new panny m4/3?

[Sonnar2]

Looks like the E-P1 needs an urgent update.

 

[.ken]

Will there be a Leica version with the little red dot? 🙂

 

[BillBingham2]

Give me some more primes please!

Perhaps CV will give us a few manual focus M4/3 mount lenses, please!

Not as small as my GR-D but it's tempting.....

B2 (;->

 

[.ken]

I wish lenses had distance and aperture scale. It would be "theoretically" easy to find out focus distance since everything is electronically controlled now. Don't forget focusing tabs too!

When the camera is turned off, the focusing could still be disabled but once turned on, depending on the focus ring position, it could electronically focus the lens right to that same spot.

 

[kdemas]

I'm pretty fired up about this little camera! I have a G1 as a "fun" camera and this little guy looks like it will be pretty sweet. I also look forward to the 20mm eventually getting to the market.

That does look like an EVF connector underneath the hotshoe.... would be terrific.

Kent

ps- Check out the autofocus speed vs. the EP1 in this link, much faster (as is the G1).

 

[Leigh Youdale]

I'm thinking it's real. Consider that Panasonic have had many months since the first unveiling of the Olympus mock-up to decide to develop a "me-too" product to compete. They're probably behind Olympus in production but are well advanced as they were effectively handed the concept on a plate.
The 'leak' although probably officially denied, is also probably deliberate to cause all potential E-P1 buyers to hold onto their wallets a bit longer to see what Panasonic come up with and if it addresses some of the shortcomings of the Oly product.
I looked at the E-P1 in Singapore a couple of weeks ago and decided against it. If the "GF1" has any sort of viewfinder over and above an LCD screen then it's probably the one I'm waiting for.
September might be a bit optimistic, but I'd expect something before year-end.

 

[amateriat]

Can't say I'm in any major hurry for something like this, but, land o' Goshen, what I'm seeing on that Endgadget page had better not be a PS'd hoax. That gets tantalizingly close to the "one digital camera" I'd want around, much moreso than a G1. But that's just me.

Deliver it with a real EVF option and it's Katy-bar-the-door...


- Barrett

 

[DRabbit]

I like the possibility that it will have an accessory EVF.... however, I think that will be Oly's next move (whether for the E-P1 or E-P2, who knows). I obviously already own and E-P1, but if I was in the market I'd have a hard time choosing between the camera with in-body IS vs. the camera that has an attachable EVF (if indeed it has one at launch).

The biggest annoyance is that the GH1 is still hard to get in the U.S... and the 20mm f/1.7 never seemed to come (yet at least)... I hope that's not the trend that will continue for Panasonic. They're products seem very cool, but hard to put your hands on (at least here in America).

 

[.ken]

why cant they put this all in the same body:

- in body EVF
- in body IS
- form factor of an RF

is that too difficult to ask for? 🙂

 

[aizan]

so...it's an e-p1 with faster autofocus and accessory evf.

hopefully the e-p2 will have a built-in evf. and then hopefully the gf2 will have a built-in evf. and then hopefully this and that, and i'll probably buy a used m9 in the end.

 

[.ken]

haha, it never ends!

 

[pvdhaar]

This all got me thinking (yes, sometimes that happens.. 😀 )

Good as an EVF may be, it will never show more than the frame you're about to capture. So, no projected framelines and seeing outside the frame.. I'd think an optical external viewfinder would still be best..

 

[amateriat]

Good as an EVF may be, it will never show more than the frame you're about to capture. So, no projected framelines and seeing outside the frame.. I'd think an optical external viewfinder would still be best..

Understood. But in a market where all in-built optical VFs are wildly inaccurate, an accurate EVF will do. I'm not looking upon this as a direct M-substitute, but perhap as a serious replacement for my Olympus C-8080, which is nice in its own right, but rather big to be taking with me much of the time. And, one can add an optical VF from CV, although one would have to set things up carefully, focal-length-wise (although it would be nice if Panasonic added one or two of their own somewhere along the way).


- Barrett

 

[Traut]

There will be an EVF. Note the VF/LCD swith and the connector on the rear view under the hotshoe. There are therefore three viewing options - LCD / EVF / removable opticals. Very interesting

 

[M4streetshooter]

I wish lenses had distance and aperture scale. It would be "theoretically" easy to find out focus distance since everything is electronically controlled now. Don't forget focusing tabs too!

When the camera is turned off, the focusing could still be disabled but once turned on, depending on the focus ring position, it could electronically focus the lens right to that same spot.

Ken,
you can do that on the Pen with the kit lenses.

Set the focus to the AEL button. Thenset lens reset to OFF.
Focus the camera at the desired distance with the AEL button...
Make images and the focus stays licked...if you move in or need AF,
just refocus with the AEL button.
If the camera goes off and comes back on, it's at your set focus...
Faster than MF and only 1 step.
Shooter

 

[leicaAngst]

This is interesting by the paradox. The Ep1 arrives everyone castigates it for not having an EVF, and that's the next Panasonic move. Furthermore the general no grip shape is even more pointing to Ep1 jelousy.

Hence that either we at RFF were downright wrong and the EP1 is a great success and is here to stay and point the way, or Panasonic is doing a strange manouvre.

And if Panasonic is leaving the EVF, this means that used G1s' will be looked after in some time at higher prices, unless another manufacturer surprises like Panasonic did with its G1.

Very strange. Or a joke.

Cheers,
Ruben

I don't think there's anything strange here. Remember that M4/3 is a meeting point between point-and-shoot users and DSLR users.

Those arriving from the DSLR camp (like me) may want the familiar shape and fantastic controls (EVF, swivel screen) of the G-1 more than the portability of the 'flatter' EP-1, whereas the opposite may be true for compact users (it's probably no coincidence that the rumoured GF1 looks like a Canon G10 🙂)

Me? I want a G1 (swivel screen) closely followed by an EP-1 (retro look & stabilised manual lenses) followed by a GF-1 (reason tbd)!

Cheers, lA

 

[back alley]

it's hard to beat that swivel screen and just how handy it is for different situations.

 

[ed1234]

When you go to the link below, you will see the 1st pic( yes u have seen it many times) that the 45mm lens is a "Leica lens", but the same lens is shown on pic 4 with different label, which said "Lumix G Marco.......Mega OIS"............looks like a fake after all.



http://blog.livedoor.jp/e_p1/archives/51257852.html

 

[250swb]

When you go to the link below, you will see the 1st pic( yes u have seen it many times) that the 45mm lens is a "Leica lens", but the same lens is shown on pic 4 with different label, which said "Lumix G Marco.......Mega OIS"............looks like a fake after all.



http://blog.livedoor.jp/e_p1/archives/51257852.html

I don't necessarily think it is the same lens, one is all black, and the lower photo has the gun metal grey feature of the current lenses. And who would bank on mock up photo's being representative of the final product? But it is clear Panasonic and Leica have worked on the current m4/3 lenses, so a re-introduction of the Leica brand can't be totally unexpected in a fast changing market. What is clear is that nothing exists that comes close to being similar in design to make a 'fake lens' image from, without a lot of work that would also involve the rest of the camera.

Steve

 

[emraphoto]

where does this put olympus on the m4/3 map if Panasonic can put out better cameras with more features?

How exactly have we come to the conclusion it's a better camera? I mean is this thing even real? Has anyone used it?