43 Rumors – Page 1867 – Panasonic and Olympus Digital Camera News

Record $10 billion annual loss for Panasonic.

May 12, 2012
news
135 Comments

I know guys, it’s not really the best news to start the weekend. But here it is. After Olympus also Panasonic announced a “record $10 billion annual loss” (Source: Reuters). The problem is the shrinking TV market. Also Sony and Sharp are having huge troubles within that segment. There is no word about the digital camera business and I don’t think their (major) problems have to do with that. The global crisis, the strong YEN and maybe the now (too) conservative handling of Japanese companies are the main cause. Almost all Japanese companies are facing tuff times.

A personal addition: The crisis affects the life around me too. It’s not just a perception, I see that around me prices of houses are falling, companies not paying bills and friends losing jobs. It’s hard to think how we should act and what we need to change. My girlfriends best friend lives in Greece and I get so many bad news form there. I will be there in September for a very personal short documentary about those friends. I want too understand more!

There is a new cool Asahi E-M5 customization kit!

May 11, 2012
reviews
68 Comments

Asahi (Click here) announced the customizable leather skins for the E-M5. You can see a video that explains everything on youtube (Click here). I don’t know where you can buy that stuff, [shoplink 30892 ebay]haven’t found anything on eBay[/shoplink]. P.S.: Found a new E-M5 grip while searching for stuff on [shoplink 30893 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

And here are the latest news collected via 43rumors readers mails (Thanks!):
Echenique (Click here) will soon receive his E-M5 and use it for professional dance photography. AF mode by Lepidi (french).
Thomas wrote: “I ordered on March 7th, EM-5 Black body only at Amazon (Click here). Just got a Estimated arrival date: May 16, 2012 – May 19, 2012”
Thierry wrote: “This guy has some great telephotos also shot with an E-M5: http://collinorthner.wordpress.com/. Amazing macro photos a.o. taken with an E-M5 at Pen3 (Click here).”
Per K. wrote: “much positive about the EM5 but look here: http://ranger9.net/2012/tenthings/
It pinpoints the usability a la Oly that is not as good as Pana. I could add you always have to toggle (info button”) to view different informaton on screen/EVF. In total 8 different views… Fast AF is great, but if things happen while you are toggling you miss the shot anyway. The Pana UI is much more stringent and straight forward. But a GX2 with built in EVF and same IQ as EM5 would be something!
BTW: Have you noticed that DPR D800 review analyze of DR uou can compare with the EM5: According to DPR way to measure EM5 har better DR than Nikon D800!!??”

E-M5 (Pre)order links (Click on store name): Amazon, Adorama, B&H, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.

Bestseller list. Check the list (changes hourly!):
USA: E-M5 on position 11/12/13 (Click here)
UK: E-M5 is on position 7 (Click here).
Germany: The E-M5 is on position 2/9 (Click here).
France: not available (Click here to see rankings anyway).
Japan: E-M5 on position 3/4 (Click here).

USA deals roundup: 45-200mm for $184 (and many other Mothers day deals).

May 11, 2012
deals
19 Comments

The super hot lens is the 45-200mm which is now priced at $181 at Amazon (Click here). And is one of the overall most sold system camera lenses at Amazon (here is the ranking). Speaking of the cameras we had so many new mirrorless cameras this year but there is one camera that still remains on the top three of all mirrorless sales at Amazon (Click here to see the ranking). It is again…as you know…the E-PL1!

The USA “Mothers Day Deals” have extended to Olympus lenses (before it was cameras only):
$100 price drop on the 75-300mm at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$100 price drop on the 14-150mm at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$100 price drop on the 14-150mm at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$50 price drop on the 40-150mm at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$30 price drop on the 40-150mm at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Camers:
$100 price drop on all Olympus E-P3 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$100 price drop on all Olympus E-PL3 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$100 price drop on all Olympus E-PM1 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Panasonic deals:
GX1 body back at $549 at Amazon (Click here). 14mm pancake for $283 at Amazon (Click here).

Olympus E-M5 negatives roundup (and Q4 results are worse than expected)

May 11, 2012
reviews
55 Comments

After weeks of so many good Olympus reviews and positive feedbacks I summed three bad news all in one single post:

1) Marketwatch reports that “Olympus will likely post a larger-than-expected loss when it announces results for the fiscal year ended in March later Thursday“.I guess soon we will also know if Olympus will be forced to join a partnership with Fuji or Sony. I hope Olympus will manage it to remain independent!

2) Not all about the E-M5 is sooo great: Karl (at personal view) demonstrates how the GH2 is better than the E-m5 when it comes to analyze the video quality.

3) And it seems the camera has some banding issue too! Read the thread at Dpreview (Click here). UPDATE: It looks like the problem only occurss with the Panasonic 20mm lens!

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P.S: Small good news at the end of this article: New XZ-1 firmware update at Olympus Japan (Click here).

New Leica X2 has same Olympus-Epson EVF? And Black and White craziness…

May 10, 2012
news
79 Comments

Is it just me or is that new Leica X2 having the same Olympus VF-2 external viewfinder? As you know the Oly EVF is made by Epson so this really could be the same…
That said, it’s interesting to see how much you have to pay for a camera with a unique Black And White sensor….$7999 at Adorama (Click here to read specs of the M Monochrome). I am wondering if Olympus and Panasonic should do a camera with B&W sensor too! Would be intriguing!

More reviews about the B&W madness at MirrorlessRumors (Click here).

USA deal: Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 in Stock at Adorama (Click here).

Change the E-M5 top plate and cover! (Kirk Tuck fells in love with the E-M5!)

May 10, 2012
reviews
91 Comments

[shoplink 30872 ebay]

[/shoplink]

It’s so difficult to find the E-M5 in Stock I am surprised to see that there are already pieces(!) of E-M5 for sale on eBay! You can buy a new [shoplink 30872 ebay]silver top plate (Click here)[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 30873 ebay]Black cover (Click here)[/shoplink]. You may be able to change the color of your E-M5 depending on your mood :)

But now let’s go back to some new reviews or news. Kirk Tuck (Click here) really tried to resist the E-M5 temptation but than he met his friend at a bar and he had an E-M5: “It has the nicest and quietest sounding shutter I’ve heard since the Olympus e1 camera from 2004. But it’s even quieter and more refined than that high water mark of shutter elegance. It may be the perfect camera shutter from a auditory point of view. The sound of the the shutter is what I imagine the door of a Bentley car feels like when it shuts. Reason enough to own the camera even if it were only as good in the files as its predecessor…” read the full “in love” report on his website ;)

P.S.: 90mm resolution test at DSLRcheck (Click here). File Notes at Outbackphoto (Click here).

E-M5 (Pre)order links (Click on store name): Amazon, Adorama, B&H, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.

(UPDATED) Big rumors from competition: Canon mirrorless with Four Thirds sized sensor?

May 10, 2012
Rumors
95 Comments

Canon concept mirrorless camera by David Riesenberg (Click here)

From time to time it’s good to report some bigger news coming from the competition. Particularly when the name of the competitor is Canon :)

Canon released the Q1 earnings call and included some info about the future strategy. Canon says that they will launch compact cameras “offering the image qualities that approaches SLR cameras, with improved design and network connectivity features“. This sounds like they are close to launch the interchangeable mirrorless system. And that word” approaches” may give us the hint that they will use the Four Thirds sized sensor of the [shoplink 30863 ebay]Canon G1X[/shoplink].

UPDATE: CanonWatch (Click here) just released a new rumor saying that “Canon will showcase their mirrorless ILC to selected customers in Australia during PMA Australia at the end of May. The new camera should then be announced in June.”

My two cent: While Fuji and Nikon and Sony have all released different and somewhat unique systems they weren’t really able to dethrone the Micro Four Thirds domination. I am curious to see what Canon will bring!