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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Mirrorless shootout at ePhotozine (and a couple of new E-P3 reviews)

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There are now plenty of E-P3 comparisons to read:
ePhotozine (Click here) posted a full Olympus E-P3 vs Panasonic GF3 vs Sony NEX-5 vs Samsung NX11 comparison. Guess who won the battle? :)
Which One? Sony NEX C3 vs Olympus EP3 (ThePhoBlographer): “I need to give this to the Olympus EP3 and admit that this has been the most difficult comparison review I’ve done to date.”
Panasonic Lumix GF3 vs Olympus PEN EP-3 vs Sony NEX-C3 – Which one to buy? (Digitalrev).
The Olympus E-P3 vs The Sony NEX-5 ISO war (Steve Huff).
The Olympus E-P3 is in Stock at [shopcountry 23568].

New Pansonic GF3 tests:
The polish website Optyczne (Click here to read the google english translation) posted a full E-P3 review. The overall score is higher than the Panasonic G3 and Samsung NX100!
Panasonic GF3 review at Les Numeriques (Click here) and Imaging Resource (Click here).
The Panasoic GF3 is in Stock at [shopcountry 23109].

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UPDATE: Olympus lead the mirrorless market in Japan

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UPDATE: There was an error with the google translation tool. Olympus leas the mirrorless market in Japan (not the DSLR+Mirrorless market). They currently have a sales share of 38.7% and do beat Sony, Panasonic, Ricoh and Leica.

But there is a lot to do for Olympus. They have to translate the success into the rest of the world and work on a new sensor!

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(FT5) New Panasonic X lens series coming (PRO lenses)

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I was working on that rumor since a couple of weeks (and I told you here that there would be a surprise). Now our friend Andrew from EosHD beat me on time and published a part of the surprise ;)

Yes it’s true, Panasonic will announce a new Micro Four Thirds pro lens series. It will be called “X“. What EosHD didn’t mention is that the 14-42mm and 45-175mm lenses will be the very first lenses having that “X” mark! Unlike Andrews speculation there will be no 12-50mm or 45-300mm zooms yet. I have been told the new lenses are an “optical revolution” because they are incredibly compact, do have a high optical quality, powerzoom and inner focusing. The lenses are made with both worlds in mind, still photography and video recording. I am currently collecting info about those lenses but it’s clear that Panasonic is putting very high expectations in this new project. One of the source was actually very impressed by the new kit lens performance. When he saw the lens he thought this would be a new “cheap” zoom lens. But he image quality and the new size and features will have a “WOW” reaction even on more serious photographers. The source strongly believes this will become a very popular line for amateurs and pro photographers!

As I said that is only the first part of the surprise, the second part will be published as soon as I get more out of my sources! Thanks for your patience!

P:S.: I repeat. There iwll be no GF7 yet!

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