The Astrodesign 4K camera details…

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Back in January Astro joined the Micro Four Thirds system and said they would make a new 4K camera. The full specs of the camera are now available at astrodesign.co.jp. It is a camera made for Geometric data capturing for academic, commercial, military, etc. application Social property scrutiny and maintenance for road, tunnel, bridge, etc. Cinema and broadcasting. Definitely not a mass product and something 99,999% of the 43rumors readers will not buy. But hey, it’s a mft camera and we need to welcome the small Japanese company! :)

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New M43 work by Amos Chapple featured on Vanity Fair, Guardian, Daily Mail.

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Image courtesy: Amos Chapple.

Amos Chapple is a Pro Photographer using Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses. He sent me a new mail I am posting here as it is:

Italian Vanity Fair magazine have been buying my work fairly regularly and have used four images of mine in the past four months. Two images have been used as double-page spreads. The magazine runs a tight ship; image quality is thoroughly checked before they print things, and guess what? All of it was shot with M43 kit :)
Here is a link to the proofs: http://imgur.com/a/EHdbq
All pics taken with a [shoplink 16254]GH2[/shoplink]. Most of these images have also been used in newspapers and magazines throughout Europe including the Guardian, Daily Mail etc.
I don’t think the image quality of M43 is as good as full-frame DSLRs but it’s nice to know that if you’ve got good content you can use M43 kit without worrying about the sensor size.
All the best for now, keep up the great work!

This is just to say once again that if you have talent you can achieve superb results with any camera system. No need to go Full Frame to be a PRO :)

Private note: I am back from the mountains and will live for four months in Antwerpen. Will be back in my isolated place on the Pyrenees in France by February.

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(FT3) New 4k VariCam MFT camera coming in January?

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Image on top: The Panasonic AG-AF100

NoFilmSchool (Click here) reported that B&H erroneously stated the AF100 was discontinued. And they also say: “We did, however, hear a bit about a new camera they were calling the 4K VariCam. While details were limited, it will definitely sport a 4K Super 35mm sensor and feature a version of the newly developed AVC Ultra 4:4:4 codec. Though this isn’t a direct replacement to the camera that just got axed, it’s in the realm of possibility that we could see a version of this camera eventually finding its way down to the price of the AF100.

That camera could be announced in April right before the NAB show in Las Vegas.

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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

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a little bit of everything…(and new 75mm lens firmware updated)

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Purple Dance from Seb Farges on Vimeo.

Tonight Olympus released the new firmware update for the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens. This update fixes one issue: “Unstable exposure of still images taken while recording video while using the lens with a Panasonic camera was resolved.“. More info at Olympus Japan.

And here is the next news roundup:
Greece off the world map? Pics with the E-PL1 at Greekdiaries.
Alternative Handgriffe für die OM-D E-M5 by Pen And Tell.
LX7 underwater housing press release at Photorumors.
Lensbaby Spark Review at ePhotozine.
Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH on Olympus OM-D E-M5 on Diglloyd.
E-M5 photo gallery at Outbackphoto.
New C-mount lens adapter from Metabones (Dc.watch).
Ringfoto-Messe: Neues von Panasonic, Metz und Brenner (Pen And Tell).
Autumn Colours OM-D Event With Steve Gosling (ePhotozine).
Panasonic G5 review at Digital-photography-school and Steve Digicams.
Olympus 75mm test at Lydogbilde.no
60mm macro image samples at http://footlessfish.com.
Bruno:A few weeks ago, you shared the astro-photography time lapse I made with my E-P3 for which I got many positive comments from many of your readers.  I’ve now finished processing the second part of that time lapse, where I mounted the camera on the structure of the 11m mirror of the South African Large Telescope during night time operation!  Yes, a mirrorless camera mounted on an 11m mirror!  It’s a very unique perspective and the whole thing looks like you are looking through the opened hatch of a spaceship! The video was made for outreach purposes to explain what happens in a typical night at SALT.  I’ve got about 14h of “on sky” footage with different scientific projects being done one after the other.  The resulting video starts with a minute of pictures explaining how the telescope is built and how it works, then goes to the night sky taken from a point of view of what SALT sees.  All the technical details are at the end of the video, I hope you will enjoy it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXEJRr1oBZw&hd=1
TVSmith:Tanjung Sepat, Dramatic Tone Art Filters, Kite Park, Bukit Gasing, Morib Gold Coast and many more images…Featuring the OM-D, PENs and the occasional Galaxy S3, all in one place at: http://www.tvsmith.my/

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Body Cap lens gets dismantled. New E-PM2 test images and GH3 menu shots.

