Don’t make fun of me because of that baby-graph I posted here :)

We posted so many rumors that it’s good to post a visual summary of what could be coming soon. Keep in mind that those are rumors. Some of them may be true, some will change and some of them may be turn out to be false. But one thing I can tell you. Panasonic and Olympus will very soon announce MANY new Micro Four Thirds products. Just curious…

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[shoplink 14959][/shoplink] The [shoplink 14959]Four Thirds Panasonic/Leica 25mm[/shoplink] lens

According to our trusted sources the upcoming Micro Four Thirds lens will not feature in lens stabilization. And unlike the [shoplink 14959]Four Thirds version[/shoplink] the lens will NOT be Leica branded! One source told us the lens should be available in April!

We have also an update on the 12-50mm f/2.5-3.3 lens. The lens has Power O.I.S and not Mega O.I.S. stabilization. The difference explained by Panasonic: “The newly developed POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) nearly doubles the hand-shake correction power of conventional MEGA O.I.S.”

We also heard that there could be one (or two?) more lenses. We are currently investigating those new rumors…

Feel free to share rumors by using the anonymous contact form on the right sidebar. Or contact me at 43rumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

Image on top: The Olympus teaser that was posted a few days before the [shoplink 14832]Olympus E-PL1[/shoplink] launch in February 2010

Usually January is a boring time for those of like me try to catch rumors. But the rumors I do receive in those days do prelude an even more exciting time than we had it at Photokina last year! Both Panasonic and Olympus will release tons of new stuff. It looks like Olympus had to make an unusual January announcement of the new [shoplink 18844]Olympus E-PL2[/shoplink] at the CES in Las Vegas to make “room” for the future product announcements :)

The french website “Forum Olympus France” had a smalltalk with Christopher Valentine (Marketing Director, Olympus France). At the end of the interview Christopher explains how Olympus will expand their market share in France (google English translation): “I think we can legitimately aim for the fourth place of the photo market in France (in volume). In order to do so, Olympus will be able to lever notably on the products presented today (Jan 6, 2011), but also on other particularly ground breaking novelties that we will be announcing shortly and throughout the year. Thus, announcements will be made next February and March, others will follow…..”

As you know Olympus will announce at least one pro Micro Four Thirds camera and three new pro pancakes within June!

I have a good news and a bad news. The good news is that we received new confirmations from other sources that the G3 is the next camera Panasonic will release. And the improvements the G3 will bring over the [shoplink 14834]G2[/shoplink] will be major than the improvements the G2 has on the G1.

The bad news is a no-surprise. Although the Panasonic G3 could be announced soon (February-March?) we were told that the camera will be available in Stock only months later! Seeing that in US the [shoplink 16254]GH2[/shoplink] is still continuously out of Stock this sounds again a little bit frustrating.

P.S.: Panasonic GH2 US shop checks -> Amazon US, Adorama, BHphoto

What a rumor. Pentax is about to announce a new mirrorless system which will de facto be the digital version of the [shoplink 18968 ebay]Pentax Auto 110 system[/shoplink]. Why should we care about that? The Auto 110 system had a frame size of 13 × 17 mm (0.51 × 0.67 in) which is almost exactly the frame size of (Micro-) Four Thirds sensor (13 × 17.3 mm). Now that part is just speculation. Does it not make more sense for Pentax to join the Micro Four Thirds world instead of making their own “Four-Thirds” system? That’s probably wishful thinking and never going to happen. Anyway we will know soon if those rumors are correct. The digital Auto 110 system will be announced in March.

More info about the Auto 110 system:
– History at Wikipedia
– [shoplink 18968 ebay]Auto 110 Cameras and lenses auctions on eBay[/shoplink]

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There was a reason why the Panasonic G10 has been discontinued at BHphoto! According to our trusted sources Panasonic will soon announce the new Panasonic G3! The camera will bring some major improvements like a completely new sensor (not the same [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink] sensor). And de facto the [shoplink 14834]Panasonic G2[/shoplink] will take the place of the G10.

A new source also sent us the following informations:
DMC-G3EG-K(body only and black only)
DMC-G3KEG-K (kit lens, black, red and brown)
DMC-G3WEG-K (some double zoom kit, don’t know about the lenses, black only).

Those are the shop item codes and this means the camera is very likely going to be announced soon! We hope to be able to post more details soon!

As usual don’t miss any rumors: Join us on Facebook and Twitter! Subscribe our RSS feed! If you have rumors to send use the contact form on the right sidebar or contact me at 43rumors@gmail.com.

I once heard from a trusted source that Olympus also tested Sigmas Foveon sensor on one of their Micro Four Thirds prototypes. I haven’t heard anything since then. But I remind you that Sigma is member of the Four Thirds coalition. So let’s be careful about the following Sigma rumors although I don’t believe they will make a Micro Four Thirds camera ;)
Mr. Rytterfalk writes: “in a few month we will (I still hope for Feb) see the new Sigma SD1 which is really the result of years and years of dedicated hard work – The new generation of sensors that will come out from the Foveon labs and starting with the SD1, are for sure the most interesting things sensors since the original SD9 and for the first time I really feel that this will change how people look at Sigma and three layered photography in general.
I would love if Sigma would join the Micro Four Thirds system with an interchangeable SD camera. But that is probably a dream only. Anyway, if Olympus really tested foveon sensor why not let us hope that Sigma will do sensors for a future MFT camera?

And Let’s take a quick look into the mirrorless competition. Andrea from SonyAlphaRumors posted the possible Sony NEX roadmap. With the announcement of the new NX lenses Samsung created high expectations. But according to latest info posted on X-rumors those lenses will be available much later than expected.