I just received an email form the company:

“Thanks for the message. The company is very real. There are a couple photographers with lenses now, so there will be a lot more images and footage along with the product launch next month. The info from google’s cache is incorrect. It was placeholder text while the site was developed. The main corrections are 480g weight and 23° Angle of View.
Goals? Develop and sell the fastest lens possible :) ”

As many of you noticed the Lens seems to be acopy of the Senko lens. more infos here: http://thephoblographer.com/2010/02/14/micro-four-thirds-noktor-lens-rumored-to-be-from-senko/

P.S: It is obvious that the lens is neither a Leica Lens or
Voigtländer Lens!
Leica Objektiv or Voigtländer Objektiv!
Zeiss lens or Voigtländer lens!
Leica Lens or Voigtländer lens!
Leica Lens or Voigtländer lens!
Leica Lens or Voigtländer lens!
Leica Objektiv or Voigtländer Objektiv!
Leica Objektiv or Voigtländer Objektiv!
Leica Objektiv or Voigtländer Objektiv!
Leica Objektiv or Voigtländer Objektiv!
Leica Objetivos or Voigtländer Lens!
Leica Objectif or Voigtländer Objectif!
Leica Lens or Voigtländer Lens!
Leica Lens or Voigtländer Lens!
Zeiss Lens or Voigtländer Lens!
Leica Lens or Voigtländer Lens!

UPDATE5: Just received an email form the company: “Thanks for the message. The company is very real. There are a couple photographers with lenses now, so there will be a lot more images and footage along with the product launch next month. The info from google’s cache is incorrect. It was placeholder text while the site was developed. The main corrections are 480g weight and 23° Angle of View.
Goals? Develop and sell the fastest lens possible :) ”

Noktor will launch the fastest Lens for Micro 4/3rds on March 1st! They also have some image samples here: http://twitter.com/noktor. It is a dedicated MicroFourThirds lens! No Adapter needed!

UPDATE4: The main reason why I gave the FT5 value (which means there is a 90% the rumor is true) is that the website uses the official MicroFourThirds logo. The logo is trademarked and nobody can use it without the permission from Olympus/Panasonic!
UPDATE3: Message to the Noktor company: Can you contact me at 43rumors@gmail.com? Have some questions for you! Thanks
UPDATE2: New sample image here: http://noktor.com/stills/noktor_2.jpg
UPDATE: A new tweet form the company says: “Yes, it will be priced MUCH lower than the Noctilux :)”

Google cache saved this data about the lens:
With a maximum aperture of F/0.95, the Noktor Hyperprime is the fastest lens designed for Micro Four Thirds cameras. At open aperture, the lens renders pictures and video with extreme shallow depth of field for a unique aesthetic.
Extreme Low-light Shooting
In low-light photography and cinematography, the lens exceeds the perception of the human eye. From nightscapes to campfires, now you can shoot in situations that are often impossible to capture with a normal lens.
Technical Specifications
Focal Length 50mm
Maximum Aperture F0.95
Minimum Aperture F16
Autofocus No
Internal Focusing No
Rear Focusing Yes
Minimum Focus Distance 1.9 ft. (0.6m)
Corrected -> Angle of View 23°
Lens (Elements) 8
Lens (Groups) 7
Dimensions 2.9×2.1 in.
Corrected -> Weight (480g)
Mount Type Micro Four Thirds
Accepts Filter Type Screw-on
Filter Size 62mm

UPDATE: I didn’t find any information about the company and their products in Ebay or google.

Just received that mail:

“For a couple of months now, I am closely following an Olympus- Authorized marketplace on Ebay.de, which recently increased significantly the offers of B-ware E3+12-60 & E3+14-54 kits.

Thought you should know.“

In the past days I found some rumors talking about a possible Panasonic LC2 announcement. I didn’t post anything because until today I didn’t believe them! BUT I just found a very new patent which shows a LC1 similar camera with tilting-display (which the Panasonic DMC-LC1 has not) and Video recording!

The filing date is 10/19/2009. That is the first proove that this patent is not referred to the older Panasonic DMC-LC1.
Small update: This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2008/002299 filed on Aug. 25, 2008. The entire disclosure of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2008/002299 is hereby incorporated herein by reference.This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-222395.

Also the back design of the camera is very different:

The back shows”a release button 30, a mode switching dial 26, a cross key 27, a menu setting button 28, a set button 29, a viewfinder switching button 34, and a moving picture photography button 35. ”

Thea most interesting part of the very long text are:
“…The display unit 20 is a variable-angle monitor with which the angle can be freely changed with respect to the case 3a of the camera body 3, and the angle can be tilted upward by means of a hinge mechanism”
“…further comprising a display unit configured to display a real-time image acquired by the imaging unit in the moving picture photography mode”
“…two different methods can be used for focal point detection, namely, a phase difference detection method in which the above-mentioned focal point detection unit 5 is used, or a contrast detection method based on the image signal outputted from the imaging sensor”
“…The compression method can be, for example, JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) in the case of a still picture. In the case of a moving picture, MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) is used. Also, an H.264/AVC format in which a plurality of frames of image signals are compressed together can be used.”

Sounds like Panasonic is really working on a the DMC-LC2! Let’s see if they will transform the drawings in a real camera :)

The “Old” Panasonic LC1 isn’t in Stock in most shops. But you can still find very few on Ebay US / Ebay UK / Ebay DE

I am receiving more and more rumors confirming the Panasonic GH1 successor will not appear soon. Most of my sources do say a GH2 announcement is very likely planned for Photokina in September.

I know that’s bad news but I suspect the new Panasonic G1 successor will come with new video recording capabilities.

Don’t worry to much I also have some small good news for you!

Anyway a future Panasonic GH2 camera with 1080p60/50 and 28 Mbit data rate would be definitely an amazing camera which will probably be a worthy (if not more) competitor of the new Canon Rebel T2i video capabilities!

http://media.panasonic.eu/offline/

All offline now!!! Just mantenance? Or new camcorders? Or something else?

UPDATE: I was told that Panasonic will update the website with the new camcorders…