a little bit of everything…

Walk On The Wet Side: Lower East Side, NYC: Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Panasonic GH2 in DIY Hurricane proof housing from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.

Olympus E-PL3 review at DC.watch (google translation).

Richard Franiec grip coming soon for Olympus PEN E-PL3 (Dpreview).

New thumbs for our M43 cameras from Elva (SLRclub).

A cool image of the GF1 with Leica Visoflex at Tokyocamerastyle.

FourThirds – The End or The Beginning? (Zone-10).

Davi H. E-PL3 unboxing pics and XZ-1 unboxing pics.

Olympus E-5 wildlife gallery by Pekka Potka (Click o gallery and than on wildlife).

Comparison between Panasonic G3 + 12mm f/2 and Sony NEX-C3 + 16mm f/2.8 (Soundimageplus).

a little bit of everything…(with GH2 Hack Anamorphic Test)


GH2 Hack Anamorphic Test (4:3 vs 16:9)

Olympus Pen 14-42mm MKI vs 14-42mm MKII (ePhotozine).

Olympus SZ-30MR Review (Photographyblog) and another Olympus SZ-10 Review (Photographyblog).

Olympus SZ-10 vs Samsung WB700 Digital Camera Comparison Test (ePhotozine).

Olympus XZ-1 by ortega (Clubsnap).

Model Shoot with the Olympus E-P3 (TheDigitalStory).

The GH2 wins the swedish price as best mirrorless cameras.

‘Market Square’ on the Olympus E-P3 (Photographybay).

New Loewepro bags for Mirrorless cameras.

Adobe Lightroom 3.5 and ACR 6.5 release candidates do support the Olympus E-P3, E-PL3 and E-PM1, Panasonic’s G3 and GF3 (Dpreview).

New X lenses to be in Stock on October 13. New firmware coming. 25p support for GH2?

It is a beauty of a lens. Isn’t it? The silver 14-42mm X lens!

Preorders and availability

The two new X lenses will start worldwide shipment on October 13. And looking at Panasonic (not so reliable) history this means it will hit European and American stores in November. Preorders are only available at Amazon US but please drop me a mail or comment this post if you find more stores accepting preorders! Thanks!
Black 14-42mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Silver 14-42mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Black 45-175mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Silver 45-175mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Black GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).
Red GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).
White GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).

Firmware update

Panasonic announced a new firmware update program for the digital interchangeable lens system cameras DMC-G3, DMC-GF3 and DMC-GF2 of LUMIX G Micro System (Source: Panasonic.net). Those are the new features:
– Display of the local length
When you zoom, the focal distance is displayed and you can confirm the zoom position.
– Step zoom
When you operate the zoom, the zoom will stop at positions corresponding to predetermined distances.
– Zoom resume
When you switch the power switch [ON], the zoom positions when you last switched [OFF] are automatically restored.
– Zoom ring operation
This may only be selected when a power zoom-compatible lens with a zoom lever and zoom ring is attached. The operations controlled by the zoom ring are disabled to prevent accidental operation.

P.S.: Please note that the electric zoom will work on the GH1, G1 and GF1 too!

Firmware update for GH2 will bring 25p support?

ePhotozine (Click here) had a talk with Mr Uetmasu (product developer from Panasonic Japan). And he said that “A firmware update may be coming for the GH2 to add support for 25p, and additional improvements in video abilities.

 

P.S.: Click on thumbnails to see the full size image:

Continually updated: Panasonic X lenses announced!


The new lenses have been announced. Keep checking this post as I will continually update it with all news and reviews I can found on the web!

Preorders

Black 14-42mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Silver 14-42mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Black 45-175mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Silver 45-175mm X lens is available for preorder at Amazon (Click here).
Black GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).
Red GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).
White GF3 with 14-42mm X lens at Amazon (Click here).

Highlights

Panasonic Lumix X 14-42mm Lens, expected price $399 or £350.
Panasonic Lumix X 45-175mm Lens, expected price $449.99 or £400.
Panasonic Lumix GF3X Lens and Camera Kit, expected price <£600.
Availability: end of October.
According to Panasonic the X lenses it will be fully compatible with Olympus cameras!
Not fully compatible with G1, G2 and GF1.
PowerZoom is multi-speed
It doesn’t rotate on focusing (you can use filters!)

