We all know that Olympus is seeking a solution to make Four Thirds lenses fully compatible with the Micro Four Thirds cameras. With fully compatible I mean that you can use all the 100% AF speed of the lenses. And one of the solution may be the one you see as image here on top. It shows a new Olympus Four Thirds to Micro Four Thirds adapter with built-in autofocus and image stabilization. While I am not surprised to see the autofocus function you may wonder why there is an image stabilization system. Egami (translation here) explains that the in body stabilization has the disadvantage that you cannot adapt it on the kind of lens you are using.

Anyway, at that point I remember that one source told me that some kind of special adapter would be released soon. It may uses the technology we see here?

P.S.: Some refurbished High Qulaity Zuiko lens for sale on eBay (via Slidoo).

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Thanks Manuel for sending me the link!

[shoplink 26836][/shoplink]

An anonymous source just told me that the GX2 is due for a release in Spring 2013. Furthermore he told me, that it will not (!) have an integrated viewfinder. Other sources told me that it has design changes and the GH3 sensor.
I don’t know what you think about the GX not having an integrated viewfinder. The Fuji X-E1 and the Sony NEX-6 are selling well and I think a competitor against those cameras should be released. Don’t you? My modest opinion is(as you already know) that a [shoplink 26385 ebay]Panasonic DMC-LC1[/shoplink] alike camera would be a hotseller. Hope other sources can soon confirm or deny this rumor! Thanks!

P.S.: Some Panasonic LC1 cna be found on auction at [shoplink 26385 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Meantime in US and some other countries the GX1 is as cheap as the GF5:
GX1 price at [shopcountry 26836].
GF5 price at [shopcountry 30485].

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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

A lens with similar Olympus specs is the [shoplink 34999 ebay]Sigma 50-150mm[/shoplink].

As I told you before I expect Olympus to announce the new 40-150mm f/2.8 lens in January. Now Miranda forum user Forist DIS Ottawa writes, “For what it’s worth, I was at an imaging show today and two Olympus reps confirmed that a 40-150mm f2.8 lens will be coming next year. They said it appears on a list of confirmed future products. They didn’t have any further details but expect it won’t be available until the middle of next year at the earliest.”

I have no details about price and size of the lens yet. But the only similar lens I know is the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 which costs around $1100 ([shoplink 34999 ebay]here on eBay[/shoplink]). I hope the lens isn’t as big as that one!

Our readers following Damian McGillicuddy tweets noticed that message between Damian and Olympus UK manager Mark Thackara. They chat about the “new zoom”. Easy to guess that this may be the 40-150mm f/2.8 lens. I am not 100% sure yet but I heard the lens will be on sale for January. This will be the first fast Olympus zoom lens and I expect it to be as good as the [shoplink 25119 ebay]35-100mm f/2.0[/shoplink] but hopefully a lot cheaper :)

In the meantime new 17mmf /1.8 image samples can be found at Lenstip and Sulanto. The lens can now be preordered at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Let me know if you can find mroe preorder options. Thanks!

Image courtesy: Forumlumix.

Tomorrow (November 15th) at around 5-6am London time Olympus will release the new 17mm f/1.8 lens. The lens has been already announced at photokina. What you will get now is exact price, in Stock info, specs and image quality info. Will there be something else? For now  am not sure about it. The rumored 40-150mm f/2.8 lens is very likely scheduled for a January release. As usual stay tuned on 43rumors. We will follow the official lens release and give you live updates about news and reviews.

P:S.: Don’t miss any news. Join our group on facebook and follow our tweets!

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The current Olympus 17mm on eBay Europe (via Slidoo) and eBay US (via Slidoo).

[/shoplink] Image on top shows the current [shoplink 33626]Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 X lens[/shoplink] lens. The Olympus alternative is coming soon.

According to some anonymous sources Olympus is going to release a new High Quality 40-150mm f/2.8 zoom lens. I am not sure yet if the lens will be announced along the 17mm f/1.8 lens or later. I heard the lens will hit the stores in January. But I don’t know the announcement date yet.

This lens be compete against the just released [shoplink 33626]Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 X lens[/shoplink]. For the record, Olympus already has a 40-150mm zoom but that one has a f/4.0-5.6 aperture and by no means the same build and image quality of the upcoming new lens.

This would be the first f/2.8 zoom lens from Olympus. I hope someday they will come out with some f/2.0 lens too :)

Anyway, please keep in mind that this is a rumor from anonymous and unknown sources (rated FT3). I hope trusted sources can soon confirm the lens release for January!

Meantime, stay tuned on 43rumors the next hours and days!

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The two superb Zuiko f/2.0 zooms:
14-35mm f/2.0 on [shoplink 25320 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and via Slidoo eBay.
35-100mm f/2.0 on [shoplink 25119 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and via Slidoo eBay.

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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

Digicaminfo confirmed the rumors we posted days ago and also got the info that the new upcoming Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens will come without the hood! You have to buy it separately for 65oo Yen (64 Euro or 82 Dollars). Now, to be honest, the 17mm f/1.8 is priced at 550 Euro also much less than 900 Euro asked for the other lens that comes without hood…the Olympus 75mm 1.8 lens. So it may be that Olympus prefers to sell the lens cheaper without hood and leave you the choice to add a hood or not. For the 75mm lens you can alreayd buy some cheap hoods at US ($7 on amazon), US ($32 better quality), [shoplink 34663 ebay]Germany (ebay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 34664 ebay]Hong Kong (ebay)[/shoplink].

The 17mm f/1.8 lens characteristics are:
Exterior made of metal
MSC
Snapshot focus
Nine elements in 6 groups
46mm filter size
35,5mm length, 57.5mm maximum diameter, 120g weight
release in mid December for around 550 Euro or 50.000 Yen.

Announcement soon!!!

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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

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Olympus 75mm 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.