Wellsfargoadvisors leaked the list of what’s going to be announced at the CES show next week. It includes the Olympus and Panasonic compact cameras:
Olympus is introducing five new digicams at the show, and while none have built-in Wi-Fi, a pair is Eye-Fi compatible. The SP-620UZ ($199 suggested retail) has a 21 x wide-angle zoom, 7 fps shooting and HD video. The SZ-12 (also $199) has a 24x zoom, 7 fps burst shooting, high-def video and 3D capture. They are adding to their Tough lineup with the TG-320 ($179.99) which is shock-, water-, freeze- and dust-proof.
Panasonic will introduce five new models – all less than $199. In keeping with the long-zoom push, the slim Lumix SZ-7 and SZ1 have 10x optical zooms. Both feature Leica lenses and start at 25mm. The 14.1-megapixel MOS DMC-SZ7 can record FullHD AVCHD video while the 16.1-megapixel CCD DMC-SZ1 records 720p HD video.
My guess is that the list isn’t really complete as the Sigma products are missing. Sigma scheduled a press release event for January the 10th. There could be new m43 lenses! Sigma already displayed a 30mm macro lens for m43 and NEX. But I hope there is something more than just that lens only.
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Just a reminder. Sigma is part of the Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds coalition and already offers a nice amount of Four Thirds lenses:
[shoplink 18947 ebay]Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18948 ebay]Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18948 ebay]Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18949 ebay]Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18950 ebay]Sigma 24mm f/1.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18951 ebay]Sigma 30mm f/1.4[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18952 ebay]Sigma 50mm f/1.4[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18953 ebay]Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18955 ebay]Sigma 55-500mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18956 ebay]Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18957 ebay]Sigma 105mm f/2.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18958 ebay]Sigma 135-400mm f/4-5.6[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18959 ebay]Sigma 150mm f/2.8[/shoplink]
[shoplink 18960 ebay]Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6[/shoplink]
24 Responses
I’m having a hard time to resist the temptation to laugh.
Why?
I mean — no offense — but regarding the latest leaks about the Fuji thing, these about compact P&S ones look a bit untasty, to say the least 😉
I really hope both will come with something more exciting from the EVIL department 🙂
Niko, I always said that we have to look at what the competition is doing because it influences the m43 world. And so the compact camera technology often has features that you will see in more advanced cameras after.
beside that I calculated that only one of 174 posts is related to non m43 companies. I wouldn’t say I am talking to much about others or not? 🙂
It is nice to know compact camera technology .. but there is nothing new mentioned: 24x zoom pocet UZ already exists (SZ-30MR), but is capable of 9 FPS (it means 7 FPS shooting is a downgrade)
Is there something new?
Far more interesting for me was Olympus SH-21 last year, because it support in-camera HDR
(feature which I miss for PEN and Panasonic G line)
Cool head, I probably overreacted a bit because of the leak of what is my dream camera, and sorry for that =)
You’re right, watching the competition is nothing short than healthy, keep up the good job with the site 🙂
At $199, these compacts are 1/8th of the price of the Fuji with one lens and 1/10th of the price of the Fuji with three lenses. How are your pictures out of the – not even yet officially announced, and no where near ready to roll out of the factory Fuji CSC compated to all the m43 camera pictures you can take today with real production cameras?
Your link (source) says:
“This story is no longer available.”
I did caution you earlier about a bank advise site being the source of camera rumors!
There are still plenty of soccer moms out there driving caravans who’ d rather to carry a tiny point and shoot features a 14X zoom, and in bright red color…I overstated, maybe not caravan. But guess what, they have more chances than most of us here use their cameras.
to Al: Yes, but they arent reading 43rumors. 🙂
I know. Just my marketting point of view. Maybe Admin’s, too, try to reach more readers.
Why so many crappy peanut sensors digicams which probably take worse pics than iphone 4s. Such releases downgrade both companies brands, IMO. And why only one enthusiast compact model from either company?
Fuji at least uses 2/3 sensor for their low end crap…
Agree. They should simplify their line-up to one or two models with simple, catchy names instead of product codes that I don’t even bother to skim.
I’m sort of curious about the new TS4 or TS5. Panasonic could really do some interesting things with that series, if they would just try. Things that come to mind: Raw, larger sensor, built in viewfinder. A point and shoot that is not tough enough to compare to the current TS3, holds no interest for me.
+1 Yeah, the waterproof compacts are great to have. I got an older Olympus 1030 SW for snorkeling, but it does double-duty as a job site camera and for bad weather where I’d worry about taking my GH2. It was great to have zip-lining in Costa Rica in the rain!
I’m curious to see what improvements will be made to the Panasonic TS4. I just wish they wouldn’t crank up the megapixels with such tiny sensors.
In fact, Panasonic decreased the number of megapixels from 14.1 Mpix in TS2 to 12.1 Mpix in TS3 and improved the image quality. It would be interesting to see if they would continue this trend for TS4.
As a dream, it would be nice to have a rugged & 12m-water-proof camera with larger (4/3) sensor.
+1
That would be great, but how would they keep the same level of compactness?
Using a larger sensor means making the lens larger. I like the fact that the TS3 (and similar cameras) is small, easy to operate while swimming and can easily be stuffed into one’s bathing suit.
My preference would be for something like a version of the LX5… that’s hardened and waterproof, but is still quite compact. The lens would obviously need to internally zoom and focus. That physically limits what’s possible in terms of lens range, aperture and size.
Since that’s unlikely, hopefully Panasonic makes the LCD high-res like the Oly TG-810. I don’t know if a touch screen would be doable, or even desirable in a waterproof camera.
Haven’t this site had rumors for other Oly and Panasonic cameras since the beginning? I see nothing wrong in that. After all it is a rumor site for those brands. I’ m more curious about covering other brands but have no problems with it. Saves me the time checking multiple sites every hour…
I really hope Smegma actually bring out small m43 lenses rather than just large 43 lenses with m43 mounts. Please please please make a 17/1.4 or even 1.8 !!!
I heard some research recently: having more products to choose from will increase the chances that someone stops to look at the products, but it reduces the chances they will purchase – because once they have stopped it becomes harder to decide which one is the “right” one to purchase. It suggested 4 to 6 items in a range was ideal, and more than a dozen became noticeably counter-productive. This was walking through a supermarket, mind you. But some camera stores are starting to look like supermarkets, hey.
This is greater problem for canikon. 😉
It’s about time I have bought myself some soccer mom camera – for video and whatnot.
But I would wait for the LX6 announcement. And the XZ-2. And the Canon G1X. Hopefully choices this year should be plenty.
Re Sigma lenses, yes they have had a large number of 4/3 lenses, but a fair number of them have already been discontinued in the 4/3 mount, including the reasonably well-regarded 105mm and 150mm macro lenses.
Olympus superzooms these days don’t even have manual control over shutter speed and aperture plus no manual WB-something I’d wish they would reintroduce.