Apparently there is a Formel One version of the E-M5. As you see fromt he screenshot on top Amazon names the silver body “E-F1” (Click here to see). Dumb joke aside, finally I can share a good deal for my European readers. They can save 50 Euro on the Silver E-M5 body on [shoplink 30940 ebay]eBay (Click here to grab the only one that is in Stock)[/shoplink].

And now to some E-M5 news. Not that we need to read more rumors but there is another big website Photographyblog (Click here) that posted his thoughts ont he E-M5: “The OM-D E-M5 is the best Olympus compact system camera to date, and also a strong contender for best compact system camera full stop. It delivers a compelling mix of classic looks, excellent image quality, an extensive feature set and immediate responsiveness, with the camera so well designed that it rarely gets in the way of the creative process…The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is simply our favourite compact system camera to date, and therefore very deserving of our Essential award.” Also Tanaka from TheOnlinePhotographer (Click here) posted some first notes: “It’s also worth noting that the E-M5’s viewfinder is much easier to use when wearing eyeglasses. The NEX-7’s viewfinder disengages unless you keep your eye nearly pressed to the cup. The E-M5’s viewfinder sensor is much more lenient and a joy to use with glasses. Well done Oly!”

Leather case: As you know last week I linked you to the new E-M5 leather half case form Gariz. You can find them in [shoplink 30624 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 30625 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink]. I now found another new case from [shoplink 30942 ebay]Kaza (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink].

P.S.: Japanese E-M5 review at Nikkei (Click here). E-M5 gallery at DCresource (Click here).

E-M5 orders (Click on the names of the stores to see the product page):
Black E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, and Amazon Japan.
Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto , Digitalrev and J&R.
Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland , Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland and Amazon Japan.

Tokina informed that the new 30mm m43 lens will ship from May 25th.

Admiringlight (Click here) posted the full E-M5 review: “While the Olympus OM-D E-M5 is not quite up to the level of the Panasonic GH2 in the video arena, as a still photography machine it’s really brought Micro 4/3 to a new level.”

More bits: Japanese E-M5 review at Kakaku (Click here). For European readers: One Silver E-M5 body for a good price on [shoplink 30932 ebay]eBay UK (Click here)[/shoplink].

USA+Canada:
Black E-M5 body at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), J&R (Click here), Henrys (Click here).
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), J&R (Click here), Henrys (Click here).
Black E-M5 with 12-50mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), J&R (Click here), Henrys (Click here).
Silver E-M5 with 12-50mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), J&R (Click here), Henrys (Click here).
Black E-M5 with 14-45mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), J&R (Click here), Henrys (Click here).

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).

Asia:
Black E-M5 body at Digitalrev (Click here).
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon JP (Click here).
Black E-M5 with 12-50mm lens at Digitalrev (Click here) and Amazon JP (Click here).
Silver E-M5 with 12-50mm lens at Amazon JP (Click here).
Black E-M5 with 14-45mm lens at Digitalrev (Click here) and Amazon JP (Click here).

Today E-M5 Rankings (changes hourly!):
USA: E-M5 on position 2/7/11/13 (Click here)
UK: E-M5 is on position 7/12 (Click here).
Germany: The E-M5 is on position 1/4/5 (Click here).
France: not available (Click here to see rankings anyway).
Japan: E-M5 on position 3/6/11 (Click here).

Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN Review at Photographyblog (Click here): “The Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN therefore comes highly recommended as an unobtrusive, lightweight and above all affordable performer.”
Sigma 19mm lens tested at Optyczne (Click here): “It’s a little worse than his brother’s optical focal length of 30 mm.”
The 30mm lens is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here), Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Amazon FR (Click here), Amazon JP (Click here) and Digitalrev (Click here).
The 19mm lens is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here), Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Amazon FR (Click here), Amazon JP (Click here) and Digitalrev (Click here).
Olympus M.ZUIKO ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 Lens Review at ePhotozine (Click here): “Optically, this lens performs reasonably well, producing good sharpness across the frame, at least. Compared to other lenses compatible with the Micro Four Thirds system, it falls short of the performance of the best lenses available.”
Panasonic 14-140mm lens gets tested at DxOmark (Click here).
Japanese GF5 review at Itmedia (Click here) and Mynavi (Click here).
PEN portraits by Damian McGilliCuddy (Click here).
Pdc: “Have posted some purple fringe test shots taken with the Nokton 17.5mm received to-day.
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/pdcsylva/JPEGsCV17TestingPDC
#23/#32 are F0.95, #31/#40 are F16, in between are full click stops. All Lightroom processed. -2 is LR “all edges” defringe. -3 is defringe plus “Direct Positive” preset. No other adjustments applied.
Bottom line – in modest backlight, significant edge fringing at F2 and wider. LR defringe only modestly useful. Strong backlighting would increase fringing. Avoid strong backlights when shooting wide open. GH2 used for this test.” (P:S.: The lens is in Stock at Foto Hans Keuzekamp).

