The m4/3 announcement (and probably success) regurgitated a big question…. Will Olympus still maintain the same commitment and development resources for normal four thirds cameras and lenses?

I asked some of our sources.

All confirm that Olympus has a clear four thirds camera and lens roadmap. They are still designing new four thirds cameras and lenses. Nothing has changed. The E-3 successor is planned to be released this year and you will certainly see new four thirds cameras next year. From now until spring 2010 Olympus will release new lenses (most of them are primes).

This sounds good, but I believe  a huge m4/3 success will probably distort these plans. Olympus is a small company (compared to the bigger Canon, Nikon and Sony) with limited resources….perhaps the time has come for a big choice?

I received an unofficial confirmation that the E-P1 will be available late July in Europe.

Soon redcoon and pixmania should have the E-P1 available for pre-order. I will post links for every European country to them as soon as the E-P1 is listed… How many countries are there in Europe? It’s going to be a long slog:)

Get it here! (Same prices as amazon)

Bhphoto E-P1

Adorama E-P1

We all have been busy looking for E-P1 news, images, samples and previews. That’s why we make a small summary of all the NO-E-P1 news :)

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There is a new Olympue E-620 review at

http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2009/06/17/Olympus-E-620/p1

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Panasonic GH1 gets his review at photographybay and quesabesde (spanish)

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A very long list of Panasonic compact camera should take an advantage from the new firmware…but a very little one!

But there is a Warning!
“After this firmware update your Panasonic Digital Camera cannot be operated by 3rd party batteries (non genuine Panasonic batteries).”

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/

• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FS15 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FS25 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FS4 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FS42 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FS6 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FS62 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FS7 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FS8 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FX40/FX48 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FX550/FX580 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-FT1/DMC-TS1 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-TZ6/DMC-ZS1 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-TZ65 Firmware update service
• Jun 15, 2009 | DMC-TZ7/DMC-ZS3 Firmware update service

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Noisycamera reports some new Olympus 3CCD Trine sensor speculation

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From engadget:

Update: We’ve heard conflicting word on auto focus. According to Photography Review‘s preview, the camera doesn’t have auto focus in video mode, but according to the Olympus press release, as Super Marxio pointed out in comments, there is auto focus during recording. Perhaps Photography Review was looking at a non-final version of the camera. We do know that the camera does auto focus using contrast detection, like a regular compact camera, and while that’s the same method used by the GH1, DP Review claims it’s slightly inferior — though they did state they were working with a 0.9 firmware.

We are still seeking Us and Europe release date.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0906/09061602ep1movies.asp