m43 versus Nikon V1 versus NEX-7

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[shoplink 25396][/shoplink]

Today let’s check how well (or bad) the new [shoplink 25396]NEX-7[/shoplink] and [shoplink 25767]Nikon V1[/shoplink] are competing against our m43 cameras:

Dpreview added the Nikon V1 comparison shots to the dpreview database. m43 still has a visible advantage over the Nikon sensor but I have to admit that the Nikon processor engine does really a good job in both JPEG and RAW. If they would have used a sensor as large as the m43 sensor than they would have probably beaten the current Oly-Panasonic quality.

There is also a new [shoplink 25396]NEX-7[/shoplink], [shoplink 23568]E-P3[/shoplink] and [shoplink 19929]X100[/shoplink] high ISO examples and crops comparison made by Steve Huff (Click here). The difference is easily visible. The Olympus E-P3 has more noise but also a higher per pixel sharpness.

So, what do you think about these tests? M43 has still a huge advantage when you take into consideration the full overall sensor quality + lens size + lens system quantity factors. But a new improved sensors would really bring us a step forward.

P.S.: The NEX-7 is the only non Canon/Nikon camera in Amazon’s top 20 (Click here to see the ranking). I guess I am not the only one waiting for a m43 camera with built-in viewfinder!

 

 

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Over 600 refurbished cameras and lenses at Olympusmarket.

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[shoplink 26138 ebay][/shoplink] This sets a new record. There are now more than 600(!) refurbished cameras and lenses offered by [shoplink 22691 ebay]Olympusmarket (Click here to check the full list)[/shoplink]. And what I listed here are only the acutions ending this weekend. As usual the first ending auctions are on top of each category and only EU citizen can bid!

Micro Four Thirds

[shoplink 26131 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26132 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26133 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26134 ebay]Silver E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26136 ebay]Silver E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26138 ebay]Red E-PL2 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26140 ebay]E-P2 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26143 ebay]White E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26144 ebay]Black E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26146 ebay]Silver E-PL2 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26148 ebay]Silver E-P1 with 14-42mm kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26150 ebay]Silver E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26151 ebay]Silver E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26152 ebay]Silver E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26154 ebay]White E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26155 ebay]Black 40-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26156 ebay]White 40-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26158 ebay]MAL-1 macro light[/shoplink] [shoplink 26159 ebay]White E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26162 ebay]Silver E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26163 ebay]Black E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26164 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26165 ebay]9-18mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26166 ebay]Black E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26170 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26171 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26172 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26173 ebay]14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26174 ebay]Silver E-P1 with 14-42mm kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26176 ebay]White E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26177 ebay]Black E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26178 ebay]Silver E-PL2 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26180 ebay]Black E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26181 ebay]Silver E-P1 with 14-42mm kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26182 ebay]Silver E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26184 ebay]Silver E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26185 ebay]Silver E-P1 with 14-42mm kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26186 ebay]Black 40-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26188 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26189 ebay]Silver E-P1 with 14-42mm kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26191 ebay]Black E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26192 ebay]9-18mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26194 ebay]Black E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink]

Four Thirds

[shoplink 26137 ebay]E-450 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26139 ebay]E-620 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26141 ebay]E-420 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26145 ebay]35mm macro lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26147 ebay]18-180mm macro lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26149 ebay]E-520 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26153 ebay]11-22mm macro lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26157 ebay]40-150mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26160 ebay]E-620 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26161 ebay]E-620 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26168 ebay]E-450 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26169 ebay]E-450 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26175 ebay]E-450 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26179 ebay]18-180mm macro lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26183 ebay]11-22mm macro lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26187 ebay]E-620 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26190 ebay]70-300mm macro lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 26193 ebay]E-450 with 14-42mm lens[/shoplink]

XZ-1

[shoplink 26167 ebay]Black XZ-1[/shoplink] [shoplink 26195 ebay]Black XZ-1[/shoplink]
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Olympus 45mm in Stock. Silver and Black Panasonic 45-175mm in US and Europe (and superdeal in UK).

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First, the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens is in Stock via third party resellers at Amazon (Click here). It’s $60 more expensive than the price at Adorama (Click here) but they still don’t have it in Stock.

Here is the in Stock status fo the 45-175mm lens. At least one Panasonic lens is shipping without any delay ;)
The Black version is in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). In Europe at Amazon.de (Click here) and Amazon UK (Click here).
The Silver version is in Stock in US stores at Amazon (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here) and J&R (Click here). In European stores at

The real hot deal is ongoing in UK. You can get the 45-175mm X lens for £279.99 at Panasonic store Uk (Click here). To get the discount you have to sign up to Lumix Lifestyle Community (offer ends 17th October 2011).

P.S.: The super tiny 14-42mmX lens is in Stock at Amazon Japan (Click here). It should be in Stock within the next couple of weeks in non-japanese countries too!

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Olympus removes first non japanese CEO after 6 months (because of cultural differences)

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Back in April 2011 for the first time in Olympus history a non Japanese citizen became Olympus CEO. But after 6 months only the (british) Michael Woodford had been dismissed because of “boardroom and management conflicts“. (Source: Boston.com). The Olympus board appointed Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa as new CEO. It is an unexpected news and Olympus shares plunged more than 14 percent to 2,123 yen ($27.60) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The new CEO Kikukawa said that “He (M.Woodford) could not overcome the cultural barrier of Japan and Japanese companies“.

