The Panasonic G2 with the new [shoplink 31772 ebay]Nokton 17.5mm lens[/shoplink].
So guys! The first half of the year is over and we had some very intriguing new products. And I expect many more exciting stuff from now one until Photokina. This includes the new Olympus PEN cameras, the GH3, and many new lenses. Anyway, I now want to know from you what’s the best new Micro Four Thirds products that has been announced the first half of this year. Take time and think what’s the one camera/lens that added most value to the m43 system!
[poll id=”147″]
Links to the 2012 announced/available stuff:
Olympus E-M5 at [shopcountry 29074].
Panasonic GF5 at [shopcountry 30485].
Panasonic 12-35mm X lens preorders at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, Fotohanskeuzekamp, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.
Olympus 75mm preorder and price check at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon Germany and Amazon UK.
Sigma 30mm lens at Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon JP (Click here) and Digitalrev.
Sigma 19mm lens at Amazon US , Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon JP and Digitalrev.
Nokton 17.5mm at Amazon and Bhphoto and we Europeans can find it for an incredible good price at [shoplink 31772 ebay]LaPetiteBoutique (Click here)[/shoplink].
57 Responses
I suspect this will be a very closely run race
(joking)
hahha 4/3 rumors is scared of it’s own rumors! censorship!
Hello, any specs for the new PEN?
Yes: It will have all the features of the E-M5, except it will mostly be made of plastic, won’t be weather sealed, but will cost only half as much.
Exactly. It is easy to presume the new PEN. Same Sensor, same Engine. The less: not weather sealed, no internal viewfinder, may be no 5-axis stabilization. And a little bit thinner than the old PEN.
I hope you’re right…
i hope they will keep 5 axis stab for future PENs
Can there really be any doubt on this? I know the lenses can make more of a difference in a photographer’s kit than an improved camera body, but when looking at a complete package and perhaps more importantly, the impact on the market, the E-M5 has to be it.
The E-M5 has caused long time NEX users to jump to Micro 4/3, it’s gotten the format in the discussion with the big boys in many cases and is the first Micro 4/3 camera that many people view as good enough to use professionally. (Personally, I reached that point of quality with the GH2, but I have to admit…the E-M5 snared me as well).
Yet it is still a very small camera, made for small Japanese men with small hands, and due to its size it cannot do any kind of telephoto or CAF. In fact, the camera is almost impossible to use with the new 75mm prime unless you get both grips (which then causes problems with memory cards and batteries).
I read somwhere that quite a few women with smaller hands are also taking pictures with cameras… 😉
LOL…good one!!
No shit. Why do you think they made the PEN? It was exclusively a camera line for the “camera joshi”. The E-M5 is the first m4/3 camera they built for the male population; sadly, for the Japanese male population, because most westerners have hands too large to work with the E-M5 comfortably.
Sucks for you. It’s an awesome camera.
Dude, just drop that discussion about race and gender. It just don’t belong here and you’re about 68 years late with that kinda thoughts!
He has a point… One of the Oly execs said in an interview they were catering a bit too much to the camera joshi crowd, and there *is* a physical difference between humans around the world, gender included. A 185cm tall man from Norway or Sweden and a 150cm tall woman from India or Japan (those are averages, not extremes) obviously have very different hands and grips.
I’m almost 200cm tall… I tried the E-M5 and it’s beautiful, but I cannot use it. I just can’t, as much as I’d like to – it’s completely the wrong size for me. Fits my wife like a glove, though, and is the first camera she’s ever been interested in. Go figure 😀
I’m waiting for the E-7.
I’m Swedish, 195 cm tall with large hands. I use an E-PM1.
I had less of an issue with the E-PM1 than with the E-M5.
I am norwegian, 191 tall, and use det E-M5, works fine for me.
Well, some like licking butts of marketroids and some don’t.
I’m 175cm and every single mirrorless camera is ergonomically at level of various standard types of digicams.
This whole range of 2004’s fixed lens prosumers is designed for higher ergonomics than current mirrorless bodies:
http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/OlympusC8080WZ/Images/sidebyside.jpg
(if dpreview’s server doesn’t accept that link open image from here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/konicaminoltaa2/3)
Then again instead of being fed marketing bullshit daily from TV I grew up in farm where tools were designed as tools with proper ergonomics and functionality instead of darn fashion gadgets and gimmicks.
Yeah yeah never mind that the first M43 camera ever, released 4 years ago, was larger and grippier than the EM5.
@ Gabi
May be you read there were some women using it… And may be there are even women so mistaken that they actually use them, but surely they weren’t “real” feminine woman (whatever that means) Areal one could’t use an OM-D, at least if you believe this guy, who apparently got a testosterone kick after grabbing one :
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=41937337
“after a few hours…….
It’s ugly, cocky, teutonic, industrial, functional, full of attitude. If it was a bloke you’d take it down the pub, get hammered, fight, then buy each other another beer afterwards, it’s a mans camera, a pocket battleship… I like it.”
And this was titled “A short and pointless review of the E-M5”. Indeed !
The Japanese surely can’t make cameras for all the animal sexing, child molesting, perverted white men who like to screw their sisters can they. Surely a DSLR with a 70-200 is better for shoving up your ass.
You haven’t been to Japan then?
