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Panasonic issued a new firmware update for the G5 and GH3. Click here to download the fw: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/index.html

These are the new GH3 features:

1. “Low Light AF” is added that makes it possible to set focus on the subject in low-lit situations (-3EV).
2. “Silent Mode” is added which suppresses electronic shutter, shutter sound, operation sound and flash emission with a single setting.
3. “Exposure Comp. Reset” is added which resets the setting of exposure compensation to ±0 whenever the camera is turned off or the shooting mode is changed.
4. Performance of AF is enhanced in use with H-PS14042 and H-PS45175.
5. Connection problem with Apple Mac computers via Wi-Fi is fixed.

These are the new G5 features:

1. Correction of wording on [Motion Picture] menu
   • Correct the wording “60p/60i/30p” of AVCHD frame rate on [Rec Quality] menu to “50p/50i/25p”.
     This update is for PAL broadcast regions only, and you don’t need this update if wording is already “50p/50i/25p”.

It’s summertime (here in Europe) and soon a very hot rumor period will start. We will see plenty of new cameras (OMD, E, GX) and some new lenses. But in between I thought we could may try to do what my colleague Patrick from Fujirumors is doing for months now. Post your full stories and reviews!

If you have some long article you want to be posted on 43rumors send me your text and pictures on 43rumors@gmail.com. You can obviously link back to your blog to promote yourself and your work. I think that could be an interesting way for some of you to get known by the 43rumors community. Some topics I am interested in:

– Professional on field reviews. Unlike DxO or Dpreview what I want is to learn more about the real life use of cameras and lenses! No charts or pixel peeping needed :)
– Testing of little known lenses
– Funny stories around the use of MFT
– System comparison: Example,  switching from DSLR to MFT system

One more thing: After a couple of years it’s about time to change the 43rumors design and to clean it up. From October one I will take some time off from my regular job to work on this. I will tell you more about that in a future post.

Thanks guys!

Unit price in USD

Vitaly from Personal View (Click here) posted more graphs showing unit prices of DSLR and Mirrorlesscameras.  As you can see from the graph on top Mirrorless cameras average price seems to be slightly cheaper but you have also to consider that there are many expensive (FF for example) DSLR cameras rising the average level. The important thing to know is that Mirrorless camera shipments from Japan to oversea seem to stuck and not grow anymore. I don’t know yet what Panasonic and Olympus manager have in their mind to push the MFT system. The only thing I keep hearing from managers is that they want to move more towards the higher end market.

Let’s see…