Panasonic RGBW sensor and Olympus pancake patents.

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This is the new RGBW pixel array of the patented Panasonic sensor.

Panasonic patented a new RGBW sensor design (Click here to see the document). It adds a White pixel on the usual Red-Green-Blue array. This should increase the dynamic range of the image. I heard from my sources that many companies are working on such an array and it is very likely that it is going to be used first in compact cameras.

Olympus also issued a new patent for 14mm, 16mm, 17mm and 22mm f/2.8 pancakes (Click here to see it). I believe the 14-16 and 22mm lenses are just modifications of of the already released 17mm f/2.8 pancake. If Olympus really plans to do such pancakes they should be at least as fast as the superb [shoplink 14796]Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake[/shoplink]!

As usual with patents keep in mind that most of them are here just to protect intellectual propriety. A company may not use them at all in a real product!

P.S.: Links to the superb and very likely most sold m43 lens ever, the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 at [shopcountry 14796].

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NEX-7 versus E-M5 resolution comparison…

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Image courtesy: DSLR-Check

Panasonic and Olympus marketing guys are stating that their system is better than the APS-C competition because of the better corner to corner sharpness of the Four Thirds sized sensor. The picture from DSLR-Check (Click on picture to enlarge!) shows the bad resolution performance of the 24 megapixel NEX-7 camera used along the 16mm pancake. Yes, it is unfair to use the cheap pancake for a comparison with some of the best m43 lenses! But our friend Klaus from Photozone (Click here) tested many NEX lenses and none can really take advantage of the 24 megapixel resolution. I am not playing down the NEX system, the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 is a superb lens and the NEX-7 definitely an interesting camera (and currently the most sold mirrorless camera at Amazon). But this is just a small post to remind you that the lens quality REALLY matters! Invest in good lenses instead of expensive cameras!

Speaking of good lenses here is another review of the Olympus 12mm prime lens at Admiring Light (Click here): “All things considered, this lens has earned a permanent place in my kit.  In fact, I could be pretty happy with only this lens, the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 and the Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4“.
Search links to the 12mm lens at [shopcountry 23576].

KTF-Turbo (Click here) tested the 26mm f/1.1 Macro Switar C-mount lens on the GH1. This is actually a very expensive lens and you get it for more than $1000 on [shoplink 30256 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. He also compared the Switar with the upcoming new Micro Four Thirds Sonnetar (Click here to see the comparison).

E-M5 (Pre)order links (Click on store name): Amazon, Adorama, B&H, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.

Today Rankings:
USA: E-M5 on position 6/8/9 (Click here)
UK: E-M5 is on position 2 (Click here).
Germany: The E-M5 is on position 13 (Click here).
France: not available (Click here to see rankings anyway).
Japan: E-M5 on position 6/11 (Click here).

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(FT3) UPDATED: New m43 camcorder to be announced after-tomorrow?

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[shoplink 16841 ebay]

[/shoplink] Image on top: The current [shoplink 16841 ebay]AG-AF100 camcorder[/shoplink].

UPDATE: Made a big typo. The camera should arrive after tomorrow April 11th and not tomorrow the 10th.

A source told me that Panasonic should unveil new stuff tomorrow April 11th (Japan time). Very likely a new Micro Four Thirds AG-AF camcorder will be announced. The rumor hasn’t been confirmed by other sources yet that’s why it has the FT3 value only for now (See FT ranking at the bottom of this post if you don’t know what it is). I don’t expect the G5 yet (will be announced in May) or the new X zoom lenses (late June) or the GH3 (late August/early September).

The one interesting thing about the new m43 camcorder could be the rumored new Super 35mm sized sensor. But also this is juts an unconfirmed rumor for now. let’s see what happens tomorrow!

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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Sigma 30mm and 19mm tested by ThePhoBlographer.

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You can see some nice images samples taken with the new 30mm and 19mm Sigma Micro Four Thirds lenses on ThePhoBlographer (Click here). I have to admit that while it remains true that I am not happy with the size and slow aperture of the Sigma lenses I am positively impressed by the image quality which is quite good for a $199 lens. Let’s hope they will also do some more of them with a m43 centered design (the current two lenses have been designed for m43 and NEX).

The 19mm f/2.8 lens is now in Stock at Amazon US (Click here), Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here) and Amazon France (Click here).
The 30mm f/2.8 lens is now in Stock at Amazon US (Click here), Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here) and Amazon France (Click here).

Reminder: List of Four Thirds Sigma lenses (Click on link to see them on eBay):
[shoplink 18947 ebay]Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18948 ebay]Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18948 ebay]Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18949 ebay]Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18950 ebay]Sigma 24mm f/1.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18951 ebay]Sigma 30mm f/1.4[/shoplink] [shoplink 18952 ebay]Sigma 50mm f/1.4[/shoplink] [shoplink 18953 ebay]Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3[/shoplink] [shoplink 18955 ebay]Sigma 55-500mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18956 ebay]Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18957 ebay]Sigma 105mm f/2.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18958 ebay]Sigma 135-400mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18959 ebay]Sigma 150mm f/2.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18960 ebay]Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6[/shoplink]

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First E-M5 in Stock at eBay UK!

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[shoplink 30243 ebay][/shoplink] I have been told by dealers that the first batch of E-M5 cameras would arrive this week in Europe and Canada. As you can see the first UK store has two of them in Stock and sells them through [shoplink 30243 ebay]eBay UK (Click here to see the “buy now” auction)[/shoplink].

Again for my European readers: Today you can find a new stock of refurbished cameras at [shoplink 22691 ebay]Olympusmarket (Click here)[/shoplink]. And also a Four Thirds [shoplink 30244 ebay]Olympus E-M5 (Click here)[/shoplink].

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New Lensbaby composer review by T. Robichaud. New Zeiss CP.2 lenses.

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Tyson Robichaud (Click here) tested a new Lensbaby product for the mirror-less systems which enables access to all of the Lensbaby optics. He writes: “Not only does the Composer Pro offer access to the entire Lensbaby system, it also promises to be much more “future proof” in the event that Lensbaby looks to further diversify its system as the new Composer Pro has worked around the design issues with these mirror-less system mounts that the newer optics had compatibility-wise with the Tilt Transformer.”

And Carl Zeiss released two new CP.2 15mm T/2.9 and CP.2 135mm T/2.1 lenses also for m43 mount (Source: Dpreview). They will be available in late 2012 for $5,700 or €4,200 each (VAT excluded). These are special video optimized lenses and perfectly color-matched to allow consistency in footage. Sound good for the current AG-AF100 and the new camcorder that is going to be announced next week!

Links to CP.2 lenses on [shoplink 15756 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

 

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