Olympus E-M5II gets announced!

And here it is the new Olympus E-M5II It got announced today along a long list of accessories.

Preorders:
E-M5II body in Black or Silver at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto
14-150mm II lens at Adorama, BHphoto
FL-LM3 Flash at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto
Olympus ECG-2 External Metal Grip at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto
Olympus HLD-6P Battery Grip at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto
HLD-8g at Amazon, Adorama,
E-P16 eyecup at Amazon, Adorama,
HLD-8G and HLD-6P kit at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto
Full leather case at Amazon, Adorama,
Olympus PT-EP13 Underwater Housing at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto
Olympus Stylus Tough TG-860 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto

Previews and tests: First impression at Dpreview, Hands-on review at ePhotozine, First impressions by ThePhoBlographer, Test by DSLRmagazine (Spanish), First impression by Russian reviewer Dimitri Kroupski (Russian of course), Spanish analysis at Quesabesde, First impression Steve Huff,

Image samples: On Flickr.

Videos: Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II Hands-On Field Test by TheCameraStoreTV:

Olympus OM-D E-M5 MarkII (Youtube), Olympus EM5 Mark 2 versus a DLSR (Youtube), Olympus OM-D E-M5 MarkII The Runner (Youtube), 5-Axis Image Stabilization (Youtube). London Taxi – A short film shot on the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II (Vimeo).

Press text: E-M5II: Dpreview, BHphoto, Photographyblog, SystemKameraForum, DSLRmagazine, Quesabesde, ePhotozine, Focus Numerique, DC.watch, 14-150mm II: Dpreview, Photographyblog, ePhotozine, ThePhoBlographer, DSLRmagazine, DC.watch, E-M1 firmware: Dpreview, Photographyblog, ePhotozine Focus Numerique, 8mm f/1.8 fisheye: Dpreview, Photographyblog, SystemKameraForum, DSLRmagazine, Quesabesde, ePhotozine, Focus Numerique, DC.watch, Olympus launches the Air clip: Dpreview, DC.watch, TG-860 compact: Dpreview, Cool E-M5II accessory range graph at ePhotozine.

Pictures and specs: New Sony FE and new Olympus MFT lenses!

The image on top shows the final production version Sony FE lenses that will be released next week at CP+. The rumored lens price and launch date is:
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4: to ship in March 2015. 1399 Euro?
Sony 28mm f/2.0: to ship in February 2015. 499 Euro?
90mm f/2.8 G OSS macro: to ship in March 2015. 999 Euro?
24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS: to ship in March 2015. 1099 Euro?
converters for 229 Euro each?

Source: SonyAlphaRumors.

And there is new info about the new Olympus 8mm PRO, 7-14mm PRO, 300mm PRO and 14-150mm lenses via 43rumors.com:

8mm f/1.8 fisheye PRO lens:
– It’s watherproof
– made with high quality material
– will ship in Summer. Pricing to be announced in Spring
– very fast and silent autofocus system
– comes in Black only like any other PRO lenses in the range

14-150mm f/4.0-5.6 II ED lens:
– splashproof
– optical performance is improved over it’s predecessor
– costs 649 Euro
– 285g weight

7-14mm f/2.8 PRO lens pricing will be announced in Spring.
300mm f/4.0 PRO lens pricing also to be announced later (mid 2015 likely).

Image below shows the 14-150mmII lens:

 

New pictures of the Canon EOS-M3. Looks like a more serious camera…

Canonwatch got his hands on two yet unpublished EOS-M3 images. For the first time we see the back of the camera too. He also notes that:

the EOS M3 is compatible with Canon’s EVF-DC1 electronic viewfinder first released for the Powershot G1 X Mark II.

The camera will be announced on Friday at 6 am London time! Stay tuned here on Mirrorlessrumors. I will blog live and update you with all news and reviews about the camera (and some info on the crazy 50MP Canon sensor coming with the 5ds).

Samsung’s massive NX1 firmware now finally available for download!

At last the big Samsung NX1 firmware can be downloaded at Samsung. Because of the many improvements you get also the NX1 manual got an update (pdf here).

