We have a new update about the Olympus modular camera. Few weeks ago we told you that there are three possible scenarios:

1) They release the Olympus E-5 at Photokina and the first modular camera by end 2010-early 2011.
2) They will skip the Olympus E-5 release and announce a semi modular camera (it means with not all the planned features)
3) Olympus makes the miracle and the modular camera should come with all the new features.

UPDATE: According to new infos we received from our sources the fully modular camera (scenario 3) will come in 2011 only.

Another source told us that the long awaited 100mm macro FourThirds lens will not be released at Photokina (click here to see the .pdf with the FourThirds roadmap)…and at that point we doubt it will ever be released :(

REMINDER: Those are rumors only and not official Olympus news. Keep it in mind when you discuss our rumors on 43rumors or other blogs and forums!

Some new hints about the camera
1) Yes there will be a Leica version of the new Panasonic compact camera. And of course it will be a little bit more expensive ;)
2) The lens starts at 24mm and with f/2.0 (like the LX3!) but it has 3x zoom (unlike the 2.5x zoom on the LX3)

reminder:
– It will have a special rangefinder-type optical viewfinder that is borrowed from Leica with marks in it for max zoom and fully wide angle!

A source just sent us following infos about that camera:

“The viewfinder is electronic and you can tilt it 90 degrees. it’s pretty small, so it doesn’t suddenly make the camera too bulky. It comes with its own small pouch you can attach to the cam strap if you want to. On top of 2:3, 3:4 and 16:9 the lx5 will also get 1:1 aspect ratio. The lx5 is coming soon. panasonic just finished designing packaging etc.”

The current price of the LX3 is $400 (on Amazon)

If you know more about the LX5 and/or other cameras feel free to send me an email at 43rumors@gmail.com. I keep you anonymous. You can use the form on the right sidebar without sending me email adress or name. If you want you can create a new email account using fake names. That will make it easy for me to answer you!

Thanks!
Ale