New Panasonic GF3 and GF2 reviews (GF1 body only for 228 Euro..new!)

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There is a new Panasonic GF3 review at ePhotozine (Click here): “The camera features a  full manual controls, and the small size makes it easy to take on a casual day out, when you normally wouldn’t want to carry a large camera with you. The enhanced hand grip on the front of the camera, and solid build quality make it easy to hold, however we wish it was still as feature packed as the GF2. At least the camera is still capable of delivering excellent image quality.” The camera gets Highly Recommended. Click those links to check the GF3 price: [shopcountry 23109].

ePhotozine didn’t only test the GF3, but also the “older” GF2 (Click here): “The Panasonic Lumix GF2 is a bit of a bargain at the moment, offering a compact, controllable camera with great image quality, high speed focusing and continuous shooting, and full HD video with stereo sound for around £400 with kit lens“. it also gets Highly Recommended.
The GF2 gets also tested by Neocamera (Click here): “This compact SLD turns in a very well balanced performance, with low image noise, good color, excellent white-balance, great metering and relatively fast speed. There is really no area where the Lumix GF2 has issues with photography. Despite the absence of a dedicated mode which causes some frustrations, the GF2 captures full HD videos in high-quality.“. Overall score is “Good“. Click those links to check the GF2 price: [shopcountry 17361].

Neither the GF3 neither the GF2 managed it to become as popular as the first GF camera, the GF1. That camera now sales for $1499 at Amazon (Click here)!!! But I found a terrific good deal in Europa. You can get a new(!) GF1 body only for 228 Euro at Softwings on [shoplink 24795 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. They do only sell two cameras! If you want to get the GF2 look at the deals on Amazon (Click here) and the $100 instant savings you get at BHphoto (Click here). You can find the kit options for $520 and the body only for $359.

That said I am still working on the GF7 rumor. I didn’t post a lot because there have been some changes in the Panasonic roadmap. So I had to recheck everything :(

 

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What are the strenghts of the m43 system?

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There is more and more competition coming. Sony will announce a huge ammount of new NEX cameras ad lenses (Click here to see the lenses at SAR) and new cameras from Samsung and probably Nikon (More at MirrorlessRumors.com). But now I want to know what you think are the strenghts of the m43 system compared to the other mirrorless systems!

Select the main reasons why you joined the m43 world (select a maximum of three points).

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Everybody wins an Eisa ward (does it make sense?)

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Th EISA (European Imaging & Sound Association) is a unique association of 50 special interest magazines from 19 European countries. And every year they do award the best photo cameras and lenses. The problem I have with Eisa is that they created so many different categories that it easy for every manufacturer to win at least one of the prizes. Olympus for example won the “European All Weather Camera 2011-2012” with the Olympus TOUGH TG-810. And Panasonic won the “European Compact System Camera 2011-2012” with the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G3.
See all categories and winners at http://www.eisa.eu/awards/3/photo.html
Like last year, and two years ago and three years ago (and so on) everybody won a price! Nikon, Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Fuji, Samsung, Pentax, Tamron, Sigma, Casio…sounds a bit like a joke or no? That said the [shoplink 22077]Panasonic G3[/shoplink] is certainly the best mirrorless camera announced in 2011!

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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Samyang 24mm f/1.4 for Four Thirds coming by end of the year.

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Thanks to Samyang current Four Thirds user can see the light of some new Four Thirds lenses. They just announced on their website (Click here) that by end of the year they will announce the 24mm f/1.4 fast wide angle! It will have 13 elements (in 12 groups) including four ED elements and two aspheric lenses. The lens is manual focusing only but the optical quality is on a very top level

There are currently two fast manual lenses you can get for your Olympus camera:
1) The 35mm f/1.4: In US you can find it as “Rokinon” at Amazon (Click here), as “Samyang” on [shoplink 24768 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and as “Rokinon” on [shoplink 24770 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
2) The 85mm f/1.4: You can get for $274 on Amazon (Click here), as “Samyang” on [shoplink 24769 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and as “Rokinon” on [shoplink 24771 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

P.S.: All Samyang lenses for Olympus can be found on eBay only and under seven different brand names (Click on it to see all Four Thirds lenses from the specific brand!):
[shoplink 20647 ebay]Samyang [/shoplink] [shoplink 20684 ebay]Walimex [/shoplink] [shoplink 20649 ebay]Rokinon [/shoplink] [shoplink 20650 ebay]Opteka [/shoplink] [shoplink 20651 ebay]Falcon [/shoplink] [shoplink 20653 ebay]Vivitar [/shoplink] [shoplink 20652 ebay]Bower [/shoplink]

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Plenty of new Olympus E-P3 reviews.

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A nice image posted by Photoscala.de.

There are many new [shoplink 23568]Olympus E-P3[/shoplink] reviews:

Let’s start with ePhotozine (Click here): “The Olympus PEN E-P3 is a welcome upgrade to the E-P2, with extremely fast focusing, which was one of the big problems with the PEN series, especially if you’d used another faster Micro Four Thirds camera, but now Olympus are back in the game. The addition of a built in flash, AF illuminator and several new art filters and effects that can be applied to the art filters, is a very welcome addition“. The camera gets “Highly Recommended!

The next test has been made by Photographyblog (Click here): “While with the exception of it missing a built-in flash we were perfectly happy with the E-P2 until the E-P3 came along, this new model is enough of a change, and indeed a larger one than that separating the E-P1 and E-P2, to suggest Olympus has played its hand well. ” Also for them the E-P3 deserves a “Highly Recommended!

The german website Photoscala (Click here to read the translation) wrote: “The e-P3 delivers crisp immediately, directly zoomable photos. Resolution, sharpness and tonal reproduction follow the ‘visual complacency’- so the photos will look as good as possible from a standing – and align themselves to the amateur. Nevertheless, most values ​​for noise, compression, resolution, vignetting and distortion are pretty good and well suited for most purposes.

The french Focus Numerique (Click here for the translation) finalized their very detailed and interetsing review: “The new Pen E-P3 is definitely the best Micro 4 / 3 Olympus and deserves recommended.

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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First Olympus 45mm f/1.8 review by Pekka Potka

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Photobucket

The two new Oly lenses, the 45mm and 12mm (Clubsnap)

You can read a new Olympus 45mm f/1.8 review made by Pekka Potka (Click here and than click on the 45mm link under “latest”): “The sweet point is from 2.8 to 5.6. Contrast and sharpness are very good. Shooting JPEGs I didn´t notice any need to worry about distortion, vignetting or chromatic aberrations. Lens has problems with flare only with sun hitting front lens against or nearly against the light. It is optically a lot better lens than its price tag says“.

The lens will start shipping in very late September and there are only a few places now where you can preorder it:

Adorama (Click here), J&R (Click here), Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon FR (Click here), Amazon JP (Click here) and on [shoplink 24774 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Reminder: Clubsnap (Click here) has been the very first to post some 45mm f/1.8 image samples.

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E-P3 vs Leica M9 (Steve Huff) and manual focusing test (Digitalrev)

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The video above shows a manual focusing test made by Digitalrev. They compared the [shoplink 23568]E-P3 vs [shoplink 23109]GF3[/shoplink] vs NEX-C3[/shoplink].

Crazy Comparison – The Olympus E-P3 with 12mm vs the Leica M9 with 24 Summilux by Steve Huff (Click here).

Peter Lueck (Click here to read the google english translation) tested the new [shoplink 23576]12mm lens[/shoplink].

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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