Panasonic mentions new m4/3 camera

[Avotius]

Panasonic is at least starting to chatter about more micro 4/3 things as seen here: http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2009/02/09/panasonic-plans-to-launch-new-micro-four-thirds-camera/

They mention a new camera that will be coming later this year. I am thinking it will be the HD video version of the G1 and for me that would not be a real kicker to get one especially as it might be more expensive then the G1 is now and here where I am it is already outrageously over priced and has sold so poor here that no one keeps them in stock.

Lately a lot of companies are coming out with some new things here and there so there is hope that some announcements will come sooner rather then later.

 

[Wiyum]

I'm anxious to hear what both Panasonic and Olympus are going to do next. It isn't often talked about, but the original white paper for microFT mentions not only 4:3 sensors, but also 16:9 sensors with the same diagonal as the existing 4:3 chips. A recent Olympus Q&A went to lengths to point out that the format specification is merely one of defining the image circle, not the aspect ratio, and that document also made mention of 3:2.

For the Panasonic G1HD/G2, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a 16:9 sensor, both to compliment the video and to offer stills-only customers a reason to be interested in the new camera. I could see the Olympus cameras going with any of those three aspect ratios as well.

I'd certainly like to see a microFT body that does for that mount what the Panasonic LX3 did (the specific execution of which I'm still not 100% clear on). For those that don't know, the LX3, like the LX1 and LX2, is switchable between 4:3, 3:2, and 16:9. But while the previous two cameras (and, to my knowledge, all other cameras with swappable aspect ratios) achieved two of those aspect ratios as mere crops of the third, the LX3 has a chip that covers all of the image circle needed for all three of those aspect ratios to fill the circle. Meaning the 16:9 aspect ratio has more pixels horizontally than the other two, and the 4:3 ratio has more pixels vertically than the other two. Aspect ratio choice thus makes a difference because there's no "fullest" aspect ratio from which all others are derived. Pretty cool, and something I'd love to see in an interchangeable lens camera (along with 1:1?). But that's just my fantasy.

 

[Avotius]

I think Panasonic is being quite serious about this micro 4/3 thing and they have been working on the G1 camera after the fact which can be shown by their new firmware updates which are not just simple tweaks but seem to deal with larger things on the camera.

I am quite confident in Panasonic's first foray into this new niche market and I (as well as many people here) are eager to see what comes next.