A manager discussion about the Panasonic MFT future.
This is the fool news:
Two trusted sources sent me an information about a deep change inside the Panasonic structure. One of them also sent me the audio on top confirming the bad news: Panasonic will completely stop the Micro Four Thirds cameras development and the GH4 will be the last MFT product ever made by Panasonic.
The decision has been taken because reforms and changes necessary due to huge losses in the imaging division. Digital cameras division staff will be significantly reduced with all engineers working on new consumer camcorders and m43 cameras abandoning their work and moving to mobile division. And the next surprise is that the main focus now will be on High End cameras with larger Full Frame sensors!
UPDATE: Sorry, you ave been fooled by April 1 fools day rumors. Hope you didn’t get a heart attack 🙂
270 Responses
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I guess it’s April 1st in Europe 🙂
It was April first here is Australia before EU.
It was April 1st here in NZ first before Australia 😉
Sad news. I thought they were producing fine cameras and lenses lately, with the gm1, gx7 and gh4. If the rumor is true, they will be missed.
Or admin got pranked by a good source. I can’t imagine he would throw such a bad joke at us. Not really good for his website’s reputation.
Relax. Culling an emotional responses is what its all about.
I also think that this is the least funny April fool’s joke. Actually, just stupid really. There’s no possibility of that… “ah, I’ve been had on April 1st” fun. There’s so many more silly things that could be done like x-ray flash guns, rotating sensors, etc. This is just rubbish. No fun in this thing at all.
I am beyond tired of the fake news on April 1st each year. This was fun when I was ten. Is this blog run by children?
If this an April’s Fools Joke it is totally repulsive.
Lighten up Francis(es)
🙂
It’s tradition. Any news site or newspaper worth its name should post fake news on April Fool’s day.
ooooo, got me! 🙂
Horrible joke and I took it hook line and sinker. Oh well, at least I now know it’s April fools a bit early.
I think crap like this really takes away from the value of this site.
If this rumor were true, Panasonic wouldn’t even be able to sell the new GH4.
I couldn’t agree more. This kind of rumor borders on criminal, threatening the viability of a new model as they try to ramp up sales and fill pre-orders. 4/3 might be struggling, but the GH4’s foray into 4K, and it’s fantastic prime optics will hopefully bode well for the future of Pana.
I am investigating the 4/3 system (do not yet own), and subscribe to this site to gain knowledge not dead end fluff stories.
Well i hope it was just a april fools joke. But know this scares me enough to cancel my companies order of GH4’s. and will be selling off our existing GH3’s, no point in having a camera system that will not be getting new OIS lenses to support it. I know olympus still makes lenses which are great but I have to have OIS lens for our company needs. guess we will be going back to canon 5d’s and everyone is going to have to start pulling focus again, it was so nice to have a break from pulling focus with the panasonic’s, shame that 70d has so much aliasing and moire. I really liked M/43 system better. this sucks
Don’t do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THKPIC lol I agree but how long will I have my job if I have my boss buy 25 Gh4’s, 25 12-35mm, 18 35-100mm, 8 7-14mm. 25 battery grips 5 of the 4k bricks. Then tell him, hey you know those camera’s I just had you buy umm well not making anymore of them and the lenses well we will have no use for them we can’t keep using them like the canon and nikon gear we bought in the past. Have to go back to canon YUCK!!! don’t get me wrong canon fans Canon has great camera’s and lenses but the GH3/4 such a nice light package that cut down focus pulling for us lazy people
Don’t worry. Mirrorless is unquestionably the way of the future. And micro four thirds is by far the most well entrenched mirrorless system.
Micro four thirds is one of the safer bets you can make for the future 🙂
(however….. nothing is really a safe bet in this fast moving world of tech!)
You got me!!! I was starting to feel the sea of rage lol
I was just about to say FINALLY!!! Then I realized it’s April fools 🙁
OLY WILL LIVE FOREVER!!!!
I think this is pretty stupid. At a time when camera companies are struggling with low sales and expectations for future sales of mirrorless, I can only hope based on a real lack of good information this is a childs prank for April fools day. It takes the mind of child to conceive something like that. If it is true (want more proof) then it is a sad day.
Good one, thanks!
It’s still March 31st on this side of Atlantic, so people still react slowly (and way too seriously) :))
Obviously…hey…its just cameras, people…..There are more out there if these were actually gone. LOL!
