After having tested the Olympus body cap lens today DxOmark (Click here) also released the Olympus 60mm macro results. They write: “Compared to its main (and more expensive) competitor, the Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm F2.8 ASPH OIS, it offers better quality for the money, delivering category-leading vignetting performance among Micro Four Thirds prime lenses as well as excellent sharpness.”

And let’s keep talking about the new lens tests:
The Olympus 17mm f/1.8 has been tested by Lepidi (translation here) and  Steve Huff. And there is a Panasonic 12-35mm lens test at Thebitmap.

No one of these lenses is as good as the Olympus body cap lens of course :)

Olympus body cap lens:
DxOmark (Click here) tested the Olympus Body Cap lens. I guess they did it just for fun to see how low the quality is. And indeed the lens ranks at 2872th place: “No photographer buying a $49, 9mm long body cap lens is expecting optical perfection. Instead this lens is a bit of fun, a curiosity, a point and shoot option that’s a bit quirky and doesn’t cost much money. The limited focusing, fixed 15mm focal length and f/8 aperture will be overly restrictive for some and the latter means you’ll need to shoot in decent light, unless you’re really going to crank up the ISO. Those restrictions however will often make you work in a different way and who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised by the results.”
Curiosity: Pentax today announced a body cpa lens for the Q system too (Source: MR).

Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens:
Now let’s rise the bar from the worse to the best lens. Our friend Tyson Robichaud (Click here) tested the Olympus 75mm f/1.8: “It’s sharp, too sharp some may even say for portraiture as you’ll potentially need to be softening skin to get the most flattering results in certain situations.  The price is high, but that is what it is.  Should Olympus have provided a hood and sealing at this price point?  I think so yes, but once you get over that hurdle, you won’t be left wanting from a pure image quality standpoint.”
Lens price check at [shopcountry 31284].
Thord party and cheap hoods in US ($7 on amazon), US ($32 better quality), [shoplink 34663 ebay]Germany (ebay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 34664 ebay]Hong Kong (ebay)[/shoplink].

Mirrorless Workshop by Giulio Sciorio:
Award winner Giulio Sciorio and known MFT user organized a new workshop that some of you might be interested to follow: More here: http://www.smallcamerabigpicture.com/workshops/

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And finally after four months a limited quantity of GH3 cameras is right now in Stock at Amazon US (Click here to grab one).

Nikon shooter Daniel Cox tests the GH3:
43rumors reader and Nikon shooter Daniel Cox posted his review of the Panasonic GH3 on his website Naturalexposures (Click here). It’s nice to hear the opinion form a regular Nikon PRO shooter about the camera: “Overall I’m extremely happy with the results I shot on my trip to Kenya. The GH3 did a superb job, especially taking into account how inexpensive this camera is, as well as the lenses that go with it. Will this system replace my Nikons at this point? No. But I can’t help thinking the cat’s out of the bag with this Micro Four Thirds camera system. I’m quite confident that any camera company not paying serious attention to Panasonic does so at their own peril. The GH3 exceeded all expectations and will remain a major part of my current photographic tools. Don’t let it’s diminutive size fool you. It’s a serious contender.”
Thanks Daniel for sharing your great article!

More GH3 bits I got via mail:
Petitrois: “it’s not a rumor but I shoot with GH3 and 35-100mm at night in slow motion 48% direct from GH3. http://vimeo.com/58229073  (in 1080p but with Vimeo conversion) http://vimeo.com/57803763  (converted in 720p by Vimeo, originally it was 1080p)”
For Dutch readers: Gh3 in Stock at Foto Hans Keuzekamp and at Foto Konijnberg.

Image courtesy: Beeldlab

43rumors reader Hugo had the chance to compare the Nokton 25mm f/0.95 and the SLR magic 25mm f/0.95 lens. He posted the results on his blog Beeldlab. In my opinion the focus point of the Nokton isn’t on the letters but on the white lens marks so it may not be a 100% correct comparison. I asked Hugo about this and his answer was: “Exact focus point might vary few mm. Voigt on the P, SLR on R, Nevertheless big difference.”

That said the new SLRmagic lens shows that this company made a quantum leap forward in image quality. And as I told you before this lens is even cheaper than the Nokton! It will be on market in February for $799. But there will be a special rebate at launch and the real price will be $649. That’s $550 less than the Voigtlander Nokton lens!

