More rumors/speculations for the year 2013

This time, 43rumors has posted some rumors and speculations on what the year 2013 is going to be like.

• Apparently, there will be a new PEN model arriving on late Jan/early Feb time frame. This is probably going to be what E-P5 was supposed to be (not sure of the official name). It makes sense for Olympus to produce a body a bit larger than E-PL5 with integrated EVF. And probably few more manual controls. Although this makes the new model awfully close to the E-M5, I believe some people are looking for more compact version of E-M5 (especially without the hump, which was perceived not too well during the initial launch).
• There will be a new model in the OM-D line-up. Whether it will be called OM-D E-M6 / E-M7 or OM-D E-7, it will likely to do what E-M5 does already, plus gracefully handling all FT lenses. This means Olympus needs to figure out how to deal with PDAF lenses. I’m not sure how Olympus will pull this off without using a new sensor that can handle both CDAF and PDAF. Perhaps Olympus is currently working with Sony on this right now.
• Panasonic is expected to release both G7 and GF7. The GF7 is an easy one to guess – similar body with new CPU for better performances but most importantly, the sensor upgrade to the GH3 sensor. Panasonic needs to do this to compete with Olympus who used E-M5 sensor to their value model, E-PM2. As for the G7, once again, the sensor upgrade is a given. Probably will receive a faster CPU as well. It will probably need some additional controls to compete better at this price level.
• Panasonic GX2 is also puzzling. It should have arrived here by now but it hasn’t. The GX1 has been on a big discount for ages. Most people took this as a sign that the GX2 is on the horizon but it didn’t happen in 2012. I’m hoping that the GX2 would be similar to GX1 with the GH3 sensor and a built-in EVF. But this does make the GX2 very close to G5 or the upcoming G7. Perhaps they may let the size of G7 grow a bit to accomodate more features while keeping the GX2 compact.
• Panasonic has already announced 42.5mm f/1.2 lens. Given how Panasonic has been focusing only on the premium lenses recently, the chances are that this will be a pro-grade lens as well. Expensive, relatively bulky, may include IS, and of course great image quality. Unfortunately, this lens is more likely to arrive in 2014.
• Panasonic has also announced 150mm f/2.8 lens. This is one of the key model that is currently missing in already large pool of M43 lenses. Hopefully, Panasonic can keep the size down to a reasonable bulk.

Source: http://www.43rumors.com/the-2013-rumorspeculation-roundup/