There are days you can’t miss to visit 43rumors…and today is one of those days. Finally after three months of wait a new camera is going to be announced. And I am sure that many of you will like the rumors we are going to post today! As usual 43rumors is the first to report you the news 😉
UPDATE: According to our sources Panasonic will soon (yes in July!) launch the Panasonic LX3Panasonic LX3
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). The new camera will have 3x zoom lens which our source told us to be an awesome Leica lens. We do not have a reliable info about the focal lenght but we expect to get more detailled infos soon. And now hold in your breath…(drumming)….it will have a special rangefinder-type optical viewfinder that is borrowed from Leica with marks in it for max zoom and fully wide angle!
For Leica fans: One of our new sources said that there could be a Leica version of the camera. That sounds a little bit weird because Leica already launched a very similar camera…the Leica X1
The Sigma DP2Sigma DP2
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77 Responses
Sounds interesting for sure. I’m personally more interested in the new modular Olympus of Panasonic GF2 since I want a system camera, not a DSLR companion, but for those people looking for the latter this sounds like it could be the latter. Mike Johnston may finally get his dream compact.
A m4/3 LC1! Oh, please, please!
Choices choices, this could be ideal for my pocket!
^err, meant to say: “sounds like it could be a winner” (really wish you could edit comments 🙂
No viewfinder, no sale.
if this rumors turn out to be true, it would the most stupid commercial decision that Panasonic can make. M 4/3 is blooming, why do they want to drag us back by simply enlarging compact sensor. Canon & Nikon must be freaking happy
Want to add further to my previous comment: “The new camera is reported to be very small (just a little bit bigger than the current Panasonic LX3).”-> what the point. panasonic, learn from sony, they make beautifully designed APSC mirrorless camera which is far more smaller than all existing micro 4/3 (any one say the NEX-5 is not a beauty is because you don’t actually play with it for real) At least Olympus rumors about the modular system are promising. I hope that the above rumor about new Pana thing won’t come true. Or they will be damned!!!
My prayers have been answered (pending pricing info) @ Russ – what part of this….. “And now hold in your breath…(drumming)….it will have a special rangefinder-type optical viewfinder that is borrowed from Leica with marks in it for max zoom and fully wide angle!” don’t you understand?
Christmas has come early!
Well If the price remains close to that of LX3! Then it will be interesting.
Bu it seems a bit stange to make a camera with m43 sensor in a small body. The lens would have to extend a lot ( to create a big image circle) and it will be difficult to make it fast or wide enough.
But still very interesting!
I was hoping more for a smaller lx3 with a small electronic viewfinder and a new 1/1.3″ backlit sensor!!!
I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a stupid thing to do, but something’s gotta give.
If it’s really that small, who would still buy an LX3 (or successor)?
This only really makes sense to me if it *is* the LX3 successor, or if it’s somewhat bigger than described.
Or perhaps it’s the mythical LC2 — quite a bit bigger, and premium priced. From the description, I’m having a hard time imagining anything under $1,000. In which case it becomes a nice demonstration, an enthusiast cam for those who won’t touch a small sensor, insist on an optical viewfinder, and don’t want a system camera. A niche product, in other words.
GF2 with rangefinder PLEASE!
I’m more interested in the aperture of the the 3X lens. I like the 24mm equivalent, although 3X makes the tele end 72mm which I find a bit short. If it’s f/2.8 or even better, f/2.0 then WHOA! 🙂
This makes total sense. An LX4 with the same size sensor as the LX3 would never have sold as well these days.
With the LX3 selling for around $400 and the E-PL1 hovering around $500, the high-end compact market is in the process of getting slaughtered by larger-sensor cameras in small bodies.
Make an LX4 with a 4/3 sensor and keep the price below the E-PL1 (which hit $475 earlier this year, and will probably see that price again by Xmas) and you’ll kill off the Canon G11.
Give it an optional EVF and it will offer an alternative to the Sony NEXes too.
NOT SURE IF I LIKE THIS AT ALL.
Will my EP1 with kit lens drop like a rock in value (though it’s already pretty low now).
