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Olympus E-P2 dons all-black garb for limited edition pancake lens kits
Olympus has just made a pair of new, limited edition kit options official for its PEN E-P2 shooter. Both include an M. Zuiko Digital 17mm F2.8 prime lens and an all-black paintjob, with the choice for the buyer being between a Special Black (or just black, if you're talking to humans) EVF Edition that brings you the V-F2 viewfinder, and an equally noir Flash Edition, which will enrich your life with the FL-14 external flash. Prices are €1,079 ($1,371) and €1,049 ($1,332), respectively, and launch is scheduled for October of this year. As the old saying goes, you don't have to be crazy to buy these, but it'd help.
Samsung NX5 becomes official little brother to NX10 hybrid DSLR
So you like Samsung's NX10 pseudo-DSLR camera, but can't quite reach up to its price point? Good old uncle Sammy is looking out for you with this here budget-friendly model -- the NX5 replaces the AMOLED display with a standard 3-inch LCD, but looks to be keeping all the other important features. That means you're still getting an electronic viewfinder and that 14.6 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor -- which collected plenty of review approbation -- inside a compact body, plus the same selection of NX-mount lenses to choose from. A €699 ($855) launch price might not seem like a great deal, but we've found its elder brother retailing for $619 on Amazon.de together with a kit lens, so expect prices to tumble downwards shortly after this shooter's release in late June.
Olympus E-P1 outfitted with Rollei EVF
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.
Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FZ50 10 megapixel shooter
We're not done with Panasonic's new additions to the Lumix lineup just yet; in addition to the four compact shooters we just saw, the company also unveiled a prosumer model called the DMC-FZ50, which packs a 10.3 megapixel CCD and 12x optical zoom into a DSLR-like body. Besides improving upon the resolution of its 8 megapixel predecessor, the FZ30, the FZ50 also throws down a new feature called Intelligent ISO Control, which adjusts the ISO setting (max. 1600) and shutter speed based on subject movement -- promising to minimize image blur without forcing the user to adjust the manual controls. Further enhancing ease-of-use are a new Function button that delivers quick access to frequently-used settings and a longer-life battery that claims to deliver around 360 shots before recharging becomes an issue. Other differences between the FZ30 and FZ50 include the addition of SDHC card support, a TTL Flash hot-shoe, 16:9 shooting mode, and the so-called Venus Engine III image processor, but the elimination of TIFF file support and several thousand pixels from the 2.0-inch LCD. Luckily the higher resolution and new features don't mean that you'll pay too much more for this updated model than you did for the old one, as it's expected to cost just $650 when it hits stores in September.
