Panasonic managers Izumi Tomozawa and Atsushi Kato had been interviewed in Taiwan by ePrice (Translation here). This are some of the key info:

1) G5 uses a panasonic sensor, not the same one in [shoplink 29074]E-M5[/shoplink].
2) G5 can be considered as a sort of “GH2.5” according to Panasonic.
3) The 1/1.7″ CMOS sensor in LX7 is not a panasonic sensor, but purchased from another manufacturer.
4) While developing the LX7, there was two options: F1.4 lens with bigger body, and F1.8 lens with the same body size like LX5. In the end they chose to challenge the former one.
5) F2.3 at tel end is, technically, more difficult to achieve then F1.4 at the wide end.

I am surprised to hear they didn’t make the LX7 sensor!

—-

New Panasonic stuff preorders:
Black G5 at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here)
Silver G5 at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here)
45-150mm lens in Black at BHphoto (Click here) and in Silver at BHphoto (Click here).
LX7 in Black at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here) in White at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here)
Other compacts, the FZ200 at BHphoto (Click here), the FZ60 at BHphoto (Click here).

Our friend Eduardo sent me an interesting info about the new Kipon adapter:

“I asked the manufactorer:
Does this new adapters allow autofocus? What are the features and characteristics of the micro four thirds version?
Answer:
Thank you for your mail and interest about our KIPON adapters. For the different system between mirrorless camera and DSLR lens,autofocus speed is a little slow,so we gave up the autofocus function. Using this adapter, under M model,can control the aperture though the dial ring or button in the panel of camera.also A mode is also available,also MF assistant function. Many thanks.
Shanghai Transvision”

Website: http://www.dl-kipon.com. Non electronic Kipon adapters are already available on [shoplink 20746 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

In case you are wondering why the heck I am not answering your mails in these days here is the picture showing the house I am currently living in. There is no Internet connection there but from now on I will have a more constant access thanks to a mobile 3G USB stick.

Finally I can go back to 100% full news and rumors coverage! Stay tuned ;)

BIg hug from Ale.

More or less One month from now we will have a long list of new product announcements. I put together a poll and mixed reliable and non reliable rumors about possible Photokina stuff. And here is the question for you:

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Panasonic G5
Via Dpreview: “Panasonic has announced that Getty Images sports photographer Dean Mouhtaropoulos will be covering the London 2012 Olympic Games exclusively using its recently-announced Lumix DMC-G5.” Great! Meantime BHphoto notified that the camera may ship from August 10 (see screenshot).

Olympus E-M5
Our reader Melchior noticed a problem on the E-M5 firmware update: “On the Olympus.jp site they say “The update service to Ver. 1.2 was temporarily discontinued. The update service to Ver. 1.1 is available. http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=42134144&refresh=1033“
E-M5 vs GH2 highlight recovering test at Dpreview forum. How Sharp is the $999 Olympus OM-D E-M5 vs the $6800 Canon EOS 1D X? (Diglloyd).
Different E-M5 kits keep goin in and out of Stock every hour. Check the status via: [shopcountry 29074].

E-PM1 and other deals:
Refurbished E-Pm1 with lens for $299 at [shoplink 32469 ebay]BHphoto eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. 20mm pancake for $359 at Amazon (Click here).

The team around Vitaly Kiselev now released the new version 3,66D of the PTool hacking software (Click here). It supports the Panasonic GX1 and G3 cameras. Our reader Nils posted some G3 test results and video samples on the Personal view forum. I guess sooner or later also the just announced G5 will be supported. As usual it’s nice to know our cameras can get better in time without to have to buy a new one!

Links to the two new hackable cameras:
Panasonic GX1 [shopcountry 26836] Panasonic G3 [shopcountry 22077].

Samyang-Rokinon announced on Facebook the release of three new Cine lenses: “Rokinon 35mm T1.5 cine lens will be available in U.S in few weeks and Rokinon 24mm T1.5 & 14mm T3.1 cine lens will be available in U.S in September.” They will be available in Four Thirds (not microFT!) too. For the m43 system they only made the cute [shoplink 29106 ebay]Samyang/Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye lens (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink]. But I guess they will also bring some new m43 lens at Photokina. Samyang lenses deliver often a top image quality for a low price. Can’t wait to see new toys!

That said, if you are still confused about the brand name don’t worry. The confusion is not your fault! Example, the Micro Four Thirds fisheye lens:
In USA it’s named Rokinon 7.5mm and you find it on [shoplink 29105 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
In Europe it’s named Samyang 7.5mm and you find it on [shoplink 29106 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Amazon (Click here),
In UK it’s named Walimex and you find it on [shoplink 29109 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Amazon UK (Click here).

But that’s not all! There are many more weird names. Here is a list of eBay links on all Olympus Four Thirds lenses: [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] and[shoplink 20652 ebay]Bower [/shoplink].

So you got it?