(FT5) Olympus 12mm f/2.0 for $800-$850. 45mm f/1.8 is NOT a macro lens.

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The rumor:
Some of my sources read your comments and sent me some of the answers you were looking for. The Olympus 12mm f/2.0 High Quality lens should cost around $800-$850. It’s not exactly cheap but this lens is supposed to be the first ultra-high-quality lens from Olympus. It should be just a bit less long than the mockup lens Olympus showed in February (see the image on top). Filter size is 46mm. As you know the production of the lens began in April and the lens will should be in Stock a short time after the announcement on une 30th. The lens will be made in Tatsuno. it’s the plant that realizes the high quality lenses from Olympus like the crazy expensive and crazy high quality Olympus 300mm f/2.8 ([shoplink 22138 ebay]Check the scary price on eBay[/shoplink]).

The second news is that the 45mm f/1.8 lens is not a MACRO. I guess that it’s ok for a lens that costs 299 Dollars/Euro only!

I guess we have now plenty of awesome new lenses for our Micro Four Thirds camera. If I could I would buy all three new lenses, the 12mm f/2.0, the 45mm f/1.8 and the Leica 25mm f/1.4! By the way, preorders of the Leica lens are still available on Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here) notifies you when the lens will be in Stock.

So let’s start a poll:

What lens will you buy? You can select all lenses if you want ;)

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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

 

 

 

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Full Panasonic G3 review at Digitalcamerainfo!

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[shoplink 22077][/shoplink] Digitalcamerainfo (Click here) posted a 22 page long full detailed [shoplink 22077]Panasonic G3[/shoplink] review! Yes you should take at least 30 minutes of time, a coffea and read the test carefully. And they did like the camera a lot: “As you will have no doubt seen from our direct comparison pages in this review, the G3 simply dwarfs the competition for control options.”…”It has a new 16-megapixel sensor that was able to keep noise to a respectable minimum, offered the best color accuracy of our comparison group, and managed a respectable dynamic range of more than 6.5 stops.”…”Altogether, it makes the G3 a very promising member of the Micro Four-Thirds family, and a very good entry-level camera in its own right.”.

Thanks T.J. Donegan for providing the nice review!

I think after reading the review you will agree that the G3 is a very good cameras…or not?

Theoretically worlwide G3 shipments should start tomorrow. Cick on the following store names to preorder the G3 at Amazon, Adorama and B&H. In Europe at Amazon.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, and worldwide on [shoplink 22077 ebay]eBay[/shoplink].

By the way, the image on top shows the Panasonic G3 with the all-black 14-42mm kit lens! Do you like it? Me…yes!

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(FT5) Olympus makes it right! 45mm f/1.8 lens coming and for 299 Euro/Dollars only!

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Before your read: We transferred the website on the new website and we are still fixing the comment system. As a non registered member of 43rumors you can write a comment and it will be stored but you will land on an error page after 30 second of nonsense loading. So feel free to comment but you have to be a bit patient if you want go back to the 43rumors website. Thanks for your understanding!

We can long discuss if you like the upcoming PEN or not but one thing is sure, the two upcoming Olympus lenses will be awesome! We already knew for a long time that one of the lenses would be the 12mm f/2.0 High Quality PRO lens. But we were not so sure about the second lens. Some said it would be a 50mm f/1.7 and others told me it would be a 45mm f/1.8. I finally got the right answer! Olympus will announce a new 45mm f/1.8 lens which will cost around 299 Dollars/Euro only! I think that’s an amazing cheap price for a lens that is fast and will have a very good image quality (at least that is what sources told me). It’s not a pancake, it’s a bit bigger lens. It should be very similar (in size) to the just announced Panasonic/Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens (click here to preorder on Adorama!). Wow, Olympus finally is making the lenses we wanted! What I don’t know yet is if the lens is a macro like the famous Olympus 50mm macro lens ([shoplink 23192 ebay]Click here to see that lens on ebay)[/shoplink]. One source told me it is NOT a macro lens but that’s a very weak rumor for now. Reminder, the only Micro Four Thirds macro lens to date is the [shoplink 14794]Panasonic-Leica 45mm f/2.8[/shoplink].

The new three PEN cameras + the two new lenses will be announced on June 30th! Follow us daily. There are still many rumors I am working on! P.S.: The chance is big that there is something more coming (lenses and accessories).

Links to mentioned lenses:
Panasonic/Leica 25mm f/1.4 at [shopcountry 23110] (hard to find preorders).
Olympus 50mm f/2.0 macro lens [shopcountry 23192].
Panasonic-Leica 45mm f/2.8 at [shopcountry 14794].

