The weekly news summary!

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During the past 7 days we published following news:

Olympus E-P1 related news:
– Comparison Test: GF-1 vs. E-P1 vs. E-450/420 (source: dpreview forum)
– Switar 26mm f/1.1 Review on the E-P1 (source: lawrenceripsher.com)
-olympus e-p1 review diary: day 1 (benprestney.toniaprestney.com)
-Olympus E-P1 with NIKKOR 10.5mm FISHEYE image samples at theoldschoolhouse.com
– Olympus E-P1 Comments, Part III: Lost Pictures (TheOnlinePhotographer)

Olympus E-P2 related news:
– E-P2 — initial impressions from infrequent poster (source: dpreview forum)
– Olympus E-P2 review at ganref (Click here for the google english translation)
– Letsgodigital has the Olympus E-P2 review!
– Zeiss Lens Portraits with Beautiful Model and the Olympus E-P2 (source: TheDigitalStory)

Panasonic GF1 related news:
– Dpreview reviews the Leica X1 review and compares it with the Panasonic GF1.
– GF1 field test by Craig Mod
– G11 vs GRD3 vs GF1 comparison at Adorama
– Lensbaby on GF1 (source: dpreview forum)
– Double Panasonic GF1 review
– GF1 vs. D700 (dpreview forum)

General news:
– MicroFourThirds matching simulation (new lenses added)
Gianni Galassi ideal MicroFourThirds camera (wishlist)
– Adobe releases Lightroom 2.6, Camera Raw and DNG Converter 5.6 (Now with Olympus E-P2 and Panasonic FZ38 support)
Three japanese photographer voted the five best cameras. Of course MicroFourThirds rules in their rankings! :)
– All Kevin Spacey Pen videos (and prices to win)
– Olympus Master 2.3 released! US download page: http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/oima_softwaremaster.asp / Europe download page: https://www.olympus-consumer.com/en/consumer/download.html
– 43rumors random article feature added

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Weekend Deals (Us-Germany-Spain)

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Product Amazon US Pixmania Deutschland Wichtig! Verwenden Sie den Code “PIXDE101209”. 10Euro Rabatt ab 499Euro Einkaufswert! Pixmania España read the related 43rumors news
Panasonic GF1 In Stock (check constantly for price variations) Alle Konfigurationen sofort lieferbar! En Stock! GF1
Panasonic GH1 $1,299.00 (hot deal) 1.329 € 1.249 € GH1
Olympus E-P2 Both combos in Stock! E-P2
Olympus E-P1 All in Stock with lower prices than Adorama and BHphoto Alles sofort lieferbar En Stock! E-P1
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Dpreview reviews the Leica X1 and compares it with the Panasonic GF1.

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Dpreview just posted their the Leica X1 review.

They also made some X1 vs GF1 comparisons:

Dynamic Range: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/LeicaX1/page14.asp

JPEG comparison: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/LeicaX1/page19.asp

RAW coomparison: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/LeicaX1/page22.asp

High ISO: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/LeicaX1/page24.asp

The Leica X1 is available for preorder at amazon ($1,995.00!)

HOT!!! Amazon US has the Panasonic GF1 in Stock…both combos!
1) Panasonic GF1 Camera with 14-45mm LensIn Stock. Ships from and sold by 17th Street Photo! Only three left!

2) Panasonic GF1 Camera with 20mm f/1.7 Lens In Stock. Ships from and sold by Abt Electronics!

3) Panasonic 45mm f/2.8 Aspherical MEGA OIS Lens for Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Cameras is in Stock via Haystack Electronics for $879.95 + $7.99shipping!

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MicroFourThirds matching simulation (new lenses added)

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The official MicroFourThirds website added some new Zeiss and Voigtländer lenses for their “Matching Simulation“.

Some examples:

panasonicgf1_zeiss

Panasonic GF1 + Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f/1.5

ep1_voigtländerOlympus E-P1 + Voigtländer 50mm f/1.1

panasonic_zeissPanasonic GF1 + Zeiss Tessar 85mm f/4

ep2_planarOlympus E-P2 + Zeiss Planar 50mm f/2

One more thing, the Olympus 300mm f/2.8 had a -$100 price drop and now it cost you $5,699.00 only (amazon US)

And your MicroFourThirds camera would look like this :)

300

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(UPDATED with Mark Marano comment) Gianni Galassi’s ideal MicroFourThirds camera (wishlist)

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crack
"CRACK" by Gianni Galassi (Taken with the Panasonic GF1)

The italian photographer Gianni Galassi just sent us his wishlist for future MicroFourThirds cameras. Do you agree with him?
Considering that I’m really happy with my GF1, here is what my
Ideal-Micro-Four-Thirds-Camera should be like.

SENSOR: a square 4000×4000. Remember 6×6 cameras? They cleverly exploit the whole circle of illumination transmitted by the lens. It’s silly to crop out the upper and lower 500 raws of usable pixels only because we are accustomed to rectangular TV and computer screens. Imagine having the opportunity of a portrait/landscape option without rotating your camera (no need of add-on grips). Or a gorgeous in-camera “full frame” square. Exciting.

