The two announcements to follow today here on 43rumors are:

1) Olympus at 9:00 (German time) which is 0:00 in San Franciso, 03:00 in NYC and 17:00 in Tokyo
2) Panasonic at 14:00 (German time) which is 5:00 in San Franciso, 08:00 in NYC and 22:00 in Tokyo

List of stuff to be introduced:

Olympus:
– Silver E-M1
– E-M1 firmware update
– 40-150mm f72.8 PRO lens
– new update lens roadmap

Panasonic:
– LX100
– GM5
– 35-100mm
– GH4 firmware upgrade
– updated prime lens
– new update lens roadmap

The Olympus 40-150mm PRO zoom lens that will be announced tomorrow will be the best Olympus zoom lens ever made (Source: Digicameinfo). The Optical performance is said to exceed those of the best Four Thirds zoom like the [shoplink 25119 ebay]Olympus 35-100mm f/2.0[/shoplink]. These are the google translated 40-150mm PRO specs:

ED40-150mm F2.8 PRO
– Optical performance that exceeds the SHG Four Thirds
– The use Super ED lens, ED lens, HD lens, the lens EDA
– ZERO coating
– Powerful dust and water performance
– Equipped with an evolved version of the MSC “DUAL VCM focus system”
– AF motor, use a linear motor of two
– Focusing floating method
– Minimum focusing distance 70cm throughout the entire zoom range
– Manual focus clutch mechanism
– Equipped with function button “L-Fn”. Can be assigned various functions such as AF stop
– Exclusive hood that can slide storage is included.

1.4x Teleconverter MC-14
– As “ED40-150mm F2.8 PRO”, “ED300mm F4 PRO” dedicated
– Thin 14.7mm
– The barrel is made of metal
– Lens configuration (one HR lens) six three groups
– Dust and water resistance to low temperature

Announcement tomorrow (Monday Sept 15) at  9:00 Photokina-Köln time! Panasonic announcement will be at 14:00!

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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

National Camera Exchange is already showing the new GM5 and LX100 pricing info. Both camera will cost $899 each (the GM5 with 14-42mm kit lens included). The Panasonic 35-100mm lens will cost $399. The Gm5 will be a 16MP camera with same built-in EVF as the LF1. The LX100 is the far more interesting camera and has following specs:

 LX100 specs:
– Sensor: 16MP Multi aspect Four Thirds(!). Real resolution is a bit lower.
– 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 lens
– Built-in EVF: 2,76 milion dots, 1.39x / 0.7x magnification
– ISO 200-25600. Can be extended down to 100!
– 4K recording (with time limitation to avoid heating issue)
– exact camera size: 4.52″ x 2.6″ x 2.4″
– hot shoe
– Looks like a “mini” [shoplink 46868 ebay]Panasonic LC1 (here on eBay)[/shoplink]

The LX100 costs 849 Euro in Europe! Announcement in a few hours: Olympus at 9:00 and Panasonic at 14:00 Photokina-Köln time!

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Natcam link found via Dvinfo and via Photorumors.

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For sources: Sources can send me anonymous info at 43rumors@gmail.com (create a fake gmail account) or via contact form you see on the right sidebar. Thanks!
For readers: Don’t miss any news. Join our group on facebook and follow our tweets.

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

Not only the Olympus E-M1 but also the Panasonic GH4 will get a firmware update soon. An anonymous source just sent me this…

“Panasonic new firmware will improve 96fps slow motion and the 4K mode. Including internal compressed raw, 12 and 14 bit uncompressed hdmi”

Tomorrow (Monday) will be a damn exciting day! Don’t miss it and keep following 43rumors!

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GH4 North American store links:
GH4 camera at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Ritz Camera and Panasonic. Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek.
GH4 camera with interface unit at Adorama and BHphoto. Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto and Panasonic. Price: $1,998

GH4 Europen store links:
Germany: Wexcameras, Marcotec-shop.de.
UK at Wexphotographic, CameraWorld, UKdigital, CVP, TipTop.
Holland at Fotohanskeuzekamp.
Belgium at Fotokonijnenberg.
Norway at Fotovideo.
Sweden at Cyberphoto, Skandinavianphoto.
Finland at Telefoto, Topshot, Verkkoauppa.
France at Photocineshop.
Spain: Fotoboom.

Asian store links:
Digitalrev and Digidirect Australia.

4K cards
Kingston 16-32-64 GB SDHC UHS-I Speed Class 3 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Sandisk 16-32-64 GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-II Memory Card at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Transcend 64-128 GB High Speed 10 UHS-3 at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Panasonic 16-32-64 GB SDHC-UHS-I U3 Card (90MB/s) at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

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For sources: Sources can send me anonymous info at 43rumors@gmail.com (create a fake gmail account) or via contact form you see on the right sidebar. Thanks!
For readers: Don’t miss any news. Join our group on facebook and follow our tweets.

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

We got more info about the mysterious 4K firmware upgrade. As you know it’s yet not 100% sure if that 4K fw upgrade is coming on Monday or maybe with a later fw update. But we got the image of the E-m1 4K menu on top that consolidates our hopes! And here are some more info that make will make you jump off the chair:

FW 2.0 new features:
Higher Bitrate (similar to the GH4, also for the 1080p too)
4K + the usual FullHD, HD recording mode
Slow motion mode at 240fps and 120fps
New codec (Panasonic patent, AVC-I-U)
Framerate control (24p,25p,30p,50p,60p, including the slow motion one)
Updated ColourCreator
FullHD 4:2:2 in MJPEG mode too
Uncompressed HDMI with 4K support
More manual control during recording mode
Better mic control
UHS-2  support (improvement of the UHS support)
Improvement of the Wifi control (including a live control)
A lot of picture improvement and art filter update (composite, etc…)

—
For sources: Sources can send me anonymous info at 43rumors@gmail.com (create a fake gmail account) or via contact form you see on the right sidebar. Thanks!
For readers: Don’t miss any news. Join our group on facebook and follow our tweets.

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

Image of one of the current Panaosnic smartphones (not form the yet rumored hybrid cam).

This is no a Micro Four Thirds news but as you know the smartphone market is eating up the compact camera segment and Panasonic apparently wants to merge the two kind of devices into one. I have heard that Panasonic will “display” a sort of high end smartphone-photo hybrid camera. I have no specs about the sensor and lens used ut the goal of that device is to deliver very high image quality on smartphones. It should be something like the [shoplink 48191 ebay]Samsung Galaxy Camera (here on eBay)[/shoplink] which has a Cmos 1/2.3″ sensor size and 21x optical zoom. I see success only if Panasonic manages to use a larger sensor inside it (1 inch?). I know I am dreaming :)

—
For sources: Sources can send me anonymous info at 43rumors@gmail.com (create a fake gmail account) or via contact form you see on the right sidebar. Thanks!
For readers: Don’t miss any news. Join our group on facebook and follow our tweets.

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