43 Rumors – Page 2127 – Panasonic and Olympus Digital Camera News

Next GH2 superdeal at Amazon and BHphoto! (And superdeal on the 14mm lens in UK)

December 6, 2011
deals
21 Comments

I have good news for those of you that missed the GH2 Adorama deal. The Gh2 +14-42mm kit is now in Stock for $699(!) at Amazon (Click here) and Bhphoto (Click here). And a $300 price drop is also ongoing on the GH2+14-140mm kit at Amazon (Click here) and Bhphoto (Click here).

Other deals:
Panasonic compact camera specials on Amazon (Click here).
Black E-P3 with 14-42mm lens for $759 at Amazon (Click here). Only seven cameras left (at the time of posting).

UK
And finally I can report a supedeal ongoing in Europe. The Panasonic 14mm pancake sells for 179£ at Amazon UK (Click here).

(UPDATED) Investigative panel report is out: “Olympus top management was rotten”

December 6, 2011
news
82 Comments

The investigative panel published their Olympus report (Source: Reuters). UPDATE: You can download the pdf here.

Summary: Olympus had a huge speculation loss in the nineties. To cover the losses (and save Olympus?) Hideo Yamada and Hisashi Mori elaborated a “loss separation scheme” to hide the losses ($1.7 Million $) in acquisitions and fees. The report states that part of the management was aware of that (“rotten”), but that there is no link to the organised crime. That damaged the shareholders and the report clearly says that “fraudulent accounting” has been done. The report clearly advice the responsible managers to resign. In short, a revolution is needed.

The reaction of the market has been positive. Olympus shares had jumped as much 9% percent today (Source: Bloomberg). The main reasons for the jump is the chance that Olympus will not be delisted at the Tokyo exchange and that part of the board will probably have to resign.

But here is the “bad” question to you: What if they tried to hide the losses to keep the Olympus business alive? Wondering if Olympus would have survived if they wouldn’t have done that “loss separation scheme”.

a little bit of everything…

December 6, 2011
news
22 Comments

Teaser on a project about Sevillanos universe shot by Steph on GH2 with Voigtländer 0.95 and Noktor 12mm.

An Olympus camera sculpture at Henry Road.

OLYMPUS SH-21 12.5x optical zoom, High-sensitivity shooting, Touch shot (Olympus Global).

GF2 with Olympus 45mm lens samples at Google Plus.

Will Canon buy Olympus? (Zone-10).

The Panasonic GF1 – A Landmark Camera by KJ Vogelius (SteveHuff).

New aluminium grips for the E-P3 (DC.watch).

Mitmachen: Lumix Festival für jungen Fotojournalismus 2012 (Photoscala).

(FT4) First Schneider Kreuznach Micro Four Thirds lenses coming at Photokina 2012!

December 5, 2011
Rumors
90 Comments

A source just sent me the first info about the future Schneider Kreuznach Micro Four Thirds lenses. Schneider will offer a “range of lenses for the MFT-System starting Photokina 2012. Details will be announced in the first half of 2012“. Thanks to the anonymous source for sending me this! Keep us up to date with your “rumors” ;)

So we don’t know yet what kind of lenses they will announce but it is good to hear that they will offer a “range of lenses” suggesting that there will be many of them! I don’t know if these lenses will be mainly “cine lenses” like the one offered by Zeiss or more “photographic lenses”. Schneider has a long history of high quality lenses for Large and Medium format cameras. Currently Schneider isn’t making many lenses for the “pure” digital photography system. There are only two for Canon/Nikon/Sony:
[shoplink 27385 ebay]PC TS Super-Angulon 50mm f/2.8 Lens (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27386 ebay]PC TS Super Angulon 90mm f/4.5 Lens (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].

But Schneider also made many C-mount, FD, SL and M42 mount lenses in the past. Here are some of them:
[shoplink 27395 ebay]Xenon 16mm f/1.2 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27387 ebay]Xenon 25mm f/0.95 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27389 ebay]Curtagon 35mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27391 ebay]Componon 50mm f/1.4 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27390 ebay]Xenon 50mm f/1.9 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27394 ebay]Xenar 50mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27388 ebay]Xenar 75mm f/3.5 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27392 ebay]Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 27393 ebay]Xenar 180mm f/2.8 (Click here to see on eBay)[/shoplink].

