Panasonic adds silver and pink body options to GF1, exhibits poor timing

It's pretty much common knowledge these days that we're big fans of Micro Four Thirds cameras, and while Olympus may already be shipping its second generation hardware, Panasonic is holding firm with the still highly desirable GF1. Tweaking up the formula just a tad, the company is throwing its Japanese audience a bone with a pair of frankly stupendous color options, led by the silver (looks more like gunmetal to us) number above. We're digging the contrast between the black sections and silver body, though the real highlight must be that we don't find the pink option (pictured after the break) intolerable. Good job by Panasonic on picking out these hues, but why on earth are they coming out on March 12 -- shouldn't the marketing department be aware of certain global consumerist events that exist pretty much exclusively to stimulate indulgent purchases of superficially appealing new gear?

[Wiggy Fuzz Posted Feb 12th 2010 4:15AM]

*opens eyes slowly to view pink camera*... hey, it's not so bad

[Old fogie late bloomer Posted Feb 12th 2010 11:47AM]

@Wiggy Fuzz

It's not! I wouldn't buy it, but... the silver and black combo looks pretty sexy....

[cyclone13 Posted Feb 12th 2010 4:19AM]

Oh the joys and pains of being an early adopter.

[ffffffffffffffffff Posted Feb 12th 2010 4:25AM]

Shouldn't Engadget be aware of CP+?

The Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), a consortium formed by major camera and imaging industry players including Canon, Casio, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony, has created a new photo industry event in Japan called “CP+”

Outline of the Event
1. Duration: March 11 (Thu) to March 14 (Sun), 2010, 10:00 to 17:00

[Sarig Posted Feb 12th 2010 3:04PM]

@ffffffffffffffffff It's not being held in the US, so it's outside Engadget's sphere of interest.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 12th 2010 4:37AM]

pinkywinky

[mtnDewFTW Posted Feb 12th 2010 4:43AM]

whatever lol

[mrspiteri Posted Feb 12th 2010 4:53AM]

The GF1 is second generation too. forget about the G1 did we?

[cdf74dc9 Posted Feb 12th 2010 5:21AM]

Had my G1 for a while and it was great. But I got to save $ for a droid phone :D

[sibyy Posted Feb 12th 2010 5:37AM]

? I'm puzzled... the silver version has been available (together with the white one) for a while now in Asia and Europe. So it's not a new colour.

No for the pink all I can say is ouch!!!!

Anyway I'm a pride owner of the a black GF1!

[sibyy Posted Feb 12th 2010 5:43AM]

@sibyy am I halucinating? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-Lumix-GF1-20mm-Lens/dp/B002OB494Q/

[Tekky Posted Feb 12th 2010 5:49AM]

They should focus on getting low-light quality shots instead of camera colors.

[Temple Posted Feb 12th 2010 5:54AM]

Let's keep in mind, that Japan's biggest vacation time "Golden Week" is at the end of April. Releasing a product mid-March is perfect timing.

Especially considering that a micro-Fourthirds camera that is compact and does video extraordinarily well is perfect vacation product. And the fact the yen is strong means that many Japanese will be going overseas on vacation since they have stronger spending power.

[bratkun Posted Feb 12th 2010 6:48AM]

Oh, don't you know that in Japan, it's the women who give gifts to men on Valentines day.

[Fr0 Posted Feb 12th 2010 9:15AM]

@bratkun evidently they also don't know about White Day, March 15, when men give gifts back to the women from whom they received gifts.

[Leicaman Posted Feb 12th 2010 9:47AM]

Anyone who has covered the camera world for any period of time knows that camera makers always announce products prior to big events like PMA or Photokina. This is S.O.P. for camera makers. Check out Nikon's recent announcements of the new PHD camears (Push Here Dummy) and just last week with the two new lenses - including the super-desirable AF-S 24mm 1.4!

[Leicaman Posted Feb 12th 2010 9:48AM]

@Leicaman - Sorry for the slightly snarky start to my message. Haven't had my coffee yet. :-P

[keithwwalker Posted Feb 13th 2010 2:40AM]

Best thing I did with my black GF1 is to skin it to cover up all those logos and labels.