Every year Thom Hogan predicts what’s coming next from Nikon (and not Nikon only! He also made a prediction about Olympus and Panasonic):
Read the article at http://bythom.com/2010predictions.htm
I like this phrase: “Put another way, I’d say that Olympus, Panasonic, Leica, and Sony have a plan. Pentax has no plan. Fujfilm thinks they have a plan, but don’t actually possess one. Nikon and Canon have their old plan and think it will work forever. ” 🙂
And here the Olympus and Panasonic 2010 predictions:
- Olympus. Olympus has already announced the E-P2, but it’s not much of a change (a tux for the body and an optional EVF). We’ll get another m4/3 camera before the end of the year, and it’s likely to be a much higher specified one. Lenses have already been announced so will be no surprise (the 9-18mm and 14-150mm coming next, probably followed by another prime or two and a long zoom). Meanwhile, Olympus needs to get the 4/3 cameras down in size, too, if they want that line to live on. The APS crop cameras are now up to 18mp and still doing well with noise, so Olympus’s recent “12mp is enough” won’t hold, I think. We’ll see a >12mp Olympus announced before the end of the year.
- Panasonic. A GH2 and a GF2 seem pretty likely, in that order. The tricky part is that to keep ahead of the pack the real advances are going to need to start coming at the sensor. Just adding features or gimmicks is not going to send a strong message. So, like Olympus, I think we’ll see >12mp cameras out of Panasonic sometime during the year. Like Olympus, Panasonic has telegraphed its lens lineup for the year, so no real surprises there. I do find it interesting, however, that every poll of m4/3 users and seriously considering m4/3 buyers shows that a 12mm prime is the number one lens request, yet we still haven’t seem either company decide to produce one. I’m betting that Panasonic picks up on this and makes such an announcement before the end of the year (that doesn’t mean we’ll see such a lens in 2010, though).
Olympus E-P2 preorders: Amazon US
7 Responses
Based on what I heard, people care about noise improvement on 4:3 sensor more than increasing megapixel. 12 mp seems like a sweet spot.
Give me an clean 3200 and useable 6400 and I stick with Olympus. Otherwise I’m jumping (as much as I’d hate to) to Nikon.
The Elmer Fudd report have the following view on Olympus for 2010:
4/3 system:
E-5 with Fuji HDR 14,4 mpix sensor 13 EV usable DR. Weather sealed, 8 fps. New focus system etc. etc
E-50 Same sensor, no weather sealing. 6 fps.
E-650 with Panasonic 14.4 mpix sensor
And remember, contrary to Thom Hogan, Elmer Fudd has never been proven to be wrong!
I need an asissting light to help AF in darker situacitions, because when I work in a studio, I can;t get a good focus so I have to MF and thats just a BIG STOPER…
Also, the 12 mp I think is a good idea, so just make a good jump from the ISO and dynamic rangen that are now and I think that Olympus will be perfect.
Oh, and if they decide to have like 9 fps – woot woot
If Oly do not do anything with the classic 4:3 next year, it might the end of the system. It is more likely there will be E-5 next year.
Enche Tjin says:
November 24, 2009 at 8:10 am
If Oly do not do anything with the classic 4:3 next year, it might the end of the system. It is more likely there will be E-5 next year.
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Are you kidding me? You have to be VERY and I mean VEEEERY deep underground without any connection with human kind not to notice that need for the E-5. It’s not like a fact, but you could find like a thousand customers who are waiting for the new high-end camera from Oly and are not buying or they are considering which system is sutable for them but they are not sure is the E-3 good enough. Olympus OUGHT to make a new pro camera in the year 2010 because Photokina is coming…
If Oly doesn’t provide an upgraded E-3 early in 2010 then you will see four-third users moving to Canon and Nikon. I have no interest in mFT.