P.S.: Save this search on my Slidoo eBay notification service (Click here). Login and save it so that you will get notified when the SLR magic lens will available for purchase.

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Current SLRmagic lenses for Micro Four Thirds:
SLR Magic 12-36×50 ED Straight Spotting Scope lens (w/ hand grip) is now available on [shoplink 26994 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
SLR magic 11mm f/1.4 lens you can preorder on [shoplink 22154 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Toy Lens 26mm f/1.4 lens on [shoplink 18603 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC lens on [shoplink 14881 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Noktor SLRmagic 50mm on [shoplink 25691 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]

DxOmark (Click here) tested the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens and writes that this is the “best lens DxOMark have tested for the Micro Four Thirds hybrid camera system.“. The only downside is the relatively high price: “If the high cost of the Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75mm f/1.8 is out of reach then Micro Four Thirds photographers will be pleased that the cheaper $400 Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f1.8 is a good alternative. As we’ve seen it’s not as sharp as the 75mm version and edge sharpness is inconsistent, but it represents better value if budgets are squeezed.”

I guess nobody here had ever a doubt that this is the best available MFT lens. The real annoying part may be the high price of the extra hood. But that’s an easily to solve inconvenience. Just buy a third party hood at n US ($7 on amazon), US ($32 better quality), [shoplink 34663 ebay]Germany (ebay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 34664 ebay]Hong Kong (ebay)[/shoplink].

The lens itself can be found at [shopcountry 31284].

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Olympus 75mm f/1.8 Lens alternatives (if you don’t care about the missing autofocus and electronic contacts):
1) [shoplink 31292 ebay]Dallmeyer 75mm f/1.9 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This is an extremely expensive lens and I don’t know why it is so. Only crazy guys would buy that :)
2) [shoplink 31293 ebay]Leica Summilux 75mm f/1.4 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Extraordinary high quality lens for an extraordinary price (although it’s still less expensive than the mysterious Dallmeyer). It’s the fastest of all 75mm lenses
3) [shoplink 31293 ebay]Zeiss Biotar 75mm f/1.5 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Fast and also a bit exotic lens made for the Exacta series.
4) [shoplink 31294 ebay]Leica Summarit 75mm f/2.5 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. High quality and relatively compact lens. A bit slow compared to the Olympus (f/2.5).
5) [shoplink 31295 ebay]Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Probably the best alternative of the new Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens. Same aperture, superb high quality and cheaper.
6) [shoplink 31324 ebay]Fujinon 75mm f/1.8 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This is a very cheap TV lens and I don’t expect the quality to be very good. I wouldn’t buy that unlike your really need that focal length and you have a very low budget.

Like so many Olympus cameras also that one marked a point in the camera history. Launched in 1969 it had a unique feature: It was the first Rangefinder camera with a dual metering system (spot or centerweighted readings). It has a high quality 42/1.7 fixed G.Zuiko lens. Yep, there is a “G” letter before the “Zuiko” because it refers to the seventh letter of the alphabet to signify the seven elements of the lens construction. And according to Andrew from UTexas: “It truly matches or surpasses many prime lens available today.“.

But there are many unique features on that camera. a controls (including exposure modes and timer) are on the lens!
Really, you have to read the wonderful written article at Utexas (Click here) to understand all the greatness on this jewel. One more interetsing article is also available at Cameraquest.

The camera itself is of course available on plenty of acutions on [shoplink 36258 ebay]eBay (Click ehre to see them)[/shoplink]. Great camera that (unlike all digital cameras) will likely work fine for all the rest of our long life :)

Andrew Reid tweeted the first image comparing the new SLR Magic 25mm f/0.95 vs the Nokton 25mm f/0.95. I have to say the results of the SLR Magic lens are stunning! I already posted a similar comparison back in May (Click here to read that article). But the lens used by Andrew is the final production version that should come on market in February for $799. But there will be a special rebate at launch and the real price will be $649. That’s $550 less than the Voigtlander Nokton lens!

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Current SLRmagic lenses for Micro Four Thirds:
SLR Magic 12-36×50 ED Straight Spotting Scope lens (w/ hand grip) is now available on [shoplink 26994 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
SLR magic 11mm f/1.4 lens you can preorder on [shoplink 22154 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Toy Lens 26mm f/1.4 lens on [shoplink 18603 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC lens on [shoplink 14881 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Noktor SLRmagic 50mm on [shoplink 25691 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]