Tokina (Click here) published more info about the upcoming new 300mm f/6.3 lens. One of my japanese readers translated the text (Thanks!):

The good: Still looks good and under 300grams.
The bad: Still a month away.
The ugly: 40000YEN (370 Euro/$490)!!!! WTF. I have a [shoplink 30536 ebay]500mm T-Mount from Bower[/shoplink] for 120usd.

Yep, it looks good and it performs good but if you don’t care about using big lenses and adapters you have plenty of other options: [shoplink 30536 ebay]Bower mirror (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink], [shoplink 30537 ebay]Minolta mirror (here on eBay)[/shoplink], [shoplink 30538 ebay]Centon Mirror (here on eBay)[/shoplink], [shoplink 30541 ebay]Spiratone Mirror (here on eBay)[/shoplink], [shoplink 30542 ebay]Opteka Mirror (here on eBay)[/shoplink]….

Below you can see the MTF chart of the Tokina

After the Panasonic GH2, G2, GF2 and GF3 also the GX1 and G3 could be hacked soon! All Vitaly need is some little help from you to buy the two cameras (Click here to donate). It’s so great to know we can count on him to improve the camera performance! I wish he (or someone else) could hack the Olympus cameras too!

P.S: It is also great to know the price of the current Panasonic cameras is falling down (great that we have some presure from Sony and Nikon!).
The GH2 is now for sale at $849 (with lens) at Amazon (Click here).
Panasonic GF3 with 14mm pancake for $414 at Amazon (Click here).
Panasonic GF2 with kit lens for $399 at Amazon (Click here).
The Panasonic GX1 body sells for $549 again at Amazon (Click here).

As you may know there was an important Olympus shareholders meeting. Mr. Huasa is now officially the new CEO of Olympus. And as he told many times during the last weeks he will now simplify the digital camera business and focus even more on the Micro Four Thirds system (that’s good news!).

And now some news about the Olympus “fee scandal”. Mr. Woodford attempt to get Japanese shareholders on his side failed. TheOnlinePhotographer (Click here) reports that “Despite the highly unusual tenor of the meeting, described by one newspaper as “raucous,” Olympus shares rose 6.4% in the aftermath.“. And the Japanese watchdog agency wants to fine Olympus for $2.5 million only (Engadget). It sound almost like Olympus saved his ass out from the situation and all what remains is the book Woodford wrote about the Olympus scandal (Amateur Photographer) :)

Question now is, will Fuji or Sony partner with Olympus or will Olympus manage to get forward alone? The last scenario would be my prefered! :)

Following yesterdays news abut the Silver E-M5 shipment delay (coming via Olympus Japan) our reader Johannes shared the shipment date of the E-M5 in Sweden. And there seems to be indeed a longer delay on the Silver version:

Black w. 12-50: Within 1 week
Black: May 3rd
Silver w. 12-50: May 25th
Silver: No delivery date

Holland: I don’t have many dutch readers on 43rumors but if you are one of them than you should know that your local stores are already having the first E-M5 cameras in Stock. The picture you see on top has been sent to me by Fotohanskeuzekamp. And also CameraNu and Kamera Express have some of them. If you find more European stores having the camera in Stock feel free to help 43rumors readers by commenting this post! Thanks!

One more news: Rolf Silber posted one more video shot with the Nokton 17.5mm. You can find it here on vimeo. There are also new Nokton auctions in [shoplink 30452 ebay]Germany and Japan through eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Some E-M5 preorder links in Europe:
Black E-M5 body at Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Jessops (Click here) and Warehouseexpress (Click here).
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Jessops (Click here) and Warehouseexpress (Click here).
Black E-M5 with 12-50mm lens at Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Jessops (Click here), [shoplink 30334 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Warehouseexpress (Click here).
Silver E-M5 with 12-50mm lens at Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Jessops (Click here), [shoplink 30333 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Warehouseexpress (Click here).

The japanese website DC.watch (Click here for the terrible google translation) interviewed the Olympus E-M5 developer team. Sadly the google translation tool makes a bad job and it’s quite frustrating to read the text. From what I understood there is no BIG info. But may you read it and let me know if you found something I missed. P.S.: They said that there is no significant difference between the amount of Silver or Black E-M5 pre orders. At the same time DC.watch posted an E-m5 review too!

Meantime DSRLcheck keeps posting new mirrorless camera comparisons:
RAW ISO comparison between the XPRO 1, NEX-7, E-M5, GX1 and E-PM1: http://dslr-check.info/2012/0416.jpg
50mm JPEG comparison between the X PRO 1 and E-M5: http://dslr-check.info/2012/0418b.jpg

Japan is already shipping the E-M5 and it is the most sold mirrorless camera at Amazon Japan (See the links below to open the charts):

Today Rankings:
USA: E-M5 on position 8/10/12/17 (Click here)
UK: E-M5 is on position 19 (Click here).
Germany: The E-M5 is on position 12/15 (Click here).
France: not available (Click here to see rankings anyway).
Japan: E-M5 on position 1/9/10/13 (Click here).

E-M5 (Pre)order links (Click on store name): Amazon, Adorama, B&H, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.

The first E-M5 camera is now in Stock at Adorama (Click here). And BHphoto (Click here) changed the status from “available April 16th” to “releasd in limited quantity“. But keep an eye on that superdeal: Panaosnic 45-200mm zoom lens is now in Stock for $199 at Amazon (Click here). That lens also got a firmware update…see Panasonic Japan (Click here).

For those of you that own (or will soon own) the Olympus E-M5 there is a new firmware update (Source: Olympus Imaging). These are the new features/fixes:

• Issue of updates stopping while updating firmware has been resolved.
• Image stabilizer function when using the following lenses has been modified: ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 8mm F3.5 Fisheye, ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 18-180mm F3.5-6.3, LEICA D VARIO-ELMAR 14-150mm

Panasonic just announced new PRO stuff but no new Micro Four Thirds camcorder. But I guess we will know more tomorrow when Panaosnic will have the official press event. They may disclose some more info about their intentions with the Micro Four Thirds video “intentions”.

more pices and info at Electronista.