I would hope this isn’t a april fools… this is my favorite site to check everyday hell its my home page. I can’t say i will stop looking at this site if this was the april fools but it won’t be my home page anymore I will have to change it to canon rumors since I will be going back to stupid canons ugggggghhh I don’t want to go back
Obvious april fool trolling is obvious. Why spend so much money in R&D on m43, building awesome camera like the GM1 and GH4 to drop everything. The only thing I could believe would be keeping only GM, GX and GH lines and droping everything else.
April 1st
I worked as a journalist in Japan for 6 years. In Japanese companies, when employee are talking about competitors (in internal meeting or with outsider) they never pronounce the complete name. They just use the first letter, such as “S” for Sony and “O” for Olympus for a Panasonic person. A real discussion might sounds more like this: “As O is planning to merge with S” instead of “As Olympus is planning to merge with Sony”. My 2 Yen…
Interesting bit of information, not pronouncing the competitor’s full name. Sounds like a weird behaviour.
I can’t believe people seem to be buying this.. 🙂
shite!!!!!! shite!!!! shite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scared the shit out of me!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Less “destructive” / more feel-good / fun April fools headlines:
1) “New firmware allows Panasonic Lens IS to be used with Olympus Body IS to provide 7 stop Image stabilization!!!”
2) “Leica to produce three f1.0 primes WITH AF for m43: 17mm, 25mm, 50mm in Q4 2014!!”
3) “Double news!!! Nikon buys Olympus m4/3 division!!! Sony buys Panasonic Imaging!!”
4) “Panasonic to introduce 7-axis in-body stabilization in new line of m4/3 cameras!”
5) “New flash!!! 50% Panasonic Discount on Panasonic Nocticron 42.5 f/1.2 this weekend only !!! Now only $800!!” (with a link to a dog with his tong out)
(Admin feel free to use)
Another one: “Panasonic to release a $450 consumer camcorder style body for m4/3!”.
BTW I am surprised they have not done so yet!
Meanwhile, Olympus plans to commit to full-frame not just in cameras, but across its entire product line. My doctor conceded that the new Olympus full-frame endoscopes will make colonoscopies more uncomfortable, but said that “superior image quality matters in the end.”
LOL! This was funny!! 🙂
Best 43 rumors comment ever. 😀 ahahahaahhahaahahhahah
Yup, not only would a AF101A replacement by nice (an AF200) but also a consumer camcorder with a m4/3 mount and priced well under $1k would be awesome.
Something kinda like a cross between the Sony NEX-VG series and the Panasonic G series.
Quick, someone post this on DPR and watch the insanity insue.
They’re already having to lock down threads…
FT5 … Hahahah!
Too bad Admin decided to post the “recording”. That really made it quite unbelievable. Japanese companies would extremely rarely have leaks like that, and now it happens to be for this on April Fools day? Yeah right.
not funny at all.
Personally, I find it funny as hell, and I’ve got a larger m4/3 investment than most. Got me for a sec, and I love that. Grow a sense of humor, people. Remember those?
….I was all ready to sell out and buy an X- T1! Are you sure this is a hoax?! LOL!
so before I get my blood pressure up – it is April 1st 🙂 I almost did
Leica has an APS-C seize body for $3000 coming soon – so that is enough
Either admin got pranked by Personal-View or admin should find their own April Fools joke if they want to play.
It’s still March 31st on my side of the planet. Not cool. 😉
Way to go, Admin; this ill-advised joke is now being spread by gullible readers. The responsible thing to do now would be to delete the post.
GULLIBLE ADMIN
You got what you are looking for…. m43 is a system, two brands Panasonic and Olympus. I have had both really good ones (small, ligh, good price and very good image quality)…. but the war of: mine is better than yours, ois…ibis…etc. destroyed the system. If somebody was in doubt about m43, and read the comments, they will buy a canikon.
Not funny admin. As fragile as this business is, do you really think a headline like this is responsible???
Agreed. Taken in context, this type of April Fools Joke could have an impact on perception and thus sales of the m4/3’s system. Likely a blip, but its a blip many of us who are invested into the system would like to avoid.
I also just heard that Canon, Nikon, and Sony will all close their imaging divisions too! Oh no! I guess everyone should get rid of their old gear and buy Pentax right now!
That works for me, I use plenty of old Pentax K mount glass on my m4/3 cameras.