Asahi (Click here) announced the customizable leather skins for the E-M5. You can see a video that explains everything on youtube (Click here). I don’t know where you can buy that stuff, [shoplink 30892 ebay]haven’t found anything on eBay[/shoplink]. P.S.: Found a new E-M5 grip while searching for stuff on [shoplink 30893 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

And here are the latest news collected via 43rumors readers mails (Thanks!):
Echenique (Click here) will soon receive his E-M5 and use it for professional dance photography. AF mode by Lepidi (french).
Thomas wrote: “I ordered on March 7th, EM-5 Black body only at Amazon (Click here). Just got a Estimated arrival date: May 16, 2012 – May 19, 2012”
Thierry wrote: “This guy has some great telephotos also shot with an E-M5: http://collinorthner.wordpress.com/. Amazing macro photos a.o. taken with an E-M5 at Pen3 (Click here).”
Per K. wrote: “much positive about the EM5 but look here: http://ranger9.net/2012/tenthings/
It pinpoints the usability a la Oly that is not as good as Pana. I could add you always have to toggle (info button”) to view different informaton on screen/EVF. In total 8 different views… Fast AF is great, but if things happen while you are toggling you miss the shot anyway. The Pana UI is much more stringent and straight forward. But a GX2 with built in EVF and same IQ as EM5 would be something!
BTW: Have you noticed that DPR D800 review analyze of DR uou can compare with the EM5: According to DPR way to measure EM5 har better DR than Nikon D800!!??”

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

Bestseller list. Check the list (changes hourly!):
USA: E-M5 on position 11/12/13 (Click here)
UK: E-M5 is on position 7 (Click here).
Germany: The E-M5 is on position 2/9 (Click here).
France: not available (Click here to see rankings anyway).
Japan: E-M5 on position 3/4 (Click here).

After weeks of so many good Olympus reviews and positive feedbacks I summed three bad news all in one single post:

1) Marketwatch reports that “Olympus will likely post a larger-than-expected loss when it announces results for the fiscal year ended in March later Thursday“.I guess soon we will also know if Olympus will be forced to join a partnership with Fuji or Sony. I hope Olympus will manage it to remain independent!

2) Not all about the E-M5 is sooo great: Karl (at personal view) demonstrates how the GH2 is better than the E-m5 when it comes to analyze the video quality.

3) And it seems the camera has some banding issue too! Read the thread at Dpreview (Click here). UPDATE: It looks like the problem only occurss with the Panasonic 20mm lens!

—

P.S: Small good news at the end of this article: New XZ-1 firmware update at Olympus Japan (Click here).

It’s so difficult to find the E-M5 in Stock I am surprised to see that there are already pieces(!) of E-M5 for sale on eBay! You can buy a new [shoplink 30872 ebay]silver top plate (Click here)[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 30873 ebay]Black cover (Click here)[/shoplink]. You may be able to change the color of your E-M5 depending on your mood :)

But now let’s go back to some new reviews or news. Kirk Tuck (Click here) really tried to resist the E-M5 temptation but than he met his friend at a bar and he had an E-M5: “It has the nicest and quietest sounding shutter I’ve heard since the Olympus e1 camera from 2004.  But it’s even quieter and more refined than that high water mark of shutter elegance.  It may be the perfect camera shutter from a auditory point of view.  The sound of the the shutter is what I imagine the door of a Bentley car feels like when it shuts.  Reason enough to own the camera even if it were only as good in the files as its predecessor…” read the full “in love” report on his website ;)

P.S.: 90mm resolution test at DSLRcheck (Click here). File Notes at Outbackphoto (Click here).

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

Bestseller list. Check the list (changes hourly!):
USA: E-M5 on position 11/12/13 (Click here)
UK: E-M5 is on position 7 (Click here).
Germany: The E-M5 is on position 2/9 (Click here).
France: not available (Click here to see rankings anyway).
Japan: E-M5 on position 3/4 (Click here).

The Panasonic 20mm lens is one of these lenses that wil be remembered for a long time. And I hope Panasonic will do more of that kind of lenses in future!

For US readers. The super 14mm lens got a disocunt and is in Stock for $299 at Amazon (Click here) and Bhphoto (Click here). And the 20mm is also available at Amazon (Click here) after it went out of Stock for a while. The second most sold lens of the moment is the $199 45-20mm lens at Amazon (Click here to get the lens or here to see the ranking).