Micro Four Thirds A Little Closer to Reality
The new Panasonic G1
In one of the many pre-Photokina announcements that will be coming out in the next few weeks, Panasonic announced today the first body and lenses in the new Micro Four Thirds system that I blogged about a little while back. As you may recall, Olympus and Panasonic announced a new standard that built upon the exisitng Four Thirds DSLR system to create smaller, lighter cameras and lenses by removing the SLR mirror box (and viewfinder). Now with today’s announcement, we can see a bit more what the system is going to look like.
You can find extensive discussions and preliminary thoughts (and many more images) at the previews by DPReview and Imaging Resource. The early comments seem encouraging, though we’ll of course have to see how the production cameras perform and how the systems and accessories develop. But given the reliance on an LCD screen instead of a viewfinder, the reports that the autofocus and screen refresh rates are good enough are encouraging.
I’m a bit disappointed that it is not a little bit smaller (see those previews as well as The Online Photographer for comparison pictures) and that it isn’t more non-traditional in design. That being said, it is measurably smaller than the smallest DSLR’s when you look at the lens-body combination. Apparently they added a fake ‘hump’ to make it seem more like a traditional camera. People who seem to know think that riskier and more innovate designs will come after this first model. I am waiting to see what Olympus’ offering looks like as well, as I’m a big fan of their design philosophy.
For a taste of how small this system can get, check out the picture of the upcoming pancake lens below mounted on the new camera – this lens would be roughly equivalent to a 40 mm, f1.7 lens. It looks like a great walk-around lens for a photographer who wants high quality in a supremely compact package. Unfortunately, that lens won’t come out until 2009.
- Jim Nickelson
New 20mm f1.7 lens
