43 Rumors – Page 1887 – Panasonic and Olympus Digital Camera News

New 12-50mm lens tests!

March 23, 2012
reviews
60 Comments

Olympus OM-D + M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-50 mm f/3,5-6,3 EZ from DSLR Magazine on Vimeo.

There is a new Olympus 12-50mm lens test at DSLRmagazine (Click here for the google translation). The test is very detailed and proves that the lens has some flaws. It’s an average quality kit lens that his strengths int he features list more than in the optical quality. But overall the lens is a real bargain for what it delivers when you buy it as kit lens along the [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink]!

Also Lenstip (Click here) reviewed the lens: “I like writing the summaries of Olympus optics because usually I can praise the tested lenses. Olympus has always produced good lenses. Unfortunately the summary of the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12–50 mm f/3.5–6.3 ED EZ will be an exception because it won’t feature a lot of praise.”

P.S.: the german Fotomagazine (Click here) posted the full E-M5 ISO test images.

E-M5 preorders (Click on the names of the stores to see the product page):
Black E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, and Amazon Japan.
Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto , Digitalrev and J&R.

Olympus US E-PM1 and more deals…

March 22, 2012
deals
11 Comments

Olympus USA started a new action on the PEN cameras:
$75 off on the E-PM1: Check at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$50 off on the E-PL3: Check at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$50 off on the E-P3: Check at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Despite all the deals and the [shoplink 29074]E-M5[/shoplink] the E-PL2 is still the most sold m43 camera at Amazon (Click here to see the ranking). And still hot items are the hackable cameras like the Panasonic GF3 body for $359 at Amazon (Click here) ad the Panasonic GF2 with 14-42mm lens for $414 at Amazon (Click here).

(FT4) New Olympus primes coming in early Summer.

March 22, 2012
Rumors
85 Comments

75mm f/1.8 and 60mm f/2.8 macro lenses.

Like Panasonic also Olympus is showing new m43 prototype lenses without to share an exact information about their release. Good that we have our own sources saying that both lenses, the 75mm f/1.8 and the weather sealed 60mm f/2.8 macro will start to be sold in early Summer. That’s about the same time when the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 X and 35-100mm f/2.8 X lenses will be finally start to be sold too!

Other new Panasonic and Olympus m43 lenses will be announced at Photokina. And I don’t know if you still remember this but also Schneider promised to announce their first Micro Four Thirds lenses at Photokina. They have a long history of C-mount, FD, SL and M42 mount lenses. Here are some of them:
[shoplink 27395 ebay]Xenon 16mm f/1.2 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27387 ebay]Xenon 25mm f/0.95 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27389 ebay]Curtagon 35mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27391 ebay]Componon 50mm f/1.4 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27390 ebay]Xenon 50mm f/1.9 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27394 ebay]Xenar 50mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27388 ebay]Xenar 75mm f/3.5 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27392 ebay]Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27393 ebay]Xenar 180mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].

Nice lenses I would like to see for m43 mount too!

Time to share your thoughts about the E-M5!

March 21, 2012
news
147 Comments

It doesn’t happen often to see such a (mostly) positive discussion about a new m43 products. We saw the nice tests from Pekka Potka, the videos from Olympus Australia, the ISO comparison with the E-P3, the RAW files from Focus Numerique, the Studio samples Dpreview (Click here) and MR Terada making a superb job answering all journalists and your questions (Thanks Mr. Terada!). While I know it’s impossible to really judge a camera until you have it in your own hands I want to ask you what you think based on all reviews and image samples you saw. What are the single aspects of the camera you like most?

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The highest ranked E-M5 in USA (Click here) is the Silver body with kit lens. In Germany (Click here) is the Black body and kit lens. And in UK (Click here) is the Silver body with kit lens.

E-M5 preorders (Click on the names of the stores to see the product page):
Black E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, and Amazon Japan.
Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto , Digitalrev and J&R.
Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland , Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland and Amazon Japan.

Patent: Olympus is working on a new 150mm macro for 43 and m43.

March 21, 2012
Rumors
64 Comments

The Japanese website Egami (Click here) found a new Olympus patent describing different variations of a new 150mm f/2.8 macro lens. There are actually two different versions. One shorter lens for the m43 system and a longer lens for the Four Thirds system. Both are described as high quality optics. The only similar lens currently on market is the Sigma 150mm lens (here at Amazon).

One more thing: I am currently sorting out your lens suggestions for the m43 system and will soon publish the poll.

New PEN+E-5 firmware update and UK/Japan shares unveiled.

March 21, 2012
news
38 Comments

[shoplink 29838]

[/shoplink]

Olympus Japan announced a new firmware update for the E-Pm1, E-PL2, E-PL3, E-P3 and the E-5. It adds support for the new [shoplink 29838]SDXC 48GB cards (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. It also improves the external flash functionality on the E-Pm1 and E-PL3.

One more thing. Amy from Techradar (Click here) had another small talk with Claudia Baehr, European Product Manager for Olympus. She said the mirrorless market share in Japan now surpassed the 50% beating for the first time the DSRL camera sales. In UK mirrorless sales climbed at 30% while USA seems to be the most conservative market with mirrorless cameras having a 20% only. Claudia said: “the reaction in the States is a bit more mixed – the Americans seem to prefer bigger cameras, such as ultrazooms.”

Maybe the [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink] si the right camera for the US market? :)

DSLRmagazine: E-M5 Jpeg quality on par with Nikon D7000. But behind the X PRO 1.

March 20, 2012
reviews
93 Comments

Valentin Sama from the Spanish Dslrmagazine (Click here for the translation) tested the E-M5 sensor.
He first compared the new E-M5 with the previous m43 Olympus models. In short the noise performance of the E-m5 has indeed been improved but there is no real advantage in terms of revolution over the older 12 Megapixel E-P3 sensor. Valentin says the E-P3 per pixel sharpness is still a bit greater than the one from the 16 Megapixel E-M5 sensor.
Than Valentin made a comparison with two larger sensor APS-C cameras. The Nikon D7000 and Fuji X PRO 1. First he clearly reminds that both cameras are more expensive than the E.M5. The Nikon D7000 costs $1,500 (here at Amazon) and the Fuji X PRo 1 costs $1,700 (here at Amazon). According to Valentin JPEG testing results the E-M5 is on par with the Nikon D7000. And that’s already a surprising result!
The Fuji has a huge advantage because of the lack Anti Aliasing filter. The results are a greater clarity and less noise.

In summary: he says the E-M5 has indeed an improved JPEG quality although we have to see if that is an improvement is more due the new JPEG engine than the new 16 megapixel sensor.

One more thing: E-M5 with 12-50mm kit lens image samples at Robin Wong (Click here).

Rankings: Three different E-M5 kits are still on top of the Amazon US rankings (Click here).

E-M5 preorders (Click on the names of the stores to see the product page):
Black E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, and Amazon Japan.
Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto , Digitalrev and J&R.
Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland , Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland and Amazon Japan.