"Image quality is where Micro Four Thirds cameras have traditionally lagged behind their APS-C sensor rivals, but the OM-D E-M5 is the first MFT model to equal the results from leading cameras like the Sony NEX-7. Noise doesn't rear its ugly head until ISO 3200 for JPEGs and even the faster settings prove eminently usable, although the E-M5

Spoiler: The cheapest lens is also the sharpest. Who would have thought? This test includes every wide-angle m4/3 lens practically available:

"By f/2.8 the superiority of most of the primes over most of the zooms becomes pretty apparent. The Olympus 17mm f/2.8 is easily the weakest of the prime lenses, which isn’t really surprising. It’s an older design and a consumer-grade pancake lens. The two

Pentax Q is so small we almost forgot about its existence, but here's a fresh review of this exercise in minisculeness:

"One feature did feel like something of a missed opportunity, though. The Quick dial on the front panel is a great idea, but the list of features which can be assigned to this dial is very brief, and really only of interest to JPEG shooters: Smart Effects, Custom

Vimeo user Casey Van Nyhuis puts the E-M5 on a quad RC copter for a spin. The result is a very smooth video, another testament to the excellent IBIS Olympus has enginneered into this camera, easily matching the performance from a much more expensive stabilizer rig:

"Olympus just arrived on Friday so i thought i'd take it out for a test flight today. Will take a bit of learning when it comes to

"When it comes to exposure options, the J1 gives you plenty to work with. Beginners will be glad to know that their new camera can be super simple to use with options like Scene Auto selector and Smart Photo selector. Scene Auto selector mode is Nikon's version of intelligent Auto, where the camera selects what it feels are the most appropriate exposure settings (aperture, shutter

Robin Steel, the Photo Travel Asia guy takes the E-M5 with him to the Fijuan coast of southern China, writing about his findings along the way. And he sure likes to write:

"Lets cut to the chase, this is an absolutely outstanding travel camera, it's

The E-M5 continues it's tour-de-force, now landing some impressive results over at the ePZ:

"For anyone doubting the ability of mirrorless / compact system cameras, this is the camera that should answer a lot of concerns. It has a weather-sealed compact body, an excellent range of lenses and most importantly excellent image quality - that is

The Olympus E-M5 has apparently left a very positive impression on the DP Review team, they douse it with phrases like "the most capable Micro Four Thirds cameras we've reviewed" and "arguably the most likeable mirrorless model yet":

"The E-M5 can't completely overcome the light capture disadvantage brought by its smaller sensor, compared to APS-C, but it 

The microscopic GF5 is probably the last Panasonic m43 camera with this dated 12 Mpixel sensor that hails from the GF1 era. So, do sensors age gracefully, like a good wine for instance? Apparently, the do:

"The GF5 offers the same tiny body design, cutting-edge touchscreen and pared-down user interface as its predecessor, with the principal

The camera may not be on the shelves yet (in most of the world, anyway), but here's the first (minor) firmware upgrade, with the following fixes: 

the focal length display for powerzoom lenses has been improved and operation with SDXC cards larger than 48Gb is now more stable.

That's it.

A nice, pretty extensive review, especially interesting for those that consider upgrading to the E-M5 from other Olympus cameras, like the E-P3:

"The new weather-sealed magnesium alloy body feels really good in the hand. At 425g with battery, the camera has a marvellously pleasant heft to it and lovely grip with protruding thumb ‘hook’ that enables stable handholding. The two new dials on top of the camera

Olympus recently filed  patents for 5 (!) different pancakes, 14mm, 16mm, 17mm, 18mm and 22mm, all at f2.8. There's a lot of redundancy there, and there's zero chance of all 5 lenses to see the light of the day.

"The Nikon V1's full-autofocus shutter lag in single-point AF mode (center AF position) was incredibly fast, at only 0.097 second with the 10-30mm kit lens. That's faster than most professional DSLRs we've tested! In auto-area AF mode, lag more than doubled to 0.234 second, though that's still quite fast for a CSC and competitive with most DSLRs.

"The Panasonic Lumix G X Vario PZ 45-175mm f/4-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. is a good albeit not superb telephoto zoom lens as some might have hoped from its "X" designation. The delivered resolution is decent across the image field and the focal length. The lens suffers from a relatively high degree of lateral CAs - despite two extra low dispersion lenses - which is mainly a problem for Olympus users whereas the auto-correction can cope with this issue on Panasonic cameras.

"The X-Pro1 also takes another departure mostly ignored by the others: its newly-developed colour filter array removes the need for an optical low-pass filter to solve moiré and false colour issues.

In this array, RGB pixels are arranged in 6×6 pixel sets with high randomness, emulating the seeming haphazardness of film grain.

