Hasta La Gadget!

Aunt Fran out of focus? Bay Bridge a little blurry? Statue of Liberty a bit soft? If you’re having these issues with images captured through your Panasonic DMC-GF1, GH1, or G1, your fix is ready. We’re not seeing any surprises compared to what was previously said to be included, but no surprises is usually a good thing when it comes to firmware updates. Each is a little over 2MB in size, and you can get your downloads rolling at the source links below.

Panasonic’s autofocus fixin’ DMC-GF1 / GH1 / G1 firmware updates now live originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 09:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking to add even more retro flavor to your Olumpus E-P1? Then you might want to consider taking after Flickr user Lok Cheung, who was inspired by the Rolleiflex TLR to create this Rollei EVF (of sorts) for the Micro Four Thirds camera. While the setup isn’t actually anything more than a viewfinder for viewing the screen, Lok nonetheless says the results are “really good,” with the viewfinder resting almost right behind the lens, and the manual focus “almost as fast as you can get on a true manual camera.” Not the most practical camera mod, perhaps, but certainly one of the more interesting ones.

Olympus E-P1 outfitted with Rollei EVF originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Lumix G10 got pricing and a vague date yesterday, and now the first full review has finally graced the interwebs. Photography Blog put this $599, 12 megapixel Micro Four Thirds camera (and its 14 – 42mm kit lens) through a full suite of tests and came away generally impressed. The addition of 720p video recording makes this model an easy choice over the older G1, despite the subtraction of a few features and the tilting LCD. But, the upcoming $800 G2 offers all those features plus 720p video recording as well, making it perhaps a better choice for more serious shooters with deeper pockets. Still, the G10 looks to be a great option for those wanting affordable DSLR power and HD video recording in a (reasonably) svelte package.

Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-G10 camera finally gets the review we’ve been waiting for originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of many things the Micro Four Thirds manufacturers are getting right is the lenses. Panasonic’s optics clearly show the benefits of its long association with Leica, and Olympus’ Zuiko lenses have been great since pretty much forever.

These lenses aren’t cheap — this latest wide-angle zoom from Olympus will cost around $700 when it ships next month, but according to the testers at DP Review, you get your money’s worth.

The M Zuiko Digital 9-18mm (18-36mm equivalent) F4-5.6 is small. That’s it above, in the middle squeezed between a pair of already tiny wide zooms from Panasonic, one a Four Thirds lens on an adapter (left) and one a native M4/3 optic. Olympus manages this by making the lens collapsible like the 14-42mm kit zoom which comes with the Pen EP-1. When in use, it extends to around double the length.

The takeaways from the DP Review test: the bokeh, or out-of-focus highlights are ugly, but the lens is sharp and not prone to flare (essential in such a wide lens). Autofocus is good and fast (the lens “reveals a significant advance in Olympus’s autofocus system”) and also silent for movie-shooting. As we’ve said, it is also tiny, which is kind of the point with M4/3 cameras.

I’ll still skip it, though. The problem with all but the most expensive zooms is that they have variable and relatively slow maximum apertures. One of the great things about using a fast prime is both that shallow depth of field and the ability to shoot at night without worrying too much about getting the shakes.

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm 1:4-5.6 review [DP Review]

See Also:

• Panasonic Micro Four Thirds 'Rangefinder' with Leica Lenses …
• Sony Fights Micro Four-Thirds With Lens-Changing Compact
• Adapter Puts Leica Lenses on Micro Four Thirds Cameras
• Olympus Pen E-P2
• Olympus Pen E-P1
• New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks

Panasonic is dead serious about Micro Four Thirds, the big-sensor format that it has up until now been stuffing into small, mirrorless stills cameras. Yesterday it announced a M4/3 camcorder, a video camera which can use the whole range of M4/3 lenses.

The M4/3 sensor is a lot bigger than those in both digicams and many consumer camcorders. This means you get some sweet, shallow depth-of-field for Hollywood-like out-of-focus backgrounds. Panasonic is calling the new AG-AF100 camera “professional”, but it is more like a high-end prosumer model in features.

The recording format is AVCHD/H.264, an efficient and high-quality codec. The camera shoots 1080p at 24p (the frame-rate of film-based movie-cameras) and stores it on two SDHC cards. You also get a choice of other sizes and speeds. As for sound, there is a built-in stereo microphone along with a pair of XLR-inputs, and the camera supports Dolby-AC3. In short, it ticks all the boxes it needs to.

But the best part is the fact that the camera uses the M4/3 lens-mount. This means that, with cheap adapters, you can use pretty much any 35mm-format lens out there. And because movie-makers tend to prefer manual focus and exposure, there really is no penalty to using ancient Nikon or Canon lenses. As an extra bonus, fast, second-hand prime lenses are a fraction of the cost of new movie lenses.

The camera will be available by the end of the year, for a still-undecided price. Hopefully it will also look a little more real than the CGI-rendering above.

Press release [DP Review]

See Also:

• Noktor ƒ0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Cameras
• Panasonic Micro Four Thirds 'Rangefinder' with Leica Lenses …
• Micro Four Thirds
• Panasonic's New Micro Four Thirds Camera Shoots Video
• Adapter Puts Leica Lenses on Micro Four Thirds Cameras
• Hands-On With Panasonic's Leica-Lite GF1
• A Month With the Lumix GF1, And Why I No Longer Use The Nikon D700 …