Panasonic can’t satisfy the demand for GH2 cameras in the US market. After 6 months of wait there is still some dude that wants to take profit from your frustration. So it happens that the the worlds biggest online store sells one single used GH2 for $2,300.00 (Click here to check it at Amazon)!!! Time for us Europeans to start selling our GH2 cameras for $2.000 to our US friend. We could become rich ;)
Our friend Valentin Sama from DSLRmagazine got some info from his reliable sources. It looks like Leica could soon announce their mirrorless camera. Valentin doesn’t know if Leica will make a [shoplink 17361]Panasonic GF1/2[/shoplink] clone or create a new system. It’s very important to know that:
1) Leica has to choose between Panasonic and Sony sensors because Kodak doesn’t make the CMOS sensors at all!
2) Last year Leica said they will not join the Micro Four Thirds group because the sensor is to small.
But meanwhile Micro Four Thirds has become very popular and Leica could have changed their mind! We were told from our sources that Leica will get rid of the expensive and complex rangefinder system of the [shoplink 17844 ebay]Leica M9[/shoplink].
Links:
– The Leica mirrorless system will allow you to take use of the [shoplink 19211 ebay]Leica R lenses (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink].
– The Leica M9 at [shopcountry 17539]
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Last month a new anonymous source sent us the following message “Next Olympus announcements : 8/2 and 2/3“. He were right with the first date (Olympus announced the SZ-10, the VG-110 and the 3D VR-330) so he might be right with the second date too! We already told you that we expect new Micro Four Thirds stuff to be announced late May only but…..let’s hope we are wrong ;)
Meanwhile Forum Olympus France found three new Olympus compact camera design patents:
Camera one
Camera two
Camera three
Could be that those are the cameras Olympus will announce next week (Wednesday)?
Since a long time we are used to read Micro Four Thirds reviews only. But ePhotozine just posted four new Four Thirds lens reviews!
1) The first lens they tested is the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye: “Performance-wise, it is a bit of a mixed-bag, with soft images at maximum aperture and strong chromatic aberrations towards the edges, but with a little care, and maybe some post-processing, this lens should be able to produce decent enough results.”
Check the lens price and availability at: [shopcountry 20015]
2) Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm f/2.8-4 SWD: “Although the price tag may seem a little steep at first, this lens justifies it with very good optical performance, and a very handy zoom range for walking about town”
Check the lens price and availability at: [shopcountry 20016]
3) Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 II: “For the price this lens commands, I expected a better performance than this lens delivers, especially at 14mm, where I am quite disappointed.”
Check the lens price and availability at: [shopcountry 20017]
4) Olympus Zuiko Digital Ed 50mm f/2 Macro: “This 50mm macro optic from Olympus is an interesting choice for Four Thirds format cameras due to its compact dimensions and bright maximum aperture. Although the performance wide open may not be of the highest order, it is well-suited to portraiture, and stopping the lens down can produce excellent results. ”
Check the lens price and availability at: [shopcountry 20019]
For US readers and E-PL2 owners. the Penpal module is finally in Stock at Amazon (Click here).
Reminder: There is a double kit E-PL2 instant rebate at BHphoto (Click here).
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Photographyblog (Click here) tested the Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 Micro Four Thirds lens. After a five page long review the conclusion is: “Overall, we enjoyed shooting with the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 a lot and have been pleased with the results. Most of our photos came out sharp, with acceptable levels of distortion and almost no chromatic aberrations. However, a long telezoom like this will always be a speciality lens and with the M.Zuiko costing as much as it does, it seems one needs a very good reason to commit to a purchase.”
Check the lens price and availability at [shopcountry 15861]
Pocket Lint (Click here) posted their Olympus XZ-1 review “Shoehorning in almost as many features as its E-PL2 bigger brother, if you don’t want to change the F/1.8, 28-112mm equivalent lens on the front, the XZ-1 is the easier to use, as well as transport. Sure, an asking price of £399 is not inconsiderable, but at least it’s comparable with its immediate rivals that are also priced at a premium. After practically holding a wake with the release of the E-5 DSLR, fortunately it’s now party hats and streamers time for Olympus in the case of the XZ-1.”
Chek the camera price and availability at [shopcountry 19904]
Image source: xinhuanet
Zhongyi Optics from China is developing a 28mm f/2.8 lens for Micro Four Thirds, which will have a 4 group and 5 lenses design. Price will be around CNY 500 (around 80 USD).
We already have a few cheap chinese manual m43 lenses:
SLRmagic 26mm f/1.4 [shoplink 18603 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]
SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 [shoplink 14881 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]
Loreo lenses on [shoplink 20117 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]
