Two days ago we posted a rumor with low credibility (FT2) that Panasonic could buy the Olympus Imaging division. External websites + some new (and completely unknown sources) told me Panasonic and Olympus are talking about that since a couple of months.

Meanwhile I asked some of my very good sources if they heard anything about that. All do say that they don’t know anything about a possible sale of the camera division to Panasonic. There is absolutely no word about that going around at Olympus. This doesn’t mean that this would not be possible as such an acquisition would only be dealt by the very top Japanese managers from Panasonic and Olympus. So only time will tell if the rumor is true or not.

As I said earlier, I hope it is a wrong rumor as I think the whole Micro Four Thirds system would lose some of their “appealing”. What do you think?

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The japanese blog Egami (Click here to read the quirky google translation) found a new Panasonic patent that displays a sort of foveon sensor. The google translation is not so good but as far as I understood that sensor has no Low Pass filter. There is a sort of “photonic crystal” that splits the light into RGB directing the single beams to three different micro sensors. Unlike the Sigma foveon which has three layers placed one under the other the new Panasonic sensor would avoid the light loss typical from foveon sensors (that’s why foveon sucks at high ISO). As usual with patents this sounds very promising. But it is a patent so there is no clue if we will ever see such a sensor in a real camera!

The next patent found by Egami (via Nexthardware) discloses a patented from Olympus that allows a flash sync speed of 1/20.000 of a second! The even more interesting news is that the technology is based on a new electronic shutter system!

Before you read the rumor: This is a rumors website. Always keep your feet on earth. In that case the rumor hasn’t been confirmed by my trusted sources so it’s based mostly on rumors from external websites!

A couple of weeks ago a trusted source told me that he wouldn’t be surprised if Olympus would sell his camera division. It was just a chat and he didn’t explain me why he thought that. In the meanwhile I got a rumor from a new source a while ago saying that Panasonic could buy the Olympus imaging division. I didn’t post that rumor simply because it came from one single unknown source. But now the rumor is spreading around the web on other websites too. So it’s time to post it with a very low credibility ranking of “FT2” (=rumor from non reliable and unknown source).

According to those rumors Panasonic is negotiating the acquisition of the imaging division from Olympus! And we have been told that Olympus first reaction was “positive”. At SLRclub (Click here) some secret Olympus source said that Olympus wants to keep their highly profitable and healthy medical business.

At that point I want to repeat once again that the rumor is unconfirmed! And if you ask my opinion, I really do hope it is NOT true!

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 (Click on it to view the full size) shows the first real 12-35mm and 35-100mm samples (Source: DC.watch). Both X lenses will come within the first half of 2012. All we know now is that they are fast. Our reader “Monodrift” (Thanks!) made a [shoplink 14814 ebay]14-45mm[/shoplink] versus 12-35mm size comparison. You can click on it to see the full size image:

As you see the 12-35mm is not a lot bigger. But I do hope it is a lot faster anyway!

Click on picture to enlarge the image!

Wow! What a day! Panasonic already shared some details about the upcoming NEXT X lenses. There will be a 12-35mm and a 35-100mm fast X zooms!!!! Panasonic said they will come in 2012 and have a “large” aperture. Those are focal lengths very close to the amazing constant f/2.0 aperture lenses from Oly, the [shoplink 25118 ebay]Olympus 14-35mm f/2.0[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 25119 ebay]35-100mm f/2.0[/shoplink]! But I do hops they are not that expensive!

The 14-35mm costs around $2100. Check: [shopcountry 25118].
The 35-100mm costs around $2500. Check: [shopcountry 25119].

Let’s assume the price is close to the Olympus lenses and the aperture f/2.0:

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Preorder the current X lenses:

Black 14-42mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Silver 14-42mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Black 45-175mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Silver 45-175mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Black GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).
Red GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).
White GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).

Some of our readers said that it is not possible that slow zooms can be defined as “PRO” lenses. I just learned from my sources the exact words Panasonic will use tomorrow when announcing the new “X” lenses. According to Pana this is a “premium lens brand“! And those are the lens specs:

Lumix G X 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical lens with Power O.I.S.

I have been told that it has:
– superb image rendering for lifelike textures
– crisp edge-to-edge contrast
– Nano Surface Coating (for minimal ghosts and flaring)
– 26.8mm length!
– 95g
– It has 9 lenses (including four aspherical lenses and two ED lenses)
– It has two buttons, a electric-powered zoom button and an autofocus button (there is no zoom nor focur ring!)
– 0.1 second Light Speed AF with the [shoplink 23109]Panasonic GF3[/shoplink].
. Minimum focusing distance wide open is 20cm. On the tele end it is 30cm.

Lumix G X 45-175mm f/4.0-5.6 Aspherical lens with Power O.I.S.

– superb image rendering for lifelike textures
– crisp edge-to-edge contrast
– Nano Surface Coating (for minimal ghosts and flaring)
– Inner focusing
– 90mm length
– 210g
– 0.15 second Light Speed AF with the [shoplink 23109]Panasonic GF3[/shoplink].
– The lens has almost the same size of the [shoplink 15864 ebay]Olympus 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6[/shoplink]. It is not compact!

P.S.: Two of my sources said the price of the 14-42mm X lens is probably too high :(

A collage made by “Aless” (Thanks!) shows the real 14-42mm X lens on the [shoplink 14828]Panasonic GF1[/shoplink].

Tomorrow (Friday) at 6am London time Panasonic will unveil the new X lens series and two new zoom lenses. We were never that excited about upcoming zooms! I have been told the image quality of the new and very first 14-42mm X lens is impressive (much better than the actual [shoplink 23962 ebay]14-42mm kit lens[/shoplink]). It has Nano Surface Coating, aspherical lens, inner focusing, powerzoom (with button on lens), in lens image stabilization. All this is packaged in a tiny pancake with 1.5x the length of the [shoplink 14796 ebay]20mm f/1.7 lens[/shoplink]! The aperture of the lens is f/3.5-5.6.

A new anonymous source sent me this (take it as FT2!): “The new kit lens will be available with the [shoplink 23109]GF3[/shoplink] in a special kit package, and Panasonic is also going to offer it with the [shoplink 14834]G2[/shoplink] at some point. Had a try with the lens last week at the press event, the way it pops out by itself is actually pretty impressive, and I can see being really useful for slipping into your bag or just dumping the camera somewhere quickly. But it’s $250/200 Euro more than the standard kit lens – will consumers want to cough up that kind of money?” P.S.: The current Panasonic kit lens price can be checked here [shopcountry 23962] (around 200 dollars/pounds/euro).

I have no reliable info yet about the second lens, the 45-175mm zoom. I have been told it is also small but I don’t know yet if it is an X lens or not.

More: It will be interesting to see how Panasonic will introduce the new “X” pro lineup. Will there be more “X” lenses coming this year? Will there be fast zoom “X” lenses too? Will there also be “X” cameras?

Be online tomorrow at 6am London time. As usual I will make  a useful summary of all news/reviews/interviews and so on!

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