We have a couple of Panasonic 42,5mm and 30mm lens news:

Starting from today both new lenses will ship in Japan via [shoplink 52804 ebay]multiple Japanese ebay sellers (Click here)[/shoplink]. Europe and US will follow soon.

On top you can see the video with the new LUMIX G 30mm F2.8 Macro & 42.5mm F1.7 Portrait lenses with Scott Mellish.

CameraLabs tested the 42,5mm lens and writes:

Despite my initial fears the Lumix G 42.5mm would have little to differentiate itself against the Olympus 45mm f1.8, it’s ended-up becoming another valuable addition to the Micro Four Thirds catalogue. It comfortably out-performs the Olympus in contrast and sharpness in the extreme corners and throws in the added bonuses of closer focusing, a lens hood and optical stabilisation for Lumix G body owners. The mid-forty focal length may now be even busier than before in the range, but the 42.5mm f1.7 carves itself a compelling position and represents a step-up from the popular 45mm f1.8 in many respects without breaking the bank.

Photoreview tested the 42,5mm lens and writes:

Panasonic’s Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. lens is a strong performer that delivers sharp images across most of its aperture range. Edge-to-edge sharpness of frames is very good for such a fast lens and other potential aberrations are either negligible or very well controlled.

The Japanese site Yodobashi shows some nice images with the 42,5mm lens (here) and 30mm macro (here).

New Panasonic lens preorders:
Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 POWER O.I.S. Lens at Amazon, BHphoto and Adorama.
Panasonic MACRO 30mm f/2.8 MEGA O.I.S. Lens at Amazon, BHphoto and Adorama.

Egami spotted a new Sigma patent disclosing a special Micro Four Thirds 25mm lens design. There is a compact 25mm f/1.8 lens and a much brighter 25mm f/1.2 lens. I believe it’s highly unlikely that Sigma will make that lens for real. There is a much bigger chance they will sell the patent to Olympus or Panasonic. I certainly like the idea to get a 25mm f/1.2 lens!

Panasonic Japan (Click here) just released the new 2.2 firmware update for the GH4. Download it and let us know how it works!

A pdf file describing the new features can be found here: http://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/share/eww/en/dsc/fts/pdf/GH4_V22_ENG.pdf

Throwback Thursday – Olympus 35-100mm f/2.0 Review

10 Things You Should Know Before Buying a Slider for the Panasonic GH4 (Suggestionofmotion).
An awesome *awesome* adapter which allows you to remotely control f-stop *AND* focus too! (4Kshooters).
Zuiko 300mm f/2.8 ED on my E-M1 to shoot action sports (Surflove).
Olympus Image Share App And OM-D E-M5 II – IT WORKS!!! – HDR, Forget It! (Soundimagesplus).
Lensbaby Velvet 56mm f/1.6 real-world sample gallery posted (Dpreview).
Italian E-M5II test at Tomshw.
E-M5II test by Gizmodo Japan.

Chris: “Here’s a short promo I shot for a small town in BC, Canada. Shot on a Panasonic Lumix G6 with a few vintage Pentax lenses. https://vimeo.com/120329833”

Ingmar: “This is our contribution  for the shortfilm festival “Dogs, Bones and Catering” in Dresden. The shortfilm was shot on a GH-4 and a GX-7 and finished within 40 hours.
https://vimeo.com/122897233”

YS: “Today I found out that the guy behind DSLRDashboard recently acquired a GM1 (http://dslrdashboard.info/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=27)“

Adobe (Click here) announced the new Lightroom CC (cloud) or Lightroom 6 (standalone). It adds plenty of features like Facial Recognition, new panorama, new brushes for graduated and radial filters, more slideshow options, HDR (high dynamic range), as well as significant speedups (up to 1000% faster!). Also the mobile APP of Lightroom got improved with segmented view, easier rating method, improved crop and copy and paste modus. Here are the preorder links:
Lightroom CC (cloud version) at Adobe (Click here).
Lightroom 6 (standalone version) at Adobe (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).

Lightroom CC will be available as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography subscription ($9.99 per month) or as a standalone for $149.

Video of the Facial Recognition in Lightroom CC: