Dear readers,

Many of you worried about me because of the post I wrote yesterday. I only wanted to add that I am not sick, and I am not going to stop the activity on 43rumors. I am having some issues to solve within my family and that’s why I could miss to post some news or not be that fast to answer your emails. So if it happens that you don’t hear about me for a few days you should know that I am very likely busy with family business.

That said, I really appreciate your kind words. It’ really gave me some energy I lost during the last weeks. I will need that because I know we are going to see many new m43 products within the next weeks. There will be the enw Panasonic lenses and I have been told Olympus could launch the new camera in February (yes, the new “revolutionary” camera). I will keep working on those rumors and I am glad we can have such an interesting time to share together.

Merry Christmas!

Reuters reports that: “Olympus Corp is preparing to issue about $1.28 billion (100 billion yen) in new shares to bolster its depleted finances, with Japanese high-tech stalwarts Sony and Fujifilm seen as possible buyers, the Nikkei business daily reported.” Reuters also says that Panasonic could join the “share shopping” too. This really sounds like a very vague rumor. Before Reuters and Bloomberg reported that also Samsung and Hoya may be interested in an Olympus acquisition. Such news are no-news anymore :)

All I know from my sources is that Olympus has a very close relation to Fuji, and there are rumors that Olympus is talking with Fuji a way out of the financial mess. But that’s just a rumor. I think it will not pass a lot of time that we will see Olympus real steps.

UPDATE: BBC reports that “Japanese prosecutors have raided the headquarters of camera and medical equipment maker Olympus as part of an ongoing investigation.”

P.S.: Olympus gives us some nice new m43 cameras and lenses soon so that we can help you out with our money!

We are close to a new year that I am sure will bring us many more innovations and cameras than the finishing 2011. And you already know most of what’s coming. Nikon will release their new FF cameras which as usual will bring a bit better image quality, a bit more features a bit more of everything. We can expect the same “slow advance” approach from Canon. Fuji is going to introduce a revolutionary new sensor made by organic materials that can surpass the quality of any other FF sensor. Sony will very likely introduce a fullframe NEX-9 camera and sensors with more Megapixels (there is already a working 100 Megapixel sensor prototype). Pentax plans to make both a fullframe and a medium format mirrorless camera. Panasonic will bring global shutter, and a new GH3 with top video quality.

But there is one technology that will probably be the ONE BIG THING of the year 2012. It’s the upcoming new Olympus viewfinder technology. I explain you my reasons:

I am pretty convinced (like many others) that mirrorless is the future. But there is one thing I really cannot fell in love with. It’s the electronic viewfinder. While I understand the advantages of such technology (What you see is what you get in terms of framing, depth of field and so on) I still think it will always miss that “special close to reality feeling” I have when I look through an optical viewfinder of a real rangefinder or DSLR camera. I prefer the use of the 3 inch LCD any time over the external viewfinder from my [shoplink 14830]Olympus E-P2[/shoplink]. And it’s not because of the poor quality. I also used the super high resolution viewfinder from the [shoplink 26379]NEX-5n[/shoplink]. It’s a bit better but it doesn’t change anything to the missing “reality feeling” I am looking for. It’s an unnatural process to look at a digital screen with a linear pattern of pixels that is placed at a couple of millimeters from your eye. It’s completely a different experience to look at the  direct stream of light coming from the real subject in the distance. And I believe that’s the real big gap between the current mirrorless cameras and the classic DSLR (or rangefinder) cameras. Neither a 100 megapixels sensor nor a super OLED technology can replace the ONE thing I need.

The [shoplink 19929 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink] hybrid viewfinder has been the first camera that made step in the direction I want. But it has on big limitation (it doesn’t work with interchangeable lenses). I know the new LX cameras from Fuji will use an optical (non-hybrid!) viewfinder. That sounds damn intriguing but what I heard about Olympus technology sounds far more advanced! It’s a sort of “semitransparent viewfinder“. You will have all the possible advantages. The optical “feeling” and when needed the digital “perfection”. Plus it works on a camera that can take interchangeable lenses. I still don’t know the details of the viewfinder. I only heard about a prototype having an invisible OLED layer on the optical viewfinder. I hope some of my sources can help me to figure out how it works. But all I know is that the camera is coming soon.

So dear Olympus, let others run the Megapixel race, the super fake perfectly boring specs war. What I need is to feel photography, to feel a camera that stays well in my hands, to feel a camera that brings me emotionally as close as possible to the moment I intend to capture. If Olympus will make that camera my little savings will be spent for them. No matter how many Megapixels the camera has.

P.S.: Thanks for all the positive energy you gave me today with your comments on my previous post. It really gave me the kick to write that post about the Olympus viewfinder!

P.P.S.: My favorite camera is still the [shoplink 27849 ebay]Mamiya 7 (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink]. An absolutely non(!) perfect camera that makes me take superb pictures!