Olympus have officially announced the new E-PL1s Micro Four Thirds camera, a slightly upgraded version of the E-PL1, together with a new 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. Both camera and lens will only be available in Japan for now.
 The new Olympus E-PL1s + 14-42mm Mk II kit lens. Picture courtesy of Olympus. The camera is essentially the same as the E-PL1, but now features shooting at 6400 ISO, and uses a different battery. The lens, on the other hand, is a completely new design, labeled “Movie and Stills compatible”, which means it now has the same super quiet and blazing fast autofocus that was introduced with the 9-18mm and 14-150mm lenses. The new kit zoom is also lighter than the original version. If it is any different in its optical quality will be seen once first reviews pop up on the net — I’ll keep you posted!
Links:
Olympus’ official announcement, translated via Google
The news on dpreview.com
The news on photoscala.de (in German)
Another review of the critically acclaimed Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f/4-5.6 Micro Four Thirds lens comes from the German site digitalkamera.de. As everyone, they’re pretty positive of the lens, praising it for its compactness, fast AF and good optical qualities.
You can find the original German review here, and a Google translated English version here.
As properly predicted by 43rumors yesterday, the new Panasonic GF2 entry-level Micro Four Thirds camera was officially announced this morning.
 The black Panasonic GF2 with 14/2.5 kit lens. Picture courtesy of Panasonic Deutschland. Albeit the step up in nomenclature, the GF2 is no evolutional step up from the GF1, but rather a slightly different sibling to it. While featuring the improved 12 megapixel Live MOS sensor and the touchscreen of the larger, DSLR-like G2, on the operational side the GF2 is a step down from the GF1, featuring less buttons and no more mode dial. The body, too, is a completely new design, being smaller and slimmer than the GF1’s. The GF2 comes in kit with the new 14mm f/2.5 pancake lens, and is available in the colours black, white, silver and red. It will be available from January 2011.
 Rear view of the new Panasonic GF2. Picture courtesy of Panasonic Deutschland. Over at 43rumors you can find a continually updated list of GF2 previews and reviews, as well as some additional information.
43rumors have been reporting on this for the last couple days, and now it seems to be getting serious! According to their sources, the new Panasonic GF2 Micro Four Thirds camera is going to be announced tomorrow morning at 0600 GMT — that is 7:00 CET or 2:00 a.m. EDT.
The GF2 will be an entry-level MFT model, smaller than the GF1, and allegedly smaller even than the Sony NEX bodies! On what appears to be the first publicly available picture of the camera, it looks really minute, and paired with the new 14mm f/2.5 pancake lens, it could indeed become the smallest ILC body-lens-combo on the market.
17 hours and counting … stay tuned! 
Two of our favourite Mirco Four Thirds lenses have been given new reviews — the legendary, must-have, king of low light Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake, and the new kid on the wide-angle-zoom-block, the tiny M.Zuiko 9-18mm f/4-5.6.
The 20/1.7 has been reviewed by LensTip, according to the motto “better late than never” — considering it’s now been on the market for about a year already. But, if you want to be taken serious as a lens review site, you’ve got to take a look at this lens. There’s no way around it. Why? Simply because it’s the lens for Micro Four Thirds, being small, fast, and optically excellent, and because it’s the pancake lens at the moment, being small, fast, and optically excellent. But if you need this expressed in numbers to be convinced, take a look at LensTip’s review.
The M.Zuiko 9-18, the latest wide-angle zoom for Micro Four Thirds, has been looked at by the German website digitalkamera.de. Sadly, their reviews aren’t available for free. But if you have a PayPal or ClickandBuy account, you can download it for a fee of € 1,40. The 9-18 is another must-have for anyone who owns a MFT camera, as it is reported to be very good, especially considering it’s merely half the size and less the price of the Lumix 7-14mm f/4. Here’s digitalkamera.de’s verdict: “All in all an astonishingly high and even performance for this focal range, a highly recommendable super wide angle zoom.” Here’s the link to their review notice.
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November 16th, 2010, 8:32 am | 
