Good Show

This is just a rumor, and should be treated as such, but look what surfaced on dpnet.com.cn recently. I don't read Chinese, but the illustrations have an incrementally more believable look than the last mock-up illos we saw for Micro 4/3.

Speaking of the Chinese, didn't they do just a bang-up job on the Olympics? I say we should get them to host the Games every four years. Just splendid. The people of Beijing, the Chinese government, the Olympic organizers, the participants—I think everybody involved should be proud of the fine job they did. Most excellent hosts, and a superb and memorable Games. All that, and they won the medal race decisively, too. Every citizen of China must be very proud in all kinds of ways.

The ping-pong final was a treat. Glad I got to see that.

Now I'm on pins and needles awaiting the world's next great sporting event...the sixth Vendée Globe. If you don't know the Vendée Globe, it's an elegantly simple (and simply brutal) thing: a race of super-light monohull open-plan 60-foot sailboats around the world, non-stop, without help...singlehanded. As in, one skipper, no crew. The middle third of the race, a circumnavigation of Antarctica, takes place entirely in the Southern Ocean, the most savage, remote, and dangerous place on the planet. Beyond a doubt the #1 extreme sporting event in the world. I've been rereading Godforsaken Sea for the third time (a cracking great armchair adventure title by Derek Lundy—see "Recommended By M.J.," right) just to get psyched.

________________________

Mike  (Thanks to Charlie)

Featured Comment by ZooLive: "Hi! The text in Chinese says that it is said to be an imaginary illustration posted by a Japanese amateur, but that it might also be a way for Panasonic to test public reaction to its Micro 4/3 design."

Featured Comment via Mark Roberts: "Bring on the Bitchy Brits," from Slate.

Comments

[mike]

That looks a lot like the G9 body without the ISO wheel and viewfinder. Could be interesting.

[Bert]

Nice SolidWorks model. Telltales like the 4 screws in exact same alignment plus the all too familiar lighting give it away.

Btw, the "Recommended by M.J." space shows up empty again (in Montreal, using Firefox 3 on Windoze).

[Christopher Lane]

Although I enjoyed the games a great deal, I would prefer that the Chinese not host them every time or ever again for that matter. Buried in all the feel good stories were several articles about would be protestors disappeared, sent to re-education camps or deported. Photographer Vincent Laforet wrote about being followed by the Chinese secret police merely because he wanted to spend some time outside the Olympic bubble. We should not forget that these are the same people that gave us Tiananmen Square, Tibet and some of the world’s worst air pollution.

[Steve Scherbinski]

I ran the page through Bablefish and it seems to be a mockup someone did for fun. From what I got out of the result, it doesn't look like a real product, which may explain why it looks like a G10. Of course with machine translated languages, you're guess is as good as any.

The translated page, if you're interested.

http://tinyurl.com/57duvo

[Steve Scherbinski]

Sorry, I meant the G9, rather then the G10. I've been spending too much time looking at Canon rumor sites.

[Chuck Holst]

Mike, I can't tell whether you are being sarcastic or not. The 1936 Olympics in Berlin was also very well staged. A reporter on NPR this morning said the estimated total cost of the Olympics to the Chinese was $40 billion. For that kind of money, it should be impressive! Also, the Chinese government did a very effective job of suppressing anyone who might interfere with the Games. I think there can be no doubt that the average Chinese citizen is very proud of his nation's achievement, but I thought the iron fist of authoritarianism was very evident, too.

[nars]

It looks like a Panasonic LX with a "real" sensor and interchangable lenses. Wonderful! I have been using an Olympus for a few months now (420 w/ pancake 25mm) and I must say I really like the look I am getting.

[erlik]

I certainly hope that's _not_ it. Not with that dinky zooming tab from P&S. How far they think to extend the similarities with P&S's? Particularly given that the first lens for the camera seems to be a zoom with a zooming ring.

That cover to the right of hot shoe looks interesting. Pop-up flash? Pop-up optical viewfinder?

[Peter]

Why does a camera with interchangeable lenses have a zoom rocker? Is it going to be (shudder) power zoom?

[Chris K]

The iconography matches up with other Panasonic cameras... they use "PASM" on the L10, the "IA" (aka green box) and movie mode icons are the same as on the TZ5 (a recent Panny P&S), and the play mode zoom in/out icons are the same as the TZ5, too.

Reassuring is the pop-up flash location... it looks like it could have the built-in bounce feature of the L1. That would be a very welcome feature, that would allow me to leave the FL-36 at home unless I planned to shoot with a lot of flash.

The recessed lug is a nice touch, too.

More frightening is the "W" behind the shutter rocker that insinuates a non-mechanical zoom ring, and the "12 megapixel" text, which makes me wonder what the noise will be like at ISO1600.

It's just a mock-up image of course, but if I saw this camera on the shelf for $500 and it had in-body IS, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, no matter if it had the typical kit zoom, or (preferably) set of compact primes.

As for the Olympics, I would have liked to see China constrained by the same age restrictions that the rest of the world was. Their cheating taints the accomplishments of the many legitimate athletes in their Olympic program.

[Joe]

I hope that's a pop-up viewfinder...

[Juan Buhler]

An interchangeable-lens P&S, with the ability to use manual focus prime lenses, and a short shutter lag. I've been wanting something like this for years, so I'm first in line to get one...

To me, it would be the perfect complement to the M8, for when I want to compose on the LCD, or when I need to use a very wide or very long lens.

[titus]

nice try - but what are 12.0 Mega PIXELS - is this the new µFT standard ?

cheers, titus

[Mike J.]

"...but I thought the iron fist of authoritarianism was very evident, too."

Chuck,
Pardon me, but don't Americans WANT more authoritarianism from their own government? Authoritarianism is the opposite of liberalism, and from what I can see, liberalism is under attack and in retreat on pretty much every front in America. It's widely agreed that it's become almost like a dirty word.

I'm a liberal, personally, but the mood of the USA in general seems pretty clear--the majority of people want the kind of government here that the Chinese enjoy there.

Mike J.

[JuHa]

Somewhat believable designs, but I feel there should be even more radical ones coming. This is a bit like combining Canon G9 and Panasonic LX3 designs together. Not bad, but could/should be something more.

[Richard]

While the text does say, "imaginary blah blah...," I think the photos are too good to be purely photoshop - no, it's not a challenge. I know the fakes can be quite good.

I like the round contour, very M like :-)

[Amin]

See also http://zuiko.exblog.jp/i0/

Very nice looking but can't be real. A 21mm pancake with optical image stabilization? An f/2.4 Summilux?

I can't make out all the meaning via Google translate, but it's pretty clear that the guy who posted these is saying the CGI on Photoscala and DPNet is not real. What's not clear is whether he is the one who did them all.

[KeithB]

I am not a Chinese apologist, but we need to be careful being too critical of Tianamen. After all, it is very much like what happened to the Bonus Army:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_army

As far as the Olympics go, it seemed that the Chinese were trying a little too hard.

[Mike J.]

I don't know if you noticed Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, during the hand-over ceremony last night--frowsey, casual, jacket unbuttoned, looking around smilingly, waving this way and that, and looking a bit mystified by the whole Totalitarian Pageant schtick going on around him. Come to think of it, I'd welcome it if the British did it very much in a different style, casual and low-key and down-homey and a bit less monied. Of course, few nations beat the Brits for pageantry, when it comes to that.

Mike J.

[Andre Moreau]

Hi Mike,

"Speaking of the Chinese, didn't they do just a bang-up job on the Olympics? I say we should get them to host the Games every four years."

I can't let that one slide. The chinese did a job that only themselves or North Korea can do. They are very structured and disciplined. But there's a price that I'm not willing to pay. And I'd be pretty mad if my country acted like the chinese. Here's a few example:

- Breeding people: Yes it's an experiment that paid off. The Chinese goverment matched tall man and woman together with the mission of producing taller people more adapted to basketball. In fact, one of the offspring of the program is now playing for an american professionnal basketball team.