Not that i expect any of you to actually buy this....thing, but for the sake of science and peeping, Imaging Resource has posted their  obligatory test images chart, to accompany their forthcoming K-01 review.

The moment i saw this portfolio depicting renderings of an amazing camera design i copied and pasted the link to Pentax. Maybe it is not too late to save the K mirrorless line who's initial model, the K-01 is a disaster on so many levels its not even funny. Shame on you Marc Newson, and shame on you Pentax execs that gave the go ahead for this hideous thing. Anyway, THIS here beauty is designed by Vladimir Markov, and here's what he writes about it (and himself):

Olympus has just released firmware updates for the PEN E-PM1, E-PL2, E-PL3 and E-P3 as well as for the veteran E-5. The updates improves compatibility with SDXC cards of 48GB capacity and higher, and  wireless flash control using RC capable Olympus flashes has been enhanced for the E-PM1 and E-PL3.

In this extensive two part review, Nick Devlin gives the 'photographer's eye' lowdown about the X-Pro1. There are no Iso trains, technical charts and pixel peeping exercises here, just some grey matter at work and a couple of eyes:

"At the very head of the not-so-great but not-so-terrible category is the X-Pro1's autofocus performance. It's ok. In macro-mode it's really slow.  Do not try an X-Pro1 after handling a Nikon D4.  You won't be happy. 

"The APS-C sized CMOS sensor has an enormous maximum image, at 5472×3648 pixels, enough to produce a 46×31 cm print.

Movies? How about MPEG4 video at 1920×1080 pixel resoluton? The NX200 will capture up to 25 minutes of movie shooting at 30 fps. If you want 60 fps, then you’ll have to be content with 1280×720 pixel video.

Can't it be both? And more importantly, what about the image quality? But most important, the missing viewfinder issue:

"With new cameras like the Fuji X-Pro 1 and Olympus OM-D arriving any day now I am excited that the camera companies are FINALLY getting it when it comes to digital. With film, we had it easy. All we needed was a light box, a viewfinder and a lens to

"Panasonic has pretty much perfected the Quick Menu concept. On the G3 you have two ways of triggering it: touchscreen or function button (FN2 is normally assigned to Quick Menu). While we've got 10 things crammed into the Quick Menu now—which necessitates a second scrolling page—it's still a darned sight easier to tap the direction pad (or the touchscreen arrow) a couple of

"The X-Pro1 delivers most of the goods in terms of its handling, with a few caveats. The multitude of external controls, optical viewfinder and stunning appearance have been cunningly combined with some truly cutting-edge features, most notably the hybrid viewfinder. As on the X100, the ability to frame your subject in not one, not two, but three different ways, each of which offers

Robin Wong is concluding his wonderful rolling photography review of the E-M5 with a 'shutter therapy' session, street shooting in black and white. There will be a final installment of this review in the future, for the video aspect of the camera. Robin is not all roses and praise about the E-M5, he discusses several flaws and shortcomings this time, most notably a potential dangerous one about the weather sealing:

First up comes Phoblographer, where Felix Esser does a a57 vs a55 spec comparison, and also, tries to explain the 'auto portrait framing' that newbies will love and others will loathe. And then there's the 2 big gun previews, the lads from Imaging Resource are impressed by the 8/12 frames per second capture, and Richard Butler and Lars Rehm from the Digital Photography Review have

When the verdict in a review at a reputable site incudes the word 'excellent' five six seven times, you know there's something special at hand:

"Focus speed is quickest with the 18mm lens, followed by the 35mm, then the 60mm macro. Focus is generally quite rapid, unless

Robin Wong continues on his extensive rolling review of the Olympus E-M5. This time there's some low light/high iso goodies, and exploration of the macro capabilities of the E-M5.  Robin also kindly provides a set of full jpegs for us to download and pixel peep (strictly for science (: ). He also turns the last part of the review into a mini macro shooting tuturial:

Kai from Digital Rev takes the Fujifilm X-Pro1 on a street shooting review in the narrow and hectic alleys of Hong Kong. Being Digital Rev this is of couse a video hands-on review, and as always, a bit phlegmatic at places. Judging from this review, it appears the X-Pro1 still suffers-to a lesser degree from some shortcomings inherited by

"The Nikon 30-110mm ƒ/3.8-5.6 VR is a small zoom lens, mating very nicely with our J1 test body and providing a stable, if small and light, shooting platform. The lens is available in five colors: red, white, silver, black and pink. Our sample was the fashionable glossy white version. The only control on this lens is the retractable lens lock switch; pressing this button and turning the zoom ring extends the lens for use, as well as turning on the camera.

​I expected better test results from this super expensive, ultra wide zoom. Maybe Panasonic should let Leica have a look at the design for the successor?

"Due to the extreme wide angle of view the lens offers a petal-shaped hood is permanently fixed to the front, protecting the bulbous