(FT4) Christmas present: 17mm f/1.8 to hit stores in December for 550 Euro.

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Few weeks ago we got Yahoo Taiwan listed the new Olympus 17mm f/1.8. And now we got a more specific info confirming that the lens will hit the stores in mid December. The rumored price in Taiwan is $16,900 NTD and in Europe price will be around 550 Euro. Olympus already said that this lens will have the same build quality of the [shoplink 23576]Olympus 12mm f/2.0[/shoplink] lens. I will certainly grab one of these!

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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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New E-PL5/E-PM2 case from Gariz.

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Current and future E-PL5/E-PM2 owners may be glad to know that Gariz just released their new high quality case. And they are already available on eBay:
[shoplink 34731 ebay]Black E-PL5 case (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 34730 ebay]Brown E-PL5 case (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 34733 ebay]Black E-PM2 case (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 34732 ebay]Brown E-PM2 case (Click here)[/shoplink].

There is also another E-PL5 ISO test posted by the Hungarian website Pixinfo. Sadly google translation tool doesn’t work on that website so you can just take a look at the ISO test images.

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E-PL5 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France and eBay (via Slidoo).
E-PM2 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France and eBay (via Slidoo).

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Panasonic GH3 test at EosHD (Global shutter GHx in two years?)

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Example of moire on the Panasonic GH3 from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

Our friend Andrew from EosHD had the chance to test a pre-production GH3 camera. He met Panasonic manager Uematsu-san and the first interetsing news is that he “hinted at a weaker anti-aliasing filter in our conversations. This results in sharper stills but more aliasing in video mode“. On the other side the weaker AA filter allows to have a “better overall image because of improvements to colour, gradation and the codec“. And the GH3 “resolves as much detail as the $15,000 Canon C300 and at a higher bitrate in 24p.”

A look into the future: Uematsu-san said that Panasonic could bring global shutter to the GH line in 2 years.

If you want to read more about the GH3 I invite you to read the article at Luminous Landscape.

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.

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UPDATE: 60mm macro lens in Stock at BHphoto (Click here).

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(FT3) Digicaminfo: Panasonic GX2 to arrive in Fall 2013 only? GF6 and G6 in Spring.

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Yesterday Panasonic announced the new MFT videocamera. So while the rumor about an early November Panasonic announcement were correct we are still missing the release of the new GX2. There is a weird silence around that product. Back in Spring Panasonic itself said that: “We will define more clearly what GH and GX means this year, so consumers have a better idea of what their characteristics are.” (Source: Amateur Photographer). And the GX1 price fell down at the same level of the GF5 (GX1 $460 Amazon and GF5 $449 again at Amazon).

But that weird silence may be a sign that something has changed within the Panasonic roadmap. And indeed Digicaminfo (translation here) got the info that Panasonic decided to release the GX2 in Fall 2013 only! This is not a rumor from their best sources, so it may be not correct. But according to the rumor the Panasonic decided to take time to develop the new GX2 so that it will have some features that “do not exist on current Panasonic MFT cameras“.

What these features could be we don’t know but I already spotted some patents about 1) rangefinder styled GX camera and 2) Built-in sensor stabilization. But we know, patent do not really disclose what’s coming in the near future.

The other info is that the GF6 and G6 will be released in Spring. That is definitely not a surprise. Panasonic is known for releasing the G and GF successors in Spring :)

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The Sony NEX-6/7 (Click here) and the Fuji X cameras (Click here) are for now the only mirrorless cameras with such a rangefinder styled design.
The [shoplink 23692 ebay]DMC-L1 eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
The [shoplink 26385 ebay]DMC-LC1 on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

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 new 35-100mm X lens video user review…

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First off….there are now eight(!) refurbished E-M5 auctions on Olympusmarket eBay (Click here to see the list on Slidoo eBay). If you are going to bet on it…Good Luck! :)

Panasonic 35-100mm X: Our reader Twills got his new X lens and posted the video on top. Here is his short review text: “The lens is exceptionally sharp even wide open at F2.8. The 35-100mm has in lens image stabilization that as you can see in the video works extremely well in both stills and video modes. This lens is not that much longer and actually narrower than the 14-140mm. I have not seen in CA(Chromatic Aberrations) or other distortions with this lens. The image quality of it is unmatched by any other m4/3s I have tested. This is expected with a lens this expensive though.
The 35-100mm lens emits very faint whirring and whining noises from the continuous auto focus motors. They are faint but you can hear them if you put your ear up next to the lens. I couldn’t hear the noises in any of the videos I took.
The auto focus with the GH2 + 35-100mm is extremely accurate and it does not hunt at all. However, it can be slow to refocus in very dark situations where the focus point changes very quickly.
I have uploaded the still images from the video at the link below.
http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/4222674355/albums/35-100mm-f2-8-samples
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3293287”

One more review: 60mm macro test at Camerastuffreview.

 

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GF5 gets a $70 discount. LX5 and XZ-1 deal reminders.

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The last two months Panasonic was impressively active with deals on the US market. Here is the next one. The GF5 with 14-42mm kit lens now sells for $449 at Amazon (Click here). That’s about $70 less than you pay at BHphoto.

And if you are going to grab the deal than don’t forget that you can save even more when you buy it along another MFT lens:

 

UPDATE: The LX5 is available discounted at $249 at BHphoto (Click here). The XZ-1 sells for $199 at Amazon.

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A new MFT lens is in Stock for the first time. The Mitakon 35mm f/0.95.

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I don’t know if you knew it but there is a new Mitakon 35mm f/0.95 Micro Four Thirds lens that is now for sale for the very first time on [shoplink 34694 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Actually this lens has been designed to cover even larger APS-C sensors and is available in X and E mount too (Full list of Mitakon lenses on Slidoo eBay).

The only image samples I found where made on the Sony NEX and posted at Xitek Forum (Translation here) and MFlenses. Let me know if you have some image samples ot share!

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