Astrodesign, Kenko and Tamron join the Micro Four Thirds group!

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The 4K camera from Astrodesign with the [shoplink 14802]Panasonic 14-140mm lens[/shoplink].

Olympus Global (Click here) announced that Astrodesign, Kenko and Tamron joined the Micro Four Thirds group! Here is the company description:

ASTRODESIGN, Inc.

A Japanese company established in 1977 that designs and develops professional video equipment and measurement/analysis-related equipment. Well known for developing the world’s first programmable signal generator and the Ultra HDTV image processor devices used at Expo 2005 Aichi, Japan.
ASTRODESIGN, Inc. Website
http://www.astrodesign.co.jp/english/
Editor’s note: It’s the very first time I hear about that company. And I am really wondering what kind of m43 related product they could release!!!

Kenko Tokina Co., Ltd.

A Japanese company established in 1957 that designs and develops a wide variety of photographic supplies and optical products. It is Japan’s largest manufacturer/seller of lens filters.
Kenko Tokina Co., Ltd. Website
http://www.kenkoglobal.com/
Editor’s note: Kenko has experience in camera and lens manufacturing. They made the [shoplink 28545 ebay]KF-1N (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink] which is F-mount camera. And they make well known [shoplink 28546 ebay]adapters and extensions tube[/shoplink] (mostly for Canon and Nikon).

Tamron Co., Ltd.

A Japanese company established in 1950 that designs and develops interchangeable SLR camera lenses, lens units for surveillance, as well as ultra-precision optical components based on the integration of advanced optical, electronic and precision machinery engineering technologies.
Tamron Co., Ltd. Website
http://www.tamron.co.jp/en/
Editor’s note: That’s certainly the biggest new entry. And it’s interesting to notice that they already did lenses for the OM system in the past ([shoplink 28547 ebay]Click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]).

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Final japanese camera market sales report (2012 vs 2011). Olympus gains, Panasonic loses.

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Plenty of good news for Olympus! First we have that nice OM announcement. Second Olympus is (slowly) getting out of the financial troubles. And today we have a third good news!

BCNawards (Click here) reports that Olympus had a mirrorless camera share of 36,6% in 2012. That’s a 7,5% gain over the last year (see screenshot on top). Panasonic lost around 9%. I don’t have the data of the overall digital camera market share but as you know in Japan mirrorless cameras are now selling almost as good as DSLR cameras. You can see the full ranking list for each category here at BCN. A reason for the Olympus success could be the triple PEN introduction back in June while Panasonic did wait until November to announce the nice [shoplink 26836]Panasonic GX1[/shoplink]. I am surprised to see that Sony felt back despite the NEX-5n and NEX-7 camera release! Of course they got hit by the Thai flood but my guess is that their unappealing and lacking lens offering could be a reason for the share drop.

There is no such nice ranking in other countries. As you know I rely on the very imprecise Amazon ranking listing to check if a camera is popular or not. But we know that in Europe and USA the mirrorless market isn’t growing as fast as in Asia. But I guess it’s only a matter of time until Mirrorless will surpass the DSLR market.

Watch:
Amazon ranking in USA (Click here)
Amazon ranking in UK (Click here)
Amazon ranking in Germany (Click here)
Amazon ranking in France (Click here)

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UPDATED: Olympus invitation image for February 8th (but with old OM on it)

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UPDATE_3: I now got 100% sure info about that rumor:

The administrator of Lense.fr (Thanks!) said that this is an image of the Olympus invitation for the OM-D announcement on February 8th! The invitation text has been removed to protect the source. While the teaser is 100% real (believe me!) this piece of image is from the [shoplink 28231 ebay]OM-4T/Ti black and chrome (Click here to see that cam on ebay)[/shoplink] and not from the new OM-D! I saw the tetx and it says that a new product will be announced on Feb 8th. In summary: Olympus is sending invitation with an old OM image on it :)  At Olympus Global (Click here) you can see the source of that image.

