43 Rumors – Page 1993 – Panasonic and Olympus Digital Camera News

Panasonic reports six months financial results.

October 31, 2012
news, Rumors
32 Comments

If you can read the complex language of financial reports than download that Panasonic pdf file. It contains the results of the last size months and a forecast for 2013 (see screenshot on top). In very short, the situation ins’t good. TV business is going worse than ever, restructuring expenses are 11 times(!) more expensive than predicted and when it comes to digital cameras that’s what Panasonic writes:

“AVC Networks
Sales decreased by 24% to 690.0 billion yen from 913.6 billion yen a year ago. This result was due mainly to significant sales decline in flat-panel TVs, BD recorders and digital cameras. Segment profit significantly improved to 19.9 billion yen, compared with a loss of 15.7 billion yen a year ago due mainly to fixed cost reductions and restructuring effects.”

Of course Panasonic already announced a long list of actions and some of them are described in the document. I am less worried about the relative small Digital Camera business. That’s not their main core business. Panasonic has to fix the TV business first. On the good side of their report you can notice that Panasonic is doing profit on very future oriented business like green terminology and house electronic stuff.

More info at Bloomberg.

Panasonic losing shares in Japan. Olympus on first place.

October 31, 2012
news
95 Comments

BCNranking (translation here) released the mirrorless market shares of the current year. I don’t speak Japanese and google translation tool isn’t good enough. So dear Japanese readers correct me quickly if I say something wrong!

As you see from the graph on top Olympus leads the market with 28.6% closely followed by Sony (23.5%), Panasonic (17.3%) and Nikon (12.8%). Panasonic managers won’t be happy to see that their shares dropped from 30% to almost the half during this year!

One more news: In October these were the most sold cameras in Japan: E-PL3 (10.6%), NEX-5N (10.3%), EOS-M (9.2%), GF5 (8.9%).

There are no such analysis for EU and US countries. Only some purely indiciative and constantly changing popularity rankings by Amazon:
US ranking (Click here): NEX-5n on top followed by the GF3.
DE ranking (Click here): NEX-6 on top (E-M5 on pos. 6).
UK ranking (Click here): Nikon 1 on top followed by the G3.
FR ranking (Click here): GF5 on top.

First time in Stock in US: Panasonic new 35-100mm X lens!

October 30, 2012
deals
13 Comments

This is the very first time the new Panasonic 35-100mm X lens is in Stock via Norman Camera on Amazon (Click here). Only two of them are left in Stock! In Germany this lens is alreayd in Stock for days now at Technikdirekt.

P.S.: A long list of E-PM2 cameras is sold by Cameta on Amazon (Click here) and on eBay (here on slidoo).

GX1 deal (when is the GX2 coming?).

October 30, 2012
deals
27 Comments

GX1 gets cheaper and cheaper:
The GX1 got another small price drop and now sells with 14-42mm kit lens for $460 only at Amazon (Click here). I am certainly not the only one having noticed the price drop as it managed to get back into the first page of the most popular mirrorless cameras at Amazon (here is the ranking). At that price it is $59 cheaper than the new Panasonic GF5 camera with the same kit lens. The GX line wasn’t supposed to be above the GF line? :)
The price dropped even In Europe (See price history for Germany). At [shoplink 34544 ebay]Fotomundus[/shoplink] you can get a GX1 for 50 Euro less than last months price.

GX2 coming soon?
And now let’s talk about the possible future GX2. It has been quite for some time now. I know via sources that this is the next camera that Panasonic will announced. And we also know that Panasonic officially said (back in Spring) that they will “better define” the GX line during the year. But there is no 100% reliable info yet about the exact release date. All we heard for now is that the GX1 has the GH3 sensor and a complete new design.

More GX1 related deals:
If you buy a GX1 (or GH2 or GF5 or G5) you can save up to $200 on camera+lens at Amazon (Click here to check the deal page). Here is the detailed deal list. Just click on the camera name link to check it out:

$50 off the Lumix 14-42mm lens: DMC-GH2, DMC-GX1, DMC-GF5, DMC-G5.
$75 off the Lumix G X Vario PZ 14-42mm lenses: DMC-GH2, DMC-GX1, DMC-GF5, DMC-G5.
$75 off the Lumix G X Vario PZ 45-185mm lenses: DMC-GH2, DMC-GX1, DMC-GF5, DMC-G5.
$100 off the Lumix 100-300mm lens: DMC-GH2, DMC-GX1, DMC-GF5, DMC-G5.
$200 off the H-HS12035 Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm lens: DMC-GH2, DMC-GX1, DMC-GF5, DMC-G5.

(FT3) No plan to make m43 mount Zeiss lenses…

October 30, 2012
Rumors
95 Comments

Yesterday Patrick from FujiRumors wrote that Zeiss will release the new Fuji X and Sony E mount lenses in April. He also sent me an email to say that Zeiss representatives that were displaying the lenses in NYC told him that there will be definitely no MFT version of these lenses in 2013. And it hasn’t yet been decided if they will ever be released in 2014.

I hope Zeiss will change their mind soon. Can you leave out the biggest Mirrorless System? They are missing a big chance to make money don’t they? So here is a poll to show Zeiss managers if the little MFT community on 43rumors would buy some of their three lenses. Important to know. These are High Quality Lenses with full AF and Aperture control and priced at 1000 Euro.

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Comon Zeiss! We need you on board :)

The naked Panasonic panckaes at LR.

October 30, 2012
news
16 Comments

Image courtesy: Lensrentals.

Roger Cicala from Lensrentals disassembled the two Panasonic pancakes to show us what’s inside. There are many technical differences between the two pancakes. But what impresses me is how many pieces you can find in these small lenses. Panasonic really did a great work on these lenses, making them so small but at the same time with a very decent image quality for a relatively low price.

The 14mm can be bought Open Box for $183 on [shoplink 34538 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Price check of the 14mm at [shopcountry 16258].
Price check of the 20mm at [shopcountry 4796].

PEN news: E-PL5 review at PB. Android PEN App available. E-PM2 in Stock.

October 29, 2012
reviews
28 Comments

Now we know that the E-PL5 is officially the first MFT camera without Anti Aliasing filter. It explains why this camera managed to match and even beat (at LOW ISO) the current E-M5. Today the British website PhotographyBlog (Click here) posted the full E-PL5 review and writes: “The Olympus E-PL5 is a much more intriguing camera than its mid-level price and positioning in the Olympus compact system camera range would first suggest. Not many manufacturers offer the same image quality as their flagship camera throughout their entire line-up, but that’s exactly what Olympus have done with the release of the E-PL5 and the even smaller E-PM2. The new Olympus E-PL5 therefore comes Highly Recommended as a more portable and affordable alternative to Olympus’ best mirrorless camera…”

Sounds good!

The E-PL5 is set to ship tomorrow at Amazon (Click here) and Bhphoto (Click here). The little sister E-Pm2 is already shopping at BHphoto (Click here), Cameta (Click here), Amazon (Click here) and on [shoplink 34495 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] -> found via Slidoo. And if you are going to buy them than don’t forget that the new PEN Olympus Application is now available on iTunes and Android store!