Private note first: The last three weeks I was busy because of family reasons. Finally I managed to reorganize my working day so that I can be 100% back on 43rumors. The last three days I had busy conversations with sources and they helped me a lot to get a clearer focus on the new product announcement roadmap. And if you feel that in these last three weeks I missed to post some of your work or reviews please mail me the links back at 43rumors@gmail.com. As you know I am doing all alone here on 43rumors and sometimes I need your understanding…thanks!

And now let’s talk about the next Olympus products. It’s months now that the I tell you something “different” and “new” is coming from Olympus. And that has been now confirmed by some of my sources. What I learned now is that Olympus will 100% market the new kind of camera in Spring. The real surprise is that they will not(!) announce it at the CP+ show yet but they opted for a later announcement. The reason is yet unknown, but from my parallel work on MirrorlessRumors I noticed a convergence of new product releases in late March-early April (new Canon EOS-M with integrated EVF, new NEX, and new Panasonic G5 successor). It may be casual…it may be not.

The new camera is rumored to have the new Epson 2,36 viewfinder and a new overall camera design. And there should be a fast zoom too (no, not the busted 50-150mm f/2.8 rumored lens).

And now back to the Cp+ show. Yes, there will be an Olympus product announcement but not for the new camera. More about that will come soon. And some Panasonic rumor too. So stay tuned on 43rumors!

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PConline just posted these images disclosing a new Kodak branded (and JK manufactured) Micro Four Thirds camera! It’s named “Kodak S1” and has built WiFi transmission function. The camera will be released in Quarter three of this year!

Kodak officially presented the camera in a Press Conference in Peking. The bloggers at PConline also said the sensor used will be a Sony CMOS. But I don’t know if that is an official info or their guess.

I expect a new Micro Four Thirds camera from Olympus to hit the market in Spring but surprisingly I have been told by two sources that the announcement of the camera will be made AFTER(!) the CP+ show!

There will be new stuff for the CP+ show but this doens’t include that camera. The reason why Olympus will “skip” the CP+ show is yet unknown!

P.S: All normal E-P3 kits are now marked as discontinued at BHphoto (Click here). And they are massively discounted at Adorama (Click here) and low in Stock at Amazon (Click here).

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Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct

Olympus patented a series of possible super wide angle zoom all starting with the focal length of 5mm and ending between 25mm and 35mm. May I ask some experts here if that lens is for a normal compact camera or for a larger size sensor? Thanks!
P.S.: Note that this is a very slow lens, that’s why I am having a doubt this may be for a normal compact camera…

Source: Freepatentsonline.

The only FT5 news I have right now is that there will be one new Micro Four Thirds camera from Olympus to come soon. Now two new sources said that this should be a new kind of PEN camera with built-in viewfinder. And to be more specific it uses the 2.36 megapixels Epson viewfinder announced three months ago at Photokina (Source: Epson). Again, this hasn’t been confirmed yet by a trusted source. All we can be 99% sure off is that a new camera is about to be announced soon and it’s my guess that this will happen right in time for the CP+ show in Japan.

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P.S.: Olympus has a long history of making compact cameras with built-in rangefinders. Just check the super long list of [shoplink 36035 ebay]eBay auction on these cameras (Click here)[/shoplink]. Got some inspiration for the new digital PEN with EVF? :)

Image on top: The current Olympus XZ-2

While the classic compact camera market is shrinking under the pressure of smartphones the high end compact camera remains an interesting market. And according to a Digicaminfo source Olympus will launch a new XZ-10 compact luxury model. Specs are unknown yet. The big question is about the sensor size. Will it use a “classic” small sensor? Will it use an 1 inch sensor like the Sony RX100 or even a larger Four Thirds sensor?

Metabones created the buzz of the week when back on Monday they announced the new Speed Booster adapter. By narrow the image circle of FF or APS-C lenses they can increase the speed of a lens used on a MFT sensor. But they didn’t yet unveil what mounts will be supported. Our reader Knut (Thanks) was able to contact the Metabones manager and they confirmed to him that Metabones will do an OM to MFT Speed Booster adapter!

UPDATE_2: Here is the Metabones pdf file that explains how to do the math. An example, the [shoplink 28872 ebay]35mm f/2.0 OM lens[/shoplink] on the Speed Booster becomes a 25mm f/1.4 lens.

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And as you know there are a huge amount of OM lenses we can use! This is just the list of the prime lenses…Click on the link to check the price and auctions on eBay: [shoplink 28869 ebay]21mm f/2.0 and 21mm f/3.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28870 ebay]24mm f/2.0 and 24mm f/2.8 and 24mm f/3.5 shift lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28871 ebay]28mm f/2.0 and 28mm f/2.8 and 28mm f/3.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28872 ebay]35mm f/2.0 and 35mm f/2.8 and 35mm f/2.8 shift lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28873 ebay]40mm f/2.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28874 ebay]50mm f/1.2 and 50mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/2.0 macro and 50mm f/3.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28876 ebay]55mm f/3.5 macro lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28880 ebay]85mm f/2.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28881 ebay]90mm f/2.0 macro lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28882 ebay]100mm f/2.0 and 100mm f/2.8 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28884 ebay]135mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/3.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28885 ebay]180mm f/2.0 and 180mm f/2.8 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28886 ebay]200mm f/4.0 and 200mm f/5.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28887 ebay]250mm f/2.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28888 ebay]300mm f/4.5 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28889 ebay]350mm f/2.8 lens[/shoplink],, [shoplink 28890 ebay]400mm f/6.4 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28891 ebay]500mm f/8.0 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28892 ebay]600mm f/6.6 lens[/shoplink], [shoplink 28893 ebay]1000mm f/11 lens[/shoplink].