Image: Dpreview

The worldwide largest forum community at Dpreview picked up the Olympus E-m5 as the camera of the year 2012. I think back 1-2 years when many blogger and experts forecast a decline of the Olympus camera system. Nevertheless Olympus was able with their limited resources but very creative engineers to develop and launch an extraordinary camera. I hope both Panasonic and Olympus will continue to create useful and well made cameras like this. 2013 should be the year of the new advanced PEN, OMD and GX models. This is going to be (again) and intriguing year!

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Two unusued E-M5 for $879 on eBay US (via Slidoo). 829 for the refurbished E-M5 at Cametaauctions (via Slidoo). 899 Euro is what you pay for the OMD in Europe (via Slidoo). E-M5 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.

E-M5 Case:
There is the official [shoplink 31898 ebay]CS-36FBC Olympus case[/shoplink]. A [shoplink 31899 ebay]leather half case from Hong Kong[/shoplink]. A full [shoplink 31900 ebay]leather case with strap from Cina[/shoplink]. Than we have half cases from two well known producers, [shoplink 31901 ebay]Zelenpol[/shoplink], [shoplink 31906 ebay]Kaza[/shoplink] and [shoplink 31902 ebay]Gariz[/shoplink].

E-M5 Batteries, and other things:
The [shoplink 31905 ebay]Olympus GS-4 strap[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 31903 ebay]DSTE E-M5 batteries[/shoplink] you have to use with an extra charger. There is an [shoplink 31903 ebay]E-M5 car charger[/shoplink] a [shoplink 31908 ebay]new E-M5 LCD screen[/shoplink] and a [shoplink 31909 ebay]Front Cover+ Top Panel[/shoplink].

Dear readers!

Now it’s 2013 and I wish you all the best for the coming year! I am sure we are going to see some exciting rumor time too. And you will not have to wait that long. New MFT stuff are scheduled for a late January announcement. Stay tuned ;)

Image source: BCNranking.

BCNranking disclosed the full camera sales rankings in Japan from January 1st til the December 24th. By watching the ranking there are multiple surprises. Of course, the first one is seeing that the Nikon J1 is actually on top of the ranking. As you see a good marketing sometimes works better than the camera “WOW” factor.  The bets selling Olympus and Panasonic MFT cameras are right behind the Nikon and these are all GF and E-PL entry level cameras. The more advanced E-M5 and GX1 models lag behind them and are even behind the Pentax Q! Hands-up if you ever thought the tiny Pentax would outsell the E-M5!

Of course the Japanese market is quite different from EU and US markets. But outside Japan we usually don’t get these kind of exact camera sales numbers. You only get purely unscientific rankings from Amazon. But they change hourly and often reflect current deals status:
US ranking (Click here).
DE ranking (Click here).
UK ranking (Click here).
FR ranking (Click here).

Anyway, this year is now over and 2013 will quite an important year for all camera makers. There is a complicated economic situation that will force plenty of companies (and I mean all worldwide companies) to take some drastic if not dramatic decisions. I hope we can recover from the troubling times we are having now.

I Wish You a Happy New Year!

The E-P3 marked as “discontinued” at Bhphoto.

Finally trusted sources could confirm that one single new Micro Four Thirds cameras will be announced “soon”. They didn’t unveil me any specs or other detail but It’s easy to guess that the camera will be announced in late January for the CP+ show in Japan. The only I received from unknown (also non trusted) sources was that there will be a “completely new PEN”.

Sources that may want to share what they know about the camera can send me an anonymous message using the contact form on the very right of their website or by sending me an email at 43rumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

And you readers stay tuned! Christmas Holiday time is officially over…at least for me :)

Dear 43rumors readers,
I wish you and your family and friends a peaceful and happy Christmas Day! Enjoy the Holiday and spend the time with what that matters most in our life. I Thank You for all the company you give me every day, it’s a pleasure to be here with you even if I don’t really know you or have you ever seen for real.
Thanks!
Ale

What’s so special on the Olympus Trip 35mm?
First of all that Olympus sold ten million(!) of these cameras from the ’60’s to the early ’80’s. It has a super sharp 40mm f/2.8 lens. And Olympus managed to give you Automatic Exposure while the Trip 35mm uses no battery! How is it possible? It used a solar-powered selenium light meter.
It is a very compact camera with a rangefinder. I suggest you to watch this youtube review video to get an idea of the size and superb build quality of the camera. This was the perfect holiday camera of the time but also pro photographers used like the British photographer David Bailey.
That is simply put one of the most popular Olympus camera ever made. I doubt Olympus will make a digital version of it (fixed lens and compact design). But you never know…

And because they produced so many of them you can find plenty of auctions on [shoplink 35471 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Or alternatively look at Slidoo eBay to slide through the results.

Lomography, Camerapedia, Robnunnphoto, Olympustrip35cult, Ken Rockwell,

Christmasy Things – SLR Magic 35mm T1.4 from Gerald Lee on Vimeo.

Panasonic GH3 – Review and User Experience – Part 8 at Soundimagesplus.
Hitler is unhappy about the Panasonic Lumix GH3 on youtube.
GH3 test , a file in Apple ProRes 422 – A first test low light on vimeo.
The E-M5 is the most voted and best camera of the year at DC.watch.
Olympus XZ-2 vs Nikon P7700 review at Camerahoarders.
New set of refurbished PEN cameras of all kind at [shoplink 22691 ebay]Olympusmarket[/shoplink].
Three E-M5 lens and flash kits sold for 900 Euro on [shoplink 35797 ebay]eBay UK[/shoplink].
Gerhard: “Just shoot a video on the new FUJI X-E1 and like to post the link on 43rumors if it fits the content. I used Olympus glass on a hacked GH2. https://vimeo.com/54762320”
Tennyson: “I’ve done a comparison between the 60mm macro and 75mm for general shooting: pattayadays.com”
Jackson: “Thought you might like this. According to this item, OM-Ds were used in making the latest Mad Max movie! http://if.com.au/2012/12/17/article/Mad-Max-Fury-Road-completes-principal-photography/RDSOIKXNKS.html“