Let's Go Digital has posted several sample shots from the new Panasonic GX1.
Mike
(Thanks to Ed Kuipers)
Send this post to a friend
Please help support TOP by patronizing our sponsors B&H Photo and Amazon
Note: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. More...
Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
It's a good job for everyone that this camera looks really rather nice, because to all intents and purposes, Micro Four Thirds now has to be considered a Panasonic mount.
I don't think Olympus has done enough with its own cameras to attract a quorum to the various Four Thirds standards, and now we're in the sad position of having to conclude that they are unlikely to attract any more partners on the strength of the stability of their business or the reliability of their projections.
So to me it's a Panasonic mount with Leica lenses now. Long may it remain so, if they show the ability to respond to demand like this.
Posted by: Michael Houghton | Wednesday, 09 November 2011 at 11:39 AM
That image looks very nice indeed. Maybe a new Panasonic m4/3 body will help me ease out of my E-pl2 and E-p2.
The other day I took my Canon 60D and both m 4/3 cameras out to shoot some drought scenes here in Central Texas. The 60D handles like a brick compared to the m 4/3 cameras. However the image quality of the 60D is noticeably better than the Olympus gear. The new Panasonic might just bridge the gap.
Posted by: Ken White | Wednesday, 09 November 2011 at 12:26 PM
@Michael Houghton: As I sit here awaiting delivery of a DMC-G3 to replace my aging G1, I have to say, Panasonic is not quite meeting all my m4/3 needs. To wit, it wasn't a complete system *for my purposes* until I got the Olympus 45mm f/1.8.
Posted by: Ben Rosengart | Wednesday, 09 November 2011 at 01:31 PM
Ken White,
The nicest camera design I've ever owned was the Olympus E1, it made my 5D feel like a brick too. (:-)
Why Olympus didn't just stick a high resolution electronic viewfinder and *updated* 4/3 guts in that eludes me (plus 1080p AVCHD 2.0 video) -- that would be perfect multi-media camera system!!!
Posted by: Chris Gibbs | Wednesday, 09 November 2011 at 04:28 PM
@Ben,
Eh, that does not matter. That is the purpose of an open standard. I use an Oly 9-18 on my Pana. I have also tried the optically slightly better 7-14 from Pana but the 9-18 range suites my work just a little bit better. And the collapsable barrel design is a nice partypiece as well as I found out in Dusseldorf museum.
Greetings, Ed
Posted by: Ed | Thursday, 10 November 2011 at 01:05 AM
Here's a thought: Ricoh just bought Pentax, they could pick up Olympus' camera division too (probably for a song). Ricoh, Pentax and Olympus all have strong lens-making capabilities, are all somewhat quirky, and none alone can cover the whole spectrum of camera types. But Pentax does well in SLRs, Olympus has m4/3, and Ricoh has compacts (in its own way). Could be an interesting conglomerate to take on the Big Two. Sort of how in bicycle components Sram (http://www.sram.com/) assembled a collection of well-known but niche brands to take on the dominant Shimano and Campagnolo.
Posted by: Adam | Thursday, 10 November 2011 at 10:35 AM
@Ben sure; it's not a complete system without multiple manufacturers. My point was only that it's probably not an Olympus system with added Panasonic anymore; we really have to treat it as a Panasonic system with added Olympus - or whoever buys their camera division - and that Panasonic actually seem to be worthy of the job. But on reflection, that shift may ultimately have happened anyway.
If I had to guess, I'd say we should (perhaps counterintuitively) expect a Japanese buyer - without a horse in the race - to restore Olympus's honour, and if I had to pick a buyer, I'd say Seiko Epson.
Posted by: Michael Houghton | Thursday, 10 November 2011 at 03:31 PM