Image on top: The Olympus teaser that was posted a few days before the [shoplink 14832]Olympus E-PL1[/shoplink] launch in February 2010
Usually January is a boring time for those of like me try to catch rumors. But the rumors I do receive in those days do prelude an even more exciting time than we had it at Photokina last year! Both Panasonic and Olympus will release tons of new stuff. It looks like Olympus had to make an unusual January announcement of the new [shoplink 18844]Olympus E-PL2[/shoplink] at the CES in Las Vegas to make “room” for the future product announcements 🙂
The french website “Forum Olympus France” had a smalltalk with Christopher Valentine (Marketing Director, Olympus France). At the end of the interview Christopher explains how Olympus will expand their market share in France (google English translation): “I think we can legitimately aim for the fourth place of the photo market in France (in volume). In order to do so, Olympus will be able to lever notably on the products presented today (Jan 6, 2011), but also on other particularly ground breaking novelties that we will be announcing shortly and throughout the year. Thus, announcements will be made next February and March, others will follow…..”
As you know Olympus will announce at least one pro Micro Four Thirds camera and three new pro pancakes within June!
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Not a native speaker, but the last sentence “Des annonces auront ainsi lieu en février et en mars prochains, d’autres annonces suivront…”
could be better translated as “several announcements will take place in February and March, with other announcements to follow…”
There are some rumors about pancakes?
50mm, macro 12 or 14mm (don’t know yet), + fisheye. But there could be more or different lenses…
I hope they’ll skip the fisheye. One is enough.
50mm pancake?
it will probably be a prime. a 50mm pancake might not turn out well… i’d rather be it a full prime lens that has great glass
While I’m not opposed to a 50mm pancake, does a 50mm lens need to be a pancake since a 100mm eqv. lens will mainly be used as a portrait lens? When choosing a good portrait lens I’m more concerned about having a wide aperture to give me plenty of DOF control and sharpness; and I’m not concerned about size. I’d prefer them make a 50mm f/1.2 even if that means it can’t be a pancake.
I hope it will be 12mm, not 14mm…
so do I.
Either way I’m not expecting it to be fast – Olympus hasn’t made a lens faster than F2 for years if not decades :(, so don’t hold your breath ( and wallet :)).
Pancakes or primes?
Well, pancake is prime lens.
Pancake does not mean prime. Prime means one focal length. Pancake refers to the design of the lens being as flat as possible. There are many ways to design a lens with a single focal length.
Luke, “pancake” doesn’t *mean* prime, but it sure does imply it! Who makes a pancake zoom lens?
12mm of course; that’s what it says on the roadmap! The 50mm will indeed be a macro, and therefore I’d expect f/2 as maximum aperture (just like the ZD version)
Pen3 rangefinder style.
I want it!
if only…
Want it, want it… love my GF1, but want better AF, better high ISO performances and an even more beautiful body…
> Panasonic and Olympus will release tons of new stuff.
Tons !?!? Who will carry around these tons! 😉 I always sought micro4/3 is all about portability…
You don’t need to buy it all…
I’d expect of those lenses only the wide angle will be a ‘pancake’ lens. The others will just be primes.
Not even sure how any of them will count as ‘professional’ – they haven’t made a professional µ4/3 lens yet.
Be nice to see some good lenses, but it looks like they lost their lens design mojo at some point..
>Not even sure how any of them will count as ‘professional’ – they haven’t made a professional µ4/3 lens yet.
who else has pro lenses? I know nobody not NX and not NEX. The only pro lens imo is the Voightlander 25mm F0.95.
Who needs pro m4/3 gear anyway? “Professional” implies one earns money from it, and who would shoot a wedding with GF2 :)?
This is an enthusiast system, leave pro out, it usually mean big, heavy and expensive.
Hey, they might very well announce before my defective GH2 is replaced. It did mention June, right? ha ha
Let’s hope they actually manage to ship the things in quantity within our lifetimes!
I agree with Chris… more pro-level lenses! Hopefully Voightlländer will bring out some new M4/3 lenses.
In fantasy world, how about a full underwater M4/3 kit? Like the old Nikonos.
I think Olympus’ new products (at least the bodies) reach the market pretty quickly. E-PL2 was announced on Jan 6, hits the shelves in January.
Here’s a quickk translation, but it’s not my job so…
I think we can legitimately target the 4th place in market share in france (in volume). For that, Olympus will rely on new products introduced today [january 6 2011] but also on others really innovative new products that we will announced very soon and throughout the year. More announcements will be made in February and March, others will follow.
—
Most the the translation was ok but the biggest change was the last sentense witch read «More announcements will be made in February and March, others will follow.»
So it looks like a good year for Olympus
Who wanna bet whether it would match E-5 in IQ department?
I’d love to see that happening, but as usually with the recent Oly, I am afraid to raise my hope to high.
Olympus was going to announce several lenses and cameras in feb 2011 but have now changed strategy and while all the products were ready they will never see the light.
Just kidding, maybe…
The kind of stuff I’d like to see Panasonic or Olympus make this year:
• weather-sealed rangefinder style modern and functional body (the LC1 style still looks great to me)
• electronic/hybrid viewfinder
• electronic shutter
• 1080p 24/25/30 fps and 720p (frame rate user selectable) 24-60fps (maybe even faster constraints permitting – electronic shutter would help?)
• New prime lenses with electronic (existing controls) and manual aperture control on the lens body
Now your dreaming.
This rumor predicts that both Pany & Oly will release tons of new equipment at Photokina end of February. Previously 43rumors said two m4/3 models form Oly and at least one from Pany.
Given the timing of release of models on previous year I would predict that for Pany that the G3 and GF3 would be announced as would the Oly EP3 is not announced earlier and all three share a new more capable sensor. Pany is also is projected to release new lenses ie 25mm and 12-50mm so maybe also a rangefinder pro model to match but that maybe not come till late fall as the GH2 replacement with global shutter?