If I could have a compact with a 3X lens and m43 sensor, then why do I need M43 body like EP1 (or GF1)?
Maybe for primes? In which case, Panny and Oly better start making more, and drop their love affair with kit lenses!
I wonder what type of video will it have. I hope video doesn’t have the banding (shinny vertical streaks from light sources and shinny surface).
@ WT21 – Not sure your EP1 can drop much lower….you can still get them brand new for $499 from Costco. And not sure why you think it would drop anyway. It’s a totally different camera. This has a fixed lens.
Definitely promising but I wonder how this would be priced?
It can’t be more than the GF1 but then again, this includes a leica lens and if the rumours are correct – has an rf.
And if the GF2 is just around the corner, then I guess that can replace the GF1’s intro price point.
As others have noted, its all about the lens aperture.
Personally I’d live with just a 2X zoom from 24/28mm – 50/55mm f2.0 constant without a massively protruding lens. Perfect street camera!!!! Eat the X1, DP1/2, etc. all in one hit.
“If I could have a compact with a 3X lens and m43 sensor, then why do I need M43 body like EP1 (or GF1)?”
Simple; versatility. You’re not going to be able to take pics at a kids sporting event, or wildlife, or switch to a fish eye lens, etc. However, if you don’t need versatility or are just looking for a compact compliment to your bulky DSLR then this might be the way to go. I personally don’t have much use for standard zooms so I doubt this will be a camera for me. Give me 25mm f/1.4 prime and a small body and I’m good to go. Even if the lens is a f/2.8 (which it won’t be) that is still too slow of an aperture for my liking.
I agree with “G. Tom” , 72mm is too small, if more than 3X is not possible then maybe it would be preferable a 28-84 mm equivalent lens.
What don’t you like with this camera? Consider that the LX3 lens in m4/3 format would only lose 1 stop speed and be slightly less wide ie a compact collapsing 28-84/f2.8-4 lens and add an optical viewfinder to sweeten the package!
You can expect the LX4 will be little changed but now 24-72/f1.7-2.4 with slightly larger body to house the optical viewfinder.
Now look at the competition. You only have to look at the size comparisons with the NEXs with a huge kit zoom lens or even the Olympus Pens with collaping lens to realize just how attractive this model might be. As others have noted it will be stiff competition IQ to the smaller quality compacts. Although fixed lens it may be designed to add both wide and tel extendars to the front so no lose in lens speed.? Consider it may be a faster zoom lens then any existing kit zoom lens only much much smaller since can collapse into the body and it will have IS on the lens. Use of an optical viewfinder eliminates the considerable bulk that would be required to add on a high resolution EVF. This camera is probably why Pany delayed introducing a new LX any earlier.
Yes for the majority of people who don’t want to have to buy and carry around a lot of expensive lenses this may well be all the camera they will need as a travel companion and maybe match with a smaller 10x-15x compact for longer or wider reaches. For many this camera will be an attractive travel compliment to their bigger SLR systems but able to get high IQ in the most commonly used normal focal lengths.
I knew it! This is awesome, although I was hoping for something SMALLER than the LX3. This would be a great companion camera to my GHx, and it’s something I can easily throw in my shorts pocket and always have with me. Don’t need interchangeable lenses in a companion camera, certainly not one that’s just meant for snapshots. This may be the best P&S camera to come out before cell phone cameras take over the segment.
You gotta be kidding, wildlife, sports, with any of the m4/3 options available? I partly agree with WT21, if this is true I will probably buy one. Only now we can talk about DSLR quality in a compact body.
don says: Consider it may be a faster zoom lens then any existing kit zoom lens only much much smaller since can collapse into the body.
It will not be much smaller just because it can collapse into the body. There is simply not a lot of space left to collapse into. If it’s a faster zoom it will more likely be LARGER, rather than smaller.
The only way to make this camera significantly smaller is to make the lens SLOW.
My guess is that the lens will be slower than most folks reading this website would wish for. Certainly not the F2 found on the LX series. An F2.0 lens with 3x zoom covering an 4/3 sensor would be too big and clearly Pany is going for “small” on this model.
