Image courtesy: Photozone.

Photozone (Click here) tested the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 lens and writes:

Upon first contact you will immediately fall in love with the Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-40mm f/2.8 as the mechanical implementation is exemplary and meets the expectations of a pro lens. Although Olympus first pro zoom may not be perfect there’s much to like about this beautiful lens and while the pricing is a little too steep in our opinion it’s still in line with its direct competitor from Panasonic.

The lens earns very good scores for the mechanical and optical quality. But gets only 3 star out of five in the Price/Performance category.

E-M1 and 12-40mm lens Store Links:
Olympus E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto, Amazon DE (via DL), Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL), WexUK, Topshot FI, CameraWorldUK.
Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO Lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE (viaDL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-40mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK and CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-50mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK, CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus EP-13 Eyecup for E-M1 at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus HLD-7 Battery Grip for E-M1 at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LC-62D Metal Front Lens Cap for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LH-66 Lens Hood for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.

Image courtesy: Robin Wong

Robin Wong posted the first part of his E-m10 review with a focus on “Handling, 3-Axis Image Stabilization and the New M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ Lens“. It’s particularly interesting to read his consideration about the difference between the 3- and 5-axis stabilization. In short he writes:

To be entirely honest, I did not feel any difference using the 3-Axis IS, considering I have been so used to 5-Axis IS all this time.

And this are his thoughts about the new 14-42mm pancake zoom:

The Pancake Zoom lens is reasonably sharp, and I find it a tad bit sharper than what I usually get from the M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3. At wide angle the difference is not that significant, but as you zoom in to the telephoto end, the image quality is evidently better than what you can obtain from the older M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 lens.

The second part of the review will be posted next week and in the meantime you can download the “OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 IMAGE SAMPLE DOWNLOAD Part 1” for pixel peeping.

And many new image samples taken with the E-M10 and the new 25mm lens can be downloaded at Optyczne.

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Preorder links for US and Europe:
Special page with all new products at Amazon.
E-M10 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama , GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
Olympus SP-100 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus TG-850 iHS at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus ECG-1 Black Camera Grip for E-M10 at Amazon, Adorama.
Olympus 9mm f8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens at Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex Uk.
Olympus V321200BW000 Macro Converter MCON-P02 (Black) at Amazon,

Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine

Superb 25mm f/1.8 lens:
As I reported yesterday the new Olympus 25mm f/1.8 lens seems to be a hotseller according to Amazon lens popularity ranking (Click here to see). Well sales may be pushed also thanks to the great test and pictures posted by Damian McGilliCuddy (Click here). Note: He also posted some nude pictures and the site seems to keep crashing from time to time.

The great Fuji vs Olympus battle:
The newly announced Fuji X-T1 and the Olympus E-M10 are fighting for the top positions on Amazon mirrorless ranking (Click here to see).  Obviously the E-M10 comes in four different kits and therefore it will be hard to surpass the X-T1 sales. But more important is the question…how good is the Image Quality of the new cameras?
DSLRmagazine (translation here) posted two very large comparison table, one with JPG and noise reduction off (Click here to open it) and one with JPG and noise reduction on (Click here to open it). The reviewer says that Fuji and Olympus are more or less on par up to ISO 1600 where the Fuji starts to show slightly better results. Quite an amazing result for Olympus considered how innovative the X-trans sensor is. Also Imaging Resource posted many ISO comparison between the new E-M10 and other cameras.

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Preorder links for US and Europe:
Special page with all new products at Amazon.
E-M10 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama , GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
Olympus SP-100 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus TG-850 iHS at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus ECG-1 Black Camera Grip for E-M10 at Amazon, Adorama.
Olympus 9mm f8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens at Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex Uk.
Olympus V321200BW000 Macro Converter MCON-P02 (Black) at Amazon,