MECHANICAL INTERFACE: in addition to the mode dial, I need exposure-compensation and ISO dials as well. I hate fiddling in the menus, even in the so-called “quick menus” (which generally aren’t quick at all). Under this point of view, Canon G10 and G11 are a paragon every designer should imitate.

MEMORY CARDS: given the small SD card’s size, two slots (RAID 0 or 1 configurable) would be welcome.

ON-OFF SWITCH:
absolutely around the release button. Nikon is the paragon here. Nobody else does better.

VIDEO: Who needs it? If I had the choice to buy the same camera with video or without video at the same price, I’d pick the latter with no hesitation, though I’m aware almost nobody shares my opinion on this matter.

MENU: please, please, make it simple! I hate crawling between zillions of unuseful options which are there only because they help marketing people extend camera’s feature list at no-cost. Good designers must responsibly take their decisions. Offloading on the buyer the choice between too many options is unfair. By the way, the card-format menu is always hidden in some crazy location.

FLASH: I don’t think I have ever used the built-in flash of my cameras. GF1 has a ridiculous one.

VIEWFINDER: if I only used short focals, I’d be ok with a (costly) Contax G-style optical zooming viewfinder. But for medium-long lenses an electroni viewfinder is fundamental. The add-on Panasonic’s LVF1 does not bother me at all, but I wouldn’t mind a built in viewfinder, at the left corner of the body, taking the place now occupied by the collapsible flash. I could even accept a slightly higher (not wider) body for that. Speaking of electronic viewfinders, a huge improvement is to be expected in the next couple of years, IMHO.

STRAP LUGS: I’d prefer round ones, giving the possibility to easily remove a strap, equipped with spring catches.

SKIN: I definitely like the reassuring Canon G10 finish. It gives the photographer a good grip even when he wears gloves. And it’s gorgeous, too. The GF1 body is a little too glabrous and slippery for my taste. Moreover, efforts should be made to get rid of all those white or golden crappy writings and labels in the front panel of the camera. A plain matte black body is all we need.

Visit his website at www.giannigalassi.com

UPDATE: The very known photographer Mark Marano wrote:
“I especially agree with the square format.. the multi-aspect ratio introduced in the GH1 is a great idea, but why not make the square format the largest (or I’d even work with a sensor that’s bigger than the image circle – that may not happen, but would be interesting to use with larger format lenses with adapters!) RAID is interesting if it could be implemented properly without extra work on the effort of the user (or better yet, something like BeyondRaid found in Drobo/DroboPro) I disagree about video as I’m interested in motion work, and am interested to see future development in this area.. What we really need is something small, solid, mechanical, even with a mirror – how about a Nikon FA (or any other similar compact manual focus SLR) with a digital back? (I’ve been desiring such a camera since the beginning of this era of digital photography!) That’s what I really miss about the film world – the ‘feel’ of a solid, simple, intuitive, yet capable camera – more dials for photographic functions (bring back the aperture ring!) and less having to rely on digital menus or put up with the limitations of focus-by-wire! Despite the uses of a live view, photography just doesn’t feel the same if you’re not looking through the lens and can’t see the image come into and go out of focus as you feel the manual focus ring twisting between your fingers…” target=”_blank”>Marc Marano added his comment to Gianni’s wishlist:
great ideas!

I especially agree with the square format.. the multi-aspect ratio introduced in the GH1 is a great idea, but why not make the square format the largest (or I’d even work with a sensor that’s bigger than the image circle – that may not happen, but would be interesting to use with larger format lenses with adapters!)

RAID is interesting if it could be implemented properly without extra work on the effort of the user (or better yet, something like BeyondRaid found in Drobo/DroboPro)

I disagree about video as I’m interested in motion work, and am interested to see future development in this area..

What we really need is something small, solid, mechanical, even with a mirror – how about a Nikon FA (or any other similar compact manual focus SLR) with a digital back? (I’ve been desiring such a camera since the beginning of this era of digital photography!) That’s what I really miss about the film world – the ‘feel’ of a solid, simple, intuitive, yet capable camera – more dials for photographic functions (bring back the aperture ring!) and less having to rely on digital menus or put up with the limitations of focus-by-wire!

Despite the uses of a live view, photography just doesn’t feel the same if you’re not looking through the lens and can’t see the image come into and go out of focus as you feel the manual focus ring twisting between your fingers…

———————————————–

As you know we don’t get paid by Panasonic or Olympus for working daily on 43rumors.

Thanks your support we can be free to talk about news and rumors. You are our boss!

If you are a usual amazon buyer you can help us by bookmarking our amazon links. Once you click on them if you purchase something in Amazon (it doesn’t matter what) we get a small commission for it. The cool thing is that you don’t pay any penny more and 43rumors can enjoy some help!

US: http://www.amazon.com/?tag=

CA: http://www.amazon.ca/?tag=43rumorscom-20

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/?tag=43rumors-21

DE: http://www.amazon.de/?tag=wwwolympusrum-21

FR: http://www.amazon.fr/?tag=43rumors0b-21

To bad you can’t do the same thing with Pixmania, Adorama or BHphoto. You have to use our direct links on the top of the website (under the daily deals bar)

P.S: And tell your friends that we exist!

Share