- The one child program. If a couple has more than one child, they have to pay a special tax to the goverment. As a result, some children (always girls) are left to die of malnutrition. In some part of the country there are important imbalances between the number of males and females. This has lead to the kidnapping of woman because there aren't enough to choose from.

- Kids are selected are early as four years old for the Olympic program. In fact it's a kidnapping for the glory of the nation. They will never have normal schooling. In fact they will never have a normal life.

- Freedom of expression? Beijing has put aside three public demonstration zones. To get a permit you have to furnish to the police, in advance, the full identity of every participants. These zones are never used. Nobody wants to end up in prison.

Is this what you want for America?

[XebastYan]

it's a fake, why the zoom? and why a "W" on the right end of the zoom?

but nice to look at and to get an idea what we can expect. but do we people really need an "IA"?

and when it should be a test from Pana, please no orange designring on the lenses, make it black or leave it. and please give the 21 a mount for pol-filters etc and not gills.
and beware of new cams in the "half a year rhyme" like "other" compacts. take your time to make it a bit robust, because customers buy lenses to live on with.

[Edward Taylor]

I love the Chinese people; and the Olympics were very successful despite the problems with their government. We do seem to be heading in the direction of that country while that country seems to be heading out (too slowly, of course). I must agree that it appears that the right-wing, neo conservative, religious, red state Americans are very much in favor of a totalitarian government that legislates their version of morality and controls the most personal aspects of our lives. That group always argues in favor of more police power and erosion of our constitutional rights. They are themselves ideologically anti-American, but they believe they are the true patriots. They believe that the founding fathers were more concerned about security than about freedom. The funny thing is, they always vote against themselves because the wealthy, the corporations, and the government have fooled them into thinking that by voting to support the wealthy class, one can obtain class. Their motto has become "keeping the poor people and middle class down," yet they often ARE the poor people and the middle class. Let's just give all the power to the rich, the corporations, and to the government and take it away from the people and somehow we will all be better off, safer and more moral - no wait, we will actually be much like China.

[Robin P]

Mike,
Boris is not a normal human being - he is a very special first class example of an English public school educated eccentric. "looking a bit mystified" is the normal Boris expression.

Cheers, Robin

(Oh BTW "public school" in England means exclusive paid for schools, not those for the general public)

[Paul McEvoy]

I was waiting for the ironic punchline regarding the Chinese people doing a bangup job on the olympics. I was just hearing today of journalists being harassed by police and photographers having their cameras destroyed . So regarding a bang up job being done, I'd have to disagree.

Regarding the idea that China should be let off the hook because we have been dictatorial in the past, I don't think allowing civil rights abuses by one nation because of your own nation's past aggressions is reasonable.

[Ron Hampel]

Table tennis is, indeed an exciting sport. My biggest beef was not with the way the games were run, but the way they were shown to us here in the US. NBC failed miserably. In their eyes, bikini-clad beach volleyball players merited many hours of coverage on national TV and one of the most exciting sports - to my eyes - track cycling wasn't shown at all in prime time (or maybe I went to the bathroom and missed it). And no, I don't have cable TV and NBCs streaming webcasts were impossible to make work properly. In the end NBC's inept, jingoistic and ridiculously sentimentalized coverage is a disgrace.

Oh yeah, the camera... I'm excited, as are many, to see what comes of the micro 4/3 form factor.

Ron

[Mike J.]

"In the end NBC's inept, jingoistic and ridiculously sentimentalized coverage is a disgrace."

Ron,
True, but they can't show everything. The thing that frosted me was that they kept referring to the U.S. as "winning the medal count" even though we were second in GOLD medals. Really, not only do *I* not need to be pandered to to that extent, but I think even Joe Sixpack and Jill Boxed White Wine are smarter and more mature than that, and don't need to be pandered to either, at least not to that degree. Such a blatantly transparent gambit really assumes that we are not only children, but idiot children.

Mike J.

[Mike J.]

"Is this what you want for America?"

Andre,
Who, me? Nobody here but us chickens.

Mike J.

[Paul F]

The Vendée Globe is one of the most extreme competitions ever created, as Lundy's excellent book documents. The people who do this are utterly insane.

"Below 40 degrees south latitude, there is no law. Below 50 degrees south latitude, there is no God."

[Carl Leonardi]

Did any one notice the 5D Mark II and the 50D on the same site--Might be true might not. From what I can gather
they both would be great cameras. Time will tell.

[Blinder]

I believe the Chinese people did a fantastic job with the games. I don't believe the current Chinese government did such good work and as such should not be awarded another high profile event until there is real change.
Finally, I want to know why it's so hard to exchange a relay baton? I was handed a cup of tea last night and not one drop spilled.

[Ernest Nitka]

Mike - you gotta be pulling my leg here - $40Billion to white wash the tragedy of the earthquake victims. Horrible smog which is resuming as I write this. If this makes the average Chinese citizen proud then more power to them but it solves NONE of their day to day problems. I hope the Chinese are not that slow.

[Moose]

Mike,

You have a page coding problem. "Recommended by M.J.:" has no entries under FireFox. That's why I, among others, don't see them.

I wish I could remember if they disappeared with FF 3, but I just don't recall.

It shows up under IE and Safari, but FF is my regular browser of choice.

Moose

[Fred]

I'd prefer an Olympics where the host country doesn't cheat in gymnastics via fake documents, doesn't set up fake protest locations to which they grant no use permits and arrest some who apply for said permits, and doesn't do a "Milli Vanilli" on a small child for the opening ceremonies.

[Andre Moreau]

"You have a page coding problem. "Recommended by M.J.:" has no entries under FireFox."

I'm using FF 3.0.1 and the above section shows up correctly on my screen.

[Jerry Thirsty]

I can see the Recommended box just fine on Firefox 3.0.1.

[Paul De Zan]

I'm sorry, but you lot that are scandalized by Mike's praise of the games are just rude. We will almost certainly never see such an artful, passionate and yes, over-budgeted Olympics again. The achievement stands alone and apart from all other considerations--this is a country that was a prison camp for 50 years and is now moving powerfully in a new direction. Too bad if that movement isn't fast enough for some; it's a bloody miracle to Chinese like my wife, born smack in the middle of the heart of darkness and now inexpressibly proud of how far her country has come.

[Mike J.]

It is of course not at all important what I think about the Olympics (or anything else, really), but where the Olympics are concerned I have always tried to take the underlying premises at face value. The idea is to set aside our differences for two weeks and come together in friendly competition. It's a social occasion. On a global scale, but still a social occasion.

Of course there are things I don't like about China. But they were the world's hosts for two weeks and I prefer to set emotions from disapproval to hatred aside for that time and accept the spirit of the games. It never hurts. How a government represents a people is a very complex thing. I'm not always proud of my own government. I object strongly to some things my government does. I am also pretty helpless to influence my government. I still feel proud when "we" (my country) does something great or good; I still feel I am part of "us." I'm sure many Chinese feel the same about their country, both ways.

China put on a party and the world was their guest. We understand that it was a social occasion that does not mitigate (or even address) underlying political issues or differences. That's what "put our differences aside" means. While that social occasion lasted, the hosts of the event represented all the people of that country--even the ones who struggle against their own government or suffer under it. I felt a sense of pride from the people of China, and I choose to honor the people as a whole by thanking them. I know there is a certain falseness to this, as there is to any social occasion--people agreeing to mask their harsher feelings and hold back their criticisms, provisionally, and be polite to each other for a specified time. That's the spirit of the Games.

It doesn't matter what I think. But I feel like I caught some of the spirit of ordinary Chinese people and got a brief glimpse of them and their lives. I thought their pride in their Games and their country showed. And they're not my enemies. Heck, they made my zoom lens (Konica-Minolta 28-75mm, made at Tamron's plant in Foshan, Guangdong Province).

Mike J.

[Moose]

"I can see the Recommended box just fine on Firefox 3.0.1."

