43 Rumors – Page 2102 – Panasonic and Olympus Digital Camera News

Sigma 30mm f/2.8 for 200 Euro and coming on Feb 24th.

February 13, 2012
news
101 Comments

We have some news about the two not so spectacular Sigma Micro Four Thirds lenses. The Sigma 30mm f/2.8 for Micro Four Thirds will be available from February 24th. According to Sigma Germany the price will be 199 Euro. There is no price and availability info about the 19mm f/2.8 lens. If you wonder why those lenses look so big the explanation is quite simple. Both lenses have been designed to work for the Micro Four Thirds and Sony E-mount cameras. And the NEX system is using a larger sensor and that’s why the lenses are unnecessary larger for m43 cameras. I would prefer Sigma to design lenses for the Micro Four Thirds only as they did with the Four Thirds system. I am sure this will make more money with those lenses than they will get from the lenses they have just announced.

Reminder: List of Four Thirds lenses:
[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]

HOT: Complete Olympus E-M5 ISO test

February 13, 2012
reviews
214 Comments

Time to analyze the image quality of the new [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink]. At OMuser (Click here) you can find a new set of E-M5 ISO samples! Please keep in mind that these images have been taken with a preproduction camera and in JPEG format. So here are the direct links:

And here is the question for you:

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New Olympus compact cameras coming in Spring (says financial report).

February 13, 2012
news, Rumors
39 Comments

There is one bad news and two good news. First the bad news :)

1) The latest Olympus financial report (Click here to download the full .pdf) unveils that they are on course to make a 32 billion yen (£260m or $410m) loss for the year to 31 March 2012, as it reels from a £1.1 billion accounting cover-up (via Amateur Photographer). In the same period in 2011 they had a 756 million yen loss, in 2010 they had a 2.04-billion yen profit. This is really bad news but I guess soon a big company (Sony or Samsung or Fuji) will arrive with fresh money in order to solve the current financial troubles.

2) But there is also a good news: Olympus reported a 14.7% rise in digital camera sales over the nine months, reaching 94,557 million yen (£771m or $1216m) at 31 December 2011 (via Amateur Photographer). The operating loss fell by 50%. In summary, Olympus isn’t still making money with their camera division but they are now growing and Olympus predicts that results will be even better thanks to the third good news:

3) Looking to the future, Olympus pointed to the release of its OM-D E-M5 in late March, adding: “Several new compact models are scheduled for successive launches from spring, using same image processing technologies as micro SLRs [sic] for high sensitivity, low noise and fast autofocus.” (via AP)

UPDATE: A month ago a trusted sources told me that the [shoplink 19904]Olympus XZ-1[/shoplink] successor will arrive in early summer.

———

Watch the Amazon rankings (Olympus is doing well!):
Amazon ranking in USA (Click here)
Amazon ranking in UK (Click here)
Amazon ranking in Germany (Click here)
Amazon ranking in France (Click here)

Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye tested at Photozone

February 12, 2012
reviews
49 Comments

Image courtesy Photozone.

Those guys from Samyang are my favorites! They have a history of extremely well made lenses for a very low price. And I was pretty sure that their first Micro Four Thirds lens, the 7.5mm f/3.5 would have a decent image quality. While I am by no mean a Fisheye fan at least they really designed that lens for the m43 sensor! Unlike Sigma that in order to save costs designed the 30mm f/2.8 for m43 and NEX and the result is a big and slow lens :(

So it that lens really good? There is now a full review at Photozone (Click here): “the dwarfish and very light-weight Samyang is not only a pretty good lens it is also a very affordable one and as such we can recommend it to all ultra-wide angle enthusiasts out there!“. And the lens gets “highly recommended” which doesn’t happen very often! Go Samyang! Make more lenses like this! ;)

Now to buy this lens you have to keep in mind that the name changes depending from the country:
In USA it’s named Rokinon 7.5mm and you find it on [shoplink 29105 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
In Europe it’s named Samyang 7.5mm and you find it on [shoplink 29106 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Amazon (Click here),
In UK it’s named Walimex and you find it on [shoplink 29109 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Amazon UK (Click here).

Same non sense goes with all very nice Four Thirds lenses. Just click on the name to see Olympus four thirds lenses: [shoplink 20647 ebay]Samyang [/shoplink], [shoplink 20684 ebay]Walimex [/shoplink], [shoplink 20649 ebay]Rokinon [/shoplink], [shoplink 20650 ebay]Opteka [/shoplink], [shoplink 20651 ebay]Falcon [/shoplink], [shoplink 20653 ebay]Vivitar [/shoplink] and[shoplink 20652 ebay]Bower [/shoplink].

USA rebates: Olympus PEN cameras, mft lenses and Four Thirds stuff (and 14-42mm X lens)

February 12, 2012
deals
21 Comments

While the E-M5 keeps to be a hotseller in USA rankings (Click here) Olympus US is now offering a new rebate program on many other cameras and lenses. Here is the full deal list:
Short updated: For the first time I found the 14-42mm X lens in Stock in US at Amazon (Click here).

PEN rebates

$50 price drop on all Olympus E-P3 bodies and kits at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$100 price drop on the Olympus E-P3 double lens kits at Adorama (Click here).
$50 price drop on all Olympus E-PL3 bodies and kits at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$100 price drop on the Olympus E-PL3 double lens kits at Adorama (Click here).
$75 price drop on all Olympus E-PM1 bodies and kits at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$125 price drop on the Olympus E-PM1 double lens kits at Adorama (Click here).
$50 price drop on all Olympus 9-18mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$100 price drop on all Olympus 75-300mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Four Thirds rebates

Olympus E-5 body $100 price drop at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$50 price drop on all Olympus 14-54mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$100 price drop on all Olympus 70-300mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$30 price drop on all Olympus 35mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Cool E-M5 and new Nokton images from CP+ (new E-m5 preorders at Amazon germany)

February 12, 2012
news
97 Comments

The image on top shows the new E-M5 with the attached ecternal VF-2 viewfinder! I didn’t know that this would work! Question: If one day Olympus releases a super new high quality external viewfinder you can use it on your OM camera….will it work on your E-M5? But it will certainly not look that good anymore :)

Focus Numerique (Click here) posted an image of the new Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 lens on the new Olympus E-M5 camera. And a size comparison with the 25mm f/0.95 sisther can be seen at DC.watch (Click here). I didn’t find any preorder option for the new Nokton 17.5mm lens while the Nokton 25mm f/0.95 is easily available on [shoplink 15659 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Olympus offers free grip with OM-D in Uk (via Dpnow). And in germany you can now preorder the E-M5 at Amazon.de (Click here).

First 99% fake Panasonic GH3 image :)

February 12, 2012
Rumors
69 Comments

(The two fake GH3 images)

I just found these two small pieces of images showing the possible future Panasonic GH3 camera. I am 99% sure these images are fake! If you compare it with the images of the [shoplink 16254 ebay]Panasonic GH2 (see below)[/shoplink] you see many (faked) differences. I posted this because I am sure soon these images will be all over the web and you will send me hundreds of emails asking me if these images are real. So here is my answer…no! :)

[shoplink 16254 ebay]

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