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Panasonic Announces GF2, Really Hopes You Wanted A Simpler GF1

Well, I know we’ve been quiet lately, but, we’re going to speak up today to mention that Panasonic has (finally) announced the GF2, the successor to the popular GF1 Micro-Four Thirds shooter. That we can say confidently. What we can also say is the manual mode dial is gone, as are most of the other physical controls, opting instead for a touchscreen interface. Also gone is the kit with the 20mm f1.7, now the prime will be the wider-but-slower 14mm f2.5 (there’ll be a 14-42mm zoom kit, as well, no worries there.) We hear the menus have been redesigned, and early opinions are that this was for the better. And it comes in black, red, or silver now. It’s also 19% smaller and 7% lighter, for what that’s worth.

Otherwise, you’re looking at a 12.1 megapixel LiveMOS sensor, 3″ touchscreen LCD with 460,000 dots, 23 point AF with selectable face tracking (which also switches you to portrait mode), the new Venus FHD engine, dust reduction, full 1080 HD, yadda yadda, you know the drill.

It is sharp looking, though, although we suspect the change from the pro-ready GF1 to the more consumer-friendly GF2 might prove a point of contention. There’s no pricing yet for either kit, and tentative word is they’ll ship around January next year.



Panasonic Micro-Four Thirds Camera Users Are Sexier

OKCupid, an online dating site which I may or may not be fond of myself, has let loose possibly the best blog article ever, where they have collected data on user attractiveness and correlated it against the EXIFs of the photographs. The results are kind of amazing and definitely interesting to read through. They looked at the results based on camera type, aperture, flash usage, and time of day. Some of the key findings? Interchangeable lens cameras make you hotter than point-and-shoots, and they’ll both make you way hotter than camera phones. Flash makes you look 6-8 years less attractive (not that many working shooters couldn’t have already told you that), and big, wide apertures add attractiveness to your shots. No, really, keep it at f3.5 or lower, kids.

Oh, yeah, and apparently people using Panasonic Micro-Four Thirds shooters like the GF1 or GH1 are just way totally sexy. Or something.

They break down how they collected everything in their post, which is worth reading in detail before running off and making big scandalous claims that Canon shooters are homely. Seriously people, be responsible with tantalizing data taken out of context. We’re obviously not to be trusted with it, so it’s up to you.



Panasonic to Debut 3D Conversion Lens for G-Series Shooters

Not got quite enough scratch shoved under the mattress to buy one of those 3D-ready camcorders Panasonic’s talking up? We feel you. Did you purchase one of Panasonic’s very nifty Micro-Four Thirds G-series cameras with a good video mode, like the GH1 or G2? Yeah? Well, boy-howdy, you’re in luck! In addition to the camcorder, Panasonic is promising a 3D lens converter for its G-series mounts by the end of this year.

For those scratching their heads and looking blankly at their screen, the idea is the lens splits one image into two, the same way we’d see it with two eyes. So, the left- and right-halves of your sensor are recording slightly different versions of the same scene. You lose half your horizontal pixels, but you gain 3D. Ta-da!

Now, while any Micro Four Thirds shooter could mount this (Olympus’ Pen series uses the same mount), at this point a lot of the functionality will be in the firmware, so until we hear anything otherwise, we’ll assume this a Panasonic-only thing, k?



Panasonic’s New HDC-SDT750 Will Let You Record 3D Home Videos

Need a 3MOS HD cacorder with 5.1 channel audio recording? Did you just yawn? Fine! How about a 3MOS 1080p camcorder with 5.1 channel audio, 12x optical Leica zoom, and an included 3D conversion lens so you can record all your memories in 3D and play them back on your new-fangled 3D television? Happy now?

Good, because that’s exactly what Panasonic is announcing with the rolls-off-the-tongue HDC-SDT750. It’ll shoot split HD video (so, the final HD videos are 960×1080 pixels). Or take the conversion lens off and shoot boring old 1080p, see if we care.

The other features that make this a product and not just a gimmicky press release mention things like a 3 touchscreen, a manual control ring providing quick access to focus, zoo, iris, exposure, what-have-you, time lapse intervals of 1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute, or two minutes, a Focus Microphone made from five ‘highly directional microphones’ to capture dare-we-say panoramic surround sound,and of course 3MOS recording with a total of over 7 million pixels recording your red, blue, and green channels independently.

Word is suggesting an October release date, and a street tag of about $1,400. Whether that’s stiff or a steal probably depends on how excited you got when I said “3D conversion lens included.”

And look, a press release after the jump, for those who thirst and yearn for the very details of the cosmos:

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Panasonic Comes Clean with DMC-LX5 Finally

So, you remember the LX3? Popular camera, broke a lot of ideas as to what a high end compact digicam should be? Was stuck on our allocation list for like years? Well, it’s finally getting its long due update, the LX5.

