The [shoplink 16930]TTH Cooke Vidital 1.3/30mm lens[/shoplink] is handamade lens and this is the first time we see a UK made lens on a Micro Four Thirds camera! As the author says: “You can´t find a second of this lenses in a helix like this, it is nearly unpossible to find a 30mm Vidital. It is a really unique lens.” You can see a set of image samples on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cinegon/

That is the tetx posted by the author on [shoplink 16930]eBay[/shoplink]: “I made a helicoil by my self, I´am using a brass/alumium combination to make it very solid, this helix allows a focus range between infinity- ~ 12cm. So it is useable as a macro lens too. The helix has no stop position to close focus, so it is possible to use the full lenght of it, for the future it is easy to unscrew it when a cleaning or new lube is needed. The focus ring has six screw sticks for an easy handling, the aperture ring has a large diameter too, believe me, it is perfect for handlig, specially for movie making. The lens is useable with MFT cameras without any dark corners in all modes. The lens has a wonderfull bokeh, better then the Speed Panchros has. The lens is 100% made in England.

The lens were made in a time when TTh and the American lens makers decide to engrave the lenses with the transmitted speed, so it is marked with T1.5 the F speed is F1.3 Later TTH went back to the F stop engraving because the Japanese and German lens makers do it also and a lens with F1.3 is better for selling than one with T1.5.”

Quesabesde tested the new Panasonic GH2 (Click here to read the google english translation). You can download many images taken with the new Panasonic lenses (The [shoplink 16264]12.5mm 3d[/shoplink] lens, the [shoplink 16258]14mm[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 16261]100-300mm[/shoplink] lens).

The most interesting news are:
– The GH2 will be available in December (In Europe)
– The camera has the firmware version 0.2
– Panasonic ensured that the redesign of the circuitry of the sensor and image processor has improved sensor performance over the previous model in regard to noise control.
– The contrast autofocus speed is over four times faster than the contrast AF of the Canon 5D and seven time faster than the [shoplink 14908]Sony NEX-5[/shoplink]!

There are three more new GH2 videos on vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/15826890
http://www.vimeo.com/15734423
http://www.vimeo.com/15735420

Preorder the GH2 at:
Amazon US, BHphoto, Amazon UK, Amazon France

Preorder the new 12.5mm 3D lens at:
Amazon US, BHphoto, Amazon Deutschland, Amazon France

Preorder the 14mm f/2.5 lens at:
Amazon US, BHphoto, Amazon Deutschland

Preorder the 100-300mm O.I.S. lens at:
Amazon US, Amazon Deutschland

Panasonic AG AF-100 01/02 evaluation footage by CREWS.TV from Yves Simard on Vimeo.

Finally we have a first AG-AF100 sample footage! The video has been posted by CREWS.TV on vimeo and that’s what they have written:

“This is an independent evaluation by members of CREWS.TV of the [shoplink 16841]Panasonic AG AF 101/102 micro 4/3 camera[/shoplink].

This test was done purely as an experiment to evaluate its performance as a Film making /Television production tool. We did not test it against charts or other cameras, we simply took it for a test drive in what we thought would be its optimal conditions. Our goal was not to find its faults or decide its place in the market nor was it to choose sides in the ever political best camera debates. We are cinematographers who love their craft and love the tools that give us this ability.

We only had the camera for a few hours so we decided to keep it simple.

The camera is capable of 35mm lenses, so we used a [shoplink 16898]PL adapter[/shoplink] and [shoplink 15756 ebay]Zeiss Ultra Primes[/shoplink] , choosing from our set as we saw fit on the day. We chose to record on the on-board SD cards with the AVCHD codec at 24 mbs but we also opted to use the HDSDI output, recording at 100 mbs on the AVC Intra HD codec to P2 cards. We opted to do this rather than recording to Nanoflash simply to keep it all Panasonic native.

We chose this work-flow as we simply wanted to see this camera in the very best light possible.

We also had a sound recordist on location who used a dual channel radio link to the camera via its standard XLR inputs.

This is a prototype, so there were some technical issues, Panasonic assured us that it would be rectified in the production model. Our test scenes had to be limited to indoor locations as a consequence. It was a temperature related issue.

