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What’s next? Olympus and Panasonic announcement roadmap!

An imaginary GL1 based on the Four Thirds [shoplink 23692 ebay]Lumix DMC-L1 camera[/shoplink].

Yesterday we had that big Schneider rumor and news coverage. It’s already time to look forward about what’s coming next. This summer will not be a quite time for us:

July:
First we have new Panasonic/Olympus announcements in July. I am pretty sure there will be the new Panasonic G5 and Olympus will maybe show us the XZ-1 successor (with larger sensor?). There will be no PEN and no GH3 yet…but…

Late August/early September
…less than three months from today we will have a massive announcement party. The GH3 is coming for sure along the 35-100mm f/2.8 X lens and other new Panasonic lenses. Plus the LX6 (with larger sensor). Olympus will announce a completely new PEN lineup, new lenses (like the 60mm macro prototype) and maybe one more surprise (will let you know about it later).

Third party companies:
I expect new lens announcements from Sigma and maybe from Tamron. Schneider will show us the final 14mm f/2.0 prototype lens and maybe give us a hint about the two other m43 lenses that will arrive in 2013.

Surprises?
Canon will probably announce a mirrorless system with Four Thirds sized sensor while Olympus may release a new Four Thirds camera. And what about a [shoplink 23692 ebay]Lumix DMC-L1 camera styeled[/shoplink] m43 camera?

As you see I have a lot of work to do to get specs and images of the new products. I am already working on it and got some rumors I will post the next days and weeks. All this I have to do while I am moving to my new house in France where I will live for some time in the middle of nowhere high on the Pyrenees. But that’s another story I may tell you in a little post on a boring weekend 🙂

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54 Responses

    1. That GL1 mock-up is drool-worthy. I would love to see a rangefinder-style m43 in the future. I’m skipping the EM-5 to see what the next generation has to offer.

  1. Yes , that is the camera I always dream of , the GL .
    Will be very happy if Pana can make it before Christmas time . News & Spec for this camera is the most welcome .

  2. Hello
    The text about the new Canon Mirorless is misleading. It will have a 4;3 ratio NOT a 4;3 sized sensor
    There will be NO compatibility with the m4/3 system whatsoever

    Harold

    1. Admin said four thirds ‘sized’, not (micro) four thirds format…

      If the new canon has the same sensor as the G1X then it will be VERY close to (micro) four thirds in size…

        1. True, probably canon does not adopt MFT mount. Intersting questions:

          Will it be possible to adapt canon mirrorless lenses to mft or vice versa?

          Will third party lens companies do more mft lenses, being able to leverage the same design on both canon mirrorless and mft mount? (Nex/mft crossover appears limited due to sensor size difference.)

          1. “Will it be possible to adapt canon mirrorless lenses to mft or vice versa?”

            Technically, probably, but it would never happen!

            “Will third party lens companies do more mft lenses, being able to leverage the same design on both canon mirrorless and mft mount?”

            Would seem a distinct possibility…

        2. I don’t think admin was suggesting there was any compatibility, and I don’t think anyone reading this site would expect there to be either.

          The only reference is to the rumoured size of the sensor, nothing about it being a m43 camera.

        3. Even if the sensors were exactly the same, there’s a 99 percent probability that Canon would use a proprietary mount anyway. Canon had better make an extremely strong product, because they a far far behind the competition.

        4. Noone would assume if a company anounces a new sensor, and the admin calls it a Canon APS-C sized sensor it’s compatible with Canon mounts.

        5. obviously. Canon has quickly become one of the worst companies to buy from, and I don’t think that’ll change. Canon DSLR video is the biggest gimmick in film history.

    2. The idea is to make 4/3, m4/3 sound standard. Clearly the Canon sensor will be larger but you are not suppose to know that.

  3. Welcome to France admin !

    Every 3 months there is a new m43 camera. I’m afraid it’s too much. Canikon don’t change their lineup so often.

    I want new lenses but not new “same” cameras GF3/GF5 & G3/G5… Even if Canon just did that with the 650D.

  4. Wishing for a XZ-1 succesor with more on the wide angle side. 28 mm equiv. is too narrow for me. Also, I wish for super-macro abilities on the tele range – so far this works only with wide angle.

    I use this little gem as everyday cam I always carry with me, and as backup for the PEN. Results are quite pleasing – enough for images I can publish/sell without being ashamed of poor quality. In good-to-average light conditions, also very handy for non-intimidating work with people, thanks to the fast aperture and amateurish looks.

    Due to the small sensor, there’s much more DOF, so this is a very useful camera for macro images. So, please, not a bigger sensor – but one with the OM-D technology.

    And controls that are a bit less prone to accidental setting.

  5. As lens for my E-M5 I want a 14-150mm with a button for smooth zooming, medium premium optical quality (visibly better than my currently quite good 40-150mm). Partly weather sealing not required but could be a separate version.
    Also if this lens would do quite good with macro-fotography I would buy it.

    Is this currently physically possible for under 1000 euros?

  6. For some reason, neither Panasonic or Olympus want to make that DMC-L1 MFT camera. I for one just don’t think that that camera is coming…ever. Don’t know why but these companies have completely ignored our yearly requests for that incantation. The OM-D is the antithesis of that camera and is extremely popular, so I do not see this happening.

    1. Don’t you mean our incantations for some incarnation or an iteration of that camera? 😉

      I just don’t get it either. Maybe they think that there’s only small interest in that form factor? It would cannibalize some sales of the top-end GH2 and EM5 models, so there would be some concern there. But they could even dump the external add-on viewfinders with a camera body like that.

      It’s probably bean-counter driven decision making. In other words, lowest common denominator.

