Egami spotted a new Panasonic patent showing a Panasonic GF camera design. Actually it’s a real picture of the camera more than a design 🙂
As you see the camera is quite different from the previous GF models. I guess the new GF camera will be announced in Spring just like it did happen every year since the first GF camera introduction.
Just don’t know how much sense it keeps the GF series when you have a much smaller and better designed GM series. The only way to make the GF interesting is to offer it for an incredibly low price…
Here are more pictures:
59 Responses
Beautiful !!
Happy New Year to everyone (trolls included, someone has to love you)
Have a great New Year’s Eve with your families and friends .
Exciting Micro Four Thirds times ahead for 2014 🙂
It’s ugly, in the way only panasonic could make it ugly.
Oh, well you know how Panasonic likes to spam out bodies….
I think it’s very pretty. If you want ugly, look at the Hasselblad Lunar.
admin: are you sure that this isn’t some prototype from 5 years ago?
Hopefully so. On the same page there is also a picture of an olympus fl-20 flash from like 2003.
Well done Panasonic.
It’s another fugly piece of junk.
Girly camera:)
I hope that’s a rugged MFT camera design…….
If this is the gf 7 then Panasonic can’t make two well designed cameras in a row.
Two? GF7 and GM1… Yes.
Three? Apparently not.
Three and four fugly designs. There are two designs here.
The GX7 and the GM1 are perfect. Mistakenly implied they were fugly. They are not. These two designs, however, are.
I don’t think it’s necessarily ugly, but let’s call it what it is. It is a step up from a point and shoot, NOT an alternative to an SLR. The other “problem” will be that it will most likely be priced higher than the most basic entry-level SLR. In my opinion, this has been the biggest mistake Olympus and Panasonic have made. They take away functionality that even the most basic SLRs have, yet price them higher. Until they figure this out, these cameras will never sell at the entry level like they want them to.
It’s not a mistake, it’s by necessity. They don’t have the volume that canikon have, and more development still to pay off.
I know what you mean, but they need to add functionality that the basic SLRs have. Like a viewfinder, and a button/dial or two dedicated to exposure control….maybe even a hotshoe. Then try and price it as low as possible. Even if they have to sell it for cost. The main issue is, they are never going to get these into the hands of the masses if they are “watered down” and sell for more than the basic SLRs.
Lovely. And I mean it.
To me it looks like an attempt to use industrial design to move move camera bodies and ultimately lenses. Moving more units even if it’s a Point and Shoot design keeps the product line going. Keeping the product line going keeps the MFT business healthy. Profitable business is the only way to get better cameras and lenses in the future.
No I won’t buy one and now that my wife who has upgraded from P&S has learned to like viewfinders and tripods neither will she. I do hope some of the smart phone camera users will start looking at these entry level bodies and take the plunge.
Looks like a melting piece of soap.
+100. That’s the perfect description!
Perfect shape to slip one in a jeans’ pocket.
Should have been GM1 size though, i.e. slightly smaller, but if it has the same sensor, the same kit lens and a cheaper price it might be my choice (we’ll see when I’ll have saved enough money)
BEWARE – the Gold Box deal for Panasonic G5 at Amazon UK – it’s £10 dearer than the normal price!!
I got the G6 with 14-140 at 200 pound less than the regular price – less expensive than the 14-140 just by itself. Then there’s the 100 pound cashback from panasonic on top of that.
Thanks Amazon gold box deals. (but yes – be weary of them as well – not every deal is as good as the next one)
Maybe they just want to bring up the price of the gf6.
Uh- that’s ugly… And I really liked the design of the last 3 Panasonic bodys. the g6, gx7 & gm are beautiful, and the patent of the Leica styled camera looked really promising.
I hope this is an old design study foot the gf 3
Bytheway, the pictures show two different designs-look at the back.
Looks old to me. But not unreasonable. Clearly meant to compete with compacts. The silver shell will come in various colors.
Batmans next camera for sure!
What will differentiate this from GM-1 and GF-7?
[Correction] GX-7
Pany has removed the top control dial to compete with Oly PM2 with more reliance on touch screen. Looks like these bodies are based more on GF3/5 so smaller than GF6 so still looks like prior year prototypes? Since when has Pany submitted real photos in any patents it has applied for?
Let’s hope it comes without the cheesey chrome frame around the body. Also, there does not appear to be an articulated/tilting LCD screen, which is bad news.
Well, why not? 😉 Although I am not a fan of the GF lineup since the GF3 – it might be a nice tool in combination with a small prime. It will be a matter of price and performance.
looks like a soap bar…sorry but it’s really ugly
I wouldn’t expect anything else from this tiny sensored, massively overpriced, bad joke of a system.
