Robin Wong (Click here) had the chance to play the new weather sealed Olympus 12-50mm lens: “For a standard zoom lens, the sharpness that this lens produces is very remarkable. ”
Pekka Potka (Click here) likes the lens and says his only flaws are on the very wide end when it shows visible distortion and chromatic aberration.
Also Pen&Tell (Click here) noticed the same flaws and says that the distortion goes away between 20-40mm and comes back as “pincushion” at the long end.
First stores are now accepting preorders on the lens. Check these search links to see if it’s available: [shopcountry 27977].
If Fuji is ever going to acquire or “invest” in Olympus than it’s certainly because of the very profitable endoscope division and NOT because of the camera business. Reuters reports that when asked about a possible investment in Olympus Kouichi Tamai (head of Fujifilm’s medical systems unit) said that “Until we know what will happen to Olympus as a company, it would all be theoretical, so we don’t know“. The news here is that indeed Fuji is clearly interested in what’s happening around Olympus. The only thing I can add via my source channels is that indeed Fuji’s name is floating around the Olympus headquarters more than any other big names.
One more thing: You already know that in February Fuji will announce their new LX mirrorless system with the first camera having an organic sensor. Actually it’s an APS-C sensor that beats the image quality of ff sensors. There is a rumor saying that to cut the production costs Fuji is willing to sell sensors to third parties. As Olympus is having a good relationship with Fuji I guess there is a small chance Olympus could be one if not the only one using those sensors. It would suddenly let make a quantum leap forward. Couple that with the new Olympus viewfinder technology and …..keep dreaming ;)
Simon: “Just wanted to share this promo video that was shot exclusively with a GF1. CrumplePop (makers of awesome VFX) is featuring it on their blog! Check it out: http://crumplepop.com/blog/”
Travis: “I shot a bunch of video and stills at the regional bouldering competition my son competed at this weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02r6ArAnvHY The gym is extremely dark so I used the 25mm F1.4 the entire time. Even the 45mm F1.8 wasn’t fast enough for the “cave” where most of the climbing took place. One thing I can say is that the new AF improvements are significant. I now use AFC for video always. The expanded touch screen for AF is also a huge bonus. I also didn’t really miss the high bit rates from the hack at all. Hopefully, the new firmware will be hacked soon so we can have the best of both worlds. This footage was basically unedited in terms of color and affects. The only thing I did was add in some sharpness because I didn’t have it set to do that in camera.”
Andrew: “Hello, I wanted to share a unique single-take music video which I shot on the AF-100 with a PL mount Cooke 18-100 T.3 lens: http://vimeo.com/32183353. I also recently co-directed a full length climbing film on 2 AF100s. here is the trailer: http://vimeo.com/akorn/a-fine-line-film-trailer”
Brian: “I wanted to share a promotional video that I shot on a Panasonic GH2 for Anime World Chicago. No hacks or expensive toys. Just my camera, the 20mm pancake lens, and a tripod. http://vimeo.com/29159618”
Mike: “just sharing, shot with GH2 and 5N…..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_my1pDzWzc ab geht’s nach Africa/Kenya morgen, bin ende Dec wieder zurück. wünsche dir schöne weihnachten!”
Hakan: “Here is a little bit of everything, I took your words in plain ” Enjoy the time with your families and take some nice pictures of them”: http://vimeo.com/34190358”
P.S.: Digitalcamerainfo (Click here) is giving away a 9-piece grand prize worth over $4000. They are going to reveal one piece of the prize everyday until New Year’s, starting with a Sony NEX-5N.
For a limited time you can save $175 on the Panasonic GF3 when you purchase from Amazon.com (Click here). To take advantage of this offer, add the qualifying camera from the list below to your Shopping Cart, enter promotional code B5724RNG, and Amazon will automatically reduce the price at checkout. One discount per customer; limit of one product per customer. This offer is valid through January 7, 2012, or while supplies last. (Source: Amazon)
P.S.: There is a $10 price drop on the nice Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens at Amazon (Click here).
For almost a year now we are waiting for Sigma to announce the first m43 lenses. The image on top shows the first prototype lens that has been displayed on many shows. It’s a 30mm f/2.8 macro lens. But I really do hope there is more than that coming on January 10th when Sigma has scheduled a new press release (see Sigmaphoto.com / via Photorumors). Sigma managers revealed at Imrpessjpana that they want to launch m43 lenses soon. So this may be the right time to finally see those new lenses! In general we expect a new Olympus and Panasonic announcement in January too, this means for me that it will be a very busy month! Stay tuned!
Just a reminder. Sigma is part of the Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds coalition and already offers a nice amount of Four Thirds lenses:
[shoplink 18947 ebay]Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18948 ebay]Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18948 ebay]Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18949 ebay]Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18950 ebay]Sigma 24mm f/1.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18951 ebay]Sigma 30mm f/1.4[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18952 ebay]Sigma 50mm f/1.4[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18953 ebay]Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18955 ebay]Sigma 55-500mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18956 ebay]Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18957 ebay]Sigma 105mm f/2.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18958 ebay]Sigma 135-400mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18959 ebay]Sigma 150mm f/2.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18960 ebay]Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6[/shoplink]
A Samsung source just sent me some info about their semitransparent electronic viewfinder. Samsung is one of the companies working on that technology that Olympus could use in future cameras.
The source gave me bits of very intriguing info. Thanks!!!
Here is the text:
“Samsung has two small prototypes of semitransparent OLED, that officially are known as ST-AMOLED, they are truly AMOLED devices (Active Matrix OLED). Samsung can not make a higher resolution EVF, the limit right now is just 750×560 on 0.55″ 4:3 display with 52% of transparency. The new device for late of 2012 will reach 1080×815 on 0.75″ 4:3 display, offering 1080×720 on 3:2 mode and 73% of transparency. The final device will have a RGB-W pattern, including a White photodiode to improve the high contrast scenes. I have not information about commercialization to 3rd companies, but it will offer an advanced technology on the market for competition.”
Samsung is not the only electronic viewfinder maker. Also Epson, Fuji and Sony could sell them to Olympus.
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