I agree it wasn’t funny but at the same time, if anybody changed or cancelled an order because of it, then they would have to be a gullible (April) fool to react so promptly that way to a rumour. I can understand caution & doing it if it turned out to be true, but I think I read here that one person actually cancelled their GH4 order & I have also read here over the last few years similar ‘spitting the dummy’ responses over some of the rumours as well. Some people just seem to overreact to anything without putting their brain into gear.
http://frugalfilmmakers.com/2014/03/31/the-rumor-of-death-is-totally-untrue/
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
well for not being true its kind of funny that panasonic lens prices went up At BH 20mm from $386 to $429, 25mm $529 to $628,14-140 $399 to $449, 12-35mm $1100 to $1298, 100-300 $499- $598 the Sad part is IF this is a Rumor by Personal View and 43rumors They just help BH and other camera Sites make us pay more for Panny lenses If its not a rumor maybe the Prices are a indication
April fools, or not, Mini Four Thirds is doomed. If you can’t handle the weight of a real camera, get a smartphone. Otherwise, stop moaning.
fuck off prick, you know NOTHING
Damn…someone hasn’t been laid in a while.
come and lay me then cockster
Have you had your daily toss yet? You are a sad joke, like M43.
yeah I wank all night :p
Just like above. Lighten up Francis.
Admin, i think you should delete this one ASAP. Aprils fool doesn’t mean Panasonic/Olympus can’t/won’t sue you for the financial damage you created. A lot of people would really thought it’s real and stop buying m43 camera (even after you clarified it is just a joke).
many people going to cancel preorder thanks to this pranks….
GOOD! Then we can buy the GH4 sooner! :p
Totally agree on it……
google can make fun of her own company on April’s fool
but admin you cannot do the same on a company you do not own…
Peter…do you and Richard always try to control everything and never have a laugh?
Whah…Whah….WHAH… “I got fooled…oh…my….”…..LOL!…lighten up people.
I don’t mind jokes, the “news” shocked me a bit initially but then remember it’s 1st April. But one should not make negative jokes about another company, especially something that can affect another company’s sales/reputation/stock price..etc, admin would be liable to any damage created and could be accused of market manipulation.
And what law school did you go to so I can not send my kids there?
Do your kids even go to school??
Last time I checked this was a RUMOR site. Everything here should be taken with a grain of salt, even real news 😛
Wasn’t funny when Vitaly posted it and it’s even less funny now. Or is the author of 43rumors really that gullible?
yup
Hopefully some people will post their wares on eBay for cheap Buy It Now prices to liquidate due to this headline
Oh No !
How could this happen ?
What will happen to the future of new Nocticron ?
No matter how , GX7 & 45mm & 75mm F1.8 will remain in my hands .
No way I’m going to sell it .
I hope 4/3 rumor will remain as well .
Thanks for the head up. I almost bought the 42.5 f1.2 but I will not buy it right now since Panasonic has abandoned m43 platform.
WHAT A LOAD OF BULL SCHIT!
I just was on Canon Rumors and someone upped the antie….they say there that our hoax is true and that Canon is buying out the Panasonic MFT division….LOL….its growing into a monster!!!!!!
Hahaha..wankers!
Hehe.. You got me also! That was a bit funny..
Well, I am soooo happy now as my entire stock of C-Mount lenses will definitely shoot up in price! Loving it!
Why….. because a 1″ camera will take m4/3’s place as the small compact option? Which will make those C-mount lenses more usable?
(if this rumour was even true that is… which it isn’t! Happy April Fool’s everybody)
I am sorry to see Panasonic go but I guess I somehow knew it will come to this. Good thing I can cancel my pre-order for the 15mm f1.7. I will still keep my EM5 and a couple lens but I guess I would have to sell the rest now. Thanks for letting us know before Panasonic’s official announcement.
Hope its April Fools only Oly and Panasonic in their camera groups are not making money and this feeds into the rumor mill. A bad joke. It has to be over the top if its going to be a joke. This is not funny.
The only company left without OSPDAF… even Canon and Nikon weak in mirrorless have OSPDAF for quite some time. And this is a mirrorless pioneer. Did not their have #2 share of mirrorless in Japan just a year or so ago?
Well, at least more market share will be left for Olympus.
You would have really hated film.
the angrier overreactors get, the funnier it is, oh Internet…
Relax! Surely it’s an April fool joke!
Remember a joke about Panasonic hiring a Personal View staffs??
The incoming Leica DG Summilux 15mm F1.7 ???
It still hard to believe the news to be true .
…and OLYMPUS is going to take over your WHOLE world….the HORROR of it all!!!
“Sad is that micro four third system will be dead in two years time. As Olympus is planning to merge with Sony in same time and can abandon small sensors also, as I heard.”
