A half year ago a source sent us a rumor about a Olympus prototype camera that sues a semi-transparent mirror (What Sony calls Translucent). Good to know that the rumor was correct because today we found the patent that explains how it works! Download the pdf at http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7889268.pdf. The many difference between the Sony solution and the Olympus patent is that you can flip up the mirror when you want to avoid the light loss you have using the semi transparent mirror.

This is the original description copied from the patent:
“The digital camera of the present invention has a still image shooting mode and a moving image shooting mode, and performs different focusing operations between the still image shooting mode and the moving image shooting mode.
For example, the range of focusing tolerance and the driving speed of a focusing optical system can vary between the still image shooting mode and the moving image shooting mode such as to set the range of focusing tolerance wider or the driving speed of the focusing optical system slower in the moving image shooting mode.
An exemplary structure of the present invention can be expressed as follows. A digital camera having a still image shooting mode and a moving image shooting mode comprises: a mirror member arranged in an optical path of a photographing lens to reflect part of a subject light beam passing through the photographing lens and transmit the remaining part of the subject light beam; an imaging part for receiving the subject light beam transmitted through the mirror member to output a subject image signal; a distance measurement part for receiving the subject light beam reflected by the mirror member to detect a defocus amount of the photographing lens; and a focusing part for performing a focusing operation to drive the focusing optical system in the photographing lens to an in-focus position based on the defocus amount detected by the distance measurement part, wherein in the still image shooting mode, the focusing part performs a first focusing operation prior to still image shooting, and in the moving image shooting mode, the focusing part performs a second focusing operation different in mode from the first focusing operation during moving image recording.
According to the present invention, there can be provided an easy-to-use digital camera capable of acquiring both still and moving images.”

And that was the description of the prototype the source has seen:

But there is also a second FourThirds prototype that he is testing. The name is E-P330 (again a FAKE name). It is be very similar to the current E-330. It has a similar technology to the Sony A33/55, but it does not have a translucent mirror, it has some kind of liquid chrystal mirror. The advantage is that you have no light loss when you take the real picture. The mirror can electronically change between 50% translucent and 100%. When you don’t take pictures it uses 50% of the light for the AF-system and 50% for the sensor. When you take the picture it uses the full 100% alight source. The disadvantage is that it is not as fast as the Sony technology and you do not have any AF if the mirror is at 100%. The prototype iuses the same E-620 AF-system. The viewfinder is integrated in the body and has the same specs as the VF2 for MicroFourThirds. The LCD can be tilted and it uses the same [14826]GH1[/shoplink] sensor. It takes movies with 720p. You can use an external microphone.

UPDATED: I corrected the typos. Sorry I was in real hurry today and as usual writing article with the iPhone isn’t really helping. + I am sick today :(

Our friend Valentin Sama from DSLRmagazine got some info from his reliable sources. It looks like Leica could soon announce their mirrorless camera. Valentin doesn’t know if Leica will make a [shoplink 17361]Panasonic GF1/2[/shoplink] clone or create a new system. It’s very important to know that:
1) Leica has to choose between Panasonic and Sony sensors because Kodak doesn’t make the CMOS sensors at all!
2) Last year Leica said they will not join the Micro Four Thirds group because the sensor is to small.

But meanwhile Micro Four Thirds has become very popular and Leica could have changed their mind! We were told from our sources that Leica will get rid of the expensive and complex rangefinder system of the [shoplink 17844 ebay]Leica M9[/shoplink].

Links:
– The Leica mirrorless system will allow you to take use of the [shoplink 19211 ebay]Leica R lenses (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink].
– The Leica M9 at [shopcountry 17539]

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Last month a new anonymous source sent us the following message “Next Olympus announcements : 8/2 and 2/3“. He were right with the first date (Olympus announced the SZ-10, the VG-110 and the 3D VR-330) so he might be right with the second date too! We already told you that we expect new Micro Four Thirds stuff to be announced late May only but…..let’s hope we are wrong ;)

Meanwhile Forum Olympus France found three new Olympus compact camera design patents:
Camera one
Camera two
Camera three
Could be that those are the cameras Olympus will announce next week (Wednesday)?

Image source: xinhuanet

Zhongyi Optics from China is developing a 28mm f/2.8 lens for Micro Four Thirds, which will have a 4 group and 5 lenses design. Price will be around CNY 500 (around 80 USD).