OK, you made me look deeper. It's Adblock Plus, a FF add-on, that is killing the content on my screen. So far, I can't see how to un-block this particular thing without losing the whole protection from ads that I definitely don't want.

Moose

[Markus Puustinen]

“Speaking of the Chinese, didn't they do just a bang-up job on the Olympics?”

No, they didn’t. They did a bang-up job of manipulating the whole world and managed to make their public image better by lies and scams (CGI fireworks, lip sync Chinese small girl, etc.). According to Amnesty International, human right violations increased because of Olympics and during Olympics.

[Paul Mc Cann]

"Boris is not a normal human being--he is a very special first class example of an English public school educated eccentric. 'looking a bit mystified' is the normal Boris expression."

.....and related to the current queen of England by all accounts. (His family tree was explored on the BBC programme "Who Do You Think You Are " last week and was incredible.) The relationship is on his grandmothers side from George II.

Anyway, like most good demagogues, Boris is adept at playing to his own audience. Plays the buffoon but is a shrewd operator behind it all.

Paul Mc Cann

[J London]

PING PONG !!!!!!!

[dyathink]

"Such a blatantly transparent gambit really assumes that we are not only children, but idiot children."

Gosh, there have been a lot of those blatantly transparent gambit things foisted on the American people in the last 8 years and the majority fell for each and every one. Who can blame the Chinese for assuming they could pander to idiot children?

[Mike J.]

Dya,
Maybe the Chinese did it too, but I was referring to the news media's habit of telling Americans that we were winning the medal race because we were ahead in the *total* medal count, ignoring the distinction between a gold and a bronze. First of all it's a blatant and obvious manipulation of the "data," and secondly I don't have such a deep need to "win" that I need them to manipulate the news like that. Just the facts are enough.

Mike J.

[Ken White]

Yes, very pretty Olympic games. They had many of the same obsessive narcissistic qualities as that young woman I saw primping in the mirror in traffic this morning. Please ditch the politics.

I hope someone will produce a digital camera similar to this sometime soon. I'm holding off on the Sigma and saving my pennies looking forward to the big day.

[David Bostedo]

Mike - I don't know that I've ever heard/seen the "medal count" statistics done any differently, even when the US [i]was[/i] winning the gold medal count. Of course, the earliest Olympics I vaguely remember was 1984 in Sarajevo (followed by the summer games in LA).

[Chuck Holst]

Regarding the Olympics coverage, why can't the producers provide reporters and anchors such as Bob Costas with a guide to the pronunciation of Chinese names? I couldn't understand half the names of the Chinese athletes as they were pronounced by the American reporters (some were better than others).

My pet peeve is the pronunciation of "Beijing" as "bay-zhing" rather than "Bay-jing." Newsmen should at least try to get that one right.

[Bruce]

Looks like our excellent Australian Navy are going to be on stand-by (again) this summer for that boat race! They rescued one sailor a few years ago who made a lot of money for his story.

[Mike J.]

Bruce,
It's a wonder to me that the organizers of the race don't assign a few "rescue boats" to accompany the racers. A long-range diesel cruising boat could put aid much closer than it often is. These could also host film crews.

As for Navies and Coast Guards, perhaps rescuing a racer now and then is a nice change of pace from the usual duty of acting as publicly-funded support for commercial fishermen....

Mike J.

[mico]

Actually, I think the Bahamas did the best with the medal winning:

Rank Country Medals per million

1 Bahamas 6.04
2 Jamaica 4.05
3 Iceland 3.16
4 Slovenia 2.46
5 Australia 2.15
6 Cuba 2.13
7 New Zealand 2.11
8 Norway 2.09
9 Armenia 2
10 Belarus 1.96
… … …
15 Georgia 1.37
… … …
27 Britain 0.77
… … …
36 Canada 0.54
37 Russia 0.51
38 Germany 0.5
39 Italy 0.47
40 Spain 0.39
… … …
44 United States 0.36
… … …
60 Taiwan 0.17
… … …
68 China 0.08

http://wmbriggs.com/blog/2008/08/26/which-country-did-best-in-the-olympics