Previews and Image samples

Hot!Nice X lens preview with video at Techradar.
Hot! MTF charts and Image samples of the 14-42mm X lens at Panasonic.net.
Hot! MTF charts and Image samples of the 45-175mm X lens at Panasonic.net.
New X versus old 14-42mm lens spec comparison at SLRclub.
Panasonic 14-42mm X Lens Hands-On Photos at Photographyblog.
Panasonic 45-175mm X Lens Hands-On Photos at Photographyblog.
Hot! Lens size comparison at SLRclub.
Hot! 14-42mm X lens preview at Dpreview.
Panasonic X Lens 14-42mm Hands On at ePhotozine.
Panasonic Lumix X Lens 45-175mm Hands On at ePhotozine

Video


More videos: Dpreview 14-42mm X af test on vimeo.
Panasonic GF3 14-42mm Power Zoom lens demonstration on vimeo.
Panasonic X retractable pancake zoom on youtube.

Press release

45-175mm at Openpn (french)
14-42mm at Openpn (french)
Panasonic.net.
Cnet Asia.
Photographyblog.
Engadget.
Panasonic Japan (translated in english).
Amateur Photographer.
Pocket-Lint.
Systemkameraforum (german).
Imaging Resource.
Quesabesde (spanish).
Photoscala (german).
Hot! Interview at ePhotozine.
14-42mm X at Dpreview.
45-175mm X at Dpreview.
First press release at DSLRmagazine.
Focus Numerique.

Hot Interview by ePhotozine

There may be a more lenses such as macro, more zoom, large aperture, and prime lenses in the pipeline. While we were unable to have specifics, more lenses are already in the works, and on the X lens roadmap. High quality lenses have been developed after learning Leica qualities and applying them to their own designs, and by using software correction they are able to correct any distortion caused by the more compact lenses. This will mean that the distortion will / may show on RAW images, and that Panasonic will need to update RAW support for these new lenses.
He also said that the GH3 is not due imminently, as the GH2 is still extremely popular, but that there is a high end GF series camera in the works.”

Poll

Read the tests and previews first and than vote!

Will you buy the new X lenses? (You can select both of course)

View Results

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More Panasonic news

Panasonic firmware updated coming (CNET Asia).
Panasonic is launching a new photo sharing service called Lumix Club (Photographyblog).
Panasonic launches Lumix DMC-FZ150 12MP 24x 1080p60 MOS superzoom (Dpreview).
Lumix FX90 Wi-Fi-enabled touchscreen compact camera (Dpreview).
Panasonic DMC-LX5 firmware 2.0 brings image and handling improvements (Dpreview).

Olympus E-PM1 pricing announced

[shoplink 23565][/shoplink]

If you are waiting to get the tiniest of the new Olympus PEN cameras you will happy to know that the camera worldwide shipment will start on September 30. Camera with 14-42mm MSC II R kit lens will cost $499.95. (via Dpreview). The E-PM1 is available for preorder at Amazon UK (Click here), Computeruniverse (Click here), Digitalrev (Click here). Notifications are available at BHphoto (Click here).

P.S.: You can see the first E-PL3 (not E-PM1) unpackaging pictures at Mobile01. Click on the green links inside the first post to open the pictures!

A close look to Sony: New NEX stuff announced!

Sony announced three new NEX cameras and three new NEX lenses. Probably the most interesting camera is The NEX-7 which has 24 Megapixels and an integrated OLED viewfinder. I am curious to see if it will really sell (it costs $1199 at Amazon). I expect Olympus and Panasonic to announce similar cameras within the next six months. I don’t know what to think about that camera but I am definitely going to get my hands-on it to see how it feels. I am particularly curious about the Oled EVF. But I don’t believe it can replace the “magic” of tan optical viewfinder. After all the [shoplink 19929]Fuji X100[/shoplink] with the hybrid EVF/OVF has a different….sex appeal!

News:
Sony NEX-7 preview with video on Engadget and preview at Dpreview.
First VG-20 video preview on youtube.
Sony NEX-5N preview at Dpreview, Engadget and ThePhoBlographer.
Info about the new NEX lenses at Dpreview.
NEX-7 video: http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m6QSS5UVQ2CB2/?tag=

Prices and specs:
Sony NEX-7 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N at Amazon (Click here).
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 E-mount at Amazon (Click here).
Sony 50mm f/1.8 E-mount at Amazon (Click here).
Sony 55-210mm E-mount at Amazon (Click here).