Good news #1: There’s a firmware update available for the OM-D that’s supposed to correct the sleep lockup problem.
Good news #2: It appears that there are huge discounts on the Pansonic GX1, available here from Amazon in kit form for $492 (with the 14-42) and body only for $395. That’s cheaper than a Pen Mini in most parts of the world…and as much as I like the Pen Mini, the GX1 is a much more full-featured camera – and a no-brainer at this price.
Bad news: 43rumors.com has jacked my image without permission to use as their post centerpiece, which is how I found out about the firmware update. You can see the original here. Please do me a favor and leave a comment of support under my comment on their fb page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/43rumors/154271467964575) or on the original post. Thanks! MT
Ming Thein | Photographer 
Thanks for all your great posts and commentary. Do you think the GX1 is still a steal ($200 body only at b&h) even though it’s getting longer in the tooth? Appreciate your input.
Given that at this point it costs less than a mediocre compact? Absolutely. Just because a camera is older doesn’t mean it gets any less capable than it was when new…
Peculiar, now the body-only DMC-GX offering seems priced above the $493 kit price on Amazon. Odd.
I think that was a special offer. Ah well, it makes the kit an even better deal, I suppose.
Some online photo store http://tokocamzone.com/ is currently using your leica X2 image without credit/link. I don’t know whether they have/haven’t contacted you for permission. If not, image theft has become too rampant these days. Sigh.
Thanks for the heads up. I have contacted them and will follow due legal process if they do not remove them.
Ming, while I completely agree with what you’re saying in theory, your image was properly linked back to your blog, and had been given permission prior. If Ale had been trying to sell your image, I could understand your attitude, but as is, it is technically being used for reportage, and driving traffic directly to your site, so I feel your venom is wrongly placed. He has apologized and yet you still throw it back in his face. Not sure how it is intended, but it comes across (to me) as stubborn and unnecessarily aggressive. I’m sure your site has received many, many more hits today than you normally receive due to that image link (I know I’ve never been here) so I’d suggest relaxing and appreciating the attention you’re getting and perhaps, at the very least act a bit more gracious. I doubt I’ll be back here as this has given me as much as I feel I need to know. I’d like to add, an image of mine was used a few days ago, much like yours was on 43rumors and I wrote Ale to thank him for the insane bump in traffic my site received. No skin off my back and I’ve made many more connections I’d previously not had because of it. I doubt you’ll have the problem of folks wanting to ever use your images if they see how you react to something like this man, relax. As was noted, this was a mistake (in that he only forgot to put your name below your image) as far as I can see, yet it was properly linked…
Best regards,
Tyson
Firstly, you have your facts completely wrong. I was not asked, I did not give permission, and the image was hosted on his site at a closed link.
Secondly, my traffic pattern hasn’t changed over the last day or so – or if it did, it didn’t change enough to make a difference.
Thirdly, some of the intermediate communication has been left out or deleted, so you are making judgments out of context and late.
Finally, this issue is resolved and closed, apology accepted – as already noted on Facebook and this site. I also provided another option to the site to use the image if properly linked and credited (which appears has happened).
for the little it’s worth, I discovered this site through a 43rumors link, and since then it’s become one of the very few in my RSS reader list… Just saying.
Good to know, but that image definitely wasn’t linked…
Regarding the “Good News” part of this topic, what do folks think of the GX1? I’ve been thinking a lot about a carry-everywhere piece of kit. Is a GX1 combined with the 20mm lens a good alternative to the Fuji X100? Hmmm… interchangeable lenses vs. an innovative and integrated optical viewfinder. Other pros or cons?
At the initial price, I would have been a little hesitant because there wasn’t a huge difference between that and the OM-D; however, it’s so cheap now that it represents excellent value for money. The 20mm is an excellent lens, too; and of course because it’s a CSC, you can easily build a light travel kit around it. Operationally – focusing isn’t quite as fast as the OM-D, but it’s pretty close.
Ming… in your opinion.. how the not IBIS and EVF impact the GX1 compared to the OMD.. ?
I still find the best replacement for my dear GF2 in the future though…
the GX1 deal seem so reasonable to upgrade body only from GF2.
The EVF in the OMD is better; you’ll have to buy IS lenses for stabilization on the GX1. Both systems are excellent – pick your poison. I have OIS lenses I use on the OMD, which give about the same degree of stabilization as the IBIS system. The control interface on the OM-D is pretty different to the GF2 though, so the GX1 would probably make more sense as an upgrade for you.
