As you can see from the roadmap on top Olympus has the plan to release a 50mm macro lens for Micro Four Thirds. We now have been told by our sources that Olympus delayed the release of that lens til end of the year to anticipate the release of the just announced [shoplink 23577]Olympus 45mm f/1.8[/shoplink] lens. I think that was a good move made by Oly because we already have a [shoplink 14794]45mm macro lens[/shoplink] from Panasonic. We have been told the 50mm macro will be on a very high level. Don’t know what you think, but Olympus is making a damn good job with lenses now! And I know there will be more lenses coming soon!

In the meanwhile check if the new lenses are available for preorder:
Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 search page at [shopcountry 23110].
Olympus 12mm f/2.0 search page at [shopcountry 23576].
Olympus 45mm f/1.8 page at [shopcountry 23577].

I have been told that the upcoming VF-3 has less Pixels than the current VF-2. The VF-3 has 900.000 pixels while the  VF-2 has 1.400.000. The main advantage of the VF-3 is that it is much cheaper.

NO idea yet when Olympus will announce it!!!

Our reader “Andi” made a nice finding! If you visit that german Olympus page (http://www.de.olympus.ch/consumer/208_manuals.cfm?prodID=E-P3_master) and download the E-P3 manual you can find something “unexpected” on page 120. You can see the picture of the new VF3 which has a builtin flash!

The question now is…why didn’t Olympus announce the VF-3 yet? I do hope it has at leats the same quality of the [shoplink 23839 ebay]VF-2[/shoplink] if not better! I have been told by my sources that the VF-3 is cheaper than the VF3! Check the current VF-2 price at [shopcountry 23839].

Reminder -> 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 image on top shows a Micro Four Thirds camera prototype from Panasonic (Source: Egami). But what is also interesting is that zoom lens mockup. One of my very good sources told me that Panasonic is indeed working on a Micro Four Thirds zoom with motorized zoom. I am not sure how that will work but there will be  probbly a button on the lens to move the zoom. Maybe that new feature is the reaosn for the 12-50mm f/2.5 lens delay? We still hear that the lens will be announced in late 2011 early 2012. If true this would become the perfect lens for video shooters and will put Panasonic on the top of the HDSRL war against Sony and Canon! Imagine that the [shoplink 16254]GH2[/shoplink] or [shoplink 16841 ebay]AG-AF100[/shoplink] with the 12-50mm f/2.5 lens! Amazing or not?

The currently only optimized video lens is the [shoplink 14802 ebay]Panasonic 14-140mm[/shoplink] (but it has no powerzoom!). Check the lens price at [shopcountry 14802].

Check the links of the two best Panasonic videocameras:
– The GH2 at [shopcountry 16254].
– The AG-AF100 (101) at [shopcountry 16841].

Many readers here on 43rumors are waiting to see a rangefinder styled camera from Panasonic and Olympus. But Sony did it “right” and they will beat them on time with the new NEX-7 which should be announced in late August. How does it look for you? At least better than the current NEX cameras! The real problem for Sony is that they have no small lenses on their roadmap (That Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 is still way to large!). Read more at http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr4-hot-is-that-the-first-image-of-the-nex-7/

UPDATE: Keep in mind that Panasonic will announce a GF PRO camera this year (probaby in August too) which could have the rangefinder style of the [shoplink 21096 ebay]Panasonic L1 (Click here to see that camera on eBay)[/shoplink].

Image on top is a Mockup of a Canon mirrorless camera. not a real camera!

There were many “mirrorless” rumors I posted last week on 43- and MirrorlessRumors. Some of them are very important and that’s why I am posting this recap because you might have missed them!

1) There is a picture of the next upcoming external Olympus viewfinder. And it looks like it has a sort of built-in flash too! (Click here to read more).

2) More Fuji and M43 rumors (Click here to read more)

3) Akira Watanabe talked about the future of Four Thirds (Click here to read more)

4) Surprise! Nikon could join the Pentax Q system by end of the year! (Click here to read more at MirrorlessRumors.com)

5) Canon confessed, they will go Mirrorless!!! (Click here to read more at MirrorlessRumors.com)

6) The Sony NEX-7 will have a built-in viewfinder (Click here to read more at SonyAlphaRumors.com)

7) The Panasonic GH3 will have electronic shutter (Click here to read more

As you see there is a lot of movement inside the Mirrorless world. I am curious to see what Canon will do but I bet they will “join” in mid-late 2012 only. The Sony NEX-7 could be a “bomb” with the new 24 Megapixel sensor but I don’t think they are going to make it right with the body-usability design. The big news here is Fuji. If they join the m43 system than it will be ahrd for everyone else (including Sony and Canon) to compete against them!!!

As you might remember our sources said that Olympus had a new cheaper external EVF but than Olympus didn’t announce it along the new PEN cameras. We were all wondering what happened. Finally our reader “Felix” noticed something very interesting in one of the E-P3 commercials from Olympus (Click here to see the commercial on youtube). At the end of the video (00:58) you can see the new external viewfinder we talked about for weeks! It’s definitely NOT the current Olympus VF-2 ([shoplink 23839 ebay]Click here to see images of that viewfinder[/shoplink]). Hope Olympus will let us know more about it soon!