P.S.: Thanks anonymous source for your help on this ;)

P.P.S.: Sorry for the multiple updates but I am currently in a meeting with lawyers and updating the post via iPhone (yep not so funny!).

 

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(FT5) Unbelievable: New Olympus OM video quality is better than on the GH2!

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[shoplink 16254][/shoplink] The current best m43 camera for video, the [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink]. Will soon lose the primacy?


A couple of days ago a source told me that the new OM-D camera will have a better video quality than the current best of the m43 class, the [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink]. I worked with other sources to check if that statement is true or rather exaggerated or completely false. But they all confirm the same, the new Olympus camera beats hands-down the GH2. One of the aspects Olympus worked hard id the reducing of the “jello effect”. Keep in mind that this is a rumors site and I rely on info received by others and that I have no way to check it out if it’s true. But those sources have been proved to be correct in the past so that let’s me (and you) hope for the best when the D-day comes on February 8th!

Sensor troubles: If the sources are telling me all the time that the image quality has been improved, that it has a greater dynamic range, that it has better video quality than the GH2…than I am really having BIG troubles that the 16 megapixel sensor is the same of the [shoplink 26836]Panasonic GX1[/shoplink].

Stay tuned on 43rumors!

—

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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Panasonic GX1 multiple reviews. (most expensive Oly lens for sale at Olymarket)

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There are plenty of new Panasonic GX1 reviews:
ePhotozine (Click here): “The Panasonic Lumix GX1 is designed to satisfy the needs of advanced photographers and those wanting a premium compact camera with higher resolution sensor and high quality video. The camera looks great with the new compact 14-42mm X lens that compacts to the size of a pancake lens when off making it very pocketable for a mirrorless camera.”
Engadget (Click here): “All things considered, we’re quite thrilled with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1. Micro Four Thirds early adopters who fell for the GF1’s sleek, retro design two years ago finally have a successor worth considering, and we may even go so far as to say that Panasonic has undone the wrong caused by the misdirected marketing strategy adopted by the GF2 and GF3.”
Trustedreviews (Click here): “Build quality is excellent and image quality rarely disappoints. Overall, it’s a camera we have no hesitation in heartily recommending.”

Check the in Stock status by clicking these search links: [shopcountry 26836].

For european readers:
One refurbished [shoplink 28512 ebay]Olympus 300mm f/2.8 is on acution at eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Usually it sells for almost 6.000 Euro new and I am curious to see how high the final bet will be. Plus you can fin at least twenty [shoplink 22691 ebay]refurbished PEN cameras (Click here)[/shoplink] and one [shoplink 28513 ebay]E-5 (Click here)[/shoplink].

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Sony wants to buy a 20-30% stake of Olympus

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Now it’s getting serious guys! The very reliable Japanese website Nikkei (Click here) reports that Sony plans to buy a 20-30% stake of Olympus. Techradar says that “The capital and business alliance would be mainly aimed at bringing together Sony’s strength in imaging sensor technology with Olympus’ expertise in endoscopes and other medical equipment.” Only one week ago Olympus Japan announced new digital microscopes with Sony’s HDR sensor.

Right now I cannot guess how this will influence the camera business. Don’t think that Sony will “force” Olympus to join the NEX system or to use Sony sensors on m43 camera. After All Sony already supplies many competitors with their sensors (Canon for compact cameras, Nikon and Pentax with APS-C sensors and so on). I have the exact opposite question, will Panasonic work together with a partner that is now in business with a direct competitor?

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(FT5) New weather sealed adapter coming along the OM-D

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The current MMF-2 adapter

I am now pretty sure that Olympus will also launch a new weather sealed MMF 43 to m43 adapter. This will allow us to use the amazing weather sealed Four Thirds lenses like the [shoplink 25320 ebay]14-35mm f/2.0[/shoplink] the [shoplink 25119 ebay]35-100mm f/2.0[/shoplink] and the almost $6.000 300mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens.

There should be other accessories too. Sounds like we are going to see a nice bunch of OM-D related accessories too!

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