Boom – this is April Fools joke for sure. Panasonic cannot know anything about Olympus plans, let alone 2 years ahead. 😉
Couldn’t you get sued for this?
Shouldn’t you get a life?
He said, on a camera rumors comment chain.
you LACK one
I hope Jeff and his cronies get 43 Rumors shut down – best thing ever
Happy. April. First.
ah….I wonder how many of your sources you’ll loose ? Maybe none. Alot of free advertising on pany’s behalf. It’s hilarious how many people said they were cancelling pre-orders. This teaches us something about the internet. Exactly what , I’m uncertain…but there’s a rumor there somewhere !
not funny aprils’ fool joke
Just posted all my m43 great on to eBay. Hopefully I can get good value for it before the mad sales rush takes over. Farewell m43, it s fun while it lasted!
Link or did not happen!
35-100/2.8 by chance? Cheeeeep, please.
Sorry, it got sold already! It guess it’s almost as if they didn’t think this rumor was true!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Full Frame… or Fools Frame?
Least funny April Fool’s joke ever. Okay, second worst behind Sony’s NEX menu system. Wait. One of those was real…
Really!! So there will be no more G7, GX9, GF7 or even GM2!! I don’t think so… Panasonic can definitely start up a new line. But doesn’t mean they have to stop all the MFT products. So even if people wanna get a compact point and shoot camera like the GF6, The only choice is full frame?
Like the Canon, we all know 1D and 5D are amazing professional Full Frame cameras. But thats only 30% of Canon sales. Over 70% Canon sales are from entry level APS-C cameras 700D, 70D. There are lots of people don’t even need full frame. If Panasonic really just gonna make full frame cameras. Then they will lose a lot of customers for sure!! 🙂
In other news, Canon announced the end of the DSLR and will put everything behind creating great mirrorless cameras. But won’t commit to selling them in America.
Now that I could believe! lol
April Fools joke in poor taste….. Kind of like telling someone a family member is sick or just passed away.
MFT has been doing an uphill battle against other sensor size, even just to entertain this as a joke really leaves a bad taste. I think people should not visit this site for a few days, maybe their lack of hits would make them understand a line needs to be drawn and known when not to pass
WHAH…WHAH….OH…It’s so so. HORRIBLE!….
LOL!
Then you care way too much about your camera!
Jesus! And I though Pentax users had it bad 😛
Nobody is taking your M4/3s away from you. That should be evident by how much staying power they’ve already had. If M4/3 were just a fad they would’ve disappeared by now.
Joke fee like getting deepthroated by clown.
Lol This reminds me of when a bunch of guys got together and pretended to record a phone call with the CEO of Rogers Canada… At the time Nadir Mohammed had just started so these guys made a recording of a guy that sounded like Apu from the Simpsons. Only problem was that Nadir had no accent… It was pretty hilarious!
Don’t repeat that 43rumors it’s not funny …. (lol)
There are not april fools in latin america….¿why can us underestand this “news”? if is a joke is not in latinamerica here is a news!!! bad taste anyway
It’s, of course, still March 31 here in the States as well. I was totally in March mode, having spent a few hours on accounting, so I totally fell for it! I was so depressed! I started muttering some self-justifying excuses for having bought into µ43! I don’t need new cameras or lenses anyway, so there! I started composing a long diatribe about how right the trolls were, and we should have listened to them!
This line did make me a little suspicious/puzzled:
>But it’s a day that will mark the history of the company. A really big day!
A day that a video leaked? History? But I didn’t get it until I went to PhotoRumors to double check, and saw their warning. So, lesson learned, always check your sources, even if it a site that checks its sources. I almost Tweeted the “news!” I have like no followers, but think of the credibility loss I would have incurred!
More seriously, is Panasonic even in financial trouble at all? The imaging division? That’s news to me, if true.
As always you show good sense, The prank plays on our insecurities, and reminds us that we should invest all in one system, which can always do to the dogs.
There might be limits to growth to m4/3, but as long as one can sell pictures made with it, and agents are not too conventional, there will be room for it – providing one is a photographer.
Is the future of m4/3? There’s a bit of the hypocrite in it, and none better can tell than Leica, which is at the crossroads. Either you believe i the might of small sensors and good lenses, or not.
The prank was not in good taste, but many here treat m4/3 as a secondary system, so in a way they expect this kind of bad surprise. Olympus was not involved – surprising, isn’t it? And yet being two headed is important for m4/3. It makes the system a bulwark against the fear of little sensors.