    1. All we are talking about is how to style a camera with a built in evf. Panasonic and olympus has given us dslr style, sony has the humpless nex7. It is quite plausible that either oly or panny could make a humpless brick styled camera, the hump on the G series seems to be withering away…

  7. Admin – have any of your sources said anything about the XZ1 successor having a larger sensor or is it just speculation at this point?

    Now that the Sony RX100 has raised the bar I think others will have to follow suit. I just hope one of them offers a camera with a sharper lens than the RX100 has in a camera still small enough to fit into a large pocket.

  8. I hope Olympus or Panasonic really have plan to release those hypothetical “rangefinder” so the rumor will stop and they can move forward to really innovating…:-)

    I much more eager to hear Olympus or Panasonic plan to release new hi quality zoom or more prime or those hypothetical “hybrid PDAF-CDAF” adapter….or they should create hypothetical “modular camera”? or How about creating View Finder that have additional hot shoe? Changeable Battery Grip for PEN and GX? Detachable LCD Display that can control camera wirelessly? Android OS for camera?

  9. Admin, any word on pricing for the GH3, with X kit lens? Do you think my budget of $2000 is reasonable?

  10. Really, admin you should make it more obvious that a GL-1 is just something you wish would exist. Now half of the people here think again the camera will come, and will ask about it in every post.

    1. The tag line includes imaginary. I too am puzzled why so many think it’s anything more than a wish list camera.

  11. Hope they have Internet in the old Pyrenees Stonehouses?

    I wished I had a job allowing to settle in Ordesa or beautifull regions like that.:-(
    Anyhow a good location for using m43 wideangle primes. Congratulations Admin.

    1. I hope it too 🙁
      I am using an Orange HSPA connection. They said it will work where I have my house. If not I have to travel every day 10 minutes to the first town.

  12. I wish Olympus would get serious about video and steal some of the GH series thunder when it comes to video.

    1. I know people in jura, France, that have no access to hsdpa connection (area is too isolated) so they are using internet satellite connection with nordnet provider.

  13. Maybe, if Admin and all the other Lumix DMC-L1 fans chant “Give us a mft-version of the L1” as a mantra, it will become true…ah, I see, they are already trying that 🙂

  14. First of all, dear ADMIN, I hope your week-end is not going to be boring.

    As far as Canon mirrorless is concerned, I hope it will be geometrically as close as possible to 4/3 sensor size.
    This would mean a further strong incentive for independent lens makers to invest in optical designs fitting this sensor size. A win-win situation both for m4/3 and milcanon, even if the electronical and mechanical interfaces are most likely going to be different.

    1. We have seen it before. A mirrorless competitor needs lenses, a dozen at least. Sigma could provide them to Canon, perhaps even native ones, and to m4/3.

      There might even be an agreement from the beginning. Beware about Canon!

  15. What’s left out of the wishful thinking on the “GL1” is that the L1 and the similarly designed LC1 were both designed to be rebadged by Leica (Digilux 2 and 3, if memory serves).

    IMHO you will never see that design resurrected as an m43 camera unless Leica does a complete about-face and decides to sell an m43 body. The only glimmer of hope for that is the existence of 2 Leica-badged m43 lenses, but that’s a pretty small glimmer.

    Here’s my wild speculation: since Leica has rebadged every LX to date (D-Lux series), and the LX6 is rumoured to have a larger sensor, maybe that model will be a little bigger than the LX5. Just enough to accommodate a built-in EVF. And maybe that would look like the L1.

  16. dear admin,
    do you have clue about the size/price factor of this new 43 from oly?
    would it be e-x like or rather e-xxxish?

  17. dear admin,
    do you have any clue about the size/price factor of this new 43 from oly?
    would it be e-x like or rather e-xxxish?

  18. Thanks for showing renditions of possible GL1 and picture of G5 for a change after about a hundred pictures of the OM-D. I don’t think admin would be showing this GL1 rendition unless he had at least some rumors of its existence?

    I believe it makes sense for Pany to produce such a rangefinder style camera with EVF to provide an alternative choice for m4/3 to the OM-D as they already have the DSLR styled G5 and coming GH3. Such a camera would be a response to the NEX7 and Fuji Pro1 as the OM-D is more recent. Given the success of the GX1 body over the G3 I would not be surprised by such a move. The NEX7 showed how to make such a camera smaller using smaller screen and Pany already showed their own concept with swivel EVF in corner in their patent of over 2 years ago so definitely possible. Pany maybe delayed this model because of diverting resources to the now apparently failed 3D TV and concerns over potential sales volume, but positive response to the NEX7 and especially OM-D should have changed those perspectives.

  19. “All this I have to do while I am moving to my new house in France where I will live for some time in the middle of nowhere high on the Pyrenees. But that’s another story I may tell you in a little post on a boring weekend ”

    Shot in the French Pyrenées using a Lumix L1 and D-Vario-Elmarit 14-50
    http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Phileica/Lumix/Cows.jpg.html

    I’m sure you’ll enjoy the area for photography, for food, and for the people there. NO boring weekends there 🙂

    Thanks for your wonderful site.
    Bien amicalement
    Philippe

  20. Admin, given the name of this site is 43Rumors, any 4/3’s rumors? E-x, E-xx, E-xxx, E-IO or otherwise? The silence is a rumor in itself.

    Also, anything new on the Pro-mFT body and maybe a quality Olympus zoom to go with it?

  21. I doubt Canon is going to release a mirrorless system based on their 3/2″ sensor any time soon. Not until the G1X is ready to leave the marketplace in 1-2 years. There wouldn’t be any reason d’etre for the G1X if they were planning to kill it with a competing mirrorless system before they got their expected return on investment.

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