Image courtesy: Photozone.

Photozone (Click here) tested the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 lens and writes:

Upon first contact you will immediately fall in love with the Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-40mm f/2.8 as the mechanical implementation is exemplary and meets the expectations of a pro lens. Although Olympus first pro zoom may not be perfect there’s much to like about this beautiful lens and while the pricing is a little too steep in our opinion it’s still in line with its direct competitor from Panasonic.

The lens earns very good scores for the mechanical and optical quality. But gets only 3 star out of five in the Price/Performance category.

E-M1 and 12-40mm lens Store Links:
Olympus E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto, Amazon DE (via DL), Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL), WexUK, Topshot FI, CameraWorldUK.
Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO Lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE (viaDL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-40mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK and CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-50mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK, CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus EP-13 Eyecup for E-M1 at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus HLD-7 Battery Grip for E-M1 at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LC-62D Metal Front Lens Cap for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LH-66 Lens Hood for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.

Image courtesy: Robin Wong

Robin Wong posted the first part of his E-m10 review with a focus on “Handling, 3-Axis Image Stabilization and the New M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ Lens“. It’s particularly interesting to read his consideration about the difference between the 3- and 5-axis stabilization. In short he writes:

To be entirely honest, I did not feel any difference using the 3-Axis IS, considering I have been so used to 5-Axis IS all this time.

And this are his thoughts about the new 14-42mm pancake zoom:

The Pancake Zoom lens is reasonably sharp, and I find it a tad bit sharper than what I usually get from the M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3. At wide angle the difference is not that significant, but as you zoom in to the telephoto end, the image quality is evidently better than what you can obtain from the older M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 lens.

The second part of the review will be posted next week and in the meantime you can download the “OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 IMAGE SAMPLE DOWNLOAD Part 1” for pixel peeping.

And many new image samples taken with the E-M10 and the new 25mm lens can be downloaded at Optyczne.

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Preorder links for US and Europe:
Special page with all new products at Amazon.
E-M10 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama , GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
Olympus SP-100 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus TG-850 iHS at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus ECG-1 Black Camera Grip for E-M10 at Amazon, Adorama.
Olympus 9mm f8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens at Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex Uk.
Olympus V321200BW000 Macro Converter MCON-P02 (Black) at Amazon,

Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine

Superb 25mm f/1.8 lens:
As I reported yesterday the new Olympus 25mm f/1.8 lens seems to be a hotseller according to Amazon lens popularity ranking (Click here to see). Well sales may be pushed also thanks to the great test and pictures posted by Damian McGilliCuddy (Click here). Note: He also posted some nude pictures and the site seems to keep crashing from time to time.

The great Fuji vs Olympus battle:
The newly announced Fuji X-T1 and the Olympus E-M10 are fighting for the top positions on Amazon mirrorless ranking (Click here to see).  Obviously the E-M10 comes in four different kits and therefore it will be hard to surpass the X-T1 sales. But more important is the question…how good is the Image Quality of the new cameras?
DSLRmagazine (translation here) posted two very large comparison table, one with JPG and noise reduction off (Click here to open it) and one with JPG and noise reduction on (Click here to open it). The reviewer says that Fuji and Olympus are more or less on par up to ISO 1600 where the Fuji starts to show slightly better results. Quite an amazing result for Olympus considered how innovative the X-trans sensor is. Also Imaging Resource posted many ISO comparison between the new E-M10 and other cameras.

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Preorder links for US and Europe:
Special page with all new products at Amazon.
E-M10 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama , GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
Olympus SP-100 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus TG-850 iHS at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus ECG-1 Black Camera Grip for E-M10 at Amazon, Adorama.
Olympus 9mm f8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens at Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex Uk.
Olympus V321200BW000 Macro Converter MCON-P02 (Black) at Amazon,

Image courtesy: Pekka Potka

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Pekka Potka had the pleasure to test the new Olympus stuff. And there are a lot of interetsing info to read. First he tested the E-M10 (article here). The graph on top shows perfectly the different OMD camera features. And what about the E-M10 vs E-M5 comparison? He writes:

I really don´t see the new E-M10 as a lesser camera than E-M5, because it is just as capable and reaches far beyond anything E-M5 can do. For me as a middle class senior citizen the choice between those two would be obvious. What can be done (and done with better responsitivity) is most of the time more valuable than the ability to do some of it in the rain. Simple as that, even if most of the time images from either camera would be equal.

He also tested the new Olympus 25mm f/1.8 and lens (article here) and says:

The new M.Zuiko standard lens 25mm F1.8 is a solid performer. From my brief experience with this lens I think this is a better performer than the 17mm lens which has the fancier look and construction – and is more expensive.

Image courtesy: Pekka Potka.

As you can see from the image he posted on top the new 14-42mm Olympus lens is the smallest pancake zoom ever made. He writes:

The idea of smallness with E-PM2 has not been fullfilled with any previous Olympus zoom lenses. I front of lens is again the optional, automatic lens cap. At the start Olympus gives the price for the new 14-42mm lens at 399€, which I think is a bit on the high side. The lens seem to be well built and it has a metal bayonet, but still. I guess there will be better campaign prices quite soon.

