Everyday there are more and more true (or false?) news about the Olympus fee scandal. As usual take all news with a grain of salt. It’s so hard to understand what’s REALLY happening behind the scenes. There might be some kind of “obscure” interest that we are not aware of. The only thing I hope is that Olympus can soon take action to stop the never ending negative media reports.

The New York Times (Click here) writes that “In a memo prepared by investigators and circulated at a recent meeting of officials from Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, the Tokyo prosecutor’s office and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, officials say they are trying to determine whether Olympus worked with organized crime syndicates to obscure billions of dollars in past investment losses and then paid them exorbitant sums for their services.” and “The memo says investigators believe that over half of that amount has been channeled to organized crime syndicates, including the country’s largest, the Yamaguchi Gumi. The memo does not make clear whether Olympus knew about those links. But if confirmed by investigators, an association with organized crime could prompt a delisting of Olympus shares from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, under the exchange’s rules.”

There is another huge surprise coming out via Z3n.tv (Click here) reports that Goldman Sachs earned $26 million by short selling “approximately 830,000 Olympus stocks the day before Woodford was dismissed“. As you see there are so many obscure interests behind the story! If we really would put a Lupe on all companies and banks we might discover that the whole finance world is a mess. But as I said many times, I am a small writer living in the middle of the alps. My only hope is that Olympus employees will not be affected by that mess.

The japanese blog Egami (Click here) found a new Olympus patent desciribing the new “Liquid Lens” technology. I saw similar patent from Sony and Samsung in the past that’s why I can tell you the advantages of such lenses:

-non-movement glasses for zoom or AF
-less glasses inside the lens
-faster electrical response
-non-motor on the glass
-silence AF mode

In summary you can make much smaller lenses (perfect for pancakes) with ultra fast and silent AF. I hope Olympus will release such lenses as soon as possible!

Panasonic released the update for the two X lenses:

A) 14-42mm X lens update: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/dl/ps14042.html

1. Optimized operation when using Touch Zoom with DMC-GX1
2. Improved AF (Auto Focus) performance in photo / video recording

B) 45-175mm X lens update: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/dl/ps45175.html

1. Optimized operation when using Touch Zoom with DMC-GX1
2. Improved the stability of O.I.S.(Optical Image Stabilizer)
3. Improved AF (Auto Focus) performance in photo / video recording

And Olympus announced a new firmware upgrae for the E-PM1 and E-PL3 (Version 1.1). It improves the “Reliability while using the Eye-Fi card“. Download: http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/software/firm/e1/

Final note: Apple released the Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.9 which now brings support for the Olympus PEN E-PL1s, Olympus PEN E-PL3, Olympus PEN E-PM1
and Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ150. http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1473

Things are still not going well for Olympus. The once proud Japanese camera and medical equipment maker Olympus is readying to take legal action against its own executives. Any executive found to have been complicit in its multi-million dollar accounting scandal will be hit with legal action as well as possible criminal complaints, according to Reuters (via Electronista). And the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has confirmed that it has launched an official investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing at Olympus (via AP).

But there is a massive positive reaction coming from Olympus employees: Koji Miyata is leading the olympusgrassroots.com campaign. I linked to the website two days ago and Koji now reports that there has been a “larger-than-expected response“. Super! And he outlines the things to do now:
“Overcoming that crisis in the limited time available will require resolute action. Our efforts need to focus on the following three initiatives.
— Apologize to Michael for the baseless aspersions cast on his character by Olympus executives.
— Call on Michael to return to Olympus and resume his duties as president.
— Begin working immediately to position Olympus as a world-class model of corporate excellence, including excellence in complying with the highest standards of corporate ethics.”

I am sure 99,99% of the company is healthy and 99,99% of Olympus employees are doing an incredible good job. 43rumors is only a very small website, but if Olympus employees are reading me I want to make it clear that I will fully support them in any way I can do it! Many companies went through tuff crisis and when you come out from them usually things will do much better than before!

P.S.: The Online Photographer also called all Olympus supporter for unite!