New E-PM2 ad from Olympus.

The cheapest of all new Olympus MFT cameras got DxOmarked and unsurprisingly scored the same result as the E-PL5 and E-PM5. Neocamera also tested (and liked) the E-PM2: “Given it outclasses its predecessor in terms of image quality and speed, it presents a worthy upgrade for those not ready to move to a more expensive model.” For the size and price this little camera may turn out to have the best price-image quality ratio of any MFT camera! Now Panasonic really has to come out with a new GX model to compete against Olympus…what are you waiting for?

E-PM2 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France. And the Gariz case for the camera in [shoplink 34733 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 34732 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink].

A day in Montmartre – [Panasonic Lumix GH3] from emeric on Vimeo.

Some little news about the GH3:

Our friends from Hybridcams shot that nice video with the GH3. Thanks for sharing! And our reader Twills sent me this: “The Panasonic GH3 specs page is being constantly updated as the firmware is finalized. The shutter duration spec did not specify a “Bulb” mode time limit before. Now it says it goes up to Approx. 60 minutes. That is great news as the GH2 is limited to 128 seconds in Bulb mode:
Still Images: 1/4,000 – 60 and Bulb (Approx. 60 minutes)
Motion Images: 1/16,000 – 1/30 (NTSC), 1/16,000 – 1/25 (PAL)
Keep an eye on the page below to see what else is updated when the firmware is finally complete.
http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/gh3/specifications.html”

GH3 preorders at Amazon , Adorama, Bhphoto, Panasonic US, Samys and in Europe at Wexphotographic UK and Technikdirekt.

Shot with the 17mm f/1.8 lens. Image courtesy: Robin Wong.

Robin Wong (Click here) posted part two of the new 17mm f/1.8 lens review. That time his focus is on the Low Light performance of the lens: “The Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm F1.8 lens is a great lens, it is sharp, very technically well controlled, and works very efficiently. It is also not a lens I will fall terribly in love with, unlike the M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8 or even the 75mm F1.8 lenses.”

Sounds like this lens is good…but not really grabbing the hearts of the reviewer!

And speaking of the 75mm f/1.8 lens…Olympus dealer Cameraland is selling four new Olympus 75mm lenses with a $100 rebate on their [shoplink 34983 ebay]eBay Store (Click here)[/shoplink]. To get further info about deals on that lens just join our little new Slidoo eBay website (Sign in with FB account and set your search).

P.S.: For the lens buy the cheaper third party hoods are already made on sold in US ($7 on amazon), US ($32 better quality), [shoplink 34663 ebay]Germany (ebay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 34664 ebay]Hong Kong (ebay)[/shoplink].

Image courtsey: Ming Thein | mingthein.com

Ming Thein published a comparative lens review with the new Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens: “the 20/1.7 is punchier but has slightly lower microcontrast; the 17/1.8 has lower macrocontrast but better reproduction of fine detail structures – i.e. better microcontrast”

ePhotozine published the full E-PM2 review and became their “Editor’s choice“. They say: “The Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2 produces excellent photos and punches well above its weight.”

ThePhotoblogapher posted his first impressions review: “Though I initially had some concerns, the E-PL5 is turning out to be one heck of a compact performer.”

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The new Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens can now be preordered at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon DE.
E-PL5 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here). In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France,
E-PM2 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here). In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France,

DxOmark (Click here) just posted the full E-PL5 sensor test. And as you can imagine the E-PL5 is as good as the [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink] with even a slightly better score at High ISO performance. DxO writes: “The Pen E-PL5 changes the game by reducing the image quality gap between the micro 4:3 and the NEX APS-C formats. For color depth, the Sony cameras retain an advantage of 1 bit, more or less — fairly hard to detect on a photo. For dynamic range, the Pen E-PL5 is outdistanced by the NEX-5N by one full stop in terms of exposure latitude — ultimately not very much, given that the NEX-5N is a champion in this area. But compared to the NEX-7, with its score of 12.7EV, the Olympus is pretty much in the same league in this category with a score of 12.3EV.”

That sounds very good! Can’t wait to see the Olympus version of the Sony NEX-7! My [shoplink 34932 ebay]Olympus 35 Sp[/shoplink] dream is coming true?

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Price check:
E-PL5 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France and eBay (via Slidoo).
E-PM2 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Amazon France and eBay (via Slidoo).
Gariz case:
[shoplink 34731 ebay]Black E-PL5 case (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 34730 ebay]Brown E-PL5 case (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 34733 ebay]Black E-PM2 case (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 34732 ebay]Brown E-PM2 case (Click here)[/shoplink].

Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine

Let’s catch up with some PEN related news:
The Dutch website Pixelmania (translation here) posted the full E-Pl5 review. Also Frankfurter Allgemeine (translation here) tested the E-PL5. First imrpession at Sgoldswoblog.
E-PM2 test at DC.watch (translation here).
Body cap resolution test at DSLRmagazine (translation here).
E-PM1 in Afghanistan at Pen And Tell.
Michaël: “Maybe it’s too late after the initial release, but I took some shots with my recently acquired E-PL5 and 20mm 1.7, as well as one shot with the Samyang 7.5mm fisheye. They’re on flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdstoop/tags/olympuspenepl5/”

The polish community Olympusclub (translation here) posted new RAW and JPG image samples taken with the soon to come 17mm f/1.8 lens. Here are the direct download links of the RAW files:

• _APZ0469.ORF‎ (13.79 MB)
• _APZ0478.ORF‎ (15.78 MB)
• _APZ0481.ORF‎ (13.78 MB)
• _APZ0581.ORF‎ (14.58 MB)

The lens press release with official price and specs will be released tomorrow (Tuesday November 15 at 5-6 am London time). Olympus Japan already added the lens in their database.

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By the way we already have two 17mm primes that you may consider to buy instead of the 17mm f/1.8:
1) If you don’t care a lot about high image quality but more about tiny size than you may go for the Olympus 17mmf /2.8 at [shopcountry 14798].
2) If a big lens and no electronic AF and aperture doesn’t bother you than consider the superb and super fast [shoplink 30452 eBay]Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 lens (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. To easily find the best price on eBay you can also sue our little Slidoo tool (login to change country). Right now for example you can find a good deal at [shoplink 34880 eBay]Fotomundus (Click here)[/shoplink].