Of special note is the fact that despite identical numbers, the sensor is all new, and talking up a wider dynamic range than the already well-received LX3. Combined with the newest incarnation of the Venus engine, which features 3 processing cores and can analyze chroma and luminance noise both separately as well as in relation to each other, the LX5 is promising a leap forward in image processing ability.

The LCD is now backlit with High Color Range Index LEDs. The movie mode is better now, too, adding AVHCD Lite to the codec options as well as manual exposure, color modes, and optical zoom during recording.

And it supports SDXC now, natch. It should go without saying there are a lot of expectations riding on this model, since the LX3 broke down so many walls and outperformed in so many ways. We’ll wait and see if this camera does too. It’ll be available in the pictured white, or black (so stop worrying, Jody), and it’s available for pre-order allocation right now over on our site.

SPEC LX5 LX3
Sensor 10.1MP, 1.63″ 10.1MP, 1.63″
Processor Venus Engine FHD Venus IV
Optical Zoom 3.8x 2.5x
Equiv. Focal Length 24-90mm 24-60mm
Aperture f2.0 – 3.3 f2.0 – 2.8
Lens Type Leica DC VARIO-SUMMICRON Leica DC VARIO-SUMMICRON
Image Stabilization Optical, Power OIS Optical, Mega OIS
ISO Range (Expanded) 100-12,800 100-3,200
LCD 3.0″ TFT, 460,000 Dot, High CRI LED Backlit 3.0″ TFT, 460,000 Dot
AVHCD Lite Video Recording Yes No
Manual Exposure in Movie Mode Yes No
Optical Zoom in Movie Mode Yes No
Available Electronic Viewfinder Yes No
Records To SD/SDHC/SDXC, Internal Memory SD/SDHC, Internal Memory


Panasonic announces Lumix Ts10, Nick wants to drop it onto frozen things


Waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof to 5 feet

Here for your all-weather-pleasure

I dig waterproof cameras that can survive falling five feet onto ice. It is, forgive me, cool. Lucky then, that along with announcing the LX5 (omg squee? anyone?) Panasonic announced the TS10 -offering the weather proofing of the TS2 with fewer video options, slightly more telephoto lens (35-140eqiv instead of the TS2′s 28-128equiv) and a much lower price tag.



Panasonic Lumix ZS7

Pansonic’s Lumix DMC-ZS7 (sometimes called the TZ10), has been updated to firmware v1.1, which includes apparently two things. One is a cryptic fix that ‘improves stability when the camera is turned on,’ which is a bit disconcerting. The other is a bit more pedestrian and improves performance when using it in the optional underwater housing with third party strobes, a combination of events so common I’m sure every last one of you has been banging your head against the wall and pleading to the very gods that Panasonic would hurry up and provide you a fix.

I’m unsure where you actually go to find that firmware update, but maybe if you happen to own a ZS7 you’ll know anyway.



Panasonic’s Micro-Four Thirds Camcorder A Little More Real

Last seen a while back as just a concept rendering, Panasonic’s Micro Four-Thirds camcorder the AG-AF100 has resurfaced today with a short PDF outlining the most general of planned features and including a new product shot with a bit more real-world detail worked in. What’s in there? Well, it’s going to have two SD/SDHC/SDXC card slots, which’ll let you hold up to 12 hours at the very highest quality setting. That highest quality setting will be AVHCD PH mode, if you’re interested.

It’ll record 1080:59.94i/50i/29.97p/23.98p r 720:29.94p/50p/29.97p/25p/23.98p. It’ll have HD-SDI out, and XLR 2 channel input. And yeah, it’ll have a 4/3 sensor, which while often criticized in the still sphere for being smaller than comparable APS-C sounterparts is down-right huge compared to video-standard 2/3″ sensors. It’ll accept any lens the rest of the Micro Four-Third family does (native M4/3 lenses, and basically anything else with some form of adapter.)

Apparently the Panny link for the PDF keeps going down. DPReview is hosting a copy, and we’ll host one here, too. Click the image below.



New Pany GH1 hack

So Derek just shot me over a link that I think needs to be shared.  Looks as if somebody hacked the GH1 to make the video ability even better.  Looks like it might even surpass the Canon 5DMKII.  50 MB/sec.  Wow.  Here is the link: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/how-to-hack-panasonic-gh1-to-shoot-super-high-quality-24p-video-and-more/

What will the GH2 do?  Will it matter?



Sony NEX-5 hands on preview/opinion

I just got my hands on the new Sony NEX-5 camera.  And I like it.  A lot.

This is Sony’s answer to the Panasonic and Olympus micro 4/3 cameras and the answer is huge.  The first thing you notice is the sensor.  It’s a regular APS-C size sensor that you find in most digital SLR’s today.  And it makes a difference.  The low light, high ISO ability is spectacular!  The new Sony E-mount only has a few lenses at this time, but I bet, just like the Micro 4/3 mount, there will be adapters available in no time for all the popular mounts!
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