News tagged with "micro-four-thirds"

We've been shooting with the Olympus PEN E-P5 for some months now and have just completed our review. The arrival of the E-M1 may have grabbed the limelight in recent weeks but the latest PEN deserves its share of the attention. Although it continues the classic PEN look, it shares most of its specifications with the E-M5, which should make it pretty special - but what's it like to use? Read our review to find out.

We've had more time to shoot with the Olympus E-M1 and have extended our coverage of its AF performance. In addition to incorporating real-world Continuous Autofocus examples and commentary, we've also spent more time shooting with it alongside an E-5, to see exactly how the two compare, and amended our impressions accordingly.

The O-MD E-M1 has just been announced and takes its place as both Olympus' flagship Micro Four Thirds camera and the successor to the E-5 DSLR. We've been spending some time with a production unit, taking the new 16.3 megapixel Live MOS sensor for a spin in a variety of conditions. Follow the link to learn more about this high-end mirrorless interchangeable lens camera.

Olympus has announced the OM-D E-M1, now the flagship of its Micro Four Thirds lineup. Rather than calling it the follow-up to the E-M5, Olympus says that the E-M1 is actually the 'successor' to the E-5, the Four Thirds camera introduced back in 2010. The E-M1's standout feature is its new 16.3MP Live MOS sensor with on-chip phase-detection autofocus, designed to work with legacy Four Thirds lenses. 

Olympus has unveiled a high-end standard zoom to match the E-M1: the M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO. It offers a 24-80mm equivalent range and is dust, splash and, freezeproof, and uses a manual focus clutch design similar to the 12mm F2 and 17mm F2.8 primes. Olympus has also announced the development of a matching 40-150mm F2.8 telezoom, which is scheduled for release next year. Click through for more details. 

It's an open secret that many compact cameras are produced by OEMs - companies that produce large numbers of products that are then sold under other brand names. There are also consumer-grade zooms from big name manufacturers that look much alike (we know for a fact that third-party makers commonly create lenses for the bigger brands). But we were still surprised to read about Sigma's latest patent for a 75mm F1.8 prime lens...

Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-GX7 - the follow-up to the DMC-GX1 - which is its first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera to include in-body image stabilization. This 16MP, rangefinder-style camera also includes a high-resolution, widescreen EVF that can be tilted upwards 90 degrees. Panasonic claims that their newly designed Live MOS sensor improves both detail and color saturation by 10%. Other features of note include a tilting LCD, a 'silent shooting' mode, focus peaking, 1080/60p videos, and Wi-Fi with NFC capability. 

Alongside the enthusiast-oriented DMC-GX7, Panasonic has announced the Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm F1.2 - the fastest autofocus lens ever created for the Micro Four Thirds system. If you're getting a sense of deja vu that's because Panasonic actually announced this lens already (sort of) at last year's Photokina tradeshow in Cologne, Germany. But what was then a dummy lens behind glass now appears to be a real product, albeit one without any firm availability date or pricing information. 

Just posted: Our review of the Olympus Body Cap Lens 15mm F8. In essence this is a tiny three element optic hidden inside a body cap, and probably the cheapest lens of any description made by any camera manufacturer. But is it any good? In the latest of our lens reviews in collaboration with DxOMark, we take a look both at how well it performs in studio testing, and in real-world use. Does it have any place in the Micro Four Thirds user's camera bag? Click through to find out.

Metabones has introduced Nikon G-type versions of its Speed Booster lens adapter for Micro Four Thirds and Sony NEX cameras, which include a control ring for aperture setting with lenses that don't have aperture rings of their own. The Speed Booster itself is a lens adapter that that reduces the focal length by a factor of 0.71x, and increases the maximum aperture by 1 stop, effectively allowing lenses to give very similar angle of view and depth of field control on APS-C mirrorless cameras as they do on full frame. The Nikon G-type adapters are available to buy now for $429 from Metabones' website. 

Just Posted: Our detailed, hands-on Olympus PEN E-P5 preview. We've been using a pre-production E-P5 for the last few days and have had a dig beyond the specifications to discover how the latest range-topping PEN behaves. We investigate the camera's latest features, including its easy-connect Wi-Fi, its degree of customization and its '2x2' dial behavior. We also take a look at how it compares to the E-P3 and OM-D E-M5, and how the high resolution VF-4 handles on the E-P5 and existing models.