Firmware Improvements:

Movie Mode:

New Gamma options, normal gamma, C gamma and DR Gamma. With C and DR gamma users can also customise colour, saturation, sharpness, contrast and hue. 
Added Video AF speed control for more cinematic refocusing (3 settings)
Video AF responsiveness control in 5 steps (dictates camera’s readiness to change AF subject)
ISO adjustable during movie capture 
Audio levels adjustable during movie capture 
23.98p and 24p frame rates for 3840×2160 and 1920×1080 video 
Output time code (Free Run) over HDMI (for use with external recorders)
Wider range of display options, including gridline, center, aspect ratio and action-safe area markers 
General improvement in the image quality of FHD video
‘Pro’ movie quality setting added for 1080 capture 
AF / Manual Focus and SAF / CAF toggling in movie mode
Autofocus lock option in movie mode

Photo: 

Now possible to turn off the NR in Bulb mode
When setting Auto ISO, the automatically chosen ISO value is displayed in real time
Can now select from four AF area sizes when using CAF + Multi AF
Able to use Exposure Compensation in M mode

Customization:

Wi-Fi and [REC] buttons functions can be swapped 
AF On and AEL buttons functions can be swapped 
Depth of Field Preview and Delete buttons are customizable and additional functions are available on custom buttons
Added ISO or Exposure Compensation to command dial (customizable per PASM mode)
Command dials direction of operation can be reversed 
Exposure/Focus Separation on/off option 

Other enhancements:

Smartphone App can operate as simplified remote release using Bluetooth (The Samsung Camera Manager App must be updated through the Google Play Store)
Checks for and installs firmware updates over Wi-Fi 
Tethered shooting now supported via ‘Samsung Remote Studio’ with Windows (Software downloadable from i-Launcher)
Selecting and grabbing frames from video
Menu re-arranged for improved usability

Very into the wild of rumors: Fuji double mount camera coming?

The Contax Hybrid Mount Camera with a combination of two bayonets (courtesy of fotocommunity)

Fujirumors posted a set of very wild rumors on upcoming Fuji stuff. It’s coming via Chinese sources so keep it with a grain of salt. Particularly that strange dual mount rumor:

1) X-Pro2 will not be launched on first quarter of 2015, but there are 2 SPEC… [FUJIRUMORS: It’s probably correct that the X-PRO2 won’t come in the first quarter. I’m not sure what “but there are 2 SPEC” means. Probably 2 versions (“species”).]

2) XF20 F2.8 (equal = 30MM / pancake) or XF18 F2.8(equal = 27MM / pancake), will be launching soon.

3) XF35 F1.4(II) , better IQ & bokeh & focus speed a bit faster than XF23, price over HK$ 4000 [FUJIRUMORS: there were rumors in 2014 about it. Apparently Fuji tested an APD version of it, but then dismissed it – source Fuji Manager]

4) OCT-DEC will be a big cannon show up (4XX) (*Forum ppl believe is 140 -400mm)

5) DUAL MOUNT PRODUCT may launch in mid of the year [FUJIRUMORS: My comment about this down below]

6) New phase auto focus system (can compete with DSLR), will come out in X-Mount. [FUJIRUMORS: why not? Sony’s bestseller, the A6000, shows the way]

7) High Speed Pro Flash light, synchronize rate improve to pro standard [FUJIRUMORS: New flash coming in spring]

8) Body will back light prevention setting system (2015 mid / year-end)

9) New fix lens camera will launching before March (” X ” 1 – 2 model) [FUJIRUMORS: He could mean the XQ2, since it was shared on the dchome forum before the official announcement of the XQ2]

10) X-M1 successor already develop, just do not know will launch or not

11) Fuji Japan still analyses a program that user by pay some amount of $$ and can upgrade the part (item (5)- (8) ). They hope user can use the model for longer time without refresh model too fast.

12) XF16 1.4 – Hot summer launching

13) google translated: “X-E3 has a row you wait for” [FUJIRUMORS: sounds like Fuji is debating (has a row) regarding the X-E2 successor, which eventually is expected to come in 2016, since, according to joofei… (see Nr.14)

14) X-E3 => 2016