And you don’t own an E-M5. Your comments are worthless.
“…and due to its size it cannot do any kind of telephoto or CAF…”
—-
Say no more…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63427925@N00/sets/72157630172691350/
NHF, but any camera can do that with such a small aperture lens. The DOF is large.
Obvious troll is obvious.
Just to humour you – if you relocate the internal battery to the grip, you no longer have an access problem
I manage to use lenses significantly larger than the 75/1.8, like ones weighing 1900 g without either grip installed.
Speaking of grips. Neither of them causes any problem with cards.
In your case, ignorance isn’t bliss, it’s just ignorance.
Until Olympus make it possible to set and KEEP a small sized fucus box I can not consider buying another of their m43 cameras. The amount of button pressing to get a small focus box then not being able to change settings without reverting back to the standard (large) focus box is ridiculous. For studio work this setup is OK but for any spontanious shooting it is infuriating.
If you set your camera correctly, it is only one button press to bring the target back and the size of the target is memorized between shots. With two button press you go straight into the magnifier and with one long press, you are back to the normal view.
But you need to read the manual or one of the multiple existing tips at DPreview before you use it. It is a serious camera and you need some studying before every thing is right. Do your home works before whining on the forums… Or at least ask for help..
So you agree, even with the “camera set correctly”, buttons need to be pressed to change the focus box size to small every time the camera’s settings are to be changed? I don’t care that the size is remembered from one shot to the next because as soon as I want to change a setting I have to start the button pressing again. Why Olympus can’t include such a basic function on such an expensive camera is beyond me. Even my crappy old Canon point and shoot lets me set and forget the focus box size.
Perhaps you should consider what you’ve typed before attempting to be patronising 😉
It is only one button press to bring the target back. But you have more usefull possibilities if you want to use them. Personnally I like the way it is implemented. It comes all very naturally.
Admin the answer is pretty damn obvious, you can have a poll about the best M43 product ever you will still get the same answer
“long time nex users”
Idiot call champ
GH3?
E-M5 shouldn’t have been on the list. It would win by a huge margin – but the stats for the rest would be skewed.
Voted for the 12-35. Because it suddenly made the m43 whole lot more interesting.
E-M5 all the way! The 12-35mm will be the product of the second half of the year–it has to make it to market first.
LOL! The vote should be for: ” Best accessory for the OM-D” 🙂
I think the answer is given, the OM-D E-M5.
agreed 😀
Nah, it’ll be the 45mm. But I agree with Bob B.
I’d vote for the grip, though.
I voted for 12-35 as it is a first for m43. Hopefully more bright weather-sealed zooms to come (micro 12-60?).
Just came back from traveling Scotland (West Highland Way) and I kind of missed exactly that (changing lenses in rain=not really great).
+1
Most significant new product: Olympus E-M 5 (because it has gotten M43 taken seriously by people who never did before.)
Most important new product: Panasonic 12-35/2.8 (because it makes M43 a viable alternative to a professional DSLR system, or will when the companion 35-100 appears.)
Only new product I actually intend to buy: Olympus 75/1.8. Come on, Olympus, ship that thing already!
Admin, where is the login button? It auto logs me in at home, but on this machine it doesn’t and I can’t find the login to post comments under my account.
That’s what I have been asking since two days.
@anon and @DonParrot
login can be found at http://www.43rumors.com/wp-login.php
Thanks, I think Admin needs to hard-link that in the front page.
The 12-35 definitely. We need more fast zooms to be taken seriously by professionals. As a professional myself, this lens is going to keep me with the m4/3 camp.
Though I really like the good quality and low price of the Sigma 19mm, it didn’t have the impact of the OM-D.
Close call in my mind. OMD has put the system on the map in terms of interest from punters, but it’s still an evolutionary step forward, not a revolution. Many of the things in it were available in previous bodies, it just brought them together and pushed the performance notch up a bit.
The 12-35X though – that’s a product that brought something to mirrorless that outright didn’t exist before…
Pity both can’t win 🙂
Evolutionary can be revolutionary. Don’t underestimate the E-M5 as a total package.
+100%
Many have mentioned that the 12-35 is more revolutionary, or a greater step in m4/3 than the E-M5. The issue is that without the E-M5 most people would consider the 12-35 another great lens in m43, without a body to really take advantage of it.
The E-M5 has caused people from all systems to take a good hard look at all that bulk in their DSLR bag and realize it’s pointless. They can no longer complain about noise, high ISO, DR, and certainly not lenses.
Also, even though we know lenses have more value in the long run, to most people $999 for a body seems like a good buy compared to $1299 for a lens.
Regardless of the fine glass listed by this poll, Olympus really hit the market by the OM-D since its optical quality finally match and exceed many modern APS-C cameras. Paired with those bright primes the mFT system has, there is almost no point to choose an APS-C any more.
I think winner is OM-D, but in poll miss GX1. From my point of view it’s more important camera than GF5, which looks like unnecessary upgrade of the line.
The GX1 is too old for this poll (2011).
The winner is a professional combo:
Olympus Om-D E-M5 with the Panasonic 12-35mm/f2.8 (35-100mm/f2.8), the Olympus Zuiko 75mm/f1.8 and the Voightlaender 17,5mm/f0.95
The winner is the professional Micro Four Thirds System and we customers.