Today Pentax announced their new “Q” mirrorless system! For $700 you get a camera with 47mm lens and a sensor that is smaller (1:2.33 inch) than the one used inside the [shoplink 19904]Olympus XZ-1[/shoplink]. I know Pentax will announce a more serious APS-C mirrorless system in autumn but isn’t that “Q” system way overpriced? And isn’t Pentax wasting to much of their (few) resources?

You can read the full announcement article on MirrorlessRumors (Click here).

CNET Asia was at the Asia Pacific Lumix G Seminar 2011 in Thailand. Panasonic told them that they are holding the 30 percent mirrorless market share in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong and 25 percent market share in Singapore: “According to Panasonic, the company aims to increase its market share in the total ILC category by 10 percent (which roughly translates to 120,000 ILC units) by 2012. To achieve this, they shared some strategies which include targeting shutterbugs looking to upgrade to dSLRs and expanding its current lineup of Lumix G Micro System cameras, lenses and accessories. Panasonic also announced plans to allocate US$20 million in advertising dollars to promote the compact design of the Lumix G series cameras and focus on their touchscreen capabilities and iA mode settings.”

Panasonic’s group general manager of AV in Asia Pacific, Motoki Nakahara, confirmed that there will be Micro Four Thirds lenses are slated for the later part of this year. As you might remember after the GF3 launch Panasonic confirmed that they are working on a professional GF camera, a new GH3 camera and that two new lenses would be announced by end of the year.

Reminder: Panasonic launched two cameras and one lens in 2011:
The G3 should be in Stock in most countries within the next days. Check those links: [shopcountry 22077].
The GF3 should be in Stock by late July/early April. Check those links: [shopcountry 23109] (It’s difficult to find preorder options in Europe).
The Leica 25mm f/1.4 will be in Stock in late July. Check those links: [shopcountry 23110] (Almost impossible to find it for preorder. And don’t confuse that lens with the Four Thirds version!).

Dpreview (Click here) posted a few image samples taken with the new Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens. You can preorder the lens at Adorama (Click here) and on [shoplink 23181 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Here is a short update about the latest US deals:
UPDATE: The GH2 with 14-140mm lens is in Stock at Amazon (Click here).
There are a couple of GH2 body only cameras for sale via third party resellers on Amazon (Click here). For the normal price ($899)!
During the last month the Panasonic 20mm was very difficult to find in Stock. If you are willing to pay a bit more than the official price you can fidn them in Stock at Amazon (Click here).
Panasonic GF3 preorders accepted at Amazon, Adorama, and J&R.
The price of the Panasonic 100-300mm dropped down to $521 at Amazon, Adorama and B&H.

SLRmagic informed via Twitter that the new 12mm f/1.6 lens for Micro Four Thirds will cost around $499 and be available in August. The lens is made of metal and designed froms cratch for Micro Four Thirds.

As you know Slrmagic already makes three lenses (but they are not as good as the new Noktor):
SLR magic 11mm f/1.4 lens you can preorder on [shoplink 22154 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] Toy Lens 26mm f/1.4 lens on [shoplink 18603 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC lens on [shoplink 14881 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]

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Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge the pictures. All pictures have been taken with the Noktor 12mm preproduction lens!

AnalogRev: Rollei 35 T & Olympus Pen-D ([shoplink 23245 ebay]Click here to see that cam on eBay[/shoplink]).

New Firmware for Panasonic Lumix FP3, FH22, FS33 (Photoscala).

Full Olympus XZ-1 review at OutbackPhoto. Image samples at OutbackPhoto.

A new Micro Fur Thirds blog in France (u43.fr) -> Wish you good luck!

Panasonic GF3 accessories at Letsgodigital. Panasonic GF3 Video Review at PhotoRadar. Panasonic GF3 hands-on at TrendyNikkei. Panasonic GF3 test at the Czech website Digiarena. Panasonic G3 is now in Stock at Amazon UK (Click here). Preorders are available at Amazon, Adorama and B&H. In Europe at Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, and worldwide on [shoplink 22077 ebay]eBay[/shoplink].

Fotosidan discovered that the Panasonic GF3 catalogue pictures have been taken with the Canon 5D :)

Our japanese reader can participate to a Panasonic product presentation in Tokyo and Osaka (DC.watch)

UPDATE: Every issue with comment system, contact form and registering form has been SOLVED! Hope sources will read that messages and send me some rumors tonight :)

Thanks!

We are BACK!!!!!

As you know yesterday a malware attacked a couple of servers in Northern Europe. Many websites were affected (not only 43rumors). When the malware attacked us it changed a small script which made you crash the browser. We located the attack location, blocked it and removed the dirty code. The problem was that google banned all the affected websites. We quickly asked for  re-approval from google but it took 10 hours to be back online without that WARNING message. And because we are smart (LOL!) we used that time to transfer the whole website on a new server! So now ladies and gentlemen you are visiting the 43rumors website on a 3 to 4 times faster server. It will finally allow me to upgrade the 43rumors theme with new option and at the same time we can fix some of the issues.

Please be kind and remind your friends and forum colleagues that we are back online. Also explain them that it was not a 43rumors problem only. We reacted very fast but google kept the warning for hours even if we were a safe website :(

Now I have to catch up with news and rumors. See you soon!