It’s weekend time and I am on the way on a long one day trip. Before to go I link you to a list of new lens test….enjoy!

Olympus 75mm:
First impression report at Admiringlight: “It’s not perfect, but it’s darn, darn good. The lens is well built and feels great in the hand, and autofocus is very fast. I was even able to use C-AF to pretty good effect with this lens. Bokeh is nice and the images are quite sharp.”
Another brief review with images at Pattayadays.
Ryan: “I was lent the 75mm lens so I used it in low light applications (at a wedding specifically) to see how it did in low light. If you’d like to use it you certainly may (Video on Vimeo).”
Preorders and price check at [shopcountry 31284].

Panasonic 12-35mm X:
Frugalfilmmakers reviewed the Lumix X 12-35 F2.8 I.O.S.
Preorders and price check at [shopcountry 31225].

Nokton 17.5mm:
Complete Nokton 17.5mm lens test at Lepidi.

Tokina 300mm:
Tokina 300mm f/6.3 Mirror Lens for Micro Four Thirds at Luminous Landscape.
Review at Camerastuffreview (Translation here).

Pentax 110:
Use Pentax-110 24mm Lenses On Micro 4/3 Cameras (Diyphotography).

Samyang fisheye:
Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 UMC Fisheye Lens Review at ePhotozine.
By the way, Samyang will also (very likely) announce new m43 lenses with at photokina. The current fisheye links:
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).

[shoplink 16254][/shoplink]

The second part of the Zacuto shootout (the one with Coppola voting for the GH2) created quite a buzz and there is a must read article written by Art Adams on ProVideoCoalition. Zacuto now made a more equilibrate shootout you can watch here: http://www.zacuto.com/shootout-revenge-2012/revenge-of-the-great-camera-shootout-part-three

Meanwhile the GH2 is getting cheaper and cheaper right before the GH3 announcement: [shopcountry 16254].

P.S.: a reader sent me this: “Check out this short film shot w/ the GH2. The color grading and overlook is insane! Could pass for a higher end camera, for sure: vimeo”

During the last years Panasonic and Olympus achieved impressive results on the AF performance. As you know they rely on the contrast AF only. Canon, Nikon (and soon Sony too) are using a hybrid contrast and phase detection AF on their mirrorelss cameras like on the new Canon EOS-M. The video on top has been made by Dpreview to shows the comparison between the G5 AF and the 650D AF.

I think the real advantage of phase detetion is the continous AF on moving objects. On still objects the Panasonic easily beats the Canon!

BY the way, the new Panasonic G5 arrived in Europe and is in Stock at Jessops and on [shoplink 32831 ebay]eBay UK (Click here)[/shoplink].

Image courtesy: Photozone.

I have plenty of new Micro Four Thirds lens review to show you today :)

Panasonic 14-42mm X:
Sebastian Milczanowski from Photozone (Click here) tested the 14-42mm X pancake zoom: “surprisingly compact albeit not superb kit zoom lens as some might have hoped from its “X” designation. Size- and weight-wise it is hard to beat so if you are looking for an ultra-compact standard zoom solution – well … this is it. The price is also alright considering the whole package.”
At the moment of posting this four X pancakes are for sale at $259 at Amazon (Click here). For that price this lens is a must go. I like the lens because of the compactness. If I really need top image quality than I will go for the lens below:

Panasonic 12-35mm X:
That this lens is good we already know. But if you still need to hear more nice words here is the 12-35mm X lens part five review at Soundimagesplus, the full review at Frugalfilmmakers and at Steve Huff.
In Stock and price check by clicking those links: [shopcountry 31225].

Olmypus 75mm:
The 75mm lens is still available in Asia only although some stores (like BHphoto) already shipped the first preorders. Here are the links to two “Asian” tests at Nikkei and at DCfever.
In Stock and price check by clicking those links: [shopcountry 31284].

Tokina 300mm and Panasonic 45-150mm:
Not a mainstream lens but it’s nice to have Tokina as partner of the m43 group with the new 300mm lens. It has now been tested at Camerastuffreview. One more small news: Panasonic Lumix Vario 45-150mm Sample Photos at ePhotozine.

That’s it!

LX7:
Although not a m43 camera some of you are considering to buy the new Panasonic LX7. So here are two new review: ISO tets by Focus Numerique (Translation here) and at DSLRmagazine (Translation here).
While the LX7 is certainly a nice camera I would have liked to see a larger sensor compact. Currently the RX100 is selling terribly well (here is the ranking).

Olympus 12-50mm,45mm and Nokton 17.5mm:
SLRgear posted the full Olympus 12-50mm review: “As the kit lens for the OM-D EM-5, you couldn’t really ask for more; the lens offers excellent results for sharpness, corner shading and distortion.”
M43.eu (Translation here) tested 45mm lens hood variations.
Admiringlight tested the Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 lens: “Overall, I was absolutely blown away by the performance of this lens.  I was not expecting anywhere near the performance it provides at f/0.95, and the resolution it delivers stopped down is equally stunning. ”

You don’t see Admiringlight use the word “stunning” very often! Lens is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here). Best price for Europeans at [shoplink 32734 ebay]Lapetitephoto eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

BHphoto just postponed the G5 release to August 20th (before it was August 10th).

While we have to wait one month to see the new GH3 let’s see what the GH2.5 (so named by a Panasonic manager) can do ;)

Trustedreviews posted the full G5 review: “Build quality is very good, the touch screen functionality makes it a fun and intuitive camera to use and overall image quality also impresses. Add to this the camera’s fast AF performance, flexible vari-angle screen and useful 6fps burst speed and the G5 adds up to a tempting package.”

Focus Numerique (Translation here) posted the full ISO test. The camera easily beats the [shoplink 23568]Olympus E-P3[/shoplink] although it can’t catch up with the Sony NEX-5n.

Meantime the GH2 got the lowest price ever on Amazon (Click here) and at the moment of posting this the 12-35mm X lens is also back in Stock (Click here).

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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).