Ten days ago we collected your questions to Olympus. And Emanuele from nexthardware brought your list to Amsterdam and interviewed MR. Terada from Olympus with…your questions! The video on top shows the full interview (the audi quality isn’t that good). Enjoy! And Thanks Emanuele!

UPDATE: I really noticed how “hungry” you are to get in contact with Olympus with your questions. If you want I can try to ask Olympus if they are interested to make a special session Q&A with you readers. Don’t know if they will do it, but I can ask :)

P.S.: One more article about the E-M5 at Tv.Smith (Click here). And “cameraporn” pictures at DC.watch (Click here).

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Full Preorder list:
1) Black E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
2) Silver E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here), and Amazon Japan (Click here).
3) Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
4) Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Redcoon Deutschland (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
5) Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
6) FL-600R wireless flash at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
7) MMF-3 Four Thirds adapter at
Amazon (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
8.) HLD-6 power battery holder at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).

At Personal View (Click here) you can find the new PTool v3.64d  available for download. And for the first time you can hack your [shoplink 17361]Panasonic GF2[/shoplink] too! Here is the enw features list:

GH2:
Support for v1.11 firmware
Added many AVCHD related patches
Some patches improved

GF2:
Initial release with features identical to GH2, except 24p support

General:
Import/export patches possible to plain ini files, not archives only.
Few fixes

Enjoy the hacking!

Olympus OM-D E-M5, efectos de vídeo “Eco” y “Eco múltiple” from QUESABESDE on Vimeo.

The german website Photoscala (Click here) posted a short preview of the E-M5 camera. They liked the electronic viewfinder and particularly the „high response“ mode which reduces the resolution but allows a double speed (240 B/sec instead of 120 B/sec).
Also Quesabesde (Click here) likes the electronic viewfinder performance. But the autofocus performance wasn’t that stellar as promised by Olympus. In low light conditions and with moving objects there were some focusing errors. As Photoscala writes, the ultra fast Autofocus works best on non moving objects. The very good news is that Quesabesde has been positively surprised by the image quality of the “new” 16 megapixel sensor. And there are new image samples at ePhotozine (Click here) and Four Thirds User (Click here) if you need to check for yourself.

Haruo Ogawa, Manager of Marketing Division, talked about the new E-M5 on the Olympus OM-D facebook page: “The OM-D development began with a strategic aim to create an entirely new market. In 2007, we conducted a survey among camera (or SLR users – need to define the “users”) users and were able to identify the needs and wants of a camera system that were not being met with existing products. The PEN (E-P1), released two and a half years ago, was developed according to the results of this study.
At the time we received the results of the user survey, we had also identified a different audience from the one targeted by the PEN. This was identified as “serious photographers with creative attitude”. With this information, the idea for the OM-D was born. The OM-D is a product for camera-loving photographers, and is also a great choice for Four Thirds users. We will continue to further the OM-D system development and the Four Thirds system as well.”

Videos:
ePhotoSlovakia posted that video on youtube (Click here).
Olympus E-M5 Launch Party in Hong Kong on youtube (Click here).
OM-D E-M5 Video with “Miniatur” Artfilter on vimeo (Click here).
Olympus OM-D E-M5 9fps Shutter Continuous Shooting on youtube (Click here).

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Full Preorder list:
1) Black E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
2) Silver E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here), and Amazon Japan (Click here).
3) Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
4) Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Redcoon Deutschland (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
5) Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
6) FL-600R wireless flash at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
7) MMF-3 Four Thirds adapter at
Amazon (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
8.) HLD-6 power battery holder at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).

Former Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa and six more people have been arrested in Japan. You can read more about that story at Bloomberg (Click here).

I have not a lot to say, it’s a quite long and complicated story. The real important news will arrive at the emergency shareholder meeting on April 20 at which investors will vote on a new management. And soon we will also know who will become the new partner from Olympus. Sony, Samsung, Fuji or Panasonic are particularly interested in the medical business from Olympus. Effects on the camera business will probably be very marginal.

Reminder: First Voigtländer Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 preorders in Europe at [shoplink 29193 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Oh guys! This is going to kill me! For one full month sources told me that [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink] sensor would be a “new one”. The problem was that I went almost crazy because I didn’t know if the sensor would be “REALLY new” or just “Olympus marketing new” :)

And there is a new chapter of the “sensor mystery story”! The Olympus manager Toshiyuki Terada revealed in an interview with Quesabesde (Click here): “It’s true we have used Panasonic sensors in the past, but this time we can’t tell the name of the E-M5 sensor maker. I have to say this is an all new sensor.”

Oh guys, I quit. it’s up to you now to guess what the heck is happening inside the E-M5. As long as images are good I really don’t care. But next time we have to discuss about future Olympus camera rumors blame on Olympus and not on me if I cannot give you a clear answer :)

Oh one more thing: Olympus said that this is not a professional camera. And this backups some of the rumors I got in these days :)

Full Updated Preorder list:
1) Black E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
2) Silver E-M5 body at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Warehouse UK (Click here), Redcoon Germany (Click here), and Amazon Japan (Click here).
3) Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
4) Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Redcoon Deutschland (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
5) Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
6) FL-600R wireless flash at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
7) MMF-3 Four Thirds adapter at
Amazon (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
8) HLD-6 power battery holder at
Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).

We have some news about the two not so spectacular Sigma Micro Four Thirds lenses. The Sigma 30mm f/2.8 for Micro Four Thirds will be available from February 24th. According to Sigma Germany the price will be 199 Euro. There is no price and availability info about the 19mm f/2.8 lens. If you wonder why those lenses look so big the explanation is quite simple. Both lenses have been designed to work for the Micro Four Thirds and Sony E-mount cameras. And the NEX system is using a larger sensor and that’s why the lenses are unnecessary larger for m43 cameras. I would prefer Sigma to design lenses for the Micro Four Thirds only as they did with the Four Thirds system. I am sure this will make more money with those lenses than they will get from the lenses they have just announced.

Reminder: List of Four Thirds lenses:
[shoplink 18947 ebay]Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18948 ebay]Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18948 ebay]Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18949 ebay]Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18950 ebay]Sigma 24mm f/1.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18951 ebay]Sigma 30mm f/1.4[/shoplink] [shoplink 18952 ebay]Sigma 50mm f/1.4[/shoplink] [shoplink 18953 ebay]Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3[/shoplink] [shoplink 18955 ebay]Sigma 55-500mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18956 ebay]Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18957 ebay]Sigma 105mm f/2.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18958 ebay]Sigma 135-400mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink] [shoplink 18959 ebay]Sigma 150mm f/2.8[/shoplink] [shoplink 18960 ebay]Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6[/shoplink]