Even if there are no april fools in latin america, it’s a matter of common knowledge to know about that tradition. So stop whining and use the opportunity to learn about that tradition and thus cultivate yourself!!!
pd. here is march 31….
No chance panny would dump m43 in place of full frame and bury all that development. They would certainly expand into FF and let m43 die off or compete for the high end over five years. But there is no incentive. Canon and Nikon have two basic formats for enthusiast and pro cameras.
Consider OMD success , don’t see Olympus will dump m4/3 & join Sony .
M4/3 have so many great lenses , it really a waste to abandon such a great compact system .
A move to full frame fr Pana suggested
things have to start from ground floor move over it depend on us if we want to accept it by continue be Pana customers .
To aim for new buyers fr Canon & Nikon , this is very unlikely .
Instead of discontinue m4/3 system , why not use Fuji sensor to make it even solid .
Trolls have been irritating…. but been foll? I do not come here for some time….
Gx7 up to $998 today from $749 yesterday.
GM1 up to $798 from $649.
LOL http://youtu.be/ZL1RguQL4jQ?t=41s
Here’s dictated text in Japanese. I will translate later. http://blog.204504byse.info/wiki.cgi?page=%A5%D1%A5%CA%A5%BD%A5%CB%A5%C3%A5%AF%28%A4%E9%A4%B7%A4%A4%29%A4%CE%C9%D4%B2%BA%A4%CA%A5%EA%A1%BC%A5%AF%B2%BB%C0%BC%CA%B9%A4%AD%BC%E8%A4%EA
Right decision, I’ll spend my m43 stuff to some neighborhood child’s, and wait for the right stuff. I guess all lenses will be f1.4 and price will be around 1.400€ 🙂
You absolute fucking moron admin!
Pls listen again; if you listen well, after 1 min 06 sec the manager on the left says ‘aga’ not ‘ago’. So there your translation/understanding goes. Instead of Panasonic stopping MFT it means MFT will be the only format allowed in the Japanese market because of legal reasons (from 2015; as is clear from the rest of the discussion)
Thank you for the proper and correct translation, goodbye full frame users from Japan! You’ll be banned 😀
DAMN IT ALL YOU GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!!
I seriously bought this for a horrifying, soul-crushing 30 seconds. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Happy april’s fool 🙂 🙂
Welcome to april’s fools day. Hope you had a nice heart attack today 🙂
Shame on you for not editing or deleting this post yet, Admin.
Shame on you for not sending him better April’s day joke.
Shame on for being such a turd.
Can’t believe there are so many drama kings and queens in the 43 universe.
Do they have an April Fool’s Day in Japan?
All seems in rather bad taste to me and rather undermines the general ethos of this site.
Nah, too obvious. If this was a real news here, it would have had many more exclamation marks. With just one exclamation mark (currently), it reads to calculated and well-prepared.
I wish MFT have new MILC-FF standard that still can utilize MFT lens and FF-to-MFT-adapter that fully allow AF and IS – preferably speedbooster adapter. Too much to ask? v^_-
E-mount flange distance allows to mount m43 lenses. You can ask Metabones to make electronically coupled adapter (they have knowledge of both protocols).
Lucky I own lots of m4/3 bodies but no lenses! (aside from a cheapie kit lens that came for free with a GF3)
Using all adapted full frame lenses for me, ready for Panasonic’s future full frame body! 😉
My investment value will be holding strong 😀
(as for April 1st…. depends on what time zone you are in 😛 )
Just got a secret message: Canon will join m43 consortium as it is their last chance to enter mirrorless market. That might be the reason for panasonics decision.
Leica will take over all panasonic gear and label it with a red dot. So hurry up bying cheap panasonic lenses as long as you can.
😉
🙂
I’m very much for jokes such as this. It’s all too serious and gear-adoring usually here. Why not try at least to be a bit funny and unexpected and light-hearted. Someone will always complain, let them. Well i don’t know about legal implications.
Maybe this joke here was a tad too obvious, because there wasn’t a battery of pre-order links at the bottom?
What did I say? How many times did I say that it’s only a matter of time until Panasonic pulls the plug and dumps m4/3, because it’s a failed concept that destroyed what could have been the best DSLR system, 4/3?
Tiny cameras are useless. Everyone manufacturing tiny cameras is going to realize that sooner or later. Panasonic better create a NORMAL-sized 135 camera, or they’re going to have to exit THAT business, too, a couple of years from now.
There is no room for smartphones AND small cameras. Smartphones killed compacts. They’re killing m4/3.