On the other hand, since I hate changing lenses, this could be a nice complement to my E520 with 70-300.
“Consider that the LX3 lens in m4/3 format would only lose 1 stop speed and be slightly less wide ie a compact collapsing 28-84/f2.8-4 lens”
I don’t follow your math: the LX3 lens is a 5.1-12.8mm zoom — about 10-25mm equiv. if you could use it on m4/3. (Leaving aside the fact that it would have to be larger in order to create a big enough image circle.)
Anyway, if you’re saying that a 14-42, f2.8-4 zoom is somehow possible for the rumoured camera, that would be great. But I’m skeptical about the size of such a lens, even scaled down for a non-interchangeable setup w/ leaf shutter and the works.
don’t worry guys. this does not look like a LX3 sucessor, but more like an LC1 sucessor. It will be > USD 1000.
not the current MFT grounds.
I can’t imagine that they can make a sizewise LX3 like 3x zoom for a 4/3 image circle. It must be considerably larger, like LC1 lens (which covers smaller circle) (>= Oly kit-lens)
@dMS
“You gotta be kidding, wildlife, sports, with any of the m4/3 options available?”
If you ca’t take a good wildlife shot with a m4/3’s camera it’s not the cameras fault. Example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heb-art/4739627367/
Your selling mirrorless camera potential way short if you think they can’t do everything. I never plan on buying another DSLR again.
If this lens is at least as fast as F3.5 wide open, then it’s a case to say :
“The LX3 is dead! Long live the LX3!”
Whoever invented this rumour, he obviously never bothered to think about whether it would be doable at all. A Camera with a FT-size Sensor an a 3x Zoom at a size comparable to the LX3? Thats impossible. Just look at how big the oly 14-42 m.Zuiko is – at f/3.5-5.6 – and they went to great lengths to make it as small as possible. A 2x Zoom starting at f/5.0 to f/7.1, that might be feasable.
So will this be like a Panasonic version of the Leica X1? That has a f2.8 3x zoom lens…..correct?
I would expect F4 – F6 zoom from 14-60mm at best. If you want an image circle that big, you have to have big glass, there is no shortcut and no way to make a fast lens without a large primary lens.
@ Luke: no, the X1 has a 24/2.8 prime lens.
I’m guessing 24-48/2.8-4.0. The X1 with a larger sensor has a 42/2.8, so I suspect it’ll be a variation of that lens with zoom capability. It’s doable.
I’d much prefer an electronic viewfinder with all the info it can provide like review, magnification, shooting data, live histogram and highlight clipping.
An OVF works best on a DSLR which is used for action.
But an OVF is better than no eye-level finder at all. Hopefully it’s not an accessory for €200+.
Sounds perfect. In regards to those that don’t get it, well, if you have to ask then you won’t understand.
It is exactly what Panasonic should make.
Priced competitively it will kill the demand for the g11 and its puny sensor. You will start to see other brands get serious.
As long as it has a built in flash and ok video it will really be a dream come true for a lot of photographers…
@Erik: you can certainly project image info unto an OVF, so don’t discount the possibility of having both. If they’re talking about a built-in RF-style OVF, then they’d have to have a way to project the secondary image unto it for focusing, and that would be done by projecting an electronic image. It would give you the best of both worlds I think – low light focusing with EVF-style information.
Please, please, please let it be the LC1/Digilux 2 successor. A lot of people have been waiting for this kind of camera…
This camera has a lot of potential. But to beat the competition, it has to begin at 24 mm equivalent.
People who think it’s not feasible because of size don’t know optical formulas. Look at rangefinder lenses, which cover a sensor (film) surface 4x larger than mFT!
With progress in sensor technology (backlighted sensors and gapless design) and in embedded computing power for optical corrections, it becomes feasible to have the rays hitting the sensor at a higher angle. That means that the flange distance can be reduced, i.e., the formula be less retrofocus. The result is a smaller lens that covers the wide end.