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Image courtesy: Siammirrorless.

That tiny Olympus body cap lens got dismantled at Siammirrorless. It’s really a cheap plastic toy but still a nice lens to use. Just see the images at Ming Thein, Digitfotopro, Pekka Potka. and Peter Norman.

And here is a short roundup of more new reviews and tests:
Olympus 60mm macro review at Photoreview.. Some E-PM2 night shot at Siammirrorless. E-PM2 image samples with f0.95 C-mount lens again at Siammirrorless.  GH3 Menu screenshots at Slashcam. There will be only fifty 12mm limited black lenses for sale in France (Lepidi).

Panasonic and Olympus Preorder Links with specs and price:
Special GH3 page at Amazon (Click here) and a full Olympus presentation page at Amazon (Click here).
GH3 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here)Panasonic US and in Europe at Wexphotographic UK and Technikdirekt.
35-100mm X lens at Amazon (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), Panasonic US.
E-PL5 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here). In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France,
E-PM2 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here). In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France,
XZ-2 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
60mm macro at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
12mm Black prime lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
15mm cap-lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).

 

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Olympus E-M5 hack: Clean Hdmi 4:2:2 and focus peaking possible?

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I got an anonymous mail from a hacker. Be aware that I don’t know yet if what he tells me is correct or not but I hope other hackers or sources can confirm or deny this.

Here is the text I got. Be aware that he is not a native English speaker:

After a long investigation I can say the OM-D EM5 can be hacked (with Olympus Studio and the Bin version of a OM-D EM5 Firmware that is only available somewhere here http://dl01.olympus-imaging.com/OLYMPUS_MASTER/FIRMWARES/).
How the update firmware work on OM-D. First the update firmware check the revision of your camera and check the firmware (last firmware, don’t update, new firmware, update)
if the update firmware find that your camera don’t have the last firmware, the update firmware take the last firmware revision in here http://dl01.olympus-imaging.com/OLYMPUS_MASTER/FIRMWARES/
We call that a silence update. You can easily hack the OM-D EM5 if you have the bin one, as you know many dev in the past was doing some decrypt olympus firmware work

First – We need the firmware.BIN it would be more easier this way
Second – you can use Olympus Studios or SDK to push the OM-D into the service and debugger mode that let you to work on it
Third – we can after really exploit the OM-D EM5 capabilities

Just to keep you informed. The debugger mode is available. The OM-D has a clean HDMI 4:2:2 ! but locked by Olympus. I saw that the OM-D have also a locked focus peaking functionality (beta feature revision probably, they should add on the next firmware revision not sure about it). For the rest… the OM-D is clearly more powerful than the GH2 and maybe the GH3, that the image processor can calc more information. For example the OM-D can easily support a 1080p120p ! i wonder why they blocked the OM-D to 30p…

But for know, you really need to find the firmware.Bin OM-D (it’s more easier) than using USB programming (on my way, it was a fully success and also need to be more experimented) but i expect to modify the firmware.BIN directly and not programming in fly.

I ask the anonymous hacker to send me more details about the project at 43rumors@gmail.com. We may can help you to go one with the hack project!

Refurbished E-M5 is also back via Cameta:
Silver Olympus E-M5 for $849 at Cameta (Click here).
Black Olympus E-M5 with 12-42mm lens for $949 at [shoplink 34210 ebay]Cametaacutions (Click here)[/shoplink] and Cameta (Click here).
Silver Olympus E-M5 with 12-50mm lens for $1149 at [shoplink 34211 ebay]Cametaacutions (Click here)[/shoplink] and Cameta (Click here).
Black Olympus E-M5 with 12-50mm lens for $1149 at [shoplink 34211 ebay]Cametaacutions (Click here)[/shoplink] and Cameta (Click here).

 

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Panasonic LX7 gets Dpreviewed (and Gariz case)

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[shoplink 34270 ebay]

[/shoplink] Let’s make a short break from (m-)43 related news. Dpreview (Click here) posted the full Panasonic LX7 compact camera review: “There’s very little to dislike about the LX7, with my main issues being redeye, slow buffer flush times when shooting RAW images, and vertical lines in panoramas. Aside from that, the LX7 is a first-rate camera that I can highly recommend.
The second LX7 related news is that the Gariz case is now available on [shoplink 34270 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Enough LX7 news. Here are the search links for the LX7 at [shopcountry 34271].
And now back to m43 news…

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