So, people of the internet, how long do you think there is before Olympus exits m4/3 as well? All of you who gloated in the death of 4/3, I sure hope you haven’t invested a lot of money in the m4/3 system. Because it’s going to be even worse than 4/3 – your lenses won’t work on a “new and improved” system Olympus jumps into a couple of years from now. It’s over.
Sorry, but you’ve proven to be an April fool. How many times have you said something foolish? Now it’s that many times plus one.
Try again later. Unfortunately, however, past failures are no guarantee of future success…
Haha, well, it’s not a joke. Maybe *this* exact post is a joke, but in general, it’s not.
You’ll see.
smartphones could kill compact because their qualities are not big different. but for the M4/3, it’s another story. The image quality of M4/3 is far beyond smartphones.
For the M4/3 or Full frame??? not everyone want Full frame. I’ve seen lots of people use M4/3 cameras because they are small, tiny, compact but have good image qualities.
Panasonic will not run away from M4/3 but they will enter to the Full frame world for sure one day. They will have 2 systems, one for normal people for us, the other one for some pro-photographers.
m4/3 didn’t destroy 4/3. It was developed because 4/3 couldn’t compete with the DSLR giants. So 4/3 was the failed concept, whereas m4/3 managed to create a new market segment that now has about 20% of the interchangeable lens camera market, and also competes with high-end compacts.
Smartphones have so far only killed the market for regular compacts. Long zooms, rugged compacts and enthusiast compacts still hold their own, and in fact have increased their sales lately. And smartphones haven’t made a dent in the ILC market so far.
The old 4/3 wasn’t that bad format — it just appeared too late. M43, on the other hand, was launched 2 years before Sony and Samsung came into mirrorless segment.
I knew it!
Really poor form as a Fools Day joke.
Thanks! I gave my best 😉
Ugh, I’m so gullible. lol
You think it’s funny when Panasonic is bleeding money and shutting down divisions to make a joke out of very plausible fears?
You and your website can go to hell!
WHAH !
You must be 3 years old?
You cryin, too?
Can you show me the way to hell?
Undermining your own product category is a good way to start.
Thanks! Good to know I am on the right path 🙂
Honestly you are in full blown moron mode.
Thanks a lot ofr your precious comments 🙂
go and buy some grayons Jeff
what a wanker…..you won’t be in hell 3 seconds before you’re screaming for mercy you stupid prick. No wonder this world is fucked.
I thought it was funny. Even if this wasn’t so, it serves as reminder about not getting attached to material things. After all, it is just a camera.
you are an idiot
arrogant turd
Nice one Admin.
The real joke is that it’s not already happening 🙂
Surely this didn’t fool anyone!!
it did not fool me I just considered it totally in poor taste. Even if it is April fools. They only fools are the people that run this site.
Hmm.. FDJ much better than FT5 .
I should realize it .
How could Pana can just let go a superior sensor format , 4/3 so easily .
As a self-confessed Panasonic fan (m43, TVs) the original message came as a bit of a shock to me even though it was fairly easy to spot the exaggeration.
It was fun to see, however, how the full frame fan boys quickly stepped in and let everybody know that – of course – massive dinosaurs are ther only good thing on earth..
It’s okay. Only if they close the branch micro 4/3 cameras have to offer full-frame at the same price of the micro 4/3.
The cost of the electronics are too high we are in 2014, and these things should cost very little and not be available to everyone in the range 50-200 dollars and not 2000 as the GH4
I definitely got a heart attack at 2:00 am when I first saw this.
get to bed
Great gag. It isn’t Panny it’s Olympus that’s going full frame…
very stupid gag especially given Panny and Olympus photo division problems financially
I cancelled my pre-order yesterday because of this. I figured I should stick with my Sony instead of jumping into a new format.
I got an email yesterday morning about this and since it was not April 1 I didn’t think it was a hoax.
It was April 1st somewhere
normally i think this is a well done website. there seemed to be a core of integrity and professionalism.
april fools’ day pranks like this (that affect some of us a night before april 1st) undermine reader trust and the standards you try to hold on to 364 other days of the year.
this is a strike against the site for me. i’m glad none of the other video news sites i regularly visit felt the need to have a laugh in the name of a prank.
I think the April Fools jokes work better when they are done by a trusted site versus something like The Onion. They should be allowed to have a little fun with their work once a year. Most people would figure out pretty quickly that its not true, all you’d have to do is search the web and look for other news sources confirming it or look at your calendar. I don’t see this a being malicious, it was done in fun.
