Looking at the picture on top made by DSLRmagazine the new Sigma 30mm f/2.8 lens doesn’t look bad at all. But the naked truth is that the lens specifications aren’t appealing at the first look. But we are ready to get over this if the lens performance is top notch. So let’s read the latest review from Valentin at DSLRmagazine (Click here to read the translation). In short, the lens has no flaws. It performs well in every aspect with just a slightly Chromatic Aberration you can easily correct in post production. Overall this is not a bad lens you get for $200 at Hphoto.

Laoburi (Click here) posted a set of image samples taken with the other new Sigma 19mm f/2.8 lens. I haven’t yet found any preorder option of that lens.

Rankings: Silver E-M5 kits are still selling more than the black ones and than more than the Fuji X PRO 1 according to Amazon US rankings (Click here).

E-M5 preorders (Click on the names of the stores to see the product page):
Black E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, and Amazon Japan.
Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto , Digitalrev and J&R.
Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland , Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland and Amazon Japan.

Speaking of the hacker Vitaly, I kindly ask you to support him for the NAB show coverage (Click here). The NABshow is the biggest broadcast video event of the year (Click here to see the official website)

P.S.: From time to time the Gh2 gets some super deal like it was with the now ended [shoplink 29671 ebay]GH2 with 14-140mm for $899 on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Drop me a message if you find more deals like that so that I can share it with other 43rumors readers! Thanks!
Here are some GH2 search links: [shopcountry 16254].

The Singapore website Hardwarezone (Click here) published a full Olympus E-M5 review. The camera earns nine points out of ten: “We could list its specs: 16MP image sensor, 5-axis image stabilization, weather-resistant body. We could tell you how well the camera handles with the twin control dials, quick AF speed and easy AF point selection. We could wax lyrical about its gorgeous, retro-inspired look. We could look at its images’ beautiful colors and remarkable high ISO performance. But it’s when these elements are brought together that something altogether new is born: Charm. Any photographer would be hard-pressed not to have fun shooting with the E-M5. The mostly well-placed controls let you give it swift commands which are promptly obeyed. Its quick and accurate auto-focus, together with the excellent image stabilization and image quality at higher ISO speeds, conspire to help you catch the most fleeting of moments.”

Ok, we already know the E-M5 is a great camera but how does the image quality compare with the best of its class, the Fuji X PRO 1? Yesterday I published a probably not so fair E-M5 versus X PRO 1 image comparison at MirrorlessRumors (Click here). You can click that link to see the image of the full ISO comparison: http://i.minus.com/igOc5QWXHZSII.jpg. It’s not so fair because the E-M5 shots were taken with the kit zoom lens while the X PRO 1 used the very likely much better 18mm f/2.0 prime lens. So don’t care too much about the sharpness while noise will not be so effected by the lens quality. What do you think?

E-M5 preorders (Click on the names of the stores to see the product page):
Black E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, and Amazon Japan.
Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto , Digitalrev and J&R.
Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland , Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland and Amazon Japan.

Olympus OM-D + M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-50 mm f/3,5-6,3 EZ from DSLR Magazine on Vimeo.

There is a new Olympus 12-50mm lens test at DSLRmagazine (Click here for the google translation). The test is very detailed and proves that the lens has some flaws. It’s an average quality kit lens that his strengths int he features list more than in the optical quality. But overall the lens is a real bargain for what it delivers when you buy it as kit lens along the [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink]!

Also Lenstip (Click here) reviewed the lens: “I like writing the summaries of Olympus optics because usually I can praise the tested lenses. Olympus has always produced good lenses. Unfortunately the summary of the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12–50 mm f/3.5–6.3 ED EZ will be an exception because it won’t feature a lot of praise.”

P.S.: the german Fotomagazine (Click here) posted the full E-M5 ISO test images.

E-M5 preorders (Click on the names of the stores to see the product page):
Black E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, and Amazon Japan.
Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto , Digitalrev and J&R.

Valentin Sama from the Spanish Dslrmagazine (Click here for the translation) tested the E-M5 sensor.
He first compared the new E-M5 with the previous m43 Olympus models. In short the noise performance of the E-m5 has indeed been improved but there is no real advantage in terms of revolution over the older 12 Megapixel E-P3 sensor. Valentin says the E-P3 per pixel sharpness is still a bit greater than the one from the 16 Megapixel E-M5 sensor.
Than Valentin made a comparison with two larger sensor APS-C cameras. The Nikon D7000 and Fuji X PRO 1. First he clearly reminds that both cameras are more expensive than the E.M5. The Nikon D7000 costs $1,500 (here at Amazon) and the Fuji X PRo 1 costs $1,700 (here at Amazon). According to Valentin JPEG testing results the E-M5 is on par with the Nikon D7000. And that’s already a surprising result!
The Fuji has a huge advantage because of the lack Anti Aliasing filter. The results are a greater clarity and less noise.

In summary: he says the E-M5 has indeed an improved JPEG quality although we have to see if that is an improvement is more due the new JPEG engine than the new 16 megapixel sensor.

One more thing: E-M5 with 12-50mm kit lens image samples at Robin Wong (Click here).

Rankings: Three different E-M5 kits are still on top of the Amazon US rankings (Click here).

E-M5 preorders (Click on the names of the stores to see the product page):
Black E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Warehouse UK, and Amazon Japan.
Black E-M5 body with 14-42mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto , Digitalrev and J&R.
Black E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland , Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
Silver E-M5 body with 12-50mm lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, J&R, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Deutschland and Amazon Japan.

video by Fotomundus.

About time! Thanks to the french website OpenPN (Click here to read the google translation). They found that the sharpness is very good even when shooting at full f/0.95 aperture. The only major issue at that aperture is the high Chromatic Aberration. The bokeh is wonderful (says the reviewer).

My personal judgment after seeing the image sample is that the Lens is damn good already at f/0.95. Of course it’s not perfect but if you seek for perfection at that extreme aperture than you have to spend over 10.000 Euro/Dollars for the [shoplink 29763 ebay]Leica Noctilux[/shoplink]!

Europenas can preorer the lens at [shoplink 29368 ebay]Digitalhandel (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 29367 ebay]Bayern Fotoversand (Click here)[/shoplink] and Fotomundus (Click here).