(FT5) E-P3 will be presented at a two days event in late June.

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A fake E-P3 image made by our reader Leendert (Thanks!)

The most intriguing upcoming Micro Four Thirds product is certainly the new Olympus E-P3. Let’s start with a good news first. Two trusted sources contacted me to say that Olympus organized a huge event for the E-P3 launch. It’s a two day long meeting! Would you organize something like that for if the E-P3 would not be something more than just an updated [shoplink 14830]E-P2[/shoplink]? Certainly not!

And here are the last two rumors I got from new sources. As you can see there is a huge contraddiction:
Source_1: The E-P3 will be released in June. It has an integrated EVF and it will be smaller than E-P2. No on-board flash though.
Source_2: I also can confirm that no one will have an build in viewfinder. Design and features should be a small revolution I heard by Olympus PM.

That’s why I am always careful with new sources! Let’s hope my trusted sources can soon tell us more about the E-P3 and the other mini Pen camera!

 

P.S.: I got a TERRIFIC rumor about Samsung! Will post that on MirrorlessRumors as soon as I can! Pro photographers will be VERY happy with that news. And Canon-Nikon should be worried for the very first time! This could be the rumor of the year :)

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New PTool update helps you to hack all GH1 and GF1 cameras!

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[shoplink 14826][/shoplink]

Vitaly the hacker just released a new PTool update (Version v3.55d). The unhackable GH1/GF1 are now officially history!
You can download the hack at http://www.gh1-hack.info/wiki/PToolSoftware
This is the official topic: http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/148/ptool-3.55d-topic

And those are the new “features” added with the new update (Source: Gh1-hack.info)
[shoplink 14826]GH1[/shoplink]:
Added “New body” patch for downgrading new unhackable bodies.
Added MJPEG 480p size and quality adjustment patches.
Added Video and Audio buffer patches.
Added three encoder related settings patches.
[shoplink 14834]G2[/shoplink]:
Added “New body” patch for downgrading new unhackable bodies (untested).
Fixed PAL<>NTSC patch.
Few other minor fixes.
[shoplink 14828]GF1[/shoplink]:
Added “New body” patch for downgrading new unhackable bodies (untested).
[shoplink 20741]G1[/shoplink]:
Added “Prevent Version compare” patch.
P.S.: Keep in mind that the GH1 is heavily discounted in US at Amazon and Adorama! There are instante rebats from $50 up to $100.

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New Panasonic GH2 review at Quesabesde (US: Panasonic GH2 in Stock status)

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Quesabesde reviewed the Panasonic GH2. The biggest complain they have is the lack of a headphone output that allows to monitor the incoming audio from the camera. But all thre rest of the review is very positive. The Gh2 is the best hybrid video/still camera on the market. And it will become even better once it gets hacked! Click here to follow the official GH2 “Stalin” hack development topic.

And now for US readers: Announced in September 2010 the Panasonic GH2 is finally “constantly” in Stock in US stores by late May 2011 (it took 8 months):

Black GH2 with 14-140mm lens at Amazon (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
Black GH2 with 14-42mm lens at Adorama (Click here).
Silver GH2 with 14-42mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

P.S: Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm for $540 at Amazon (Click here).

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a little bit of everything…

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The video on top shows a GH2 car-video using the Manfrotto suction cup ([shoplink 22507 ebay]click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]) and the Manfrotto 3D junior ([shoplink 22508 ebay]click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]). Anyway I would be to scared to use them on my car! Is it really safe? :(

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 review at Digital Photography School.

Olympus SZ-20 review (Letsgodigital). I

Olympus TG-610 review (Letsgodigital and ePhotozine).

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX77 review (Letsgodigital).

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 versus Leica V-Lux 30 (Fotopolis).

New mirrorless lens iTunes app (Click here to see it)

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(FT5) No Olympus announcement on June 3. Digicam info rumor was wrong (and that’s good news!)

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Exactly one week ago the Japanese blog Digicam Info (Click here to read our post) said the new Olympus E-P3, E-PL3 and the Pen MINI would be announced in June the 3rd. Their source told them that all three cameras will feature the same 12 Megapixel sensor and will not have any built-in viewfinder.We rated the rumor with a very low FT2 (unreliable rumor from unkown source).

My trusted source didn’t say a lot in these days but they confirmed that there will be NO! announcement on June the 3rd. That’s not a big news, but it gives us hop that maybe the other info from Digicam were also wrong! So there is still hope for a PEN with built-in viewfinder!!! Come on you digital [shoplink 22259 ebay]Olympus SP[/shoplink] :)

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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Yasuhara will make two more lenses for Micro Four Thirds!

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[shoplink 22495 ebay][/shoplink]

The image on top shows a Yasuhara M-mount camera [shoplink 22495 ebay](Click hee to see camera and lenses on eBay)[/shoplink].

Yesterday Yasuhara announced the new Nanoha macro lens for Micro Four Thirds. One of our Japanese readers wrote that nice and short history about the Yasuhara company:

“The company made film camera once in ’90’s. And the employee is only one (and he is the president:-) who can be seen on the article. The price (of the macro lens) is expected to be lower than 50,000 yen (450 Euro) and will be in the mass-production on late June (now development is in the final stage). It’s included with 5 dedicated target holders that is customizable in some degree (can be seen as pictures of a black plastic frame in the article) The lens has white LED light. The image circle is for APS-C, but there is no plan for DSLR, because the lens is designed specifically for mirrorless systems (short flange focal length). In the interview, Mr. Yasuhara seems to like mirrorless system very much. Beside this “Nanoha macro”, there will be two more lenses until march ’12. One is ordinary, but one is very extraordinary.
NANOHA – (nano – hu[t]) double meaning: nano-meter and leaves of greens, esp. rape blossoms’ ”

http://www.yasuhara.co.jp/nanoha/ (japanese website)
http://www.yasuhara.co.jp/index-e.html (english website)
http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/review/special/20110527_448563.html (lots of image samples taken with the new Nanoha macro lens)
Yasuhara products on [shoplink 22495 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

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After Panasonic also Olympus announces that it will cut jobs!

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As we told you a couple of days ago Olympus financial results are pretty bad (Click here to read the article). Yesterday the new CEO from Olympus (the brit Michael Woodford) said “he will cut jobs to achieve his mid-term cost targets and reverse what he said was an unacceptable slump in earnings, but would avoid forced redundancies in Japan for cultural reasons.“…”He said that he planned to cut expenses by 30 billion yen (100 yen = RM3.75)in four years, describing this as a target that took into account Japan’s conservative culture.” (Source: btimes.com.my).
Hmmm, I think cutting jobs is the worst way to save a company. The real problem from Olympus is the camera division which is doing very bad. The rest of the company is quite healthy. That kind of news sounds like, “hey we don’t know what to do with our camera business and that’s why we will cut the expenses to save our ass”. What about making better products instead of cutting jobs???

P.S.: A month ago Panasonic announced that it will cut 35,000 (overseas) employees (Click here to read that article).

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