Try http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26723188
We readers come to sites like this for information, to then be pranked by April Fools jokes- this is just unprofessional! We visit for information not jokes……I just returned my new Panasonic GM1 because I thought the format was doomed- so printed out a return order via Amazon…..many may laugh and might be aware of these pranks, but some of us trust these sites and don’t “expect” pranks…….I hope this is the last of the pranks as it seems I’m not alone in the dislike for such site antics.
Pfffffft. That was a bit silly of you.
Amazing that he returned a $700+ camera within 12 hours without even researching the subject further.
The headline caught me at first (I just bought a GM1 a month ago) but my first thought was “Man I should be able to get all the lenses real cheap now”. Who cares if they dumped the format when there are already great lenses out and the cameras take great pictures? If anything it would mean you could get some great deals in the near future.
well said Steve. My blog will have an article later today advising my readers, my facebook readers as well as google readers to avoid this site at all costs.
Got you 🙂 … first of april (still here in europe) “my readers, my google readers, my facebook readers…” my NSA readers… very funny :-))
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26723188
Don’t blame others for your foolishness. It was very obvious a joke. No company in the world would “kill” their market in order to switch to another configuration of the same product. As well as the same site posted a growth in panasonic camera market some days before.
Keep your humor.
HUMOUR is spelt with a U feckwit!
Both are acceptable you uncultured idiot.
fuck u
You returned the camera after reading this? Wow, I had no idea people were really that gullible. If you’re interested I have a genuine Rembrandt in my basement which I can let you have at a very reasonable price. It’s right there next to my perpetual motion machine and my alchemy kit….
For a site that purports to publish accurate rumors, this was a real disappointment. Very unprofessional
It was well played, I was fooled and published a story based on this. I’m a fool. I admit it I was duped as I read it on March 31st and initially thought it might be a joke. This was too close to being possible with the financial troubles Panasonic is having so I published. Shame on me. But frankly, you damaged credibility with me and many others in the process. Hope it was worth it to you. Fool me once…
You damage your own credibility all by yourself Mitch, don’t try to pass the buck to others for your own stupidity and low blogging quality.
I am not passing on anything. I admit I was duped. But publishing this prank as “news” has damaged the credibility of anything published here. There are far reaching ramifications to jokes like this and many people have been negatively impacted. I have heard about it from around the web. I am not worried about me, I’m worried about the others who were misled.
You may think those people “deserved it” because they were “stupid” but they didn’t. Many people were making decisions based on this believing it to be true. They are not stupid people. The others calling them that here are just not seeing the big picture.
Maybe I didn’t properly spell out my feelings when I said “you damaged credibility with me” – I wasn’t talking about my credibility, I was talking about the credibility of 4/3 rumors within my own feelings. It will be hard for me to trust anything published here again.
The best do this as well http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26723188
Holy crap people, lighten up! I can see some people falling for it, if you haven’t been on the internet for many April 1s, but to get so worked up about being misinformed about a camera rumor for a few hours… stop, take a deep breath, and go get some fresh air outside. Maybe leave your camera at home, too. 😛
Wow, I read a few more of the comments after posting. Get a grip people, seriously. LOL
To all those who returned their cameras or cancelled orders:
Your reaction/experience does not prove that it was a bad prank. It just demonstrates that you are hopelessly dumb.
To all those who scream bloody murder:
Get a grip, get a life. Most importantly, get laid.
To both categories of people: Thank you. You made this one of the BEST PRANKS of 2014
Why wasn’t it an Olympus “joke?
Admin has a GM1. Obviously he wanted to cause a deep price drop for pana lenses.
+10
A Nocticron for $499, perhaps? 😉
طراحی وب سایت
http://web-site-design.info/
43 Humors is a great site. Thank you admin for keeping the long tradition of April Fools Day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day
Wow, Admin, you exposed a lot of latent paranoia about these products! You should take it as a compliment to show that your April’s fool joke was very close to the bone for some. Don’t panic, people. This format is here to stay for a while yet!
Vitaly the Jokester!
wankers
Publishing telefon protocols and joking is not a trivial matter. “You will pay for that!”
(Turkey is everywhere.)
hepinizin amina koyim
GH3 now worth $1500
For those of us more than 1/3 of the way around the world, we had not yet erected our April Fools Day level of scepticism because we saw it not on April 1st but rather in the evening of March 31st.
Pity that some of the world runs late.
Funny how most of the comments expressed anguish over the demise of m43 rather than yay! for full frame.
I just about cried
This one is not funny, at all, admin.
