9-EEA1621E-A092-3054-FD418731D33F6C03 “Nauticam is the worlds premier manufacturer of underwater camera housings and accessories. Visit the Nauticam booth to see housings for the Canon 1DC, Panasonic GH3, RED EPIC and SCARLET, SmallHD DP4 and more.”

Cody: “I just posted my 1st gh3 video w/lumix 35-100mm. I used the i0S app & ETC mode also! Enjoy https://vimeo.com/59870449”

Kyle: “$249 Canadian with free shipping for PEN E-PM1 with 14-42 II R lens.  $599 Canadian with free shipping for the DMC GF3 X with 14-42 PZ lens.“