This footage is edited from the 100mbs files, ingested and edited natively mainly because it was easy. This footage was not graded, altered or manipulated, straight off the files and exported to Vimeo for your viewing pleasure. In fact we even used the natural sound rather than using music so that you can evaluated the footage for yourself.

A full report on our website crews.tv

Click here to read it AF-100 storm gathers. crews.tv/​blog/​2010/​10/​12/​af100-storm-gathers/”

Reminder: [shoplink 16841]BHphoto has an exclusive preorder offer on the AG-AF100 (Click here)[/shoplink]!

A fake GF2 created by blog.livedoor.jp

In an interview with DSLRmagazine Sven Dabelstein, Anne Guennewig and Monica Puértolas from Panasonic confirmed that the upcoming Panasonic GF2 will not have the new GH2 18 megapixel multiaspect sensor. They also said that they didn’t want to give that sensor to Olympus for the Olympus E-5 because “each firm should reserve a space to develop differentiated products with unique technologies.“. They cannot say now if the Micro F0ur Thirds 25mm f/1.4 will be a Leica labeled lens like the current [shoplink 16340]Panasonic/Leica 25mm f/1.4 for Four Thirds[/shoplink]. They are also playing with the idea to make Tilt-Shift lenses.

The new Olympus E-5 has been a heavily criticized camera since it was announced. Now Olympus Marketing wants to prove that the E-5 camera has indeed a top image quality. So almost every known website published image samples and first Hands-on.
Steve Digicam’s published a long list of image and video samples on his website. Robin Wong published his E-5 conclusions and published a lovely request to the Olympus community: “Let the world see who we are, and what we can do with Olympus.“. Noisycamera also found a user review inside the dpreview forum. Zone-10 published the first and second part of the camera comparison. And Brandoneu published his first part of the personal E-5 review.

To find more E-5 news and reviews just click here: https://www.43rumors.com/?s=Olympus+E-5

You can support this website by preordering the camera click here: Amazon US, BHphoto, Adorama and in Europe at Amazon Deutschland.

LUMIX GH2 test – Marionette maker in Vienna

Click the following youtube link to see a GH2+20mm f/1.7 video test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoZfQoXRCx4&feature=related
Here to see a GH2 + 8mm fisheye test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za9lmqUNKKQ&feature=related
And here to see a GH2 + 14mm f/2.5 slow motion test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfU5JxEov4o
To read all our GH2 news and previews click here: https://www.43rumors.com/?s=GH2

Dcyesky (google english translation) posted a detailled Olympus E-5 review. A user on dpreview forum compared the E5 with the E-620 and the Canon 5D. There is also a new review made by pixelmania.nl.
To read all our E-5 news and previews click here: https://www.43rumors.com/?s=Olympus+E-5

Panasonic GH2 preorders:
Amazon US, Amazon UK and Amazon France.

Olympus E-5 preorders:
Amazon US, BHphoto and Adorama.

While searching for some news about the new Voigtländer 25mm f/0.95 Micro Four Thirds lens I found those awesome fast and tele manual focus lenses on [shoplink 16777]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. The [shoplink 16777]Zoomatar 250mm f/1.3[/shoplink] pictured above is the fastest tele lens I have ever seen (Did you ever find a faster lenes at 250mm?). The lens uses a Hassellbad mount!

The lens above is the [shoplink 16777]Zoomatar 180mm f/1.3[/shoplink]. It uses the Nikon F-mount. I found only a few image samples on a taiwanese blog (blog.xuite.net) and some info at Cameraquest.

There is also a [shoplink 16777]Zoomatar 75mm f/1.3[/shoplink] (mount is unknown to me) and I found one image of the lens used on the Panasonic G1.

Currently only the [shoplink 16777]Zoomatar 180mm f/1.3 is for sale on eBay ($10.000!!!)[/shoplink].

I didn’t find any image samples of that lens used on a Micro Four Thirds camera! Would love to see that 250mm f/1.3 on my tiny Olympus E-P1 :)

Can you find some more details about those lenses? Thanks!