It was clear that the deluded unaware-fool of the administrator, and published the news on your own site. Now he wants to pass as it was a joke of it. Not all angry, tenganle penalty because he was deceived. (besides unprofessional to put the news as FT5)
what on earth are you rambling about?
How? You not understand?
Hey dummy, I take it you’re not from around here and never heard of April 1st jokes? STFU.
JAJAJAJAJ Einstein, YOUR MOTHER IS A BIG BIG “B I G” DUMMY… AND OTHER THINGS AJJAJAJAJAJAJ
One thing worth mentioning… although this was just a prank, it has had measurable repercussions. The prices of the GH3, GX7, and GM1 have all gone up on amazon.com today. The GH3 (body only) is now $1299, the GX7 is $1098, and the GM1 is now $748. Amazing how quickly an unconfirmed story from a single source can affect the market. If the effects are more extensive than that, I can see Panasonic calling their legal team.
Well, a blog post, or the expiration of the end-of-the-fiscal-year sales all the Japanese camera makers run this time of year, which expire March 31.
No. These cameras were not at sale prices. They were at the going rate which had been on the steady decline. At the end of the fiscal year the common practice is to drop prices, not raise them. Two cameras sold at $899 yields higher profits than one camera sold at $1299.
I will concede that the price hike probably isn’t solely due to the false story but I have serious doubt it is from “the expiration of the end-of-the-fiscal-year sales”
Agreed. The GH3 has not been $1,299 US in a long time. If retailers thought Panasonic was pulling the plug on M43, then they would figure the GH3 is now a hot commodity. When this story was published, it wasn’t April 1 in the US. I hope prices come down again soon. In light of the GH4, a $1,299 GH3 isn’t worth the money…to close to the new flagship camera.
People that belived this story LMFAO!!!
How stupid must you be to have believed this story and to return a product based upon it. I guess 4/3 users are quite insecure, maybe they should have purchase full frame. Given that we live in a global society with multiple Time Zones, I was suspicious of articles published on 31st as they could have been from a country already on 1st April. People engage your brains before making stupid decisions.
Thought for the day. We should not get rid of stupid people, just remove all the warning and safety notices and let nature aka Darwin effect, take its course.
Everyone here is in such a pathetic uproar about the fake collapse of Panasonic, Yet all of the hypocrites here are all wishing for the demise of Nikon and Canon. pathetic.
Nobody wishes DEMISE of Canikon, just demise of their de facto duopoly on the photo market, for better competition.
Panasonic goes Fool Frame!.
They keep the shortcut now as “MAXI FOUR THIRD” which is the well known 4,5 × 6.
I am a foll, I was fooled yesteday, and I am folled today! The comments of us, whom where folled yesterday (before the FT5 new was modificated), have been erased to show today to the community how foll we are, and you can joke with us. I was a fool user of this place, I bought two cameras and some lenses, I read this place before the others serious bolgs. Admin, when you make a mistake, you sorry about that, you do not joke to justify it. Last click.
You’re right. We are also in agreement. This will be a serious site. NOT A JOKE SITE. OK?
Here’s one that might NOT be a joke.
http://www.dpreview.com/files/news/4811155800/OMG_1.jpg
Oly Full Frame mockup
Seriously? You didn’t realize that was a joke? Even the first commenters realized it. I hope that was sarcasm.
The best broadcaster in the world did it with their lead current affairs program, so why not admin
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26723188
For all you people who got their noses out of joint over this, may I say, I’m sorry for you. It must be so difficult for you wrestling with your First World problem.
Sure you and your famili in your contry dont have problems JA JA JA
Of course we do, but most of our problems in the First World (like the inconvenience of being duped by a prank) are really minor to the life and death problems faced by people in the Third World. Let’s get a realistic perspective here.
This doesn’t qualify as an April fools prank because it was humourless. Being witty and harmless are essential ingredients in an April fools joke. It was neither believable nor amusing, simply foolish. An example that may inspire a better effort next year admin: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-Cameras/Canon-EOS-1D-W-DSLR-Camera.aspx
yum love your pic hun x :p
Delightful isn’t it… and decidedly more attractive than a real image of me: my real name is Frank, I’m 53 years old, unemployed, marginally grotesque, I live with my mum, and I don’t get out much.
Are you transsexual ‘Frank’? Is your soul as beautiful I wonder….
I hope Panasonic sue 43 Bloomers….sorry Rumours
Son of a… I believed this at first. Nearly canceled my gh4 pre-order too. Breathing easier now. haha. You’re a Bastard admin. hah.
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