Panasonic will launch 8K in 2017-2018 (Lesnumeriques).
Bruno Labarbère tweeted about a recent Panasonic meeting. And what he writes is quite “Mysterious”:
I had a great chat with Panasonic about their cameras for 2017/2018 : you can expect a big paradigm shift 😉
It’s gonna be less about tech than philosophy. For me, handling and ergonomy are the key factors to success.
I am curious to see what that “paradigm shift” will be all about! Do you have any idea?
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Better menu system and punch in focus while recording hopefully.
In related rumors, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Sony, Leica, Pentax, and Samsung each announce they will have really really cool products of different kinds at some point in the future.
Panasonic will be MFT/video, Oly will be MFT/photo … My suggestion …
Sounds like a steaming pile of marketing to me. Same stuff in a different box. Paradigm shifts are usually what companies announce when they have nothing else.
The rate of improvement in camera technology is slowing and I do not expect big gains as often as we saw in the past. But best case this is going to be something like better connectivity or modularity. Much more likely is a slightly different form factor.
+1 Unless it’s a new kind of sensor stabilisation where my arms move to eliminate shake…
With him mentioning “handling and ergonomy” I expect Panasonic will use more traditional controls on their new micro four thirds models like those on their LX100 camera.
It’d be interesting if new lenses had aperture ring and proper non-by wire manual focussing.
That’s why we have Voigtländer. ?
Seriously. I’d love to see a combo of an aperture ring AND the focus clutch thing that Olympus has on the 12-40mm… a brilliant feature!
Yes, yes, and yes!!!
I fail to see why Pana and Olympus fail to implement this when in some shape or form both Fuji and Sony has it on their lenses. To me these additions scream “PREMIUM”.
Also where are the extra wide angle primes? M43 is behind on this so even though they have the larges offering in the mirrorless world, they no longer have the best.
Also I find it disturbing that Pana and Oly seem to be pushing their own lenses like Pana’s DFD tech and aperture ring only working on their bodies. They should be working together to ensure compatibility.
Different shaped body for GH5? (which still has a more traditional shape than the rest of the Lumix m43 lineup)
More about camera constantly recording from video feed so you can capture photos before you press the shutter button? 8K stills will be quite high res but will they be RAW too?
I can’t wait it already, bring it on Panasonic!
8K raw capture instead of stills? Interesting, but I’d rather shoot stills.
Or does this mean Panasonic can’t do a FF version of the Leica SL until then? Bummer, if so. I want it now…
10 minutes session will bring 10 hours work looking for micro expressions in each frame.
More about philosophy than tech? Probably means they’ll stick with the same 16Mp 4/3 sensor.
It’s now 20Mpix in GX8.
That is there paradigm shift: They will regard a Foto only as a part of a 8K video feed.
That is pretty nice for some use. But a good Fotocamera is a bit more, like 14bit RAW, Hi-Res Stacking, Focus Stacking, Live Bulb, Live Composite.
Some of these features can bei taken from a video feed. Others cannot.
They don’t even have sensor for 8K yet.
This would be insane and they would never drop “real” photo support. But I can definitely see them falling back on pure photo features compared to other brands – which will lack the cool video feed features. So, more choices for everyone!
“I am curious to see what that “paradigm shift” will be all about! Do you have any idea?”
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Sure, planned are lower-capacity batteries with higher-pain prices.
What I expect from Panasonic is IBIS and global shutter. Paradigm as we know it is just fine and doesn’t need no shifts.
Panasonic is dropping M43 and switching to T-mount.
In your dreams. A Panasonic FF camera using the T mount would be very expensive. I see them possibly making such a camera to complement m4/3rds and compete with Sony, but I don’t see them dropping m4/3rds.
And here I thought they stopped making T-mount SLRs back in the 60s…
Paradigm shift! A camera that only mounts telescopes!
🙂
And microscopes. Important.
They won’t drop m43 any time soon. m43 and FF mirrorless might just be what dominates photography in the middle term, while APS-C as the eternal compromise gets crushed between them. And I bet Panasonic is working on a FF video 4k camera as we speak.
As a former Canon user, I’d pick a 7D2 over a 5D3. I’d also choose a Fuji X-T1 over a Sony α7R2. Lens size matters, smaller = better.
Brutal photographers’ jokes.
I wonder how much Panasonic’s cut is for Leica Q. It poured its heart into the thing
For me Panasonic now has the most reliable and best all-around camera system in the G7 and especially the GX8. Instant AF which also works in super low light, great EVF, touch screen, Eye AF, etc. Apart for maybe less than enough Lumix marketing and reach their cameras look and feel bland and too utilitarian compared to other brands’ offerings, especially when an average buyer goes into a store and tries out cameras. They figured out how to make cameras which the user can trust all the time, they just don’t know how to sell them. So maybe they’re learning from Leica, Olympus and Fujifilm to create new cameras with more character and appeal, that could be a paradigm shift. (Or maybe something completely different.)
How do you explain then that Sony is so successful with the A6000, which is an ugly brick compared to Pana cameras? There’s definitely more to selling cameras than their design. I for one really like Pana’s clean, unexcited, neo-industrial design.
Exactly – in the end the bulk of buyers are wowed by the fattest spec sheet at the lowest price. Casual photographers don’t get into pixel peeping and the nuances of different AF systems. The A6000 is a huge seller because its 24mp, small and cheap.
Precisely this.
The A6000 is great value. It’s a very good camera, I just found its not ergonomically as good as something like the GX7, and it needs expensive lenses to resolve its 24MP. The lack of a touchscreen was one of my biggest criticisms.
For me the ergonomics are great. The α6000 fits my very large hands very well.
The lack of a touchscreen is a BIG minus. The lack of native crop primes is an even BIGGER minus.
The “Casual Photographer” switched to Camera Phones … and they ain’t coming back.
Sony was already more well-known as a camera maker than Panasonic for the average buyer and the A6000 had a very aggressive pricing from the start especially with the flashy 24 Mp resolution, around $350 cheaper than the GX7 body only.
Design is really important – that is the message I get. Marketing is too but this seems to be a design manifesto..
Who knows what the future holds. Other than strong video performance, Panasonic isn’t that unique on the market. Some observations:
– of all the tech companies that are doing photo now (Pana, Sony, Samsung), Panasonic seems to be the most advanced in terms of ergonomics that photographers expect
– Panasonic is very good at shrinking things, surpassed only by Sony
– Panasonic is collaborating a lot (Leica for cameras + lenses, TowerJazz for sensor production, Fuji for sensor tech, Oly for a whole system).
If Panasonic is following Sony’s lead by pumping obscene amounts of money and manpower into sensor development, they could very well become the second biggest player in this market. This would obviously bode well for our m43 cameras, and Panasonic might also have the resources to expand into FF territory.
I think in 2016 we will see the completely new sensor with FSI or micro color splitter – at least for the GH5. The bright future of m4/3 is bound by advancement in sensor technology. And Olympus may be the biggest customer.
Panasonic sold much of their sensor production. So arguably they are stepping back from production and moving to designing/specifying what they want and getting somebody else to produce it,
Whether that’s Tower Jazz or Sony or another sensor supplier.
I don’t understand a lot French but …
This is no news (dated 10 sept). It is referring to the presentation of the G7. During this presentation, Panasonics path to 8k was announced. We had this here on 4/3 rumors. In the meantime Canon announced their 8k plans and even an sensor with 250Mp. That is much more dense than the 44MP a 4/3 Sensor needs for the 33MP 16:9 Video in 8k.
I’m expecting the resolution to go up in larger steps until the target 44MP / 8k is reached in 2020. This is just 5 years so I’m sure the development is already an ongoing project. The pixel density is available in small sensors and it don’t need rocket science to build a 4/3 sensor with this density. The readout speed is the much larger problem. I think this is going to be tackled with 4k 60fps/120fps as shown in the picture in the near future, starting with the GH5.
Sounds to me Panasonic is conceding to Sony’s superiority in technology and needs to borrow from the playbook of Olympus, a even weaker technology player who has hung in there and beat it in the (m4/3) market share.
You have a vivid imagination. Design is design.
I think Panasonic should work on consistency, i.e. button placements, chassis which differ widely for the G, GF, and GX on each release. I think consistency helps a model bring recognition hence build brand loyalty.
Why doesn’t M43 follow the Sony strategy of having one body but different versions? I would be interested in a quick shooting ultra high ISO M43 camera with 12 mp.
And while I’m having a rant, I dislike the GX8 getting bigger although understanding it may be due to 4K and for a more “pro” audience. I agree totally with Mirrorlessons when they mention it is no longer a carry around camera, even the GX7 was pushing it in that regard… There is now room in the lineup for Panasonic to produce a smaller “enthusiast” camera.
I think the innovation we are all waiting for is improved dynamic range, no?
The new interface is a development of the CCD, called a CDCD – Cerebral Direct Capture Device – there is no camera body, or any physical controls, Panasonic have developed an implant to the optic centres of the brain, which captures not only exactly what you’re seeing, but what you imagine the scene to look like fully finished. You imagine the exposure, filters, crop, blur, focal length, etc., and the device writes the finished image instantaneously to a memory card reader implanted in your ass, where it uses body heat to develop, retrieved the next time you commune with nature. Early commentators have commented that it’s not so much a ‘paradigm shift’ as a ‘paradigm sh*t’.
“Less about tech than philosophy” = “We got nothing new… but we have added an option for you to change the colour scheme in the camera menus” 😉
I think you got the “shift” part wrong. Remove the f.
Whenever someone starts talking about a paradigm shiift, you know their vocabulary has been invaded by constancy-think. I’m personally hoping the GH5 will drive the direction of human evolution towards other galaxies. However, I suspect the GH5 will merely focus on material handling improvements over material technology improvements – because the former are starting to become easier than the latter.