“Cameras are like beer!” Vitaly Kiselev interviewed by 43rumors.

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Vitaly Kiselev is the famous hacker working on the GH1/GH2 hacking project. He just updated the new GH2 Ptool software which you can find on his website: http://www.personal-view.com/.
I had the pleasure to Interview him and I am going to post the text without any cosmetic arrangements. The language in the Interview is direct, natural and sometimes very provocative. So be warned that you are going to read some very “extreme” thoughts! Click the link below to read the veeeery long interview!

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(FT3) Panasonic lens announcement this Thursday/Friday?

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We just got a new rumor about a possible Panasonic announcement on Friday! We ask our other sources if they can confirm the rumor so that we can raise the rumor ranking from FT3 to FT5! As you know there will be also a Sony and Nikon announcement on Wednesday and a Samsung announcement next week. Sounds like we are going to see a lot of new mirrorless stuff in these days!

UPDATE: A new source said the lenses will be announced on Thursday Morning.

According to our trusted sources Panasonic will announce a completely new kind of lenses with ultra-compact design, high resolution, powerzoom (with zoom button on the lens) and inner focusing. The lenses will be part of a new PRO lens line and probably marker with an “X”.

The two lenses that will be announced are the 14-42mm and 45-175mm zooms.

Drop us an anonymous text using the contact form on the right sidebar to confirm and share more details about the announcement! Thanks!

 

Reminder -> 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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The Olympus 45mm with superb performance (says DSLRmagazine)! + latest Olympusmarket deals.

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Image on top by courtesy of DSLRmagazine.

There is a new and this time very detailed and complete review of the new Olympus 45mm lens at DSLRmagazine (Click here to read the google english translation). You can see all graph and test on their page. In short, this lens is a surprise! For 300 Euro you get a lot!
1) Resolution: The lens is surprisingly sharp! It has almost the same sharpness in the center and at the border of the image and actually there is almost no quality loss when shooting at f/1.8 aperture compared to the maximum quality aperture which DSLRmagazine found to be at f/4.0
2) Vignetting (light loss in the corners): At maximum aperture is less than 10%. That’s a very good result.
3) Distortion: There is no :)

Interesting_1: The same lens performs better on the E-P3 comapred to the E-PL1. This confirms there is a different sensor-processor design!
Interesting_2: The results for the distortion, resolution, chromatic aberrations and vignetting are not improved in the JPEG respect to RAW, which speaks for a good optical quality inherent in this small, lightweight, useful and friendly target.

Now take time to read the full review at DSLRmagazine! Right now you can preorder the lens at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), J&R (Click here) and in Europe at Amazon Deutschland (Click here).

Thanks V.Sama and M.San Fruits for the nice review!

Something different: Those are the refurbished Micro Four Thirds camera auctions ending at [shoplink 22691 ebay]Olympusmarket[/shoplink] today. Click on the names to see the auction:

Olympus E-P1

[shoplink 24945 ebay]E-P1 with kit 17mm pancake[/shoplink] [shoplink 24946 ebay]E-P1 with kit 17mm pancake and 14-42mm lens[/shoplink]

Olympus E-P2

[shoplink 24949 ebay]E-P2 with kit lens[/shoplink]

Olympus E-PL1

[shoplink 24944 ebay]E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24947 ebay]E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24950 ebay]E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24951 ebay]E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24952 ebay]E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24953 ebay]E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink]
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New Olympus 45mm review (20mm pancake for $350)

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The 45mm lens is the first form the left (Image courtesy PekkaPotka)

There is a new Olympus 45mm review made by Robin Wong (Click here): “To be honest, I did not have high expectations on this particular lens, nor did Olympus claim anything extraordinary about the 45mm. Seeing it so tiny and having such light weight, one would surely doubt its performance and image quality. I was about to be proven so wrong. This tiny lens is mightier than it appears to be. Do not let the cuteness fool you.

You can search for lens preorders by clicking those links at [shopcountry 23577].

A hot US deal: The Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake is in Stock for $350 via third party resellers at Amazon (Click here).

P.S: PekkaPotka posted some 45mm image samples on his website

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Weird finding: Olympus O camera

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[shoplink 24922 ebay][/shoplink]

Want to make a break from usual m43 news. While I was searching for a rangefinder camera I found a camera made by Olympus that I never saw before. It is the [shoplink 24922 ebay]Olympus O-camera (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink]. It is an aluminum bodied very compact 35mm camera. It has a (detachable) strobe unit and a limited edition (only 20,000 units were made). I searched for some reviews but didn’t find anything. As I said, it’s completely unrelated to today’s world but the camera is so “different” that I was wondering if there was something that could appeal users today. It is a limited edition camera, has an aluminum body (which I do like) and a “circle-square design”. At least it would standout from other cameras in any store :)
[shoplink 24922 ebay]Olympus O is sold for $399 on eBay[/shoplink].

P.S: Today I am in the “found something new and weird” mood. Feel free to send me some links to other nice “different” cameras! :)

UPDATE: Bruce and Nigel sent us the name of another strange camera: The [shoplink 24925 ebay]Olympus Ecru (here on eBay)[/shoplink].

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First Olympus E-PL3 cameras in Stock at BHphoto and Amazon Germany and France!

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The new Olympus E-PL3 (repeat E-PL3 not E-P3) is in Stock at BHphoto (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon France (Click here). It will be in Stock at Amazon UK on August 31. It is the very first time I see the camera in Stock in Europe and US. Feel free to comment this post with more shop links if you find it elsewhere!

REMINDER: Those are the direct search links to all the new Pana/Oly stuff:
Panasonic G3 search page at [shopcountry 22077].
Panasonic GF3 search page at [shopcountry 23109].
Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 search page at [shopcountry 23110].
Olympus E-P3 search page at [shopcountry 23568].
Olympus 12mm f/2.0 search page at [shopcountry 23576].
Olympus 45mm f/1.8 page at [shopcountry 23577].

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Hacked versus unhacked GH2 video comparison (GH2 for around $1.250 in US!)

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Günther Machu made the very first hacked GH2 vs unhacked GH2 versus GH1 comparison. On the his vimeo page you can read the full report. In short: “The 720p60 clearly benefits the most from the hack. The hacked 1080p24 mode shows a finer noise in the dark areas with less keyframe pulsing.

The hacking is fully ongoing with continuos updateds. Keep an eye on that personal-view forum topic to see more image smaples and user reports.

I still didn’t get many rumors about the next Panasonic GH3. But one thing I noticed is that in US the GH2 is getting cheaper and cheaper. The GH2 with 14-140mm lens is now in Stock with a $250 disocunt at Newegg.com (Click here) ->(found via Noisycamera) and for $1446 on Amazon (Click here).

More links to GH2 product pages: [shopcountry 16254].

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