A fixed lens allows this kind of construction (very small flange distance). Plus the lens can retract when switch off to be pocketable.
Altogether, this camera can be a very serious beast but a rangefinder means it will be expensive. It will be a technical demonstrator and seduce a lot of professional street photographers if the focals and apertures are good — a Leica alternative, between the X1 and the M8/9.
@Mike: “panasonic, learn from sony, they make beautifully designed APSC mirrorless camera which is far more smaller than all existing micro 4/3”
Put a lens on any NEX and the only smaller area is for the fingers between the handle and the lens. Pointless for the size of the system, and definitely not “far more smaller” (sic) than mFT cameras. Marketing says: “Always measure the thickness at the thinnest point: consumers compare numbers on a sheet, not cameras+lens in their hands.”
I believe the main advantage of the new camera will be the size. You can’t put a E-P2 or GF1 camera with a zoom lens in your pocket. With the new Panasonic camera this will be possible. Can’t wait to see it 🙂
I can just about squeeze the EP1, 20mm into my pocket, if this IS smaller and comes with a decent lens, bagsy!
LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, LC2, with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer,with RAW buffer……………………………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Carlos! Stop the Subliminal Advertising 🙂
I know 4/3 sensor, 4/3 mount and µ4/3 mount. µ4/3 sensor does not exist. And a camera with fixed lens does not have µ4/3 mount… So no µ4/3.
Do you know what are you talking about ?
Well, this sound to good to be true, but what if..
..its true and could be something like this:
– Size somewhere between, LX, X1 and E-PL1
– 24-70mm Zoom
– F2,8-3,5
– Good Sized Optical Viewfinder with Gridlines to simulate a “Rangfinder”
– 4/3 Sensor
– Decent AF
And something like this would actually announced, then it well sell like sliced bread. I would go even that far that such a camera will reduce the m4/3 EVIL market by a not so small degree.
Would I buy one? Very likely!!
B
A smart travelling companion to my mFT system! I can live with OVF if it keeps the price point lower than EVF, and reduces the power consumption therefore allowing
a smaller battery box and less weight. I agree 14-42mm is a nice range for P&S, and hopefully the aperture range is not less than 2.8-4. OVF also allows for a single curtain shutter – faster response and less roll with moving subjects. It would be very neat if this had the much anticipated global electronic shutter Panasonic have been hinting at for FT. I’m with Eric on never buying a DSLR again, but the success of FT in enthusiast photography very much hinges on improving the sensor’s sensitivity and the image processing across a wide DR.
Well if this “rumor” is true, then it will be a great day. I am amazed at some of the INSANE comments about this rumor. How could the introduction of a completely different system harm the the resale value of your already outdated E-P1? “They will be damned”, come on! I know that this site is mostly moronic, but you can do better people. Kudos to 43rumors if they get this one right.
looks like Panasonic will have all future markets covered, btw my local camera has just started stocking Pansonic after bashing me for 2 years to get a professional camera like a Canon or Nikon lol
interesting, very interesting …
@Luke – I should’ve clarified. I don’t want a rangefinder. I stopped shooting with rangefinders over 30 years ago. I didn’t like them then, and I don’t like them now. With today’s technology, a top-of-the-line fixed lens camera can, and in my opinion should, have an EVF.
Good one admin……!!!!!!!!!
This rumour must be a joke.
I hate it when somebody forgets to wipe their arse once they drop one like this.
No chance in hell that a m4/3 is going to fit into a body that’s only a tad bigger than the LX3, with a lens to fit that sensor. No way!
And it’s going to cost at least $700. There is no chance in hell that it can cost any less. No chance.
@gbret: The thickness of a Voigtlander 15mm lens (very small lens) is about the same thickness as the LX3. This is before the distance added by the body to project the image circle onto the film plane.
Granted, that distance can get shorter, but you have to also factor in the 15mm’s slow f/4.5 aperture. Also, 3×15 is 45mm, and those lenses are a good bit thicker than the LX3’s body. I don’t see how it’s feasible to make a 3x zoom lens that covers a m43 sensor that’s fast and compact and gives good image quality. Something has to give somewhere.
>> (drumming)….it will have a special rangefinder-type optical viewfinder
What’s a joke.
For eon ago, canon S70 has it. Better that blah-blah ‘with marks in it for max zoom and fully wide angle!’ .. S70’s VF is zooooomed .. its viewing angle varies along with the lens’s focal length!!
About the 3x lens? How about internal zoom?
What, something like a DMC-L1? Bring it on!
@GT – E-PL1 body is not that bigger than LX3. Removing in-body stabilizer, lens mount, and making silent in-lens shutter will make _body_ really close to LX3
“and innovative Leica designed rangefinder”….
That must be a mistake. “Leica” and “innovative” are two terms which don’t fit together! Last time Leica did something innovative was in 1913…
As a Canon S90 user now, I’d buy this in a heartbeat if the specs and IQ are what they should be (and it exists). If the price is similar to S90/G11/LX3/EX1, and they can deliver it in volume this camera will own the high end compact market. I really don’t understand the negativity here.
And while other similar targeted cameras offer slightly more zoom, that’s mainly negated by being able to crop from 12MP. If it also has HD video, which it presumably will, then it beats the S90/G11/EX1 (with the Sony sensor that can only do VGA) hands down.
Good to hear that there is a fixed lense m4/3 camera… but 3x zoom? You kidding right? Who the hell wants a camera with only a 3x zoom nowadays?
There has been one camera with large sensor and fixed zoom lens – the Sony R-1 which had APS-C-sized sensor and 24-120 eq. zoom.
K:
Olympus and Panasonic m43 kit zooms = 3x zoom
Sony NEX = 3x zoom
Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sumsung, etc dSLR kit zoom = 3x zoom (roughly)
LX3 = 2.5x zoom
S90 = 3.8x zoom
G11 = 5x zoom
Samsung EX1 = 3x zoom
Leica X1 = 0x zoom
Seems like quite a few people. 🙂
Actually I guess the Leica is 1x (fixed prime), rather than 0x? 🙂
@K: maybe you should stick to basic p&s. It sounds like you’ve never used a prime in your life.
To me, leica and 3x zoom sounds a lot like their tri-elmars, which is more like 3 different focal length lenses in one.
The negativity here comes from this being a website for ILC crowd. I personally wouldn’t buy the described camera. One lens does not fulfill all my needs. Also, if space is limited, I’d rather have a flip out & twist LCD than optical viewfinder. It’s almost as useful in bright sunshine, you get more shooting angles and I don’t mind the short blackout after taking an image.
The only logic in releasing a fixed lens camera with m4/3 sensor is if it is the LX3 successor – to kill off the prosumer competition: the S90, the G11, the EX1. In the same swipe, it would also kill NEX-3/5 with primes and 3x zooms. It all depends on the pricing – and Panasonic is not known for cheap cameras 🙁 . If it is around 500 USD / EUR mark and has at least 720p video, then all the other mentioned cameras will be gone, their sensors cannot compete. And the price could be low, because all Panasonic has to do is use its existing sensor, GF1 body and electronics and combine it with new lens.
The size? Look at E-PL1 with kit lens, shave 5 mm of width and some 10-15 mm of length ( when the mount is removed and the lens can collapse into the body ). I guess it should be around Fuji S1xxx / S2xxx P&S superzoom size.
Sounds like just the ticket to replace my LX3. Hopefully Olympus will put out a version of this camera too. Their p&s line up is hardly stellar these days unfortunately. Where is the digital XA or digital Trip? 🙂
“That sounds a little bit weird because Leica already launched a very similar camera…the Leica X1.”
Nonsense. The X1 is Leica built, not a rebranded Panasonic, and is clearly aimed at a very different type of user.
Not that I trust this rumor. Reality usually is a lot more down to earth rather than a wish-list come true.
Speaking of zooms, the Panasonic and Olympus ultra-wide zooms (7-14 and 9-18 respectively) are only 2x. And yet “only” 2x yields a very useful zoom range.
