Micro Four Thirds fans, listen up! The Olympus E-P2 digital camera has landed and Olympus sent me one to check out for a few days before they made the announcement! Its predecessor, the Olympus E-P1 was one of the surprise hits of the summer. The Olympus E-P2 is more or less the same camera as the E-P1 with a few important new features. The most obvious difference is the sexy new black finish. But it goes deeper than that. Most important is the new Accessory Port and included Articulating EVF (electronic viewfinder). The rest of changes are internal. They include auto focus tracking (yes - it works in Movie Mode, too!), manual exposure control in movie mode, two new Art Filters and a new Picture Mode.
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2009 PhotoPlus Expo
October 22-24, 2009 - New York City

October 22 - 24, 2009: The PDN PhotoPlus Expo tradeshow bills itself as “the most important event in the photo industry.” That might be overstating things a bit, but it is the largest and most important consumer photo tradeshow in North America. Every fall, photographers gather at the Javits Center in New York City where they get to take a closer look at new digital cameras, lenses, tripods, camera bags, software, studio lighting and more. There are also more than 100 photography workshops, covering everything from marketing your photography to improving all kinds of photography skills and techniques.
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Novoflex, part of the HPMarketing Group, Inc. has added to an already extensive line of Camera Lens Mount Adapters. These additions give users of the Micro Four Thirds system several new options for lenses that can be used by this growing system. Of particular interest are adapters that allow photographers to use Leica M and Leica R lenses on the Olympus E-P1, and Panasonic Lumix G1, GH1 and GF1 Micro Four Thirds cameras.
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Panasonic has announced their third Micro Four Thirds camera, the Lumix DMC-GF1. Obviously an answer to the well-received Olympus E-P1 Micro Four Thirds camera, the Panasonic Lumix GF1 is about the same size as its Olympus cousin, but adds a built-in pop-up flash and optional electronic viewfinder (EVF). Like previous Micro Four Thirds cameras, the new GF1 uses a 12-megapixel CMOS sensor. And like the Olympus E-P1, it captures HD video at 1280 x 720 (720p) resolution. Along with the GF1, Panasonic is introducing two new Micro Four Thirds lenses, a compact 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens (40mm equivalent) and Leica’s first Micro Four Thirds lens, the DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S. (90mm equivalent).
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Olympus is launching a new digital SLR designed to offer families and photography enthusiasts DSLR performance for under $600. Olympus is describing the E-600 as sort of a “little brother” to the E-620 that was announced this spring. Key features like the 12.3-megapixel imaging sensor, built-in image stabilization, compact body, fast auto focus and 2.7-inch tilt-swivel LCD display with Live View are exactly the same.
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Today, Olympus introduces their first Micro Four Thirds camera – the E-P1. The compact new Olympus E-P1 has a 12.3-megapixel sensor and it’s Olympus’ first changeable lens camera to offer a movie mode (720p HD). The Micro Four Thirds format was announced last August and since then I’ve been anxiously waiting to find out what Olympus would do with it. Panasonic has introduced two Micro Four Thirds cameras, the Lumix G1 and the GH1 with HD video. But until now, the only Micro Four Thirds action we’ve seen from Olympus was behind glass at tradeshows. But now there’s an Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera we can bank on – and it’s not just a list of specs and features, either. I was lucky enough to get a pre-production E-P1 last week so I could get a feel for the camera, make my own product photos and shoot a hands-on video preview of the new Micro Four Thirds camera.
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Panasonic has announced a price for the forthcoming Lumix GH1 Micro Four Thirds HD-capable digital camera. The Panasonic Lumix GH1 will be available in June with an MSRP of $1499.95. That price includes the new image-stabilized Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/4.0-5.8 10x zoom lens. The 14-140mm lens was specially developed for the Lumix GH1 camera. It has a silent auto focus motor to work with the camera’s HD video capture.
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Sigma Corporation has made available at their US website an online repair order form and payment information. A revamped Service page at the site, Sigma Online Mall Service Page, has tabs for both United States Customers and those Outside of the United States.  Online tracking is now available via a customer generated form.

Contact information is available for Authorized Sigma Service Centers. Sigma acknowledges that they expedite customers repair work by sometimes forwarding work to these vendors and tells customers to be prepared to have direct communication with them.

A step-by-step procedure is posted to aid customers seeking repair/warranty service for Sigma products and third party products by Sigma for Canon, Nikon, Sony/Minolta, Pentax and of course the 4/3rds lenses for Olympus and Panasonic.

Sigma Service Information

Related links:

Sigma Corporation of America Home Page

Authorized Sigma repair centers

Criscam.com Chandler, AZ contact - email: sigma@criscam.com

Camera Repair Japan Duluth, GA contact - email: crjco@aol.com

Olympus has announced a new entry-level camera to their E-System line of digital SLRs. The Olympus E-450 digital SLR has a 10-megapixel Four Thirds sensor, a 2.7-inch HyperCrystal II LCD with Live View and it includes three Art Filters - Pop Art, Pin Hole and Soft Focus.
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For the past 6 years or so, the annual PMA tradeshow has mostly been about digital SLRs. Every manufacturer had to have one or two new ones to show off at the show. This year was different. The bad economy is no news but it was still a surprise that there was only one new digital SLR at the show this year. I was expecting Canon or Nikon to pull something out of their sleeve at the show - at least an entry-level camera. But the only manufacturer to introduce a new digital SLR at PMA in 2009 was Olympus. No doubt, all the manufacturers are working on new digital SLRs, and they’ll likely all have video from here on out. But the 12-megapixel Olympus E-620 was the only new DSLR at this PMA show. Good job, Olympus!
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Olympus didn’t introduce their hoped-for Micro Four Thirds camera at PMA this year, although they did have a concept camera behind glass in their booth. This is the same camera they showed behind glass at Photokina, last year. There’s not much to learn from looking at the Olympus Micro Four Thirds concept camera except that it doesn’t have an EVF (electronic viewfinder) or even an optical viewfinder. It’s definitely a different concept from the Panasonic Lumix G cameras – now a pair with the introduction yesterday of the high-def video hybrid Lumix GH1. With its clean retro styling, the Olympus concept camera is more reminiscent of a classic rangefinder than an EVF superzoom or DSLR. It looks like Olympus plans for their first Micro Four Thirds camera to compete with the Canon PowerShot G10 and Panasonic Lumix LX3 instead of with the Lumix G-Series or digital SLRs.
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Today, Panasonic made what is likely the biggest announcement at this year’s PMA tradeshow. They introduced the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 Micro Four Thirds camera. The GH1 adds high-def video capability to Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds line. The GH1 captures 1080p HD video at 24 frames-per-second or 720p at 60 frames-per-second. The GH1 has a built-in stereo mic on top of the pop-up flash, a connector for an accessory mic and it also supports 5.1 surround sound. The GH1 also introduces a new 10x 14-140mm kit lens (28-280mm equivalent) with MEGA O.I.S. optical image stabilization. For the most part, the GH1 is the same camera as the G1, but with the addition of HD video capture. It still has a 12-megapixel Live MOS sensor, tilt-swivel LCD, electronic viewfinder and Panasonic’s excellent iA Intelligent Auto shooting mode.
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