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!
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]
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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].
If you want to spend as less as possible for a camera as good as possible (LOL) than my European readers should take a look at the weekend refurbished camera list from[shoplink 22691 ebay]Olympusmarket[/shoplink]. There are many new additions, with some double kits and also some nice (non m43) XZ-1 compact cameras. As usual first ending auctions are on top:
Panasonic is currently pushing their compact cameras with many rebates auctions. The current most sold camera at Amazon (Click here) is the Panasonic LX5. And today other compact cameras have been discounted (Click here).
Micro Four Thirds deals:
There is a $40 discount on the black E-P3 with 14-42mm lens which is now for sale for $759 at Amazon (Click here).
The GH2 with 14-42mm lens gets sold for $799 at Amazon (Click here).
The new deal of the day is the $100 discount on the Black Panasonic LX5 at Amazon (Click here). And if you need a m43 camera than you have to take a look at the GF3 camera bundle deal which is ongoing at Amazon (Click here). There is a GH2 body only option for $759 at Amazon (Click here). The megadeal running since yesterday is the GH2 with 14-140mm lens for $999.95 at Adorama (Click here). Please insert the Coupon Code “S2141401”. (I guess it will end soon)
The japanese blog Egami (Click here) found a couple of new lens patents. There is no surprise. These are the lenses:
8mm f/3.5 fisheye
10mm f/2.8
12mm f/1.8
12mm f/2.0
12mm f/2.8
It’s easy to guess that the 10-12mm lenses are just different variant of the current [shoplink 23576]Olympus 12mm f/2.0 lens. And if you look back at the early 2011 Olympis roadmap it contained an 8mm fisheye lens. But I doubt this lens will come any time soon. We already have a Panasonic 8mm fisheye and a super tiny and nice [shoplink 25325 ebay]Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 (Click here to get them on eBay)[/shoplink] and an almost unknown Madoka 180 degree fisheye.
—-LInks:
The Olympus 12mm f/2.0 at [shopcountry 23576].
The Panasonic lens costs around 600-700 dollars/Euro and is available at [shopcountry 14820].
The Black Samyang 7.5mm lens is available on [shoplink 25325 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
The Silver Samyang 7.5mm lens is available on [shoplink 25326 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
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The GX1 has been reviewed by 
