This is an official(!) Olympus press release (Source: Olympus UK).

“Olympus working on new body for top-pro lenses
Interviewed today, Akira Watenabe said that active development is under way. No other details yet. Immediate Release Olympus working on new body for top-pro lenses:
Akira Watenabe, manager of Olympus Imaging’s SLR planning department, confirmed today that the company is definitely working on a body to deliver the focusing performance expected by users of the Top Pro lens series like the ground breaking 90-250 f2.8 fixed aperture zoom (Editor: Click here to see). Watenabe has been delighted with the success of the OM-D which has pushed the boundaries of performance for system cameras but acknowledged that it did not deliver with the legacy high end lenses from the E-System. Whilst further information were not forthcoming, he was keen to emphasise that Olympus is actively developing a solution and will announce more details in due course.”

So there is really an E-7 with [shoplink 29074]E-M5[/shoplink] sensor coming soon ;)

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P.S.: Meantime the 35-100mm lens got an up to $450 discount when purchased along the E-M5. Search(!) Links o the current E-5 camera: [shopcountry 17163].

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Press release also posted on Four Thirds User,  Whatdigitalcamera and more…

An anonymous source just sent me this: “New cheap olympus M43 body on his way and goes along with the cheap f8 lens, maybe a dual lenses combo“. I take the chance to ask him (and other sources reading this) if the E-PM is going to be announced next week along the 60mm macro or in September. Thanks :)

Anyway, as I wrote before I am really curious to see that lens on the new E-PM2 (or E-PM5).  It’s defintiely one of the weirdest rumors I ever received :)

I still have no info about the price of the lens but here are the specs:

Focal lenght: 15 mm (equivalent to 30 mm on a 35 mm camera) :
Aperture: F8 fixed
Dimensions :Max.dia.Ø56(2.2in.)× length 9 (0.4 in.) mm
Design: 3 groups, 3 lenses
Focus: 0.30 m (11.8 in.) to infinite. Manual Focusing (Three settings)
Weight: 22 g (0.8 oz.)

I have been told there is no data communication between camera and lens.  For reference the until now smallest m43 lens is the [shoplink 16258]Panasonic 14mm[/shoplink] that is 2.06 cm thick and weights 55g. I have no diea how Olympus will market this lens. WOuld be nice if they give it to tu fro free on any future m43 camera you buy! :)

Amazon just leaked a pdf file that includes the image of the new 60mm FR-2 adapter for RF-11 flash: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/B1YEzf4soyS.pdf. Thanks to the anonymous source for sending this. I hope you can find the image of the 15mm f/8.0 lens too :)

(UPDATED POST!)
Next week Olympus announcement will likely see the final release of the 60mm macro lens and we just learned from top sources that there will be a sort of RF-11 ring flash light adapter for the lens.

So for now we know that Olympus is going to announce a 60mm macro lens, 60mm ring flash adapter and a crazy 15mm f/8.0 and 9mm thick pancake. No cameras yet! E-PM2 (or E-PM5) and E-PL5 coming in mid September!

Stay tuned on 43rumors! And a way to remain informed in real time is to join the facebook comunity:

Thanks!

The message issued by Adorama

The Panasonic 100-300mm zoom is now out of Stock in all bigger US stores like Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto. I haven’t got any info about a possible replacement about the lens but Amazon US (Click here) even removed the preorder option!

Meantime our reader Eric sent me the screenshots of the OM-D iPad application that includes info about the 60mm macro lens. Click on the images to open the full size version. P.S.: iPad app download on iTunes (Click here).

P.S.: The never ending success story of the E-Pl1 continues…it is again on top of the Amazon rankings (Click here to see).

[shoplink 32796 ebay][/shoplink] Image on top: The [shoplink 32796 ebay]Leica Perara Triplet[/shoplink]. One of the smallest lens ever made.

What a surprise!

We just heard from our top sources that Olympus super cheap m43 lens will be a 15mm f/8.0 fixed aperture prime! It has a length of 9mm only!!! At first glance I thought this may would be a pinhole lens ([shoplink 32795 ebay]there is one from SLRmagic here[/shoplink]) but I have been told this lens….has lenses :) It will have about the dimension of the [shoplink 32796 ebay]Leica Perara Triplet[/shoplink] (the image you see on top).

Very likely the goal from Olympus is to set a new mark in the miniaturization war. Makes me wonder what they will do with the upcoming E-PM5…make it small as a [shoplink 32797 ebay]Minox[/shoplink]???