And here it is the news of the day: Sony and Olympus agreement official. Will work together on the mirrorless front!

Wall Street Journal (via 43rumors) reports: “Olympus said Friday it will raise ¥49 billion ($631.6 million) by issuing new shares to Sony Corp. With the capital tie-up, Sony will effectively become Olympus’s biggest shareholder, with a stake of 11.5% in terms of voting rights. The two companies also plan by the end of December to set up a joint venture to develop medical devices and to study collaboration in compact digital cameras.”

Olympus and Sony didn’t disclose any detail about the collaboration and I don’t know what to expect from this. Olympus has a great experience when it comes to high quality lens design. They are for example the only one doing f/2.0 fast zooms, the [shoplink 14498 ebay]14-35mm (here on eBay)[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 14492 ebay]35-100mm (again here on eBay)[/shoplink].  This is certainly something the NEX system needs urgently.

UPDATE: In a PDF released by Olympus/Sony they say: “The two companies also aim to enhance their competitiveness, primarily in the area of compact digital cameras, by exploring opportunities for mutually beneficial transactions and collaboration between their respective camera businesses, including the supply of Olympus technologies such as camera lenses and mirror cells to Sony, and the provision of Sony image sensors to Olympus.”

On Monday Sony and Olympus will have a press conference and we may will learn more about their future camera strategy!