@kitlaugh – excellent, you try writing that in Italian now. No mistakes tolerated.
I’m pretty disappointed to see how this issue was handled here. Not a site where I expected to see a lynch mob / flame war incited. And not a very graceful response to a clear and full apology either. Bad hair day?
Firstly, it’s not a lynch mob or flame war – it’s important that photographers stand up for their image rights, because this is how we make a living. If not, then eventually this will become an untenable business (it’s already going that way). It’s the principle of the thing. I’ve already stated in many places that asking and common courtesy would have been fine, and that goes for everybody – not just me.
What doesn’t make me happy is the ‘I didn’t know’ excuse despite a) previously linking directly to the review containing the image, so it’s obvious where it came from; b) saving the image as ‘Ming_Thein.jpg’ on your own site; and c) there’s a watermark. Sorry, but you’ll have to excuse me if I’m somewhat cool about this because none of the evidence stacks up.
Hi Ming. The first time I linked to you (months ago) I linked to a specific article with the E-M5 image. The second time I searched for an image on google and picked up one. It was one of your images (on another website) and I didn’t get quickly that it was yours. As I said I as in super hurry when posting this. I am not writing this to excuse myself but just to explain the dynamic of what happened. Uploaded the image with the name it has (no check of what it was, or watermark). Yesterday I searched for ming thein images on my website and found that I already had posted the image and removed both.
Just think for a second that I did the seatrch and posting in 20 sec. That’s the problem. If you think afterwards it shoudl had been easy to avoid it. And that’s exactly my problem now. I have to bring my work on another level with some help from people that has more time than me. But that’s another story.
Mistakes are/ were made, and corrective measures taken. Thank you for your apology. Please be more careful in future. I consider this matter closed.
Jeez, you happy about your 3 1/2 minutes of fame for whining about some picture on the internet? Here’s a thought, if you don’t want people to see your pictures on the internet – THEN DONT POST PICTURES ON THE INTERNET!
If I didn’t want people to see them, I wouldn’t post them. I don’t want people to use them to promote their own site/ post/ product without my permission. That’s commercial use and violates copyright law. There’s a difference. You clearly have never had anything stolen from you from which you make a living, and I hope it doesn’t happen. And I have more traffic than the site it was linked to, so there’s nothing in it for me.
HI it’s me 43rumors. It was a mistake and I am sorry. I posted the same image in the past with link to MIng and I copied that pic from that post. The image itself included the link to his blog but there was no written text below the image. It’s not an excuse I was in damn hurry when posting this. Was no intention to steal to anyone. Hope you udnerstand that I am human and I can do mistake. I reacted now and wrote that official apologize.
Please *ask permission* in future regardless of whether it’s me or another photographer. I make a living from photography. I can’t give images out for free, or I would’t have a job.
Not knowing is no excuse, my watermark is clearly visible in the border!
If you wish to continue using it please add the credit line as requested under the image. And remember to ask permission in future!
Thank you for having the decency to do the right thing.
Thank You for contacting me regarding this issue. I will do my best to avoid any mistake with any blogger. Damn, l undertsand you were pissed of with me 🙂
By the way, didn’t find your pic on Flickr. It was on google images!
http://www.scoop.it/t/olympus-em-5/p/1888925966/full-review-the-olympus-om-d-e-m5-ming-thein-photographer
Hosted on flickr, then saved on your image host as “Ming_Thein.jpg” – there is no way you couldn’t have known.
” I reacted now and wrote that official apologise.”
That should be “apology’; in other words, slow down, man! No one needs to be in that much of a rush, IMHO
Done
Ming, have you contacted them? Imitation, and by extension, plagiarism, is the sincerest form of flattery, it is said, but that’s blatant!
Please post on how you go with this. Cheers, KL
I did – email, comment on the site, Facebook wall…we shall see what happens. Legal action will ensue if it’s not credited or taken down. A simple email to ask permission would have been fine, but it seems that people who operate sites like this lack both any sense of legality and common courtesy. The fact that it was screen capped from flickr (I don’t allow saves) and saved separately points to a rather malicious operator.
Please do me a favor and leave a comment in support on their site…
I will, immediately. Cheers, KL
Thank you.
Done