And we all know what frequently happens to wet bars of soap….
Definitely two separate camera bodies shown in these patent pictures. One for weatherizing an existing GF model and the all black one the new GF7. Note the absence of the wider ring around the lens mount so designed for the new smaller lenses for the GX. The black one has more of a grip and likely since a new body uses the same new small shutter and new sensor from the GM1?
Surprising to see 2014 model pictures this early from Pany and why would they need a patent for every model you are going to produce or is that just common practice?
This looks like an inexpensive interchangeable lens camera – perhaps with an older sensor – not an enthusiast’s camera. It may be a way reducing dependence on compact cameras and promoting the sale of lenses at the same time. As for design, the lens is an integral part. I wonder what the kit lens will be.
Panasonic just sealed their pathetic fate.
I take it you don’t like the camera.
Whether or not this is gf7 there is still a question of where does it fit in lineup.
Gh and gx are high end, with slr and brick form factors.
G is entry slr style, Gf is entry brick style.
How do we look at gm? It is mid level brick, or high end compact alternative. Compared to competitor product lines, it slots in similar to nex5/epl/xm1, while gf compares to nex3/epm/xa1.
It looks like the GF3 design, which really wasn’t a bad looking camera at all, in a solid black color. The problem was that they always used the old sensors, which was the only reason I didn’t buy one.
It’s hard to go backwards in sensor image quality and be happy. The GM1, without the new sensor and MF switch wouldn’t be any better, in fact I bet the plastic body would survive a fall better than the metal one.
Now if they can just put a tiny flush mount VF in a GM body, with a real control dial, then they would get my money again.
How ugly can a camera be? Now we have an answer.
We’ve had that Answered when Olympus announced the E-M1.
I don’t care how many blogs/forums proclaim it as their Camera of the Year, It’s still a hideous frankenstein design. It want’s to be a DSLR and a classic camera at the same time. it needs a cover/mask like the phantom of the opera.
This camera isn’t ugly, but I can see it’s aimed towards females, with all the curves.
Hahaha Just curious, have you actually seen an E-M1 up close or do you just go by the pics? I admit when I first saw pictures of the E-M1 I was not impressed, and I thought the same thing. However, once I was able to test it out, and use it, all of those “concerns” evaporated. I sold my E-M5 and bought it. I have actually gotten complements on this camera. It really is a nice little camera. It’s easily one of the best designs I have ever held, ergonomically speaking. Yes, it does have a mix of old and new, but I have grown to really like it. When you really think about it, the old SLR designs were not particularly ergonomically friendly, and the newer dSLRs overdid it. The E-M1, in my opinion, has found that balance. It’s a workhorse of a camera. It’s not supposed to be “pretty.”
Now, if you want something that is pretty and still has easy access to buttons, etc. the E-P5 is as beautiful as it gets. However, the glaring travesty was the omission of the viewfinder. I have mentioned it many times on this site, I just can’t fathom the decision making process to leave out the viewfinder on that camera.
Fugly !
Maybe Panny is trying to kill m4/3
Maybe…
Maybe they’ll kill it, because they realized they can only go so far with a Four Third Sensor, So they’ll team up with fuji and do a APS-C mount camera.
Here’s to Hope…
Admin:
Are there any rumors circulating about a Panny body with on-sensor PDAF?
I hope it is OK to post a link to another site here. I figured you would already have picked up on this, but here are some shots of a production sample of the PanLeica 42.5 and some test images:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/76-non-pentax-cameras-canon-nikon-etc/246528-panaleica-42-5mm-f-1-2-nocticron.html
Test Images:
http://deadwolfbones.smugmug.com/Other/Nocticron-Samples/35613653_7qsfSz#!i=2996825786&k=ph93r25
will post about it soon 🙂
Good lord that thing is ugly…
Ugly, but I can see the utility of rounded shape in the casual scenarios.
These cameras may not be popular in USA and Europe, but I think the list of popular cameras in Asia and Japan has the GF models very high.
Should make the Ugliest Camera of 2014 list , I cant see anything beating this. What are the designers smoking these days ?
they might be on to something here since the EOS-M came out number 2 in Japanese manufacturers mirrorless sales for 2013.
I’ve got the feeling these were the GF3 prototypes, especially for the all-black one. Panasonic had dropped the chromed hand-grip decor after GF2, G2, GH2, so these have to be bloodeh old designs. And the two-tone’s grip is in the exact shape of GF3’s…
I actually find the two-tone design pretty though, much like a Black Magic Pocket camera…
I think it’s old. It was before the release of GF3.
I like the looks of the Panny GX7…..wtf is this?
They look like just design mockups, quite far from a finished product. They could have even been the mockups for the GF3!