Together with the Japan-exclusive E-PL6, a slightly modified version of the E-PL5 for the Japanese market only, Olympus yesterday also announced three new colors for the BCL-1580 “body cap lens” that has been available for a couple months now. The new color choices are white, silver and red and fit the color scheme of the E-PL6 camera. While this certainly makes for a very sexy package, it is doubtful that these will be available on overseas markets as well. DC Watch reports that the new color versions of the BCL-1580 will be available from August for a retail price of JPY 6,825.
It’s been rumored for a while now, and guess what–it appears that the rumors were true. When I walked into my meeting with Olympus and saw the fabled EP5, I immediately asked them to take my credit card away from me. Today’s announcement marks the upgrade to the top tier of the Olympus Pen line of cameras. And in some ways it is outdoing its bigger brother, the Olympus OMD EM5. This is very typical of Olympus, though, as they often tend to cannibalize their own products very quickly and in different ways.
With that said though, there are some differentiating factors between this and the current king: the OMD.
Editor’s Note: The EP5 is available body only for $999.99 in black, silver and white or with the 17mm f1.8 and new VF-4 viewfinder for $1,449.00 in black or silver.
[click to continue…]
Since its introduction, people have been comparing the Olympus 17mm f1.8 to the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 as they are both very similar in terms of focal length and speed (max aperture value). While the Panasonic 20mm has been the poster child for the Micro Four Thirds (M43) format (compact, lightweight, excellent IQ), the Olympus 17mm f1.8 has received mixed reviews. The following is an informal test to that may help those M43 users that are on the fence between the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 and the Olympus 17mm f1.8.
[click to continue…]
Earlier in the year, we reported on Kodak’s Micro Four Thirds camera. However, it isn’t really being done by the company but instead by JK Imaging–a still very mysterious addition to the camera world. Photo Rumors spotted the camera at a recent Tradeshow in Asia. As a refresher, the new MFT mount camera has a Sony CMOS sensor and built-in WIFI. That’s really all that we have so far, but this camera looks very much like the first Olympus digital Pen camera.
We also still have no clear idea of when it will hit the market.
Editor’s Update: We updated the image to show the M43 camera, but they are also showing off a PixPro model as well.
Oh man, things are about to get heated. Metabones has been making waves with their SpeedBooster for mirrorless cameras. But Sony Alpha Rumors, has already spotted the new Mitakon knock off. According to the site, Mitakon’s parent company will avoid a patent lawsuit because the Mitakon has a reduction ration of 0.726 (Speed Booster is 0.71). It’s a manual adapter only while some Speed Booster adapters also support full electronic AF and Aperture control. The Lens Turbo price is set at US$239.
As it is though, Metabones has put a delay on their Micro Four Thirds products, and Jared Abrams already tweeted about quality issues. We’re wondering what will come next as this story just becomes more interesting.
According to Four Thirds Rumors, the Speed Booster by Metabones is being delayed and will be out in the later half of 2013. The company announced the product would be available this month, but it looks like it will take longer. To refresh your memory, the speed booster takes a full frame lens, adapts it to a smaller format, and makes the focal length wider in addition to giving it an extra stop of aperture power (making it a faster lens.) With Mitakon apparently making the same thing, we’re wondering who will win the race.