Let's assume the quality is good (even wide open): Will you buy the 45mm f/1.8 lens?

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New Camera (pre-)reviews

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[shoplink 22904 ebay][/shoplink]

Olympus XZ-1 Field Report at Luminous Landscape: “At low ISOs (up to 400) and without too much file manipulation the XZ-1 is capable of producing very acceptable image quality on up to about 11X17″ prints, and is certainly more than acceptable for web-destined images. In comparison with its primary competitors from Canon, Panasonic and Samsung, I would judge it as having a very slight edge in terms of usability though not high ISO noise.
Direct search links to the XZ-1 at [shopcountry 19904] (Click on shop name).

The Olympus XA: The smallest rangefinder camera by Konstantinos Besios (SteveHuffPhoto.com): “Of course the image quality is not a par with a Leica, but for those instances where even a small camera bag is too much to carry  this little rangefinder is perfect (and the price is really a bargain !!)
See the Olympu XA auctions on [shoplink 22904 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Panasonic GF3 Hands-On Preview (Photographyblog) and first look at Amateur Photographer.

Spanish GF3 presentation video at Quesabesde.
Preorders at [shopcountry 22077]

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G3, GF3 and Leica lens preorder status.

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In one month Panasonic did announce the G3 the GF3 and the Leica 25mm lens. Time for a preorder status check!

Panasonic G3

The G3 should start worldwide shipment on June 17. The preorders are available in US at Amazon, Adorama and B&H. In Europe at Amazon.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, and worldwide on [shoplink 22077 ebay]eBay[/shoplink].

Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens

The only US store I found that is accepting preorders is Adorama (Click here). Be aware that when you search for the lens on Amazon (Click here) or BHphoto (Click here) you will find the bigger and older Four Thirds version not the new M43 lens!!! And on eBay there is only one reseller accepting preorders ([shoplink 23181 ebay]Click here[/shoplink]).
I checked the biggest European stores and there is no preorder option. Worldwide shipment should start in late July. As usual Asian countries will be the first to get the lens, than European, than Canadians and some months after US citizen ;)
P.S.: Panasonic published a couple of image samples you can find here.

Panasonic GF3

I found preorder option in US stores only at Amazon and Adorama.

If you find new links to preorders feel free to comment this post. But you should now that my designer is still working to fix the comment system. If you are an unregistered commenter once you click on the send button the website will keep loading for 30 sec and than show yu an error message. The comment is save and will be displayed but you should go back to the main page. I know this sucks, but we made a whole new installation on a the new server and the designer is a bit slow in fixing the issues :(

One more thing: There are new GF3 and G3 wallpapers at Panasonic’s website!

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(FT5) Olympus “reinvents” the AF system! It is incredibly fast!

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[shoplink 16254 ebay][/shoplink]

The image on top shows the GH2 which “is” and soon we can say “was” the mirrorless camera with the fastes AF. Olympus new PEN cameras will be faster!

The biggest new feature of the upcoming new PEN cameras is the completely new and almost revolutionary autofocus system! The new AF system focuses almost instantly, it’s faster than the actually very fast [shoplink 16254 ebay]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink] focus (which focuses in 0.1 second with the [shoplink 14802 ebay]Panasonic 14-140mm[/shoplink]). Sources told me that the improvement is huge and you can feel it for REAL (they had the famous “Wow” reaction)! The new AF is even faster than the phase detection autofocus of most of the current Canon DSLR cameras (faster than the [shoplink 16254 ebay]Canon 5D[/shoplink] for example! Olympus made this possible by combining a new optimized sensor and engine plus the new autofocus system inside the new Micro Four Thirds lenses. I repeat, the AF is incredibly fast only when using the upcoming new Olympus lenses (like the 12mm f/2.0 lens). By the way, the AF is not only fast, it’s also very accurate (according to my sources). Genrally the real good news here is that Olympus remade the whole sensor-processor engine-af workflow. I guess and hope this will also positively affect the image quality! Well done Olympus!!!

That’s a very good news if you do consider that fast autofocus is usually one of the advantages of DSRL cameras over Mirorrless cameras!

P.S.: I will have more news about the sensor and lenses soon. I am still having some troubles about the sensor rumor I received. If you have “rumors” to share feel free to contact me using the anonymous contact form on the right sidebar Thanks!

IMPORTANT: Unregistered user will have long waiting time an error message when publishing the comment. But the comment will get stored! it doesn’t get lost. I am working to fix it. This happens because I moved on a new server and there are things that still need to be fixed. You will not have any problems if you are a registered user (see sidebar on the right to register or login).

 

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