The 9-18, for example,goes from perspective-stretching ultra-wide to a fairly sober, just shy of normal wide angle.
If this new camera has something like a 12-36 lens, it would go from just shy of ultra-wide to a good portrait length. Even if it’s only f5.6 at the long end, it could still be a decent portrait lens as long as the photographer is careful about distances from camera to subject and subject to background. It could even leverage the large sensor to provide a “superzoom” mode — already possible with m43 via “extra optical zoom”, but with this camera it might be interesting to be able to enter and exit superzoom mode at the press of a button.
For some reason I expect it to be 14mm at the wide end — Panasonic and Olympus both seem to consider 14mm a sweet spot. Not sure why, since lots of people clearly want wider lenses. And with a fixed-lens camera, if the lens doesn’t live up to what people want it’s game over even if you offer converters. (Since converters raise the question: why not just get an interchangeable lens system?)
Some very interesting comments and projections for this new model made above. From all indications of information released so far this model fits the earlier more detailed leaked description last fall of two new models to come and a reported sighting of the same. This indicated one new smaller than GF1 model with 720P60 HD, possible 4/3 sensor, inbody viewfinder, and projected cost of about $600. However it is possible this sighting and pricing was for a small m4/3 model with 14/2.5? It is quite possible it will be similar in size to X1 with smaller screen in the middle maybe swinging like patent and viewfinder to the left top corner? This leaves a question of where to place the flash and small removable hotshoe similar to NEX only hotshoe mt? Alternatively the camera could be smaller if the optical viewfinder is removable hotshoe mounted and flash in body. The rumor did say one model with fixed viewfinder, another with moveable finder but no pictures.
The other model mentioned was to have 1080P60 HD and sport a 24-140mm/f2.5-? lens. My guess is this model will be the same body as the first one described above and similar lens only the sensor will be smaller LX 3 size. This model will be designed and preferred for HD video because of its much faster and small size lens compared to present DSLR offerings. Because of the 4.4X form factor compared to 2X for m4/3 the lens would have about double the focal length for the same lens speed? Pany has already indicated they will continue the LX series and I believe that means the LX3 model with present faster zoom lens will remain in the lineup with possible new sensor.
If you remember the earlier FT3 rumor was there were two m4/3 cameras coming soon from Pany, one with fixed lens and one with m4/3 mt. I think the latter one will be equally smaller similar design only with protruding flange in place of retracted lens and would come with the new small 14/f2.5 pancake lens. Even possible Pany might use this protrusion for placement of simple shutter mechanism since on previous model the quiet shutter would be in the lens? Thus photographer would have a choice fixed small zoom or interchangeable lenses in a very small camera with full operational controls. Pany has said they will be producing a smaller m4/3 camera much like what was done with G10 so expect smaller lower resolution screen, maybe plastic body to get the price down. That would enable Pany to set the first zoom camera with more expensive lens at a higher price point. These cameras should prove to be very potent competition for both the very popular super compacts and the NEXs or other small ILS depending on pricing.
Just my two bits
“The negativity here comes from this being a website for ILC crowd”
It’s not replacing those cameras though, it’s a different line (if it does exist), and if it fulfils the volume targets in this sector, it can only reduce the cost of m43 sensors, help pay for their development, and push it forward. Plus give people who aren’t ready to go ILC yet to get exposure (no pun intended) to the m43 format.
I just don’t believe this rumor. Zoom lenses for large sensors are large. There’s no way around it. This camera would be an LX3 alike, but with a larger zoom range and a substantially larger sensor, but barely any larger than an LX3? That makes no sense.
Also, having a rangefinder doesn’t make sense for this kind of camera.
Also, doesn’t Leica refuse to add their stamp to lenses which need in-camera correction? Even the slowest lens would need *a lot* of in-camera correction to work.
@fatcat
“For eon ago, canon S70 has it. Better that blah-blah ‘with marks in it for max zoom and fully wide angle!’ .. S70′s VF is zooooomed .. its viewing angle varies along with the lens’s focal length!!”
