As you have noticed things have been quiet for a while now. During that time we tried to understand why Olympus didn’t announce any FourThirds camera. Months ago we told you that we were almost certain that new FourThirds cameras would be introduced. What we learned is that in fact our rumors were NOT wrong. The Olympus E-5 was ready for the launch since the end of 2009. Also a new mid-range FourThirds camera was ready for the launch in April. In both cases Olympus made a very last minute decision to not unveil the cameras. According to our sources Olympus discussed a lot about the future development of FourThirds and that probably caused the last minute delay.
So what did Olympus choose?
The Olympus E-5 is now undergoing a new upgrade. I was told that the Olympus E-5 will be released at Photokina in September along with the next MicroFourThirds camera. The Olympus E-5 will have completely new features (some of them never seen in any DSLR camera before!!!). You should again take a look at that patent: double simultaneus focus system. I “suspect” this will be one of the new features inside the E-5.
It is also very likely that the camera will be able to record high-quality video.

So will there be no new camera between now and Photokina?
According to one new source Olympus could unveil the mid-range camera in June. It should be the A6xx. But that’s still to be confirmed.

What I am almost certain about is that Olympus will announce a new Olympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PENOlympus PEN at Photokina. And I also believe there will be one more MicroFourThirds camera (The famous High-End camera) by the end of the year.

Let’s make a summary:
FT4= Olympus E-5 with double focus system and video at Photokina
FT4= One more PEN at Photokina
FT2= A new mid-range FourThirds camera in June
FT2= A new High-End MFT camera after Photokina (Oktober-November)

Reminder: (FT=FourThirds)
FT4= Rumor from good known sources which have been often right in the past
FT2= Rumor from new sources

And what about new lenses? I was told that Olympus is working to deliver the lenses we need. I expect many new MicroFourThirds zooms and primes to be announced at Photokina. I have no news about FourThirds lenses :(

Possible future new MicroFourThirds lens list:

Panasonic
– 100-300/4.0-5.6 OIS
– Fisheye 8/3.5
– 14/2.5 pancake

and here comes the future Olympus lenses list:
– 40-150
– 70-300
– 12/2.5
– 20/1.7
– 8mm
– 50mm f/2.0

If you want to share rumors feel free to contact me at 43rumors@gmail.com. I will keep you anonymous of course! If you want me to answer you creat a fake gmail account.

P.S: Big deal on amazon: The Olympus E-P2 with 14-42mm Lens and Electronic View Finder sells for $899 (That’s a -$100 price drop since yesterday!).

I will give you a quick update about the competition. Sony is going to announce the new NEX camera on Tuesday. The specs have been published on SonyAlphaRumors.

Samsung will also announce a new NX camera very soon (k-rumors.com). The new NX5 will be a cheaper Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10Samsung NX10 version which is aimed to compete in the same league of the Panasonic G2 and G10.

And finally a crazy rumors: Leica will announce a fullframe EVIL system for Photokina (Leicarumors.com)