Analysis: What does it mean for Olympus? From what I read on newspapers and from what I know from my sources Michael Woodford is a very competent manager that has been able to improve the Olympus Europa Holding GmBH profits by cost cutting and restructuring. And my guess is that his restructuring plans were to much “advanced” or “revolutionary” for the traditionally very conservative Japanese company mindset. Is that good or bad news? I guess Michael Woodford would have gone rid of  the digital camera business if it keeps to loose money like it did in the last years. And that’s something that will probably go against Olympus history and tradition. What will happen now? That news increases the chance that Olympus will keep the digital camera business alive, but the risk is that the board will not take some serious decisions to increase the profitability of that business.

And here is the official Olympus statement about the recent event (Source Olympus Global):
Michael C. Woodford has largely diverted from the rest of the management team in regard to the management direction and method, and it is now causing problems for decision making by the management team.
Hence, judging that realisation of the 2010 Corporate Strategic Plan with its slogan of “Advancing to the Next Stage of Globalisation” would be difficult to achieve by the management team led by Woodford, all the board directors attending today, except for Woodford himself who could not participate in the voting due to special interest, unanimously resolved the dismissal from his office of the representative director, President and Chief Executive Officer (dismissal from the office of the representative director, President and Chief Executive Officer and stays as director without executing right.) Along with this, it was also resolved that the representative director, Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa double as the representative director, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Global management that Olympus aims is to implement management rules, information management and operation that are common throughout the world in order to establish a business infrastructure that is more efficient and quick to respond while making the most of a Japanese style management that sets a high value on people, technology and pride of monozukuri or manufacturing. To this end, all our employees will head for the same direction as we will urgently start establishing a new structure to go towards the same goal with the entire staff as one.

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Hacked Panasonic GH2 with AVCHD Intra at 176Mbit (+G3 and GF3 firmware update)

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Driftwood 176mbit GOP1 GH2VK from Perry Wilson on Vimeo.

The GH2 hacking improvements are now reaching new dimensions! Thanks to the latest contribute from “Driftwood” user (check here at personal-view) the Gh2 can now record AVCHD Intra at 176Mbit. As EosHD writes: “This is a codec that uses i-frames only unlike consumer AVCHD. Every frame from the sensor is stored. Standard AVCHD is a Long-GOP compression format and works by estimating and guessing at frames in-between ‘real’ images but Intra doesn’t.” That’s really the best video quality you can get from any DSLR or Mirrorless camera and the amazing thing is that the GH2 tri core has the power to manage all that data! It really shows how good the [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink] hardware is! The video on top can be downloaded at http://vimeo.com/29763704 to see the full quality potential fo the new coding!

One more thing. The Gh2 price is dropping slowly in US and Europe. So you may take your chance! Check: [shopcountry 16254].

P.S.: The new G3 and GF3 1.2 firmware is now available: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/index2.html (it fixes an issue with the X lens support).

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(FT3) Olympus will make a Fuji X100 clone?

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[shoplink 19929 ebay][/shoplink]

Almost one year ago a well known source told me that there is some Olympus technology behind the [shoplink 19929 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink]. Olympus and Fuji are long time friends and working close on some projects. But as of today neither Fuji made a Four Thirds camera nor joined the Micro Four Thirds system. But what I got in these days is a real surprise, and it’s coming from one of our very top source! According to them Olympus will launch a “sort of Fuji X100” competitor. The sources didn’t unveil us when Olympus will make the announcement but they are all sure it’s coming for real! There are two big questions I have to find an answer:
1) Does it have a fixed lens design or will it use m43 lenses?
2) If the lens is fixed, will the sensor be APS-C?
3) Will it have a hybrid viewfinder?

I hope you sources can send me the answer soon :)
Thanks!

Links to the Fuji X100: [shopcountry 19929].

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New 45mm, E-PL3, AF100 reviews and Noktor 12mm hands-on.

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EosHD (Click here) tested the Noktor 12mm f/1.6 lens: “So far I love the lens but one area for improvement that I can see at this early point is to reduce the amount of distortion which can be quite noticeable on very straight horizontal lines right across the frame. But given how wide the lens is that is pretty much to be expected.

Cnet (Click here / via noisycamera) reviewed the Olympus E-PL3: “The E-PL3 isn’t the best at anything in its class. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 is faster, smaller, and cheaper; the Sony Alpha NEX-5N has better photo and video quality. But I like the E-PL3 for its balance of features, performance, photo quality, and design that makes many of the tradeoffs worth it for the enthusiast.

Monumentphoto (Click here) tested the new Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens: “From my quick and dirty review, this lens is a must have for any M43 user.  In my opinion if you have M43 and you don’t have this lens, you are not maximizing the system’s potential.  I would have to agree with many who have reviewed this lens that indeed it is one of the best lenses in the M43 lineup at this time.

Travis (dpreview forum) tested both new Leica 25mm f/1.4 and Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lenses: “I think they did just fine for both video and stills. However, I did have issues with getting the 45mm to focus for both stills and video at one point. Restarting the GH2 resolved those issues.

Philip Bloom (Click here) shot a documentary with the Panasonic AG-AF100: “We also used the AF100 for all the handheld work? Why? Well because the handheld work was actuality following people around so a good zoom lens was needed with nice range. I didn’t have one for the F3 or the Epic so we used the AF100 as Kessler have the rather lovely Olympus 14-35 F2 lens. Perfect for handheld work. Using a Zacuto rig at first then a new Shape rig which I was just sent to try out Preston shot the actuality stuff beautifully with this camera.

Shoplinks to mentioned cameras and lenses:
Olympus E-PL3 [shopcountry 23567].
Olympus 45mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 23577].
Olympus Zuiko 14-35mm [shopcountry 25118].
Panasonic AG-AF100 [shopcountry 16841].
Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 [shopcountry 23110].

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