43 Rumors – Page 2205 – Panasonic and Olympus Digital Camera News

(FT3) More E-P2 out of production reports…

May 27, 2011
Rumors
35 Comments

I got that message from a dutch dealer (Thanks!):

“Our Olympus account manager told us that the [shoplink 14830]Olympus E-P2[/shoplink] is out of production. We see a price fall in the XXX now. You can buy a EP-2 for 399 euros now.
The replacement will be announced in about two weeks. There will be a 2nd camera announced. So there will be 3 camera’s in the new line up.
E-PL2, EP3 and a new camera. I’m not sure if it will be placed in between or above these camera’s.
I hope above offcourse. ”

Check those links for more E-P2 deals: [shopcountry 14830].

(UPDATED) Yasuhara announces the new Nanoha macro lens for m43 with 5x magnification.

May 27, 2011
news
35 Comments

The Japanese manufacturer Yasuhara announced a new macro lens for Micro Four Thirds. As you see from the image on top it looks more like a machine gun! On Nonoha’s website you can find a description written in English: “The magnification is much more than ordinary macro lens. The magnification is up to x5. It means 1 pixel on the picture is about 1 micrometer on the shooting target. With NANOHA, you can find small wonders easily without using microscopes. And we added some patented features for your good shooting.”
UPDATE: Yasuhara made some really nice lenses in the past liek the [shoplink 22469 ebay]MC 50mm/f2.8 (Click here to see that lens on eBay)[/shoplink]. The company went bankrupt or something around 2004 I think, and this is new starting project. (Thanks Mice for sharing that info). Yashuhara also said that the mass-production lens would be far better both in the shape and image quality.

It’s really amazing what that lens can do. Take a look at the image samples posted on DC.watch (Click here). I don’t know when the lens will be available, but price should be around 450 Euro. But those are the specs:

Product name	NANOHAx5(E)
Lens mount	SONY E
Dimensions	Diameter 61mm, Length 86mm(From the lens mount to the top of lighting unit)
Weight	320g(with lighting unit)

Product name	NANOHAx5(M)
Lens mount	Micro fourthirds
Dimensions	Diameter 61mm, Length 84mm(From the lens mount to the top of lighting unit)
Weight	320g(with lighting unit)

Magnification	x5 to x4
F number	F11,F16,F22,F32
Electrical contact	No(Set the camera body to “release without lens” mode.)
Lens construction	7 groups 10 elements

Hope to get soon more details about the lens! If you are in business for a cheap macro lens take a look at the macro reverse adapter you can find on [shoplink 22465 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. The adapter allows any 52mm mft lens to become a marco lens.

(UPDATED) New US deals roundup (GH2 in Stock, GF2 and Panasonic lens massive discount!)

May 26, 2011
deals
7 Comments

UPDATE: All GH2 kits are in Stock at Adorama:
– Silver GH2 with 14-42mm lens (Click here).
– Black GH2 with 14-42mm lens (Click here).
– Black GH2 with 14-140mm lens (Click here).

The GH2 with 14-140mm lens is also in Stock at Amazon (Click here). All GH2 kits or body only options are going in/out of Stock all the time. So keep checking at Amazon (Click here).
The Silver GH2 with 14-42mm lens is in Stock at BHphoto (Click here).

There are two $100.00 Instant Savings at B&H (Offer ends UN 25 ’11):
The Panasonic GF2 with 14-42mm lens sells for $499 at BHphoto (Click here). And if you add the Panasonic 45-20mm lens Along the GF2+14-42mm kit you will pay only $149 more! The lens is here at BHphoto (Click here). In summary you can get the GF2+14-42mm+45-200mm lenses for $649 only!

The Olympus XZ-1 is in Stock for $449 at Adorama (Click here). But you have to use the Coupon Code “S8476632” to get the $50 discount.

The Fuji X100 is in Stock via third party resellers at Amazon (Click here). But you have to pay a nice extra for it!

Olympus official statement about the missing E-5 in european Olympus stores.

May 26, 2011
news
51 Comments

Olympus were so kind to send us an official explanation about why for a short period there were no E-5 cameras listed in their European online stores. Here is the text:

“We took E-5 off the shop as we had too many orders.
The shop is quite new and technically it is not so easy to stop the order taking.
We have so many orders now, that we’re not able to supply the new orders in a decent delivery time.
So we decided to take it off for some days/weeks.
[shoplink 17163]E-5[/shoplink] is very successful and we plan a long life cycle for this product.
And again, we will stop our SLR business only in case we will be able to provide similar qualities in MFT.”

The E-5 is now back at Olympus shop Germany: http://shop.olympus.de/e_commerce/?payssite=de

Panasonic G3 beats the GH2 at High ISO, but has lower DR. (+ GH2 US stock status)

May 26, 2011
reviews
56 Comments

That was fast! You can already see the G3 sensor performance test results at DxOmark (Click here). Overall the Gh2 is still a bit better (reminder, we are talking about the RAW sensor performance). But at high ISO the G3 beats the GH2 with a very small advantage!

Obviously the GH2 is a much better camera when it comes to handling and video quality! But the G3 is really a nice camera if you consider that it is considerably cheaper. If you don’t want to wait to much before to get the G3 you should preorder now by clicking those direct links:
In US: Amazon, Adorama, J&R.
In Europe: Amazon UK, Amazon DE.

And as I told you yesterday US readers can finally buy the GH2 because it is in Stock!
Right now eight black GH2+14-42mm kits are in Stock at Amazon US (Click here).
Two silver GH2- 14-42mm kits are in Stock at Amazon US (Click here).
And all GH2 kits will be in Stock on May 31 at J&R (Click here).

UPDATE: E-5 is back in store

May 26, 2011
Rumors
32 Comments

UPDATE: Today readers found that Olympus official european stores didn’t list any Four Thirds camera anymore. But Olympus just sent us that following statement:

“We took E-5 off the shop as we had too many orders.
The shop is quite new and technically it is not so easy to stop the order taking.
We have so many orders now, that we’re not able to supply the new orders in a decent delivery time.
So we decided to take it off for some days/weeks.
E-5 is very successful and we plan a long life cycle for this product.
And again, we will stop our SLR business only in case we will be able to provide similar qualities in MFT.”

Check the Olympus Germany store: http://shop.olympus.de/e_commerce/univers.cfm?tri=news&cat_id=17

The E-5 stock status at [shopcountry 17163].

POLL: Your thoughts about the upcoming new Olympus-Panasonic products.

May 26, 2011
Rumors
84 Comments

June will be an amazing month! Panasonic and Olympus will announce at least three new cameras and three new lenses. In summary there will be:

– An ultra-small Panasonic GF3. It will be 15% smaller than the current GF2, same G3 sensor.
– The Panasonic-Leica high quality (and high priced?) 25mm f/1.4 auto-focus lens.
– The Olympus PRO E-P3 (with integrated EVF? and new Olympus sensor?).
– The mini PEN (XZ-1 style?).
– The 12mm f/2.0 SHG pro lens (expensive).
– The 50mm f/1.8 portrait lens.

Those are info based on rumors, so there is still room for changes or unexpected additions. But now it’s your turn. Let us know what kind of product you will buy (I included the new Panasonic G3)!

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Stay tuned on 43rumors! It’s really an exciting time now!