Now it’s getting serious guys! The very reliable Japanese website Nikkei (Click here) reports that Sony plans to buy a 20-30% stake of Olympus. Techradar says that “The capital and business alliance would be mainly aimed at bringing together Sony’s strength in imaging sensor technology with Olympus’ expertise in endoscopes and other medical equipment.” Only one week ago Olympus Japan announced new digital microscopes with Sony’s HDR sensor.

Right now I cannot guess how this will influence the camera business. Don’t think that Sony will “force” Olympus to join the NEX system or to use Sony sensors on m43 camera. After All Sony already supplies many competitors with their sensors (Canon for compact cameras, Nikon and Pentax with APS-C sensors and so on). I have the exact opposite question, will Panasonic work together with a partner that is now in business with a direct competitor?

The current MMF-2 adapter

I am now pretty sure that Olympus will also launch a new weather sealed MMF 43 to m43 adapter. This will allow us to use the amazing weather sealed Four Thirds lenses like the [shoplink 25320 ebay]14-35mm f/2.0[/shoplink] the [shoplink 25119 ebay]35-100mm f/2.0[/shoplink] and the almost $6.000 300mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens.

There should be other accessories too. Sounds like we are going to see a nice bunch of OM-D related accessories too!

The super nice anonymous source that already sent me the first image of the OM-D camera controls now also sent me that small piece of the camera. On the right angle on top you see the built-in viewfinder and on the bottom the lens mount. Then we have that [shoplink 23568]Olympus E-P3[/shoplink] grip (don’t know if you can remove it like you can do on the E-P3). Would like to see the other control panel on the right of the camera and of course the back. If the source can send me some details about that we would all be happy :)  Another source told us “The mode dial is on the other side. imagine the [shoplink 28231 ebay]OM4-TI (here on eBay)[/shoplink] – almost there in looks.”

There are still two MAIN questions where I don’t have a final answer:
1) What’s the definitive name of the camera?
2) Who made the sensor?

Again thanks to all sources for your help!

Reminder: The camera will be announced on February 8th and as usual you should be here on 43rumors to follow all the announcement!

Here is a list of messages I got from different sources:

1) “The improved dynamic range is a result of the new sensor“. -> In response of my question if the higher dynamic range was a result of a software feature or new hardware design.

2) “The 3 inch LCD is a tilting touchscreen“.

3) “AF is not faster…it is MUCH faster than on the [shoplink 23568]Olympus E-P3[/shoplink]”

4)  About the leaked picture: “The mode dial is on the other side. imagine the [shoplink 28231 ebay]OM4-TI (here on eBay)[/shoplink] – almost there in looks.”

5) “425 g is the weight with the Li-ion battery and a memory card, 373 g is without them“.

6) “The image processor is TruePic VI.”

7) “Price Body+kit lens = 1150 Euro.”

8.) “The cameras name is not OM-D (that’s just the new series name).”

One more thing: I am out now for a couple of hours. Will answer your mails in late afternoon (european time).

I got many rumors in the last 24 hours and it’s looks like the new Olympus OM-D will break many “records”. I have been told that it has the fastest AF (autofocus) of all current mirrorless cameras. Even faster than the already amazing [shoplink 23568]Olympus E-P3[/shoplink]. What I don’t know yet is how Olympus managed to achieve that increased performance. Could be a new faster readout circuitry or also a result of the new sensor with integrated phase detection pixels like the Fuji F300 (compact camera).

Meanwhile Wellsfargo (Click here) confirmed the OM arrival: “The new OM-D model will be offered in the United States, Europe and some Asian countries as the top model of the company’s digital mirrorless interchangeable lens camera series, selling for above 100,000 yen in Japan.The new model resembles the OM-1 film camera and is equipped with high-speed autofocus and image stabilization functionality as well as 16 megapixel resolution.“

As you all know on February 8th Olympus will announce a new line of Micro Four Thirds cameras with the name “OM-D“.The image above is actually the very first image that shows a detail of the camera. This looks super well built with high quality finishes. I hope to get more details/pictures of the rest soon.

Summary of all rumors:
This will be the first digital camera of the prestigious OM series that this year will become 40 years old. The first film camera was the [shoplink 28221 ebay]M-1[/shoplink] (launched in 1972) that was than renamed [shoplink 28222 ebay]OM-1[/shoplink] because Leica put some pressure on Olympus to change the name (to not confuse it with the Leica M-series). A couple of days ago Olympus launched an advertising campaign on Amateur Photographer last page (Click here to see it:http://minus.com/mxvrbfbS1#1). As you see the letter “O” and “M” are in bold! After that we discovered that Olympus registered the “OM-D” name at trademark.markify and the german patent institution (Click here). A Hong Kong invitiation from Olympus said the camera will be announced on February 8th. There is also a “coming soon” message on Olympus website.

I am pretty confident that those will be the specs (expect minor changes only):
– Camera has a classic OM design
– It has a magnesium body
– It is weathers sealed
– weight 373 g (body only).
– 16 megapixel sensor optimized for High Dynamic Range
– 200 up to 25.600 ISO
– Built-in electronic viewfinder 1.44 million dots (positioned in the center of the body like the old OM optical viewfinders and same resolution as the external VF-2 viewfinder (Click here to see on Amazon).
– 610.000 pixel OLED tilting 3 inch screen.
– Five-axis image stabilizer in body.
– FAST AF and 3D tracking
– Comes in Black or Silver.
– Price: Around $1.100 in USA or 1.000 Euro in Europe.

As usual follow 43rumors to not miss any OM related news and rumor. You can follow the February 8th Olympus announcement on this website!

P.S.: We are on facebook and twitter too!

Here are all the past Olympus OM film cameras:
[shoplink 28221 ebay]M-1[/shoplink] [shoplink 28222 ebay]OM-1[/shoplink] [shoplink 28223 ebay]OM-1 MD[/shoplink] [shoplink 28224 ebay]OM-1N[/shoplink] [shoplink 28225 ebay]OM-2[/shoplink] [shoplink 28226 ebay]OM-2N[/shoplink] [shoplink 28227 ebay]OM-2S/SP[/shoplink] [shoplink 28228 ebay]OM-3[/shoplink] [shoplink 28229 ebay]OM-3Ti[/shoplink] [shoplink 28230 ebay]OM-4[/shoplink] [shoplink 28231 ebay]OM-4T/Ti black and chrome[/shoplink] [shoplink 28232 ebay]OM-10[/shoplink] [shoplink 28233 ebay]OM-20 (OM-G)[/shoplink] [shoplink 28234 ebay]OM-30(OM-F)[/shoplink] [shoplink 28235 ebay]OM-40 (OM-PC)[/shoplink] [shoplink 28236 ebay]OM-77AF (OM-707)[/shoplink] [shoplink 28237 ebay]OM-88 (OM-101)[/shoplink] [shoplink 28238 ebay]OM-2000[/shoplink]

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

The last post where I asked for better pictures really helped :)

I got the first small piece of an image of the OM camera. Stay tuned. I am preparing the post. need 15-20minutes!

Invite friends to come here :)