Here you have it, the world's first
micro Four Thirds camera, the Lumix DMC-G1. Panasonic calls it the "world's smallest and lightest digital interchangeable lens camera," a fancy of way of saying it's not a traditional DSLR nor is it a regular point and shoot -- it's something in between. Remember, the micro four-thirds format ditches the internal mirror and prism while maintaining a DSLR-sized sensor -- in this case, we're looking at a new flip-out, 3-inch, high resolution (1.44 million pixels!) Live viewfinder and a 12.1 megapixel Live MOS Sensor. That allows this cam to weigh in at 385-grams (0.85-pounds) and just 20-mm thick. Rounding out the specs are optical image stabilization (MEGA OIS), intelligent ISO, AF tracking, face detection, HDMI output, and intelligent scene selector with Venus Engine HD image processing and a Supersonic Wave Filter dust reduction system under the hood. Pricing will be announced in October. The cats over at
dpreview have a preview model in house if you want a detailed first-look. Trust us, you should.
Update: In Japan, the G1 will go on sale on October 31st. The body alone is expected to cost ¥80,000 (about $750 tax inclusive) on up to ¥120,000 (about $1,200 tax inclusive) with bundled
LUMIX G Vario 45-200mm F4-5.6 MEGA OIS lens.[Via
Digital Camera resource page and
1001noisycameras and
Impress]
Read -- Press Release
Read -- Preview
posted September 12th 2008 3:05AM
Argh! No IR sensor for a wireless remote! Argh!
Not small enough for me. I want a pocket sized point and shoot with something like a 35-70, 70-300, a wide angle and a fish eye. Is this physicaly possible? I would think so.
Doesn't applying the interchangeable lens idea sort of defeat the whole idea of pocket size camera? You're not really going to be able to fit your camera and lenses together in your pocket. The other problem is trying to get 12X of zoom range out of something that small. You're going to end up with all kinds of distortion.
Wait a year. Panasonic already stated they could make it smaller but in doing so, remember you'll have to eliminate so bloat.
For instance, you could get rid of the peer-through EVF and just use the back display, that gets rid of a lot of bulk right there. Making that back display flush to the body (not pivot and tilt) also reduces size. Get rid of the hand grip or drastically reduce it to, say, one like the DMC-LX3 and you're getting really close to pocket size. Snap on the upcoming 20mm f/1.7 pancake they have on their roadmap (2009) and I think you'll have it.
But for now, they want a full-featured whiz-bang camera to compete with the medium-range DSLR market looking for something smaller than what's being offered.
Also, Olympus should be releasing their models next year, too.
@ehisforadam
Actually I think it makes sense to have interchangebale lenses in this case for following reasons:
1) Even if you buy only one lens, you could decide what is the range and speed that you need. Consider 3 different types of point and shoots: Canon S5 with a 12x zoom, Canon G9 with shorter zoom but better lens AND better sensor, and upcoming FX3 with a 24-60mm 2.0-2.8 lens. Each serves users with different requirements. Instead of making a micro 4/3rd camera with a fixed lens thus fixing its target users, why not let the user decide which type of lens is best for their needs, even if thats the only lens that they ever buy.
2) It is easier to make an "all-purpose" lens with small sensors - my minolta A200 had a lens which was optically superb despite being a 28-200mm f/2.8 zoom (35mm equivalent off course) (and the camera still cost only $450 when new). A lens like that on a 4/3rd body would be either not so great optically or very expensive or maybe both (and pretty large as well). Add to that the fact that macro like capabilities are piece-of-cake for P&S cameras - you really can't match all of that in a single lens with this larger format.
3) Camera bodies become obsolete quickly these days but lenses dont. A good micro 4/3rd lens would cost atleast a few hundred dollars, why not keep that lens and use it with your next body instead of throwing it away when the body becomes old. A case in point is Sony R1, a fixed lens camera with a APS-C sensor. Its 24-120 lens was considered to be a gem which was alone worth the price of the camera (close to $900 if I remember correctly). But an R1 owner can't use that great lens anymore once they move to a newer camera.
The dilema is that if you just want to do some point and shoot photography you really don't care about having a true optical viewfinder. However if you are doing real serious photography you need a true optical viewfinder.
Sorry but even with a 2-4X zoom to help with the manual focus using an EVF it still isn't good enough in a 12 megapixel camera. Even if it looks like the image is in focus it may not be. You also have to fiddle with the focus ring for a much longer time with an EVF to get proper focus.
With true optical viewfinders you can recognize proper focus almost instantly because you are looking at something in much higher definition than any screen can reproduce. In order to see accurate focus of a 12mp image you would need a 23" monitor attached to the lens. Sorry but a 1 million pixel EVF can't reproduce that.
In the last photoshoot for my company I got 3 DVDs full of images, about 450 images, and out of that I could only use 10. Nearly every photo was out of focus. I am sure the photographer was using the live preview on his new DSLR instead of the viewfinder. He just trusted the autofocus of the camera so I got plenty of pictuers with a belt buckle in focus or the hand in front of the face instead of the face.
While this camera may be a great piece of equipment it fills a void that doesn't have any active people looking for it. Maybe with a pancake lens so it can fit in a purse.
"While this camera may be a great piece of equipment it fills a void that doesn't have any active people looking for it. Maybe with a pancake lens so it can fit in a purse."
This is exactly not true. It fills a void that does, in fact, have a good number of people looking for it. There's no such thing as a perfect camera for everyone, but I think people should stop thinking "not perfect for me" is the same as "not perfect for anyone."
Long live Olympus, Canon, and Nikon.
The micro 4/3rds Olympus should be announced very soon...
If they would attach a non-removable lens with ring focusing and the range of the Z 28, Panasonic could not keep up with the demand.
Hi, I have set up a camera reviews database website, I call it dprGuru.com
Just added links to the dpreview.com and imaging-resource.com Lumix G1 product previews to the database, you're welcome to see at http://www.dprguru.com/?model=779512606
Hopefully they will post detailed reviews soon, and we will update the links (anyone can recommend links to new reviews, actually) at dprGuru.com