43 Rumors – Page 2159 – Panasonic and Olympus Digital Camera News

Why Olympus didn’t succeed against Nikon and Canon… (Thom Hogan)

September 16, 2011
news
226 Comments

“The US$399 DSLR” from Thom Hogan (Click here): “Olympus made no in-roads to beating the Canon/Nikon duopoly with their 4/3 DSLRs and about three years ago put their eggs instead into the m4/3 basket. Every now and again we see older m4/3 cameras on clearance hitting the US$399 kit price, but interestingly, even at that price those cameras don’t climb to the top of the interchangeable camera sales list. What sits up there? The low-end Nikon and Canon models most of the time. Even in mirrorless-happy Japan that’s the case.”

Thom analyzes the price war between DSLR and Mirrorless and explains why the DSLR price didn’t drop at all. The only ongoing change is that you have more margins on Mirrorless cameras than you have on DSLR’s: “So prepare for more mirrorless cameras. As I’ve noted previously, it’s been a mirrorless summer already (Olympus with three, Panasonic with two, Sony with three, Samsung with one new model announced and/or shipping). But don’t prepare for the US$399 interchangeable lens camera. The camera makers haven’t been pressured to get there yet. The price of entry is pretty much US$599, same as it ever was.”

I am sure the future is “Mirrorless” but it will probably be a slow change at least in “western” countries. There is no single m43 camera that are inside the top 40 of the Amazon rankings :(
Click here for the US ranking.
Click here for the UK ranking.
Click here for the DE ranking.
Click here for the FR ranking.

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Lens roundup: Samyang 7.5mm, Olympus 45mm and Nokton 35mm f/1.2.

September 16, 2011
reviews
20 Comments

Jurek Ugarow sent me this video made with the GH2 and the new Rokinon (Samyang) 7.5mm for m43 ( Thanks Jurek!). The lens is already in Stock on [shoplink 25327 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]:
[shoplink 25325 ebay]Click here to buy the Black Samyang 7.5mm lens[/shoplink].
[shoplink 25326 ebay]Click here to buy the Silver Samyang 7.5mm lens[/shoplink].

Gakuranman (Click here) posted a new set of image smaples taken with the new Olympus 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens. A side note. That lens costs less in Europe than in US! That’s something we don’t see that often. It costs 256 Euro at Amazon.de (see preorder option) which is less than the $399 at Amazon US (preorder now available). UPDATE: The current Amazon.de price (Euro 293) you see is from a third party reseller. Pelase watch out the preorder option on the very right sidebar. You will see the official Amazon price.

“Iwo” sent us the following two images. On the first you see an Olympus PEN with the [shoplink 25550 ebay]Voigtländer 35mm f/1.2[/shoplink]. The second image is a portrait made with the lens. Iwo said the lens is razor sharp even at full aperture.

Summer savings! Olympus E-5 $200 discount + PEN and lens deals!

September 15, 2011
deals
13 Comments

The most expensive of all Olympus camea got a huge $200 discount which will last until Spetember 17! You can get the E-5 now for $1499 at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

And there is $50 discount on the E-Pl2 too! Again available here Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

And there are price drops on some m43 lenses too:
-$50 Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm Digital at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
-$50 Olympus M.Zuiko 14-150mm Digital at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
-$100 on the Olympus 75-300mm at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

(FT2) The first little Sigma lens rumor :)

September 15, 2011
Rumors
45 Comments

[shoplink 18951 ebay][/shoplink]Image on top: The current very nice [shoplink 18951 ebay]Sigma 30mm f/1.4[/shoplink]30mm f/1.4 lens for Four Thirds mount.

As I told you a couple of times I still have no Sigma related trusted source. But for the first time a new source sent me a couple of info about the future Sigma products! As usual don’t get too excited about rumors coming from new sources. I hope some other source can confirm or dent the rumor as soon as possible :)

According to the Sigma source: “Sigma guys are sending to our factories some micro 4/3s prototypes, (they have an actual “sigma” character logo = prototype) reworks of current 4/3rs. There are some issues with new panasonic autofocus compatibility but they do work fine on the olympus ep3. No release date (we just have seen the prototypes, i think release depends on sigma)“.

The source also sent me more info I first want to check before to post here. Thanks for any help you sources can give to me ;)

If Sigma is really going to rework some of the current Four Thirds lenses than this is definitely good new. Some of those lenss are really amazing. I made you a list of all current 4/3 lenses (Click on lens name to see current auctions 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]

Just a reminder: A couple of months ago our friends from DSLRmagazine interviewed MR. Kazuto Yamaki from Sigma. There is a part concerning the future Micro Four Thirds lens development (google translation!):

1) “The lenses will have a completely new design.”
2) “We have the challenge that some of these lenses should be optimized for taking videos. That requires a special internal mechanism. Therefore it is more difficult to achieve extreme focus, brightness and high correction. For video applications may be interesting to have change of focal power, and therefore not only optics but mechanics should be different.
At this point, we think there should be two different sets of lenses, one optimized for video and one optimized for stills.”

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

a little bit of everything…

September 15, 2011
news
17 Comments

Micro 4/3 vs High-end Compact (Panasonic GF3 vs LX-5)

Panasonic GF1 review at Wetakepictures: “I have been very happy with the Panasonic as my main (only!) digital camera, it is very capable, and is a good companion to my medium format camera when i am setting out to take pictures, and great on it’s own as well. For me, I don’t especially like SLR cameras, and find the handling and style of the Panasonic a lot nicer to use. It does almost everything that I want a digital camera to do.”

Street Photography with Olympus 17mm and Optical Viewfinder (TheDigitalStory).

Richard Franiec says E-PL3 accessory grip also suitable for PEN Mini (Dpreview).

Enthusiast camera review by C.Garrad (with the E-P3 and E-PL3).

Olympus 45mm lens now available for preorder on Amazon.

September 14, 2011
reviews
16 Comments

The new Olympus 45mm f/1.8 is now available for preorder on Amazon US too (Click here). This means one thing, that the lens will be in Stock soon! And probably a couple of days before the [shoplink 23110]Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4[/shoplink] which has been announced three weeks before.

The Olympus 45mm is one of those lenses that are easy to recommend. Relatively low price, well thought specs and top notch image quality! Read the reviews at Lenstip or DSLRmagazine to get impressed by this lens!

Waiting for signs about the GH3. Big GH2 price drop in US.

September 14, 2011
deals
36 Comments

As you know Panasonic officially stated that the next two camera to be announced will be the PRO GF and the GH3. I got some rumors about the GH3 from unknown sources but still almost nothing from trusted sources (a part the global shutter rumor). While waiting to get my first more reliable news about the GH3 our reader noticed that there is a big price drop in USA on the current GH2! The GH2 body price felt down to $809 at Panasonic store (Click here).

I ask my unknown and first time rumor sender to be patient. I always try to double check rumors to avoid bigger mistakes. If I will not get any answer from my trusted sources I might post the rumor with a low credibility ranking. Thanks!

And if you have some rumors to share feel free to contact me at 43rumors@gmail.com or use the anonymous contact form on the right sidebar. Thanks again!