Olympus has announced the PEN E-P5, the fourth in its range of enthusiast-targeted, rangefinder-style Micro Four Thirds cameras. The E-P5 takes the 16MP sensor that has appeared in the company's other models and adds a five-axis image stabilization system and shutter capable of shooting at 1/8000th of a second amongst a host of tweaks and feature improvements. The camera will available from May at around $1,000/£900/€1000 body only. The company has also announced black versions of its 17mm, 45mm and 75mm F1.8 prime lenses, priced the same as their silver counterparts. There is also a 2.4M dot LCD electronic viewfinder, the VF-4.

Sigma USA has given the price and introduction date of the 60mm F2.8 DN Art lens for mirrorless systems, originally announced at CP+. The 60mm DN will be available in the US for both Micro Four Thirds and Sony E-mount from mid-May at a cost of around $239. It will offer a 90mm equivalent field-of-view when mounted on Sony NEX bodies or 120mm equivalent on Micro Four Thirds cameras. This third lens for mirrorless cameras from Sigma (joining the affordable 19mm F2.8 DN Art and 30mm F2.8 DN Art), will also be available in a choice of black or silver finishes.

We've just posted our Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6 preview, covering Panasonic's newest Micro Four Thirds mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. The G6 comes barely a year after the G5, and offers several updates, including a 1.44 million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder and the same sensor as the GH2. Its body has also been restyled and the touch-sensitive technology of its fully-articulated screen has been upgraded. Like its little brother the GF6, the G6 also includes built-in Wi-Fi connectivity with Near Field Communication (NFC). Click through for our hands-on preview.

Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-G6 - the latest in its mass market series of DSLR-styled mirrorless cameras. The G6 gains considerably improved movie capabilities, including full exposure control, an external mic socket and the sensor from the GH2. It also adds the NFC-aided Wi-Fi for simple remote control and image download that we first saw in the GF6.

Panasonic has created the Lumix G Vario 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH Power OIS, a second-generation 10x zoom for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The lens offers a smaller, lighter, less-expensive alternative to the original G Vario HD 14-140mm F4.0-5.8 ASPH Mega OIS. The latest version features three aspheric and two ED elements and an internal focus design with linear stepper motors to make the most of the faster focus processing of the latest Micro Four Thirds bodies.

Just Posted: Our Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 review. The GH3 is the latest model in Panasonic's range-topping series of Micro Four Thirds cameras that aims to offer a tool as suited to keen film makers as enthusiast photographers. The GH3 has added a host of video industry-requested features as well as promising the best-yet stills image quality from a GH camera. However, the last year or so has seen other camera makers take an interest in movie shooting, so has Panasonic done enough to stay ahead? Read our review to find out.

Just Posted: Our hands-on Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 preview. The GF6 expands the capabilities of Panasonic's GF series away from the point-and-shoot focus that it had increasingly pursued. The latest model adds a more sophisticated touch-screen and additional control points that will benefit a range of users but it's the NFC-mediated Wi-Fi system that we found really interesting. Add this on top of the 16MP sensor from the GX1 and you have a compelling combination of features. Click through to find out more.

Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-GF6 - a 16MP entry-level mirrorless camera with Wi-Fi. Like many of its competitors it has a capacitive touchscreen, that can tilt both downwards and upwards to face forwards for self-portraits. It gains a compact-camera style zoom lever around the shutter release that can alternatively be used to set exposure compensation, and an exposure mode dial on the top plate. It's also the first interchangeable lens camera with Near Field Communication (NFC) that allows setup of Wi-Fi connections with compatible smartphones and tablets, simply by tapping the devices together. Movie recording is available at 1080p30 in either MP4 or AVCHD format.

Blackmagic Design has announced a pocket-sized 1080p movie camera capable of 422 ProRes capture with promises of lossless CinemaDNG to be added via firmware. The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera uses a Super 16 imaging area (around 12.5 x 7.4mm - slightly smaller than a 1" sensor), and an 'active' Micro Four Thirds lens mount, giving full aperture control of native lenses. The camera can capture footage in Apple's 10-bit 4:2:2 ProRes format Blackmagic promising to add the open, lossless CinemaDNG Raw standard later. The company has said this will cost just $995 and be available from July.