Finally Olympus announced the new 75mm f/1.8 Micro Four Thirds lens. The announcement was first scheduled for last Tuesday but it had been delayed because of some lens firmware issues. And Olympus decided in very last minute to release it today :) Keep watching this post for updates!

Preorders
Not available yet at Amazon (Click here). Should arrive soon!

Highlights
MTF curves offered by Olympus (Click here) show correction of astigmatism is almost perfect, the contrast (blue lines) is very high and very even center to corner, and that the resolution (red lines) is of similar rank. Image samples are available at Olympus Japan. The price in dollar is $899. But there seems to be a bit of confusion on the European price. 800 according to DSLRmagazine, 900 according to Quesabesde and 949 Euro according to Systemkameraforum. Same confusion in Japan…It’s also on Yodobashi for 99,000 yen and on Map Camera for 89,000 yen. I guess that’s why we had the not so correct rumor about the $799 price. Wrong prices are floating around the web :)

Here in short the lens specs:
• 75mm focal length (equivalent to 150mm in the 35mm film format)
• F1.8 aperture with circular blades
• 3 ED and 2 HR lens elements
• Premium multi-coating using Olympus ZERO lens coating technology
• High speed, silent focusing with MSC lens drive technology
• All metal barrel
• Precision manual focus ring
• Compatible with all Micro-Four Thirds standard mount cameras
• Portraiture, Fashion, Stage, Sports and low- light photography applications
• Expected availability in June/July 2012

Hands-on Previews and Image samples
Hands-on at Four Thirds User.
Image samples at Olympus Japan.
Hands-on by the finnish website Sulanto.

Press Release
Dpreview
Systemkameraforum (german). They actually say the price in Euro is 949! Hope it’s just a mistake.
Full Lens PDF at Olympus Australia
Techradar
Photographyblog
DSLRmagazine (google translation here)
Photoscala (german)

Poll
There are no reviews yet but the MTF curves promises that this is a very high quality lens. The only downsided are the price in USA which is $899 (no 1:! conversion rate with the European 799 Euro price) and the fact that you have to pay extra money for the metal hood. Here is the Question:

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As you know for months now rumors are floating around about possible alliances between Olympus and Sony or Samsung or Fuji or whatever else :)
Olympus is seeking a way to get some cash in the company. But today Reuters reports that “Olympus will not unveil an equity alliance at its major strategy briefing next month, despite speculation it might do so, sources said on Tuesday.” And there is also a surprise: “An investment banking source added that Olympus management hoped it could eventually raise capital on its own.” This would of course the best news if Olympus can stand on his own feet!

From a financial point of view the medical department is the one that matters but I hope their recent [shoplink 29074]E-M5[/shoplink] release and upcoming 75mm portrait announcement will help them to earn some money with the camera division too! That said I know from my top sources that Olympus didn’t expect that kind of success form the E-M5. particularly the Silver model is selling as good as the Black E-M5. That’s why it’s hard to find it in Stock. Here are all my search links to the E-M5. Links I check a couple of times per week to see where the E-M5 is in Stock:

As you know DSLRmagazine (Click here) tonight posted the first review 12-35mm X lens review. This post where I will sum all links and test I can found on the web!

Preorders
UPDATE: You can preorder the lens at Amazon (Click here)
The japanese shop Kitamura will ship the lens on June 21th.

Most interesting info:
It has Power OIS but no Powerzoom. Costs 1100 Euro or 999 pounds and be avilable in June. It’s almost half the price of a comparable FF lens like the [shoplink 31079 ebay]Nikon 24-70mm (Click here)[/shoplink]. Dpreview writes: “This impression of a quality product is reinforced by the wonderfully-smooth zoom ring action, that rivals Canon and Nikon’s top-end lenses for its silkiness of operation.”

(P-)reviews
Full review at Photographyblog.
Image samples at Dpreview.
Image samples at DCresource.
Review at ePhotozine: “Performance-wise, this lens delivers sharp, contrasty images with low CA and distortion, which should be expected of a pro-spec zoom.”
DSLRmagazine
Hands-on review at Dpreview.
Hands-on pics at Lumix.ro (Rumania)

Press release
Photographyblog, Photoscala (German), Focus Numerique (french). A super presentation page at Panasonic.

Video:

Poll

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Oh, I didn’t forget that little sexy new Panasonic GF5 :)  The camera just shipped to first Europea and American stores. The picture on top is from the dutch store FotoHansKeuzakamp. The body only is priced at 621 Euro at Amazon France. It’s a nice cameras but I feel like the recent GF3 price drops may will make it hard to justify the extra price you have to pay for the GF5. For example the GF3 body only costs a little over 300 Euro here a Digitech on [shoplink 31026 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and with the 14-42mm lens 379 Euro again on [shoplink 31027 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. And we Europeans as usual will get even more frustrated when checking the USA price of the GF3: You cna get the body for $249 only (180 Euro!) in [shoplink 31030 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 31029 ebay]White (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 31028 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink].

Today I want to catch up with some stuff I never managed to post before on 43urmors. In that case if you want to know a bit about Olympus future strategy look at Techradar that had a chat with Olympus about three themes:

1) Olympus: We’ve got the edge over competitors (Click here)
Thackara from Olympus affirms that Olympus has the edge compared to other mirrorless systems: “Some of the other compact system cameras have a very limited range of dedicated lenses, whereas we have now offer a choice of around 20, it’s a very good range of options and some of them are pretty serious“.
2) Olympus: Phones will never replace compacts (Click here)
Mark Thackara, Olympus UK marketing manager said: “The concern for us is that we have to keep giving people a reason why they should have a camera as well as a phone.”
3) Olympus: apps on cameras are coming (Click here)
In that case Mr. Thackara said: “It’s something that has been discussed, but because the emphasis is on image quality, they’re [Olympus] a little wary of opening up the OS. I think it’ll happen eventually, but things are not as easy as we think. The appeal of people being able to add to their cameras is big though. It’s on the list.”

Overall I think one of the crucial aspects will be the software. Sooner or later companies will have to allow the development and installation of third party application. Very likely Samsung will be the first company to release a camera based on the Android system.

I know guys, it’s not really the best news to start the weekend. But here it is. After Olympus also Panasonic announced a “record $10 billion annual loss” (Source: Reuters). The problem is the shrinking TV market. Also Sony and Sharp are having huge troubles within that segment. There is no word about the digital camera business and I don’t think their (major) problems have to do with that. The global crisis, the strong YEN and maybe the now (too) conservative handling of Japanese companies are the main cause. Almost all Japanese companies are facing tuff times.

A personal addition: The crisis affects the life around me too. It’s not just a perception, I see that around me prices of houses are falling, companies not paying bills and friends losing jobs. It’s hard to think how we should act and what we need to change. My girlfriends best friend lives in Greece and I get so many bad news form there. I will be there in September for a very personal short documentary about those friends. I want too understand more!

Is it just me or is that new Leica X2 having the same Olympus VF-2 external viewfinder? As you know the Oly EVF is made by Epson so this really could be the same…
That said, it’s interesting to see how much you have to pay for a camera with a unique Black And White sensor….$7999 at Adorama (Click here to read specs of the M Monochrome). I am wondering if Olympus and Panasonic should do a camera with B&W sensor too! Would be intriguing!

More reviews about the B&W madness at MirrorlessRumors (Click here).

USA deal: Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 in Stock at Adorama (Click here).