A very trusted sources shared some positive insights on Panasonic mirrorless camera sales. While he obviously cannot share numbers he told me that Panasonic is finally seeing an increase in their mirrorless camera sales. We will see these positive trend within the next Panasonic financial report. Also important to know is that Panasonic expects the positive trend to continue further with the release of the GH4. So let’s wait and see.

The last months there were a lot of negative reports about the status of the mirrorless system camera market. But for unscientific reasons I strongly believe mirrorless system cameras are the future. And I am not the only one thinking so:

Digitalcamerareview writes:

The mirrorless camera genre is the future. Large, bulky DSLRs are a dying breed. Will it happen overnight? I’m sure it won’t. But I know that I will be showcasing my DSLRs next to my other antique cameras sooner than later!

Luminous Landscape writes:

The two marketplace leaders (Canon and Nikon) are in the same boat here. They’d rather follow than lead when it comes to the inevitability of mirrorless. Why? I believe that the answer is fear. It’s clear to everyone in the industry that the future lies in mirrorless technology, but the two market leaders have DSLRs as their current bread and butter products. Their wisdom seems to be — if someone is going to eat our lunch, let’s let them at least do it slowly. Doing the brave move of eating it ourselves, while maintaining our dominant market share, is just is a bit too risky.

North American preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek (Click here).
GH4 camera with interface unit at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,998

Europen preorders, shipping date and price:
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.

Hard to believe it but the Panasonic GH4 has been announced in Japan today only! And the only new info we got here is that the camera will start shipping on April 24 (Source: Panasonic Japan). The camera can be preordered at Mapcamera. Panasonic also announced the price of the Leica 15mm lens (70,000 YEN price without tax).

P.S.: The Gh4 preorders at Amazon are still good and the camera holds the position around place 22th (Click here to see full ranking).

North American preorders, shipping date and price:
GH4 camera at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,698. In Canada at Vistek (Click here).
GH4 camera with interface unit at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). Price: $3,298
Interface unit only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Panasonic (Click here). Price: $1,998

Europen preorders, shipping date and price:
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.

We finally have more info about the pricing of the new lens:

In USA the lens costs $599 at BHphoto (Click here). But there is no info on the GM1 + lens kit price
In Europe the lens will cost 599 Euro and with the GM1 camera 1.000 Euro.
In Uk £549.99 and £999.99 for the camera+lens kit.

And this is the official MTF chart from the lens:

Low resolution image samples can be seen at Panasonic UK and Panasonic Germany.

And now the question: You know price, look and MTF chart…

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P.S.: Yesterday Panasonic also announced a new 4K wearable camera. More info at Engadget.

Out to Lunch – Anamorphic Test from Jurek Ugarow on Vimeo. (With SLRmagic Anamorphic lens and GH2).

43rumors reader Beson Russell organized an OMD touch and try event in Dublin (April 5th) If you want to participiate read more at Onlinepictureproof.com.

One Year Testing the Panasonic Lumix GH3 (Naturalexposures).
E-M10 Image samples at Itmedia.co.jp.
First impressions review of Olympus’ new 9mm Fisheye lens in a body cap at Furnfeather.
Comparison between Olympus 25mm f/1.8 and 45mm f/1.8 at Samgoldphotos.
Olympus FL600R review at Betterfamilyphotos.
Catechism Class: the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 lens (Jlwilliams).
My OMD camera has multiple personalities (ThisIsNotaPrint).
Olympus 9mm f/8 Fisheye Body Cap Lens Review at ePhotozine.
BMPCC (Micro 4/3) based on a few months of using the camera by Marchal.
iPhone lens used on a M43 camera at Witonosfreestyle.
Sustos de infarto en Sol – Prueba de Panasonic DMC – GM1 (Youtube).

Josh: I have just done a shoot with the Sigma 60mm (MFT mount) lens and Olyumpus EM1…here is my recent blog post about one of the shoots if you would like to share it. http://joshmcleodphotography.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/sigma-60mm-f2-8-dn-lens-mft-mount/”

UPDATE: BHphoto is the first worldwide store accepting preorder of the new Panasonic-Leica 15mm f/1.7 in Black (Click here) or Silver (Click here).

It’s finally official! The new Leica 15mm f/1.7 lens will ship from early June! There will be a Black and Silver version. It will come in standard GM1 package for £999.99 while the lens only will be £549.99. A bit strange to see that only Panasonic UK unveiled the news (and therefore only price in Pounds is available). UPDATE: This is the official lens page at Panasonic UK (thanks Dicahub for sharing this). UDPATE_2: Presentation page is now up at Panasonic Germany too.

Here is the full press text:

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Panasonic Announce New F1.7 High Speed Leica Summilux 15mm Lens to Allow Photographers to Capture Fashionable Defocused Reportage Pictures

24th March 2014 – Panasonic has unveiled a new digital interchangeable lens, the H-X015 LEICA DG SUMMILUX 15mm / F1.7 ASPH. (35 mm camera equivalent: 30 mm) for the LUMIX G range, based on the Micro Four Thirds standard, which is both compact and lightweight.

The new LEICA DG SUMMILUX 15mm / F1.7 ASPH. allows photographers to capture supreme daily life pictures with beautiful bokeh.  Exceptional optical performance is assured with certification granted from the world-renowned LEICA.

The new lens system comprising of 9 elements in 7 groups uses 3 aspherical lenses. The aspherical lenses suppress spherical aberration and distortion effectively while enabling the lens unit to be made smaller.

Panasonic’s Nano Surface Coating technology is adopted to minimize the reflection at entire visual light range (380nm-780nm) resulting in the super clear picture quality by avoiding ghost and flare.

The lens incorporates a superior inner focus system, which enables excellent resolution and contrast from close-up to infinity. The inclusion of a newly developed stepping motor makes the focusing action smooth, silent and quicker for use in both photo and video recording.

Notably the performance of AF is by far superior to the phase-difference AF when fast lenses with a smaller F value are used. It is also compatible with the sensor drive at max.240 fps to take maximum advantage of the high-speed AF of LUMIX G cameras.

The LEICA DG SUMMILUX 15mm / F1.7 ASPH. comes equipped with aperture ring and AF/MF switch for direct, intuitive operation.  Furthermore, the robust metal design of LEICA DG SUMMILUX 15mm / F1.7 ASPH., including the hood, is highly reliable and durable for repeated exchange of the lens.

New GM1 kit, DMC-GM1L

The LEICA DG SUMMILUX 15mm / F1.7 ASPH. is the perfect companion for Panasonic’s recently released LUMIX DMC-GM1 and will be available with this camera in a new kit (DMC-GM1L) giving the photographer a sophisticated style with the ‘Got To have It’ camera enabling creative high quality photography.

The GM1 kit will be available in black from mid June priced £999.99 while the lens only will be £549.99 arriving early June. The lens will be available in black and silver.