43 Rumors – Page 2241 – Panasonic and Olympus Digital Camera News

New Olympus E-PL2 review (+ converter test at DC.watch)

March 7, 2011
reviews
2 Comments

[shoplink 18844]

[shoplink 18844] There is a new Olympus E-PL2 review at CNET (Click here): “A great interchangeable-lens model if you’re looking for better photo quality and/or a more advanced feature set than your current point-and-shoot offers, the Olympus PEN E-PL2 still doesn’t satisfy for photographing active kids and pets.”

Also Enticingthelight (Click here) tested the E-PL2: “Olympus have built a beautiful-image maker with this E-PL2; if you like shooting JPEGs, you’ll love this camera. It is also a camera that is simple to operate, yet can be customised in hundreds of ways, thus appealing to both the newbie and the experienced shooter.”

The Japanese website DC.watch.impress (Click here) tested the three new E-PL2 converters. There are many full size image samples you can analyze!

Click those links to visit the E-PL2 product page: [shopcountry 18844].

Reminder:
The new Olympus E-PL2 accessories are on auction at eBay and in Stock in some stores:
– MAL-1 Led Light at [shoplink 20217 ebay]eBay[/shoplink], Amazon US, Amazon Deutschland, Amazon UK, Amazon France.
– PenPal bluetooth module at [shoplink 20218 ebay]eBay[/shoplink], Amazon Deutschland, Amazon UK, Amazon France.

The most popular camera starts worldside shipment: The Fuji X100.

March 6, 2011
news
33 Comments

Almost every day you can find news about the Fuji X100. The camera worldwide shipment started yesterday in Japan (see Amazon Japan). It should be in Stock soon at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here) and in April in Europe (See Amazon UK). This is the latest news summary:

Leica M3 versus Finepix X100 (Source: Nokton on Flickr).
Download the Fuji X100 manual in english (.pdf): https://files.me.com/kylebarrow/dxsgl2
First image samples on Flickr.
First Impressions of the Finepix X100 from a rangefinder shooter by Pieter Franken (SteveHuffPhoto.com).
Those are the first unboxing pictures coming from Japan (More at dmaniax.com). Shots with the x100 from the same person: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotois/sets/72157626059913905
The dpreview forum user “Ncruces” posted the patched source code to open the Quesabesdes RAW files with DCraw. Download from here: http://db.tt/jSGfK7R.
The dpreview forum user “ebrandon” posted two links to download the “before” (unprocessed TIFF) http://db.tt/uM3tnCm and the “after” (post-processed TIFF) http://db.tt/dvXlxHS.

P.S.: I am still hoping Fuji will join m43!!!

Panasonic GF2 review at Cameralabs (E-PL2 slightly better)

March 6, 2011
reviews
5 Comments

[shoplink 17361]

[/shoplink] There is a new Panasonic GF2 review at Cameralabs (Click here): “Ultimately though the [shoplink 17361]Lumix GF2[/shoplink] is a desirable and welcome new addition to Micro Four Thirds camp and one that will undoubtedly find favour with enthusiasts and ambitious novice photographers alike. It’s a lovely camera to use and one that’s also physically very desirable, but the issues discussed on this page – or perhaps more fairly, the benefits of its rivals – means it just falls short of our top rating in direct comparison. It still earns a hearty Recommended though.”

Where does it fall short? “Overall we’d say the [shoplink 18844]Olympus E-PL2[/shoplink] has a slight edge over the GF2. The GF2 crops look less contrasty and softer than those from the E-PL2“. Interesting: “With a larger sized sensor you might expect the [shoplink 20638]Sony NEX-3[/shoplink] to produce superior result to the micro Four Thirds cameras, and it does, but the differences aren’t that marked at least at this lowest sensitivity”

Panasonic GF2 direct links to [shopcountry 17361].
Olympus E-PL2 direct links to [shopcountry 18844].

Surprise: Last minute design changes for the Samyang 35mm f/1.4 lens

March 5, 2011
news
28 Comments

[shoplink 20647 ebay]

[/shoplink]

Over a year passed without Olympus announcing any new Four Thirds lens. At least Samyang announced that nice 35mm f/1.4 manual focusing lens with 43-mount. There is a last minute surprise. Samyang added a red ring and an useful focusing scale to the lens. And they announced the final price which will be 389 Euro. All Samyang lenses for Olympus can be found on eBay only and under seven different brand names (Click on it to see all Four Thirds lenses from the specific brand!):
[shoplink 20647 ebay]Samyang [/shoplink] [shoplink 20684 ebay]Walimex [/shoplink] [shoplink 20649 ebay]Rokinon [/shoplink] [shoplink 20650 ebay]Opteka [/shoplink] [shoplink 20651 ebay]Falcon [/shoplink] [shoplink 20653 ebay]Vivitar [/shoplink] [shoplink 20652 ebay]Bower [/shoplink]

Unbelievable or not? :)

Click the link to read the press release:

March 5, 2011
news
1 Comment

“I was inspired when I saw the $195 [shoplink 19603 ebay]Kipon EOS-m4/3 adapter[/shoplink] so I decided to build my own. I salvage old parts from my father’s spoiled Hi8 video camera and fixed onto a standard EOS-m4/3 adapter.”

The Fuji X100 will be in Stock at Amazon UK on April 11 (Click here). In US Adorama should start shipment in March (Click here).
A few X100 image samples can be found on Flick here. A few body pictures on Flickr.

HDMI Capture Problem SOLVED (DVXuser forum).
Panasonic GF2 ISO charts at tech.sina.
Olympus E-5 charts at tech.sina.
Dutch Panasonic GF2 hands-on at bright.nl.
M.Zuiko 40-150 Tested against the Panasonic 45-200 (Dpreview forum).
Day 3 of the Olympus EPL-2 Field Review (ThePhoBlographer).
AG-AF105 preview at pronews.jp (japanese!)
Using protective filters on lenses (m43blogspot).
Olympus SP-800UZ review at CNET.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 Review at Steve Digicams.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20 Review at Photographyblog.
Noctilux-M 50 mm f/0.95 ASPH Leica on a GH2 (Image samples at 3Dkraft).

Panasonic GF2 in Stock at Amazon and J&R (+ new Panasonic lens discount)

March 4, 2011
deals
6 Comments

[shoplink 17361]

[/shoplink]The new all black Panasonic GF2 is in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and J&R (Click here). The Silver GF2+14mm camera is in Stock at Adorama (Click here).

There are also two price drop on the newest Panasonic lenses:
– Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 had a $20 price drop at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
– Panasonic 100-300mm is in Stock for $529 at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Reminder: Worldwide shipment of the Fuji X100 will start tomorrow. Preorders at Adorama (Click here).

(FT3) A few new technologies Olympus is testing for the future PRO cameras.

March 4, 2011
Rumors
62 Comments

Sometimes sources do send me info about camera prototypes and future technologies. As you can imagine it is very difficult to check if those info are correct or not.
Last week a new Olympus patent (Click here to read the article) confirmed that one of our source were right when he told me that Olympus had a prototype camera with semi-transparent mirror. The same sources also gave us a list of other technologies Olympus is working on:

– Sensor Shift with Rotation
– Larger Multi-Format Sensor (think [shoplink 16254]GH2[/shoplink])
– New Battery Grip with Audio & Video I/O
– Single Shot HDR Capability
– Same Video Ability as [shoplink 14826]GH1[/shoplink]

The most amaizng feature is certainly the “Single Shot HDR Capability“. We already saw a few Olympus patents about this. But as we all know, we are talking about technologies we might see in a few years only!