Pekka also compared the lens with the other bigger Olympus 14-42mm zoom and writes:

I did not do any formal test shooting but noticed that there is no practical difference compared to the standard kit zoom.

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Preorder links for US and Europe:
Special page with all new products at Amazon.
E-M10 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama , GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
Olympus SP-100 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus TG-850 iHS at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus ECG-1 Black Camera Grip for E-M10 at Amazon, Adorama.
Olympus 9mm f8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens at Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex Uk.
Olympus V321200BW000 Macro Converter MCON-P02 (Black) at Amazon,

Olympus OMD E M10 First Look by What Digital Camera.

This morning I posted a big E-M10 and lens roundup in this post: https://www.43rumors.com/live-olympus-e-m10-and-lenses-announced. A special page with all new products can be seen at Amazon (Click here).

Now let’s take a closer look to the first reviews:

Cameras Reviewed is the first site posting a full E-M10 review. They write:

Even though this version of the sensor includes an AA filter, we noticed no appreciable lack of sharpness when compared to the filter-less sensor in the E-M1.
Continuous shooting is a cinch thanks to the inherited E-M1 processor. Olympus promises 8 frames per second in continuous shooting, and we found that the E-M10 delivered; we measured exactly 8 fps in our standard test..

Quesabesde (translation here) is the only site in the world that got the permission to share some E-M10 RAW samples. And they checked if the E-M10 can outperform the E-M5 (ISO comparison table can be see here):

As expected, at 200 ISO there is no difference. But the improvement at ISO 6,400 is evident both in terms of reducing image noise and the level of detail that it retains.

DLSRmagazine (translation here) is the only site having tested the new 25mm f/1.8 lens (resolution table can be seen here):

As you can be seen from the resolution graph the lens offers a very high quality straight from the full f/1.8 aperture, which peaks at f/2.8. This is accompanied by good contrast, almost negligible astigmatism, limited chromatic aberration and almost absent vignetting and distortion.

For the reviewer the lens price is ok because you absolutely get what you pay for!

Preorder links for US and Europe:
Special page with all new products at Amazon.
E-M10 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama , GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
Olympus SP-100 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus TG-850 iHS at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus ECG-1 Black Camera Grip for E-M10 at Amazon, Adorama.
Olympus 9mm f8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens at Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex Uk.
Olympus V321200BW000 Macro Converter MCON-P02 (Black) at Amazon,

The E-M1 keeps receiving awards as best camera of the year 2013. The E-M1 has now been chosen as mirrorless camera of the year at Photographyblog too!

Some more E-M1 tests:
E-M1 vs GX7 at BestMirrorlessCameras.
Can the OM-D E-M1 Replace Your DSLR for Sports Photography? (TheDigitalStory).
Sam: “Not a rumor, but I’ve posted some thoughts about shooting action with the E-M1, including some photos and some criticisms regarding shooting in the “Hi” and “Lo” FPS modes that I don’t hear anyone else really grumbling about – an area of improvement I think Oly needs to work on. http://www.flickr.com/groups/om-d_user/discuss/72157639712733065/”

Not everything about the E-M1 is perfect:
There is one unsolved issue: Phase detect AF strips showing up in Olympus E-M1 video (EosHD).
And one solved: Tim told me that “a good number of us with E-M1’s had a pink color shift in the Apple RAW processor. It’s now been fixed with the latest Raw update.”

E-M1 Store Links:
Olympus E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto, Amazon DE (via DL), Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL), WexUK, Topshot FI, CameraWorldUK.
Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO Lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE (viaDL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-40mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK and CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-50mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK, CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus EP-13 Eyecup for E-M1 at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus HLD-7 Battery Grip for E-M1 at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LC-62D Metal Front Lens Cap for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LH-66 Lens Hood for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.

These are the pros and cons from Cameralabs

It took a while but now you can preorder the new crazy good and a bit crazy expensive Nocticron 42,5mm f/1.2 lens at Amazon US (Click here). And these are the new lens reviews:

Cameralabs (Click here) writes:

Unlike many fast primes that have come before it for various systems, the Nocticron is not about delivering a dollop of creamy bokeh at the cost of soft details once you move away from the center. It’s not about suffering from slow autofocus, nor having to worry about camera shake. It’s not about having to stop-down to achieve the sharpest results. No, the Leica Nocticron is about having your cake and eating it – and what a delicious cake it is too

Photographyblog (Click here) says:

$1599.99 is undoubtedly expensive for an 85mm lens for any system, but given the excellent image quality, creamy bokeh and snappy performance, we feel that it’s just about justified and a good investment for Micro Four Thirds users who require a fast portait prime lens.

And we also have a test by the French site Focus Numerique (google translation here):

The first results with this new 42.5 mm are quite good without being outstanding. The images are crisp and stitched in the center at full aperture of f / 1.2. This sensation of sharpness fades as one approaches the edges.

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In USA the lens can be preordered at Amazon US (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). In UK at Wexphotographic (Click here)