Olympus versus Biotar 75mm lens battle (BHphoto is shipping the lens!).

Share

 

On left the Olympus lens, on right the [shoplink 31293 ebay]Zeiss Biotar 75mm f/1.5[/shoplink].

CSCmagazine (Translation here) posted a crazy comparison between the Super New Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens and a a lens who’s design is from 1939(!)…the [shoplink 31293 ebay]Zeiss Biotar 75mm f/1.5[/shoplink]! So if you are curious to see how big a 70 year difference looks check out the image comparison on CSCmagazine. Meantime we have been told by our readers that BHphoto (Click here) has shipped their lens preorders! Finally!

More Lens preorders at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon Germany and Amazon UK.

Olympus Lens alternatives (if you don’t care about the missing autofocus and electronic contacts):
1) [shoplink 31292 ebay]Dallmeyer 75mm f/1.9 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This is an extremely expensive lens and I don’t know why it is so. Only crazy guys would buy that :)
2) [shoplink 31293 ebay]Leica Summilux 75mm f/1.4 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Extraordinary high quality lens for an extraordinary price (although it’s still less expensive than the mysterious Dallmeyer). It’s the fastest of all 75mm lenses
3) [shoplink 31293 ebay]Zeiss Biotar 75mm f/1.5 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Fast and also a bit exotic lens made for the Exacta series.
4) [shoplink 31294 ebay]Leica Summarit 75mm f/2.5 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. High quality and relatively compact lens. A bit slow compared to the Olympus (f/2.5).
5) [shoplink 31295 ebay]Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Probably the best alternative of the new Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens. Same aperture, superb high quality and cheaper.
6) [shoplink 31324 ebay]Fujinon 75mm f/1.8 (Here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This is a very cheap TV lens and I don’t expect the quality to be very good. I wouldn’t buy that unlike your really need that focal length and you have a very low budget.

Share

Panasonic reports a Q1 profit. New Low price for the Nokton 25mm lens in Europe…

Share

 

A short good news: Panasonic reported a $164 million profit for the Q1. After years of losses this is finally a good news! There are no details about camera sales in their report (download here).

A good news for European readers: Now the price of the Nokton 25mm f/0.95 lens became ridiculous low! You cna buy it now for 639 Euro(!!!) at [shoplink 32577 ebay]Micro Price eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and for 647 in [shoplink 32578 ebay]eBay France (Click here)[/shoplink]. For some pro photographer that lens would be the only one you ever need to fit on your m43 camera!

Share

(FT5) Olympus will announce the cheapest Olympus prime lens ever made at Photokina!

Share

[shoplink 32594 ebay]

[/shoplink] A super trusted anonymous sources just shared a bit of a strange news. One of the new Micro Four Thirds lenses announced at Photokina will be the cheapest prime lens ever announced by Olympus. It will be cheaper than the [shoplink 32594 ebay]$250 17mm pancake (image on top)[/shoplink]. The source didn’t unveil any specs but he said it’s not a new version of the 17mm pancake but instead a completely new lens! Let’s see if some other sources can tell us more about it…Thanks :)
Current 17mm pancake price check at [shopcountry 32594].
The cheapest Panasonic pancake is the superb 14mm f/2.5 that is for sale for $266 at Amazon (Click here).

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

Share

Panasonic also using Sony sensors? At least on the new LX7…

Share

 
An imaginary LX7 vertical grip created by a user of the SLRclub forum.

Our reader Trevor pointed out how the new Panasonic LX7 sensor may be from Sony. There is a Sony Japan pdf (download here) that describes what seems to be exactly the new LX7 sensor (From Google Translate):

9.33mm diagonal (Type 1/1.7)
Approximately 12.4 million effective pixels (4072H × 3046V)
■ pixel size: 1.85μm square pixel unit
■ shooting 35frame / s approximately 12.4 million pixels Support

■ dynamic range, high sensitivity Back-illuminated with low noise CMOS image sensor
■ Movie mode 4K2K (4096H × 2160V, 60frame / s)

 

So after Olympus with the E-M5 also Panasonic with the LX7 is using Sony sensors. Wondering if Panasonic will sometimes in future use Sony sensors in m43 cameras too…

New Panasonic stuff preorders:
Black G5 at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here)
Silver G5 at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here)
45-150mm lens in Black at BHphoto (Click here) and in Silver at BHphoto (Click here).
LX7 in Black at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here) in White at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here)
Other compacts, the FZ200 at BHphoto (Click here), the FZ60 at BHphoto (Click here).

Share

The sub $300 (or Euro) deals roundup….

Share

[shoplink 32506 ebay][/shoplink] For 299 Euro you can get that double lens kit in [shoplink 32506 ebay]Irland eBay[/shoplink].

You really don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a good Micro Four Thirds camera. And getting closer to the Photokina makes it even easier to find some good deal. This is just a tiny fraction of links to some good m43 camera price:

USA-Canada:
[shoplink 32500 ebay]E-P1 body for $199[/shoplink].
[shoplink 32502 ebay]E-P2 body for $249[/shoplink] and Amazon.
[shoplink 32503 ebay]GF2 body for $249[/shoplink].
[shoplink 32504 ebay]E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens for $249[/shoplink] and $274 at Amazon.
[shoplink 32501 ebay]E-P1 with 14-42mm lens for $279[/shoplink].

Europe:
[shoplink 32505 ebay]E-PL1 body for 129 Euro[/shoplink].
[shoplink 32506 ebay]E-PL1 double lens kit for 299 Euro[/shoplink].
[shoplink 32507 ebay]E-PL2 body for 219 Euro[/shoplink].
[shoplink 32508 ebay]GF2 body for 229 Euro[/shoplink].
[shoplink 32509 ebay]GF3 body for $199[/shoplink].

Share

New E-M5 and G5 reviews…SIlver E-M5 in Stock in US.

Share

The likely most difficult to find E-M5 camera is the Silver body only option. But it’s now in Stock at Amazon (via JR)Cameta (Click here) and also on their [shoplink 32548ebay]eBay page (Click here)[/shoplink]. Menatime Amazon said that they will ship them on August 7th (Click here). The Black ktis are more or less all in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

New E-M5 reviews have been posted at Rasmusphoto and OpenPN (french).

New G5 reviews at WhatDigitalCamera: “The G5 has to be the most complete Lumix G-series camera we’ve seen, that mounts a serious challenge to established DSLRs.Cnet Asia: “We were also impressed with the improvement in video quality, which is one of the best we’ve seen from an ILC“. First pics of the G5 at the Olympus in London at Techradar. Panasonic G5 review at Fotovideo.nu (Translation here) incl. Imatest results.

 

P.S: Farrukh: “The G5 may shoot the Olympics, but I used the EP3 there yesterday ;) http://www.flickr.com/photos/swamibu/sets/72157630793769412/

Share