And here it comes the next DxOmark test that will put the world up side down. Confess, you didn’t expect that the Panasonic LX5 RAW quality to perform so much better than the Olympus XZ-1 (which uses the same sensor!). Click here to see the XZ-1 vs LX5 comparison at DxOmark. I am surprised and you?

DxOmark also tested the new Olympus E-PL2. In that case results are on par with the GF2 and the older E-PL1 (Click here to see the DxO results). The only real change is that the E-PL2 has a sensible better ISO performance.

Olympus XZ-1 direct shop links: Amazon US, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR
E-PL2 direct shop links: Amazon US, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon DE, Amazon FR

You can read the full Olympus E-5 review at DPreview (Click here): “The E-5 is a tough and capable camera that is fun to shoot with…but the E-5 isn’t the game-changer that we always hoped Olympus might come up with“.
Click on the store name to directly check price and availability of the E-5: Amazon US, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR.

Leonard Goh from CNET Asia tested the Olympus E-PL2: “Shutterbugs who are looking to buy a mirrorless ILC should really keep the E-PL2 in mind because it offers plenty of useful features in a compact body.”
Also Steve Huff tested the E-PL2: “The E-PL2 is basically a “Hot Rodded” E-PL1 and it really is a fantastic photographic tool.”
Click on the store name to directly check price and availability of the E-PL2: Amazon US, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR

SLRgear published their Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 test. The lens is very sharp, Chromatic Aberration is somewhat high for this lens, Vignetting and Distortion are negligible. And their conclusion is very short: “With sharp results and only slight issues with CA, Panasonic has produced a very nice walk-around lens “. Read the full review (with image samples and graphs) at SLRgear.

M43photo.blogspot compared the Panasonic 20mm with the new 14mm lens.

Check the price and availabiltiy of the lens:
USA: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, eBay
Germany: Amazon.de, Pixmania.de, eBay.de
France: Amazon.fr, Pixmania.fr, eBay.fr
UK: Amazon.uk, Pixmania.uk, eBay.uk

Chipworks dissembled and analyzed the GH2 electronic. You can only read the first part of their article. After that you have to pay to read the rest!

There is a new GH2 review at CNET: “It’s speedy, feature-packed, and an excellent ILC for shooting video, but to consistently get really good photos out of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 requires shooting raw.“

We have found so many new reviews today! Now it’s time for the Olympus XZ-1 which is not a m43 camera but definitely something we are interested to hear about!

1) ePhotozine tested the XZ-1: “The lens is an excellent performer that breaks new ground for a compact camera and offers unique benefits of its own. Although not perfect in terms of its handling the results are worth it and the XZ-1 is Highly Recommended.”

2) Photographyblog posted a set of image samples.

3) There is one more review at iantan.org The author makes an interesting statement and I would love to hear from you what you think about: “Now you can see why that I think the XZ-1 might actually cannibalize the Pen camera range, especially at the EPL-2 range (sub S$1,000). It shares similar color rendition, similarly restrictive manual exposure controls (you need to upgrade to the Pen EP2 for better manual use), and most potential buyers will be happier with the XZ-1′s solid zoom range and “fast” apertures.”

Note: Adorama (Click here) now added the white XZ-1 preorder option.
Olympus XZ-1 direct shop links: Amazon US, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR

We already knew it and DxOmark confirms it. According to DxoMark there is virtually no difference between the GF2 and GF1 RAW image quality. Color depth, dynamic range and ISO performance are exactly on par. By far more worth to read is the article written by Peter van den Hamer and posted on Luminous Landscape. Peter explains how DxOmark works and how reliable it is: “Probably every image quality expert would have a somewhat different personal preference for a benchmark like this. But my impression is that the benchmark is pretty useful: I analyzed the model and the data, but didn’t find any serious flaws.”

He gives many hints about how DxOmarks works and one was particularly interesting: “It should be clear by now that larger sensors (rather than larger pixels!) can produce less noisy images. This is simply because a larger sensor area can capture more light – and for reasonable resolutions this is pretty independent of the amount of MPixels the sensor’s surface has been divided into.”

Click on the store name to directly check price and availability of the GF2: Amazon US , Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon UK, Amazon DE and [shoplink 19414 ebay]eBay[/shoplink].

Letsgodigital tested the new Olympus E-5 flagship camera: “When we only look at the specifications, it seems as if the Olympus E-5 has been surpassed on all sides by most camera manufacturers. However, practice leads to a completely different conclusion.“..:”the Olympus E-5 has improved or renewed its finest details. It is very solid, very complete and very versatile. “. The final verdict is EXCELLENT! I repeat it again. It’s amazing to see how a 12 Megapixel sensor can be optimized to deliver a top image quality (at leats at Low ISO!). Read the full review at Letsgodigital!

Click on the store name to directly check price and availability of the E-5: Amazon US, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR.