New E-M5 review and eBay stuff (reminder, in Stock on Monday at Amazon).

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The size comparison image by Imaging Resource. On right you see the [shoplink 28222 ebay]OM-1 (here on eBay)[/shoplink].

You can’t get enough of E-M5 reviews? Then fere is the next from Imaging Resource: “Resurrecting a popular design from its past proves fruitful for Olympus: Not only does the Olympus OM-D E-M5 look great, it takes great pictures, meeting or exceeding the quality of some pretty surprising competitors. Its interface is designed with photographers in mind, with ready control dials and a smart interface, all in a very small package“.

USA readers will be happy to know that the E-M5 will be in Stock on Monday: Black E-M5 with 12-50mm camera (click here). And here for the Silver E-M5 with 12-50mm lens (click here). And at the moment of writing exactly those two kits are ruling the Amazon mirrorless ranking (Click here to see it).

Meantime new ebay stuff for the E-M5 is coming out. Right now I found a new LCD screen you can buy to replace a damaged one ([shoplink 31683 ebay]Here is the auction[/shoplink]) and a new leather bag case that also “works” with attached flash ([shoplink 31682 ebay]Here is the auction[/shoplink]).

New E-m5 and new lens (pre)orders:
E-M5 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.
Olympus 75mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon Germany and Amazon UK.
Panasonic 12-35mm X lens at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.

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Something else: Daily Greek Diaries with the E-PL1

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I have a very good friend who’s name is Elena. It’s not her real name but because of safety reasons I can’t unveil her real name andinstead  I will give you the name she has chosen to be named with. She grew up in Antwerpen but she has Greek origins and she now lives in Greek with the husband and two children. If you would know her you would agree that she is a wonderful women. So why am I writing about Elena here on 43rumors?

For years now we got bombarded by a huge amount of information about Greece. And it is for years now that I weekly and sometimes daily talk with Elena about the very daily and normal aspects of her life in Greece. She told me so many little stories that I never read on any newspaper. She unveiled me the real struggle to live in a situation like that as a mother of two children.

I thought it’s pity that we don’t hear/see/read that kind of stories in our newspaper, TVs or radio’s. So an idea came to my mind. I bought an [shoplink 14832]Olympus E-PL1[/shoplink] for very cheap at [shoplink 22691 ebay]Olympusmarket[/shoplink] and sent it to her. She got the camera yesterday. And I asked her to share the stories she usually tells me with the 43rumor audience.

She is not a journalist nor a writer and she is very shy. So she still needs time to get comfortable with the writing. She wrote a couple of test articles on her website and I still feel she needs you reader to push her, to be less formal and less focused on the big themes we hear every day of.

She still has to learn how to write in order to communicate what I know she has inside her feelings. I ask you to help her to get out the most from her stories. Make questions, criticize and she will learn and open you a little and deep world.

So invite you to visit the website which is http://www.greekdiaries.me/. As I told you, if you are interested int he matters push her, contact her and ask here to show some pics done with the E-PL1. I feel what’s happening in Greece may be important for our future too!

Thanks guys!
Your 43rumors admin

 

UPDATE: I just created the facebook page for greekdiaries. It’s here: https://www.facebook.com/Greekdiaries. Click on “like” to follow the stories :)

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Hot! Schneider is working on a 30mm f/1.4 and 60mm f/2.4 macro for m43!

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The guys over at Photoscala (Translation here) just got some insider tip directly from Schneider managers. Schneider is considering the development of a 30mm f/1.4 and a 60mm f/2.4 macro lens that should be unveiled in 2013.

My short opinion on that…Schneider skip the 60mm macro. Olympus is doing almost the same lens!!! The 30mm is a much more appealing lens while I personally would prefer a 35 or 40mm f/1.4 lens. perfect for portraits!

Bit of history: Schneider made some 25mm and 16mm f/1.4 lenses ([shoplink 22694 ebay]they are here on eBay[/shoplink]). They made many more Macro lenses ([shoplink 31663 ebay]they are here on eBay[/shoplink]) including an impressive and huge Variogon 140-280mm ([shoplink 31662 ebay]here on eBay[/shoplink])

What lens would you consider to buy?

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What’s next? Olympus and Panasonic announcement roadmap!

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An imaginary GL1 based on the Four Thirds [shoplink 23692 ebay]Lumix DMC-L1 camera[/shoplink].

Yesterday we had that big Schneider rumor and news coverage. It’s already time to look forward about what’s coming next. This summer will not be a quite time for us:

July:
First we have new Panasonic/Olympus announcements in July. I am pretty sure there will be the new Panasonic G5 and Olympus will maybe show us the XZ-1 successor (with larger sensor?). There will be no PEN and no GH3 yet…but…

Late August/early September
…less than three months from today we will have a massive announcement party. The GH3 is coming for sure along the 35-100mm f/2.8 X lens and other new Panasonic lenses. Plus the LX6 (with larger sensor). Olympus will announce a completely new PEN lineup, new lenses (like the 60mm macro prototype) and maybe one more surprise (will let you know about it later).

Third party companies:
I expect new lens announcements from Sigma and maybe from Tamron. Schneider will show us the final 14mm f/2.0 prototype lens and maybe give us a hint about the two other m43 lenses that will arrive in 2013.

Surprises?
Canon will probably announce a mirrorless system with Four Thirds sized sensor while Olympus may release a new Four Thirds camera. And what about a [shoplink 23692 ebay]Lumix DMC-L1 camera styeled[/shoplink] m43 camera?

As you see I have a lot of work to do to get specs and images of the new products. I am already working on it and got some rumors I will post the next days and weeks. All this I have to do while I am moving to my new house in France where I will live for some time in the middle of nowhere high on the Pyrenees. But that’s another story I may tell you in a little post on a boring weekend :)

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New Olympus 75mm lens already shipping next week (preorders requests low?)

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A couple of dealers contacted me to say that the new Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens will ship next week in Asia and Europe (no info about USA yet). From the chats I had with dealers it sounds like there weren’t so many preorders requests and unlike it is happening with the E-M5 there will be no delay. While the lens has a superb quality the price and maybe the focal length are not for everyone needs. You can check the price and preorder the Olympus 75mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon Germany and Amazon UK.

The same dealers said that they had many more preorders on the new Panasonic 12-35mm X lens (Preorder at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev).

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(UPDATED) Schneider 14mm has AF and costs less than €1.500. Two more m43 lenses in 2013.

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The German Fotomagazin (Translation here) and Photoscala had a chat with the Schneider Kreuznach managers.  The just announced 14mm f/2.0 Micro Four Thirds lens has autofocus and nano surface coating. It’s made of 10 lenses and four of them are aspherical. It’s made in Germany (a guarantee for top quality) and it will be priced at less than €1.500 ($1800). That’s a less than the price of the Angulon lenses made for Nikon mount which do cost over $2,000 at Amazon (Click here to see it – has T/S). The lens will ship in early 2013. And Schneider also said that they will announce two more m43 lenses in 2013.

Back to the 14mm f/2.0 lens. Don’t know if it can compete against the other lenses like:
Olympus 12mm f/2.0 (Price check at [shopcountry 23576]). 2mm wider but with high image quality I doubt Schneider will beat it to justify the price difference (if my guesses price is correct).
Panasonic 14mm f/2.4 (Price check at [shopcountry 16258]). Slower lens and certainly the Schneider will have a much greater image quality. But the real advantage of the Panasonic is the pancake size.

Anyway, thanks Schneider for joining the system! It’s great to have so many wide angle lens options!

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