Well, the Olympus E-620 is here. Olympus announced today the E-620, a camera that sits firmly between the E-520 and E-30. It's almost the same size as the E-520 but a bit lighter.
So what is the difference between these three cameras?

dc.watch.impress.jp has great photos from the G1 using various lenses.
The 9-18mm f4-5.6, 25mm f2.8, 25mm f1.4 and the 50mm f2.0 macro are all put on a G1 using the micro Four Thirds adapter.
The camera delivers beautiful images with these lenses. It looks like Panasonic did a great job of squeezing 12MP into the tiny sensor.

According to cnet.com, Olympus have officially launched the E-30, a 12MP 'tweener' camera, that sits between E-3 and E-5xx. The camera is very close to E-3 in specifications, having 5fps continuous shooting, 12MP sensor, the same 11 point AF module and 2.7 inches articulated screen.
It still hasn't shown up on fourthirds.org, though.

Olympus has also updated the 14-54 lens. It now has closer focus, circular aperture blades and improved contrast detection AF according to the CNET article.

Update:
It seems that the article has been removed. Maybe CNET was a bit premature?

In a what seemed a last minute presentation, Olympus showed reporters a mockup of compact micro Four Thirds camera. The camera mockup seems to be even smaller than the Sigma DP-1, and it had a retro feel to it, somewhat reminding me of Olympus 35RD or Pen FT designs.
via dpreview

Olympus have quietly shown a "tweener" camera that seems to be positioned between the E-520 and E-3. The camera is smaller than the E-3, but has similar design. It has the articulating screen, similar button layout to the E-3 but a large dial on the left shoulder.
Quesabesde.com has some photos. Its seems to be somewhere between the E-3 and the E-520.
dpnow.com has some good photos of the camera.

When it rains, it pours. I choose the wrong week to go on a vacation in a remote cabin. (and other excuses).
Nobuyuki posted a news article here and have taken the permission of expanding it a bit since a lot has happened in between.
The DMC G1 is out, and it looks very promising.
The camera looks (and probably feels) like other Panasonic super zooms, but with a replaceable lenses and bigger sensor, naturally.
Some specifications at a glance:
* 12MP CMOS sensor
* 380g (630g with battery and 14-45 OIS lens)
* 3" TFT, articulated
* 3 fps
* High speed LCD viewfinder
Compatible with these lenses:
* Olympus 25/2.8 Pancake
* Olympus 14-42mm F3.5-5.6
* Olympus 40-150mm F4-5.6
* Panasonic Leica D 25mm F1.4
* Panasonic Leica D 14-50mm F3.8-5.6
* Panasonic Leica D 14-150mm F3.5-5.6
Planned Panasonic/Leica lenses include:
* 45-200mm F4.0-5.6 OIS
* 14-140mm F4.0-5.6 OIS HD
* 7-14mm F4.0
* 20mm F1.7

Update:
The mystery of these images are now solved. Mr. Hiro Sakae posted them on his blog. A reader of Mr. Sakae blog made them.
I'm still keeping them up, they are just too beautiful to ignore.



Well, it was bound to happen. Somebody posted a images of a concept Micro Four Thirds camera. I have no idea if these are authentic or just fan artwork. But the designs looks very good.
Give a Micro FT version of the 25/2.8, preferably f2.0 and the 9-18 and I'm sold.

Square sensor?
Could the camera have square sensor? That would be interesting, no need to rotate the camera anymore.

Olympus Imaging Corporation (Olympus Imaging) and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic) today announced joint development of technologies and devices for the "Micro Four Thirds System standard," a new standard that extends the benefits of the Four Thirds System standard for interchangeable lens type digital camera systems by enabling dramatic reductions in size and weight. Under the terms of an agreement between the two companies, they will work jointly toward commercial production of significantly lighter and more compact interchangeable lens type digital camera systems.

Metz have quietly updated the firmware of the mecablitz 58 AF-1 digital and mecablitz 48 AF-1 digital to fully support Olympus remote flash protocol.

Olympus E-420 reviews are starting to show up on the web. Gordon over at Cameralabs.com has a finished another great review with his trademark video tour, I have to say that he is definitely one to check out if you want 'see' how the camera feels.

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