I am sure Schneider completely new designed and high quality lenses. But just to make them know in what kind of lens you would prefer:

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In February 4 Schneider announced their membership of the m43 standard. And that was the press release:

“SCHNEIDER KREUZNACH now a member of the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group
BAD KREUZNACH, 4 February 2011. Schneider-Kreuznach has joined the “Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group” – a consortium of companies with the objective of improving the possibilities and quality of compact digital cameras. Developed by Olympus and Panasonic, “Micro Four Thirds” is a standard for lens mounts that is tailored to digital system cameras. “This standard has great potential. It simplifies and improves the options for compact digital cameras and offers an excellent opportunity for the industry as a whole, as well as for us as a lens manufacturer. We are working intensively on a corresponding series of lenses,” says Dr. Josef Staub, CEO of the Schneider Group.
The standard defines the sensor size, the lens mount together with the communication protocol, the aspect ratio and the flange back distance, as well as the optical requirements for production and construction. The industry standard has been developed deliberately without taking into account conventional lenses, cameras or sensor sizes. In this way, compatibility problems with older components are avoided as is the need to compromise when designing new components.
The forum standard policy means that any member company can make and distribute accessories for the system that meet the standard. It is therefore possible to combine components from different manufacturers.”
Download the press release from Schneider (.pdf)

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

Olympus hid up to $1.7 billion

December 5, 2011
news
49 Comments

A short update about the Olympus fee scandal. As you know it’s a crucial month for Olympus. They have to release their financial report within December 14 otherwise they will be delisted from the Tokyo exchange. And tomorrow the the investigative panel will release their report about the Olympus fee scandal. But first bit of info are already coming out. Reuters reports: “An investigative panel has found Japan’s disgraced Olympus Corp hid up to $1.67 billion in losses from its investors, but is likely to say there is no evidence of involvement by organized crime in the cover-up, a source said Monday.”

As I said before, I am crossing the fingers for Olympus. Let’s hope 2012 can be the year where Olympus can restart with new energy and clear ideas from the management!

New reviews roundup…(E-P3 is camera of the year).

December 4, 2011
reviews
14 Comments

Tokyo Storm from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

The Olympus E-Pm1 gets tested at DigitalcameraInfo (Click here): “In our select awards we named the flagship model of this line, the Olympus E-P3, the mirrorless camera of the year. If you’re looking to save some cash and don’t mind compromising on color accuracy, the quality of the LCD, and the lack of an included grip (or if you simply want a smaller camera), then the E-PM1 is an acceptable alternative.“.
Also Reghardware (Click here) tested the Olympus camera: “With the E-PM1 Olympus has released a sexy, versatile, pocketable camera that manages to bring increased ease-of-use to the PEN family without sacrificing the creative and technical performance of its more expensive models“.
Get the camera at [shopcountry 23565]

ThePhoBlographer (Click here) reviewed the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens: “Overall, I can’t help but recommend the Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens. It should be the portrait lens in the bag of every single Micro Four Thirds camera user and I will not retract or take that statement back“.
Lens price check at [shopcountry 23577]

Photoreview (Click here) got their hands on the Panasonic 45-175mm X lens: “Imatest testing showed the review lens to be a first-class performer on the basis of JPEG files from the G3 used for our tests. It was well able to match expectations for the camera’s 15.8-megapixel sensor and produced resolution that was slightly above expectations at several focal lengths“.
The X lens is in Stock at [shopcountry 25103].

According to Photofocus (Click here) the Olympus E-P3 is the camera of the year: “While Olympus as a company is going through some significant challenges right now, their cameras are first rate regardless.”
Get the camera at [shopcountry 23568]

P.S.: Japanese SLR magic 12mm review at jintarow.

Panasonic GX1 review at Techradar (and NEX-5n comparison).

December 3, 2011
reviews
164 Comments

[shoplink 26836]

[/shoplink] The GX1 has been reviewed by Techradar (Click here): “Image quality is an area where the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1 particularly impresses. Like the acclaimed Panasonic G3, the GX1 delivers a reliable, high-quality performance in most situations, while HD movies are also clean, smooth and detailed.“.

The chinese website Mobile01 (Click here) and the japanese website DC.watch (Click here) also posted a review. But the most interesting article comed via another japanese website Itmedia (Click here) compared the GX1 ISO quality with the Sony NEX-5n. Here is an example at ISO 3200: GX1 versus NEX-5n image. I have to say the GX1 does a very good job against the camera that is known to be the deliver the best image quality of all mirrorless cameras. Only at ISO 12800: GX1 image vs NEX-5n image you can see a major difference between the two. But honestly, I have to say if you shoot from ISO 100 to 1600 you will not see any visible difference. I guess the lenses here will make the difference and that’s where Micro Four Thirds has a considerable advantage.

The Panasonic GX1 is already available in Japan but it will take a couple of weeks before it will be in Stock everywhere. Check the links: [shopcountry 26836].