Techcrunch (Click here) tested the Olympus E-PL3: “Coming at this from an amateur’s standpoint, I find the E-PL3 slightly lacking, especially when compared to its slightly larger cousins. However, it was a dream to carry around on vacation and it’s surprisingly easy for almost anyone to use, making it a good second camera for the home. While I believe something like the E-P3 gives entry-level DSLRs a run for their money, the E-PL3 is a more subtle camera, requiring real buy-in and understanding before it becomes clear why you would spend $700 on this versus a Canon Rebel.“. E-PL3 price and availabiltiy check at [shopcountry 23567].

Photoreview Australia (Click here) tested the Olympus E-P3: “Overall performance for the review camera was similar to the E-P2 unit we tested, which isn’t surprising since the sensors of both cameras are very similar. The new camera appears to have a wider dynamic range than its predecessor, although the Digital ESP metering remained slightly biased to recording shadow detail.“.
Also CNET Asia (Click here) reviewed the E-P3: “Overall, compared with its predecessor, the Pen E-P3’s improvements definitely impressed us, especially its fast autofocus speeds as well as saturated yet pleasing color reproduction. Our only gripes with the camera would be its high ISO noise performance and the wobbling effect in videos, which we hope Olympus will be able to fix in the form of a future firmware upgrade.“. E-P3 price and availabiltiy check at [shopcountry 23568].

P.S.: Imaging Resource tested the GF3 rolling shutter effects.

Panasonic Leica 25mm unboxing and testing

The new Panasonic-Leica standard lens should be availble in “western” country any time soon. Time to give you an update about the latest image samples and in Stock status. First there is a comparison shot of M9+50mm and Leica 25mm on G3 on Flickr (its huge size!). Also at Steve Digicams Forum you can find image samples of the E-P3 with the Leica 25mm. And a lucky owner shared some pictures at Dpreview forum.

So, where can you find the lens in Stock?
Of course in Asia at Amazon Japan and [shoplink 23110 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]. In Europe there are some of them in Stock at Amazon UK at Amazon France. US readers have to be patient (preorders at Adorama and J&R).

The lens is already in Stock on [shoplink 25327 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]:
[shoplink 25325 ebay]Click here to buy the Black Samyang 7.5mm lens[/shoplink].
[shoplink 25326 ebay]Click here to buy the Silver Samyang 7.5mm lens[/shoplink].

UPDATE: There is a hands-on video on the facebook page of ThePhoBlographer.

Four Thirds User (Click here) tested the new Olympus VF-3 viewfinder: “Compared to the VF-2 the immediate impression is a smaller and less spacious view. The lower resolution also means that the very finest details that are visible with the [shoplink 25394]VF-2[/shoplink] can be lost with the [shoplink 25395]VF-3[/shoplink]. But apart from that the experience is quite similar. Refresh and flicker, when present, characteristics are much the same, as are colour and contrast.”

It is up to you to decide if the $60 dollar price difference justifies the lower resolution of the VF-2. I would have expected Olympus to launch a better external viewfinder and to lower the VF-2 price. But that’s just my personal opinion. All I know is that Sony announced the [shoplink 25396]NEX-7[/shoplink] having a much higher quality 2,4 milion dot OLED viewfinder. I hope something like that can be announced soon by Panasonic and Olympus.

Links to the two Olympus viewfinders:
Olympus VF-3 [shopcountry 25395] Olympus VF-2 [shopcountry 25394]

Is the Olympus E-PL3 a girly camera?

The video on top is made by Digitalrev. Below you can find more news about the new Olympus PEN cameras:

1) RiceHigh (Click here) found a High-ISO comparison between the [shoplink 23567]E-PL3[/shoplink] and [shoplink 23568]E-P3[/shoplink]. Cannot believe those results are correct!

2) Catching Up with the Olympus Visionaries at p3newsreviews.net (Click here). Pro photographers are shooting their work with PEN cameras!

3) [shoplink 23565]Olympus E-PM1[/shoplink] Pen Camera – First Look at Photographyreview.

The [shoplink 14828 ebay]Panasonic GF1[/shoplink] camera was (and still is) one of the nicest mirrorless cameras ever made. And many photographers still use it for their professional work. Take a look at Photographyramblings (Click here) to read the full GF1 field review: “The camera is a wonderful street camera and a really good vacation camera.  It isn’t perfect, but it is very very good.  I was glad I left my DSLR’s at home in the end.  The biggest compliment I can give the GF1 is that it never got in my way and delivered excellent quality images when I wanted them.  If I could add anything to the wish list for this type of camera it would be to build in the viewfinder (or at least make it clip in securely), make it brighter, add weather sealing to the camera and some of the lenses and that’s about it.  I think with the newer GF2 and GF3 it seems like Panasonic is going more towards the consumer point and shoot market and that isn’t a good thing to me.  I’ll keep the GF1 thank-you.”
On Photographyramblings you can see many image samples (some of them are very nice) from the trip to Alaska. At that point I want to remind you another amazing review written by Craig Mod (Click here). He used the GF1 for his work in Tibet and the photos are simply amazing.

Now let’s hope Panasonic will not let us wait to much before we get our hands on the real GF1 successor which is not the [shoplink 17361]GF2[/shoplink] nor the [shoplink 23109]GF3[/shoplink], but the soon coming GF7!

P.S.: Sadly it’s almost impossoble ot find the GF1 in Stock. It costs almost $1.500 on Amazon US (Click here to see the crazy price) and of course on [shoplink 14828 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Arkadiusz Olech has been the first to publish a fulls et of full size image samples of the new Samyang 7-5mm fisheye lens for M43. You can find them at Lenstip (Click here). And the good news is that you can already get the lens on [shoplink 25327 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]!
[shoplink 25325 ebay]Click here to buy the Black Samyang 7.5mm lens[/shoplink].
[shoplink 25326 ebay]Click here to buy the Silver Samyang 7.5mm lens[/shoplink].

At the same time he published the english translation of the original polish Olympus 45mm review again on Lenstip (Click here). You can preorder the lens at Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay. And there is already a price drop in Europe where you can get the lens for 256 Euro only at Amazon DE (Click here).