One of the nicest new announcement at photokina was that Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens. Sadly Olympus didn’t release any official image sample to see how good (or bad) the image quality is. But a Dpreview forum member (Click here) managed to take two shots with the prototype version that was on show at photokina. Those pics definitely can’t unveil what the quality of the lens will be. For now also price and availability are unknown. Hope it doens’t take that long to see it in store! This is one of the mft lenses I would like to own.
EosHD (Click here) tested the SLR Magic 35mm T0.95 and T1.4 prototype lenses on the GH2.
Further we have two new reviews from well know (and highly rated) Olympus reviewers: Admiringlight (Click here) posted a new “Macro Battle” article between the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 and the Leica 45mm f/2.8: “Overall, it’s looking like the Olympus 60mm may have a slight edge in resolution over the also excellent Panasonic Leica” Robin Wong (Click here) tested the “mini-Em5”, the new E-PL5. He shot a wedding and writes: “Honestly, I have very, very little complains, and generally very satisfied with what the camera could do. When I was shooting, I did not even wish for a moment to switch back to my old DSLR E-5. Yes, I have my minor complains of no Viewfinder and wanting a better grip, but what the E-PL5 could do, trumps all the complains I had.”
If you are curious to see how the GH3 remote control works just watch these two vidoes. The first has been embedded here on top. The second can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od5fqlRba_g.
Readers contacted me to say that the new Olympus 60mm macro lens is already shipping in US, Europe and Asia. To be more detailed they got them from Amazon, Adorama, and [shoplink 33616 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]. The 12mm Black edition is in Stock at Fotohanskeuzekamp.
And here is a new lens review roundup which includes many newly announced lenses:
SLRmagic 35mm f/1.4 test at M43.eu.
Olympus 75mm lens arrived (Soundimagesplus).
Panasonic 35-100mm X lens test at Popco.
Schneider lens release roundup at DSLRmagazine.
Panasonic 25mm lens test at KurtMunger and Tyson Robichaud.
Lensbaby Composer Pro for Micro Four Thirds with Sweet 35 Optic at ThePhoBlographer.
Voigtlander Nokton 17.5 mm f/0.95 Aspherical test at Lenstip.
Good Morning (at least here in Europe)! Let’s start the new day with a roundup of news about the recently announced Panasonic/Olympus stuff. On top you can watch a commercial uploaded by Panasonic.
Panasonic GH3:
GH3 image gallery at Popphoto.
First three hours impression by Wasabi.
Olympus E-PL5: Ming Thein posted the first Olympus E-PL3 review: “Ultimately, success at this end of the market will depend heavily on the camera’s price point. The rich feature set and overall refinement in operation make me curious to see what will succeed the E-P3; now if only they’d make one with a built-in EVF like the NEX-6…”
An E-PL5 hands-on has been posted on DC.watch (Tranlsation here).
Olympus 60mm macro:
Quick Look at the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro at Lensrentals. They compared it with the 45mm Panasonic macro and said that: “the resolution of the two lenses is identical.”
First impression review by Admiringlight.
One more thing: A new article about the next generation viewfinder likely going to be used by Olympus in next generation cameras at ePhotozine.
Note: There was an error in the Olympus and Panaosnic lens deal linking. Here are the correct links:
$200 price drop on the 12-35mm X lens at Amazon (Click here) and Bhphoto (Click here). If you recently bought that lens you can ask the $200 back from your store!
Olympus 75mm in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
Panasonic 12-35mm X: Photographyblog (Click here) posted the first full 35-100mm X lens review: “Optically the lens is a great performer. At all focal lengths, wide open at f/2.8 the center sharpness is perfectly acceptable, but for edge sharpness it’s best to stop down by two f-stops for optimum results. Chromatic aberrations are only noticeable by their almost complete absence, while distortions are automatically corrected on both Olympus and Panasonic bodies.”
The lens earns an “Essential” Award and has as only real problem…the high price! $1399 at Amazon (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
More Lens Reviews:
Panasonic 45-150mm Lens Review at ePhotozine. Optyczne posted the Nokton 17.5mm lens test. English version of the test will be posted soon on Lenstip. Lens in Stock at Amazon (Click here). Cheapest price in EU on [shoplink 33865 ebay]eBay lettland (Click here)[/shoplink]. Some 60mm amcor samples have been posted by Damian McGillicuddy on his blog and on Facebook.
I have to catch up with tons of news and here is a first part. Before that I kindly invite you to watch the video I embedded above. It has been made by a 43rumors reader with a hacked GH2. If you like it vote the video at Rodemic (Click here). You may help a 43rumors reader to become famous :)