We already have a few cheap chinese manual m43 lenses:
SLRmagic 26mm f/1.4 [shoplink 18603 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 [shoplink 14881 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] Loreo lenses on [shoplink 20117 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]

One of our sources told us the upcoming Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 Micro Four Thirds lens will be almost as big as the current Panasonic 14-42mm kit lens. If the rumor turns out to be true than the size will be a bit more than we expected (or hoped) to be for a lens that is “rumored” to come without in lens stabilization (OIS). It has almost double the size of the [shoplink 14796]Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens[/shoplink] pancake. We still don’t have the 100% certain specs so I hope there is room for a surprise that can explain the size (a bit faster than f/1.4? Incredible image quality? or last moment added OIS?). The lens is expected to be announced late March/early April.

Links:
– I used the awesome Four Thirds matching simulation to compare the lens size!
– The [shoplink 16340]Four Thirds Panasonic/Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens[/shoplink] (which should have almost double the size compared to the little Micro Four Thirds sister)
– The Panasonic 20mm pancake at [shopcountry 14796]

UPDATE: Samsung doesn’t make any big secret about their lens roadmap and they just announced 5 new NX lenses (Click here to read more at MirrorlessRumors.com)

So, after reading Thom Hogans opinion about Olympus future you might want to read a second opinion from Khen Lim at Zone-10. He mixed up history and speculations to give us a positive vision about Olympus upcoming products. He expects a lot from the Olympus pro-m43 camera but this are a mix of hopes and speculations so take it with a grain of salt! In short he expects a super tank built weatherproof PEN camera:

“What is particularly interesting with Yamaki’s (Sigma) announcement was his company’s intention to develop its own interpretation of the mirrorless camera around the Foveon sensor.”
“The generation after the 1’s ([shoplink 18844]E-P1/E-PL1/E-PL1s[/shoplink]) and the 2’s ([shoplink 14830]E-P2/E-PL2[/shoplink]) will unfold Olympus’ bigger picture but we’ve already seen some of the company’s ideas in the form of that accessory slot behind the Pen’s hotshoe. That slot is going to be big business in many ways for Olympus but that’s not all.”
“The diminutive [shoplink 19904]XZ-1[/shoplink] also holds plenty of clues too. This is not a camera from a company that is shrinking away from the business. It is a bold move from one that is, instead, confident of where it wants to head.”
“In separate closed-door meetings with the two Germany companies (Zeiss and Schneider), Olympus would have shed light on to its future development roadmap, talked more keenly about its next generation of Pen cameras and the lenses they have now lined up. In and amongst all of these, Olympus would have revealed to the Germans at least the specs if not the pro-grade Pen prototype in the flesh. The Japanese would have discussed not just the E-P3 but the P4 and P5 and the plans they have to take the lead in this new market.”
Despite accusations that Olympus doesn’t listen to its users, some of us actually believe they do. Like Panasonic, Olympus keeps track of several key websites and blogsites throughout the Internet world, establishing a global communiqué with its key subsidiaries, each of whom has site coverage to closely monitor and find out about the movements on the ground. However while Panasonic is quick to respond, Olympus appears more sluggish to the point where people actually believe they’re not listening. Rest be assured they are, they do and they have been.
“Olympus introduce weatherproofing to Pen camera . Olympus’ next-generation pro-grade Pen cameras will be nothing less than tank-built in quality. You’d be able to feel that quality in the palm of your hand.”

Let’s hope Zone-10 is right and Olympus will really bring some major innovation. And honestly I would love if Sigma would make a foveon m43 camera!

Links:
– Current Sigma foveon cameras at Amazon
– The newest foveon model the SD1 at BHphoto.

[shoplink 14959][/shoplink] The [shoplink 14959]25mm f/1.4 lens for Four Thirds[/shoplink] will soon have a little Micro Four Thirds sisther :)

Now we now it for SURE (99%) that the new Panasonic G3 will be announced by late March/early April. As we already told you the new body looks different than current G cameras, but the new design will not have a [shoplink 17020]DMC-LC1/L1[/shoplink] look!). The G3 has a new sensor and can take FullHD videos (but not at 24mbit/s like the new [shoplink 16254]GH2[/shoplink]). Let’s hope the G3 will not have the delay of the GH2 and the GF2 (In US only the Silver GF2+14mm lens is in Stock at Adorama (Click here)) and the GH2 is still missing.

We didn’t get any FT5 confirmation that the 25mm f/1.4 will be announced along the G3 but I would say it is FT4 (please read the explanation about the rumor classification at the bottom of the page!). We know the 25mm lens will not feature in lens stabilization and unlike the [shoplink 14959]Four Thirds version[/shoplink] the lens will NOT be Leica branded!

But there also could be one more lens coming (that’s FT4). We hope to know more about it soon.

Links:
– The current Leica branded 25mm Four thirds lens at [shopcountry 14959] and Amazon.
– The 5 Megapixel DMC-LC1 at [shoplink 17020]ebay[/shoplink] and the 7 Megapixel DMC-L1 at Amazon.

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