Sony NEX versus E-P3 battle.

[shoplink 23568][/shoplink]

Steve Huff (Click here) compared the Sony NEX-C3 and [shoplink 23568]Olympus E-P3[/shoplink] jpeg quality. In Steve opinions Olympus colors are better than Sony.
And EosHD (Click here) compared the high ISO results of the new Sony NEX-5n against the E-P3. The NEX-5n is undoubtedly better. And also better than the Canon 5D markII.
Also Soundimagesplus (Click here) tested the E-P3 ISO results: “To be honest they are not as bad as I feared, though I can’t really think of much use for the ISO 12,800 setting.”
You can check the E-P3 price and availability by clicking those direct search links: [shopcountry 23568].

[shoplink 23576]Olympus 12mm f/2.0[/shoplink] review at Soundimagesplus (Click here): “This has been a very long (10 parts!) series of posts about one lens. The reason is that its probably the most useful lens I’ve bought in a long time.”
Check the 12mm lens price at [shopcountry 23576].

Olympus 12mm f/2.0 review at Photozone. SLRmagic 11mm f/1.4 test at ThePhoBlographer.

[shoplink 23576][/shoplink]

Image courtesy: Photozone (Click here)

Photozone (Click here) posted their detailed Olympus 12mm f/2.0 review: “The mechanical implementation is fantastic and matches e.g. the Zeiss ZM or Voigtländer VM series. The optical quality of the M.Zuiko is quite impressive but we actually hoped for a little more here. The lens is very sharp in the center zone whereas the border/corner resolution is “only” good-to-very good and not breathtaking“. In summary: “Although the M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 ED may not be perfect there’s much to like about this new little Olympus lens. However, the pricing is a little too steep in our opinion.“. See the full very detailed review at Photozone. Click those shop names to check the Olympus lens price: [shopcountry 23576].

ThePhoBlographer (Click here) tested the new SLRmagic 11mm f/1.4 lens: “Overall, is this an impressive lens? Sure is! In fact, it’s nearly perfect with the exception of the vignetting. If I switch aspect ratios, then the problem goes away“. You can get that lens on [shoplink 21181 ebay]eBay (Click here to check the price)[/shoplink].

P.S.: A couple of Olympus 45mm f/1.8 image samples have been posted on Optyczne.pl.

First Kipon adapter hands-on and Toy lens review

Our friend Mike Kobal (Click here) got his hands on the Kipon EOS to m43 adapter which has a built-in aperture ring! He says: “This is a very useful and reasonably priced adapter, well made, no problems mounting my Canon lenses, image quality is very good as long as you stay within the suggested aperture range (markings from 1-6).” That adapter is available at BHphoto (Click here) and on [shoplink 24931 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

ThePhoBlographer (Click here) made a on filed review of the 26mm f/1.4 Toy lens: “With that in mind, this is a lens for the experimental photographer, the hipster, the film lover, or just those people that want a different look and will embrace, “technical flaws” to create better images that others aren’t creating. However, the lens still isn’t perfect. The colliding aperture blades and the backwards aperture and focusing rings can be annoying and will essentially force you to just shoot wide open and not worry about the rest.” Visit his website to see image and video samples! You can check the Toy lens price on [shoplink 24931 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]

Also the japanese website DC.watch (Click here) tested the Toy lens.

 

New E-PL3 review (E-PL3 coming on September 3). Olympus 45mm lens image samples (Shipment started at BHphoto). Leica 25mm in Stock.

[shoplink 23567][/shoplink]

E-PL3

ePhotozine (Click here) posted a new Olympus E-PL3 review: “The Olympus PEN E-PL3 is an excellent upgrade to the E-PL2, with extremely fast focusing, which was one of the big problems with the PEN series, especially if you’d used another faster Micro Four Thirds camera, but now Olympus are back in the game.” Read the full review to see all tests and image samples!
And Olympus Japan confirmed the E-Pl3 worldwide shipment starts on September the 3rd. You can click those links to see if the stores do have the E_PL3 available for preorder: [shopcountry 23567].

Olympus 45mm f/1.8

Robin Wong (Click here) wrote the second part of his field review with the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens: “the details captured were simply amazing. Zooming in 100% reviewed tiniest amount of details and textures“
We have been told by BHphoto (Click here) that they already shpped the first stoock of those lenses to the customers. Click those links to search for the lens at [shopcountry 23577].

Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4

The new Leica is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here, overpriced!) and Amazon UK (normal price).

US deals reminder

You now can get the Olympus E-P2 with 17mm or with 14-42mm lens for $499 only at Amazon (Click here).
There is a $100 Instant saving on the E-PL1 at BHphoto (Click here). It runs until September 3.
At the same time there is a $50 Instant rebate on the E-PL2 too, at BHphoto (Click here).
The Panasonic GH2 with 14-140mm lens is in Stock for $1439 at Amazon (Click here).
The Panasonic 100-300mm price dropped to $499 at Amazon (Click here).

The Olympus 45mm with superb performance (says DSLRmagazine)! + latest Olympusmarket deals.


Image on top by courtesy of DSLRmagazine.

There is a new and this time very detailed and complete review of the new Olympus 45mm lens at DSLRmagazine (Click here to read the google english translation). You can see all graph and test on their page. In short, this lens is a surprise! For 300 Euro you get a lot!
1) Resolution: The lens is surprisingly sharp! It has almost the same sharpness in the center and at the border of the image and actually there is almost no quality loss when shooting at f/1.8 aperture compared to the maximum quality aperture which DSLRmagazine found to be at f/4.0
2) Vignetting (light loss in the corners): At maximum aperture is less than 10%. That’s a very good result.
3) Distortion: There is no :)

Interesting_1: The same lens performs better on the E-P3 comapred to the E-PL1. This confirms there is a different sensor-processor design!
Interesting_2: The results for the distortion, resolution, chromatic aberrations and vignetting are not improved in the JPEG respect to RAW, which speaks for a good optical quality inherent in this small, lightweight, useful and friendly target.

Now take time to read the full review at DSLRmagazine! Right now you can preorder the lens at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), J&R (Click here) and in Europe at Amazon Deutschland (Click here).

Thanks V.Sama and M.San Fruits for the nice review!

Something different: Those are the refurbished Micro Four Thirds camera auctions ending at [shoplink 22691 ebay]Olympusmarket[/shoplink] today. Click on the names to see the auction:

Olympus E-P1

[shoplink 24945 ebay]E-P1 with kit 17mm pancake[/shoplink] [shoplink 24946 ebay]E-P1 with kit 17mm pancake and 14-42mm lens[/shoplink]

Olympus E-P2

[shoplink 24949 ebay]E-P2 with kit lens[/shoplink]

Olympus E-PL1

[shoplink 24944 ebay]E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24947 ebay]E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24950 ebay]E-PL1 with double kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24951 ebay]E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24952 ebay]E-PL1 with kit lens[/shoplink] [shoplink 24953 ebay]E-PL1 with 14-150mm lens[/shoplink]

New Olympus 45mm review (20mm pancake for $350)

The 45mm lens is the first form the left (Image courtesy PekkaPotka)

There is a new Olympus 45mm review made by Robin Wong (Click here): “To be honest, I did not have high expectations on this particular lens, nor did Olympus claim anything extraordinary about the 45mm. Seeing it so tiny and having such light weight, one would surely doubt its performance and image quality. I was about to be proven so wrong. This tiny lens is mightier than it appears to be. Do not let the cuteness fool you.”

You can search for lens preorders by clicking those links at [shopcountry 23577].

A hot US deal: The Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake is in Stock for $350 via third party resellers at Amazon (Click here).

P.S: PekkaPotka posted some 45mm image samples on his website

Hacked versus unhacked GH2 video comparison (GH2 for around $1.250 in US!)

Günther Machu made the very first hacked GH2 vs unhacked GH2 versus GH1 comparison. On the his vimeo page you can read the full report. In short: “The 720p60 clearly benefits the most from the hack. The hacked 1080p24 mode shows a finer noise in the dark areas with less keyframe pulsing.”

The hacking is fully ongoing with continuos updateds. Keep an eye on that personal-view forum topic to see more image smaples and user reports.

I still didn’t get many rumors about the next Panasonic GH3. But one thing I noticed is that in US the GH2 is getting cheaper and cheaper. The GH2 with 14-140mm lens is now in Stock with a $250 disocunt at Newegg.com (Click here) ->(found via Noisycamera) and for $1446 on Amazon (Click here).

More links to GH2 product pages: [shopcountry 16254].

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases