The Panasonic 20mm got another small price drop at Amazon (Click here). It is now in Stock for $359 via Vanns. And as you know there is also a new metal Panasonic lens hood for the pancake you can find right now in Stock at Amazon (Click here).
Yesterday we linked you tot he polish review of the new [shoplink 23576]Olympus 12mm f/2.0[/shoplink] lens. Today the english version of the review is up at Lenstip (Click here). They were not so happy with the corner sharpness wide open: “The maximum MTF values could have been a bit higher and they weren’t – it is one thing that you might regret. Lower values can be forgiven in the case of “pancakes” because we know what we get instead. Although the Olympus 2/12 is not big, it is definitely not a “pancake” lens so we expected that its performance would be closer to that of the Leica 2.8/45 than that of the Panasonic 2.5/14.”
But overall this is a very good lens: “So far our summary was rather harsh. To keep the balance we must emphasize the fact that it is definitely a lens worth considering. Buying it you get a really wide angle of view, fast aperture, good image quality – everything packed neatly inside a slight but very solid, metal casing which can ensure you many years of problem-free usage.”
Click those search links to check the lens price and availability at [shopcountry 23576].
Noisycamera just discovered the supermistake or superdeal of the year! The usually $799 expensive Panasonic fish-eye lens sells now for $369 at Amazon (Click here).
Could be a mistake, but that’s the chance for you to get it for a very reasonable price! UPDATE: It now has been removed. It was to good to be true :)
According to two of my trusted sources there will be a major Panasonic product announcement between August 26 and September 1. The new products will be displayed at the IFA in Berlin (the global trade show for consumer electronics). I am not sure yet about the products that will be announced but I am sure that there is at least a new Micro Four Thirds lens. I got some info from new sources but I do hope my trusted sources can tell me more soon. Just a reminder: Panasonic officially told that they would release at least two new m43 lenses this year. And they also told that the next two cameras they would release are the GF PRO and GH3.
If you heard something about the upcoming Panasonic (or Olympus) products feel free to send me an anonymous message using the contact form you see here on the right sidebar. As you know name and email address are NOT required and no hidden data like the IP-address gets stored. Would be nice if you could send me a sort of nickname so that I can recognize the source in future! Thanks!
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 E-P3 and 12mm lens first look video (SteveHuff).
Check the new Olympus E-P3 availability by clicking these direct search links: [shopcountry 23576]
The Olympus 12mm f/2.0 lens has been reviewed by Optyczne (Click here to read the google english translation). Unlike other reviews they noticed a little too high coma, high distortion and a lot of vignetting at maximum aperture.
Click on the shop names to check the lens price and availability: [shopcountry 23576]
The Olympus 75-300mm lens has been tested by SLRgear (Click here): “Optically the Olympus 75-300mm does very well, but not where you’d want it to – it’s super-sharp at 70mm, not at the 300mm where I suspect the grand majority of users will want to use this lens. At 300mm, it’s only above average”
Click on the shop names to check the lens price and availability: [shopcountry 15861]
Thom Hogan (Click here) tested the Olympus XZ-1: “The overall impression the XZ-1 gives is this: no nonsense. The designers showed remarkable restraint in not adding the usual kitchen sink to a high-end compact camera, and it makes for a rather pleasant experience. The lack of a few controls and the lack of customization will have you conforming to the XZ-1, not the camera conforming to you. That’s fine. It’s simple enough to pick up and adjust to.”
Click on the shop names to check the lens price and availability: [shopcountry 19904]
Some of our readers sent me the link to the new metal Pansonic lens hood you can find right now in Stock at Amazon (Click here). It fits on both Panasonic pancake lenses, the [shoplink 16258]14mm f/2.5 lens[/shoplink] and [shoplink 14796]20mm f/1.7 lens[/shoplink] By the way, there is a new discount on the 20mm lens. You can get it now for $361.97 at Amazon (Click here).
Next news (and I really hope this news is wrong). Some US readers reported that some of the US stores told them the [shoplink 23110]Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4[/shoplink] will be in Stock by very late August/early September only. As you know there are some Leica 25mm lenses in Stock at Amazon US (Click here) or [shoplink 23110 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. But you have to pay a nice extra bunch of dollars. “Normal” preorders are available at Adorama (Click here) or BHphoto (Click here).
UPDATE: The Black GH2 with 14-42mm lens is in Stock for $946 at Amazon (Click here).
How do we always say? Competition is good! And now there is plenty of serious new competition coming from Sony. The image on top shows two of the three new cameras (the third is the VG-20 NEX camcorder) and two of the three new NEX lenses (the third will be the 50mm 1.8 lens) that will be announced in late August. The NEX-7 could be the first camera that will make serious competition to the popular [shoplink 19929]Fuji X100[/shoplink]. Otherwise the lenses are nice, but very big! As you see the Zeiss is certainly NOT a pancake! And the worst news is that the new OLED external viewfinder will not work on the current NEX cameras. P.S: There is also an adapter with built.in translucent mirror. Something similar could come from Olympus next yea (with built-in classic mirror and prism).
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