Pinhole-sized viewfinders from compact digicams don’t compare to what I presume a Leica optical ‘RF-styl’ VF would offer here. To each their own…
Sounds NICE!
While many are in disbelief that such a camera is even possible, I think the problem is most of us know little about optical designs and are assuming our assumptions based on the size of much larger concentric design lenses with parallel projections while the collapsing compacts do not use this design. Instead the same small lens may be used in a 30X superzoom with 1/2.3″ sensor will be only 20X with a 1/1.7″ sensor at the same lens speed as is the case with the Fujis? Pany was rumored to be working on a 24-140/f2.5-3.3 lens and this could be a superzoom in 1/1.3″ format and 24-72/f3.5-4.5 in m4/3 format? So both Pany models may be linked with the same basic lens with simple in lens leaf shutter. The LX3 is 4.4X form factor while the 4/3 is 2X so doesn’t that mean a loss of only 1 stop in lens speed going to m4/3 sensor with the same focal lengths?
You only have to look at the latest ML500 lens of 24-72/f1.7-2.4 and how small it is to realize that by shortening the distance from sensor to lens to fill the optical circle of the m4/3 sensor, the fixed lens in a 4/3 system need not be much larger if the speed is reduced by one stop(?) so in my mind a 24-72/f2.5-3.5 looks plausible using a difference sensor to flange distance? You use the camera to make corrections for distorsion and CA then would can have a design with much greater angles to the horizontal enabling use of much smaller lens elements especially at the wide angle end and that is what normally requires the greatest size of lens elements. Alternatively at the tele end the lens speed would be further reduced and that is why the 72mm max at tele end to retain more lens speed.
Hope some one with more knowledge then me on these matters will set me straight if I am way off base in these assumptions?
I think the reason the manufactures have been so slow to introduce such a revolutionary camera with stationary lens in a larger format as they didn’t want to detract from lucrative lens sales. However in this case Pany has much less to fear with fewer lenses and most likely the high resolution EVF or optical viewfinders will be expensive addons to keep the basic camera competitive?
K, do you even know what 3x zoom means? Let’s say you want to choose between two lenses. One is a 10x super zoom, the other is just a crappy 2.5x. One is 38-380mm, the other is 200-500. Which is the 10x zoom and which has more reach? 3x zoom says nothing about a lens design or what its application could be.
“3x zoom says nothing about a lens design or what its application could be.”
It says a little. 🙂
A compact camera is going to start somewhere around 24-28mm, so end somewhere around 72-90mm on the long end for a 3x zoom.
Zaph, it’s not unusual for a compact with 3x zoom to start at 35mm, which makes it very different from something with 28 or 24mm. I’m not saying this one will, but the term “3x zoom” is vague at best.
“Also, doesn’t Leica refuse to add their stamp to lenses which need in-camera correction?”
We’ve all heard that, and yet the Leica name is on the LX3/D-Lux 4, whose lens is well known to make heavy use of in-camera correction. Not to mention a host of other Panasonic compacts, including various Leica-badged ones.
And then there’s the M system. “The 6-bit code on lenses gives information about optic vignetting characteristics, permitting software adjustment.” (per Wikipedia, which as I understand it is correct in this case.)
So maybe that much-quoted Leica rep really meant “we won’t put our name on an interchangeable lens that requires in-camera geometric correction.” Or something like that.
I found the post less than exciting. A new model compact with a four thirds sensor is really nothing to shout about. First, it shows that Panasonic isn’t coming out with something new….a better sensor, but rather rebadge an old sensor technology to a compact camera.
As you know, the only possible improvements in technology that can be made based on this assumption is that you will have a better image processor, which should not be far off from what Panasonic themselves have today.
By packaging an old sensor in a new compact, they are hoping you’d fall into the “upgrade” trap and part with your money. Having spent my time being a DSLR consultant, I have seen this happen too often.
Tech wise, you’re not getting more. Widget like features may appeal to some but if you are concern with image quality, then I would expect a jump in image capture performance, and since this is just not the case, I think we can dismiss this as just another compact gadget.