I am almost ready to launch a completely dedicated mirrorless website. My question to you is: Is the digital Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9Leica M9 camera a mirrorless camera? I know the M series doesn’t have an Electronic Viewfinder and no LiveView. But it is also true that it doesn’t have a mirror. I would normally answer “No” simply because nobody ever labeled the M9 as a mirrorless camera. But I believe that sooner or later the Leica M system will have a camera with Live-view and Electronic Viewfinder. That’s why I don’t know if we should “adpot” the M9 and the M system in our new website…

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UPDATE: Sounds like the LX5 will have an a nice new design and simple controls similar to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1.

An italian website (with very good reputation) said that there was a presentation for the press in Sweden (July 7). They also said the camera will look like the Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux (click here to read the specs of this old nice camera)Leica Digilux 3 which has almost the same design as the DMC-L1.
Source: http://www.pmstudionews.com/ (Sorry…italian only)

Contact me at 43rumors@gmail.com if you want share your “rumors”. We really want to know when Panasonic is going to announce the camera :)

UPDATE: We were told that there is a large sensor compact camera (announcement in July) AND a LX3 small sensor successor (announcement in September). We don’t know yet if the first camera will be called LX5 and the second something else or viceversa. Sorry for the confusion! Some of our sources can help us to clear that open question? Thanks!

Click on the link below name to see the cameras on eBay:
– Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1

– Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3Leica Digilux 3

I just found a post on Forum.fourthirdsphoto.com from a user who claims to know some details about the E-5 and about the future of the E-system. Why should the info he is writing be correct? Because he gave 3-4 informations other sources already told me (and I didn’t post them on 43rumors). That’s why in my opinion he is telling the truth!

Here the text:

“A brand new E-System DSLR poised to replace the [shoplink 15032]Olympus E-3[/shoplink] will be officially announced on September 14 2010, which means Photokina time this year. The in-house project code for this camera is E-D1. There will be some significant technological statements made by this camera. The expected cost of this camera will be similar to when the E-3 was first launched. If you look back to those days (August 2007), you will find out what the expected price is in your own country. I cannot reveal anymore than what you now know. As for the demise of the E-System, the competition won’t be happy to hear that this will continue alongside the Micro FourThirds Pen-series. As to whether both systems will merge, yes, it will very soon do that. For those who talk about a professional Micro FourThirds, it is on the cards but whether or not there is a market demand that will justify Olympus releasing it is another matter altogether. Sure, a Micro FourThirds Pen model with a built-in EVF as well as professional-type features will find its way into the market. In fact I believe that if Olympus can get their act together for 2010, you could see this as a finished product and in black. Otherwise expect it sometime early Q1 2011. Make sure you realise that I’m saying: professional-type does not mean professional-class camera. It just has similar features but it will not be built like, say, the E-3.
We know that our Pen lenses presently are on the optically slow side. There are plans to introduce the kind of lenses that serious users are looking for. The idea here is to first ’embed’ the system, give it a chance to take off in the market, introduce it to the greater mass public and to try to appeal to them. Faster lenses are always possible and in time we will begin to bring them on. There are also other ‘factors’ why faster lenses are not out yet but it’s not possible to talk about them here.
Summary 1: E-System will not discontinue.
Summary 2: Micro FourThirds Pen-series will not replace E-System
Summary 3: E-System will eventually go mirror-less
Summary 4: New replacement for E-3 will be announced this Photokina

It’s not surprising that Olympus has a penchant for attracting a greater degree of controversy than its competitors. When you decide to be an innovator or just to be different from others, you’re bound to have to deal with a larger proportion of critics in the market. I’ve been associated with Olympus for more than 30 years now and in that period of time, I’ve not seen things being different.

Right now the most difficult challenge for Olympus is what best they must do not to drop the ball. MicroFourThirds has been an astonishing ride for the company; certainly far more so than we thought. Sure, Olympus knows they were on to a good thing but none of us had expected the market to react so positively. We’re now at crossroads as to how the union of Micro FourThirds and (Classic) FourThirds should go about, how best to introduce mirrorless, how to mix and blend the old with the new lenses and so much more.

At Olympus the number of pixels in the sensors we use is passé stuff. Beyond a certain point, it’s not as important as some other competitors make it out to be. We’re focusing on the kinds of issues that we know we need to address and we need to do all these without affecting our strong points. So there’s a lot more to do yet, a lot more life to FourThirds than some believe and certainly a whole lot more action to expect.

While it’s not likely that we would unsettle our traditional rivals; we have also come to understand that it’s far better for us to concentrate on our own game than to worry about what our neighbours do. Let the Joneses be Joneses; it suits them and frankly it also suits us.

For us, maximising our own game and playing to our potential is far more important to our customers.

So gentlemen, continue to enjoy your Olympus FourThirds (and Micro FourThirds) equipment. Know that you’re special because of your choice!“

Now that everyone is sure the LX5 is going to be released soon designers are starting to “imagine” how the camera will look like! Send us the pictures you find around the web! Thanks!

Source: http://blog.livedoor.jp/e_p1/archives/cat_50040774.html and http://litartista.blogspot.com

Olympus United States Patent 7750966 discloses a…let’s say “unusual” camera concept. The goal of such an L-shaped camera is “to provide a camera enabling picture-taking with a natural feeling, without feeling awkward.”

Read the original Olympus description:

“The camera according to this invention comprises an L-shaped frame that is capable of changing the size or aspect ratio of the viewfinder by relative movement, a back-face image-pickup device for photographing an image of the eye of the photographer, and a photographing optical system for forming the image of the subject image to the internal CCD, analyzes the image captured by the back-face image-pickup device and calculates the distance and direction to the eye of the photographer from the center of the viewfinder, and based on the calculated information and the size or aspect ratio information of the viewfinder, the photographer performs optical zooming or shifting of the photographing optical system, or performs electronic zooming or shifting by cropping the taken image by use of the CCD, in order for the range that the photographer observed via the viewfinder to become the photographing range.”

Hmmm, don’t know what to think about!