ePhotozine posted a surprising positive articel about the new [shoplink 17163]Olympus E-5[/shoplink]. De facto they say that “If this is the last of the mirror type DSLRs in the Four Thirds range that will be a great pity. Olympus have a finely made product that delivers exceptionally good results. Does the smaller sensor compromise quality? Not in the E-5, that’s quite clear.”

Those are just a few of the many positive statements you can find inside the article:
– The E-5 instantly inspires confidence
– In terms of exposure, the camera is not susceptible to errors from bright light sources and backlighting.
– Focusing in all modes is crisp, fast and accurate. Very impressively, the camera seems able to focus upon almost featureless dark subjects with the same snap as more normal ones.
– I have no complaints about colour reproduction either. Colours are accurate and correctly saturated at the Natural setting.
– AWB deals very convincingly with mixed lighting sources and low light levels, so it is a mixed bag of settings to achieve the best results.
– The dynamic range of the sensor is not a problem. Highlights and shadows are recorded with detail over a surprisingly wide range.

It looks like despite the not so attractive features the E-5 is capable of delivering a very good image quality! Now Olympus, bring us the Pro-MFT camera ;)

Olympus E-5 direct shop links:
Amazon US, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon Deutschland.

P.S.: You can download the japanese E-5 system chart and brochure here: http://www.olympus.co.jp/jp/support/cs/ctlg/index_ctlg.html. The english version is available here: http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/208_manuals.cfm?prodID=MN4279292

Home Cooking…avec le GH2! from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Philip Bloom had the chance to play around with the new [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink] and the new [shoplink 15659 ebay]Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95[/shoplink] lens.

What are his thoughts about the GH2?
“Very easy to operate. LCD touch screen great and intuitive and nice resolution. EVF lovely, great resolution and makes handheld a dream! Nice to have audio meters on screen. Image… gorgeous. SO MUCH better than GH1. No mud, no nasty vertical lines…Although all shot at low ISO I did some 2500 ISO tests and there were really good! I found ISO 800 almost unusable at times on my GH1, and any underexposure in dark areas even at low ISOs…UGH, no problem now…” . And after his first short test he says the GH2 is better than the hacked [shoplink 14826]GH1[/shoplink]!
What does he say about the lens?
“It’s simply my new favourite lens, shame it won’t go on my Canons or [shoplink 17844 ebay]Leica M9[/shoplink]. It has a beautiful look to it, great bokeh, so solid and well made and can focus as close up as a macro. LOVELY!”

You can order the lens on eBay ([shoplink 15659 ebay]Click here[/shoplink]) or Amazon Germany (Click here)

P.S.: The GH2 should start shipping today in US (let us know if you receive it!). Those are the GH2 direct links to some of our affiliate shops:
Amazon US, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon UK, Amazon France.

The Micro Four Thirds system now offers two über-fast lenses. The Voigtländer 25mm and the Noktor 50mm lenses (both with the amazing f/0.95 aperture)! Sadly it is almost impossible to buy the Noktor. The website (Noktor.com) has no lens in Stock and there are a few and sometimes zero auctions on [shoplink 15629]eBay (Click here to check)[/shoplink] The Voigtländer is available at local stores or on [shoplink 15659]eBay via german and asian resellers (Click here to check)[/shoplink].

2 days ago I received my Voigtländer lens and I made quick comparison with the Noktor 50mm. All images were taken with my [shoplink 16885]Olympus E-P1[/shoplink]. JPG at normal settings and resized in Photoshop.

Click the link below to see the minireview: