Panasonic just presented its new compact/hybrid photo camera, the Panasonic Lumix G3 which brings:

• 16 MP on a micro 4/3 digital sensor
• continuous shooting at 4 frames per second
• Full HD (1920 x 1080) video capture up to 50 fps

We were expecting a replacement for existing Lumix, here is the G3 with an electronic viewfinder (and an articulated back LCD of 3″ of diagonal, where you can touch the AF zone you want to select) in a quite limited volume (nearly exactly the size of the Panasonic Lumix G1 whose viewfinder was external and optional).

The full feature list.

Press Release

The Panasonic LUMIX G3: Creativity without limits

Smaller, lighter and with outstanding image quality, the LUMIX G3 is designed to go anywhere you do

Panasonic has today launched the LUMIX G3, the world’s smallest and lightest interchangeable lens system camera with a built-in Electronic View Finder. With an exceptional range of features and stunning image quality packed into a beautifully lightweight aluminum design, the LUMIX G3 turns everyday moments into works of art.

The LUMIX G3 lets you capture great photos from the very first shot. A new 16.0-megapixel sensor and light-speed autofocus gives you the exceptional image quality that was once restricted to large, heavy DSLR cameras. The intuitive automatic shooting modes and full range of advanced features, combined with high-resolution free-angle LCD touch screen or Electronic View Finder, mean you get the picture you want, how you want.

With the LUMIX G3, there really is no limit to your creativity.

Exceptional image quality 
The LUMIX G3 has raised the bar in interchangeable lens camera image quality. With an optimal balance of the imaging engine and sensor size, the LUMIX G3 produces exceptional image quality to take your photography to the next level:
•    Large sensor, low noise: A 16.0-megapixel Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Sensor means images will be cleaner and freer of noise than ever. With newly developed processing capabilities, the low-noise pixel area and the low-noise circuit are combined, resulting in a noise level of less than one third of a conventional sensor
•    High-speed, high-performance: The Venus Engine VI FHD, incorporating the image processing technology Advanced Intelligent Resolution and Intelligent D-range Control, allows beautiful photos and high-definition movies to be captured with superior signal processing. Users can take clear, high resolution photography even at high ISO sensitivity levels, without the bleeding of colours
Never miss the perfect moment:  Speed is of the essence for exceptional photography. The LUMIX G3 pushes the boundaries of high performance with the world’s fastest pinpoint auto focus speed, approximately 0.1 seconds. A wide range of  AF modes are available, including multiple-area AF with up to 23 focus areas, Face Detection, •    and AF Tracking meaning the LUMIX G3 can lock onto any subject and keep it in focus even if it moves
•    Crystal clear high speed action: The LUMIX G3’s burst shooting capability has been improved to make sure you get the perfect image, even of a fast-moving subject. With up to 4 fps capability in 16.0-megapixel resolution and 20 fps at 4.0 megapixels, the LUMIX G3 allows the ultimate action photography at high resolution
•    Rich detail definition: With the Advanced Intelligent Resolution technology, three areas — outlines, detailed texture areas and soft gradation areas – are automatically detected. Outlines are enhanced to give more clearly defined edges, while emphasising more highly textured areas of the image. The Venus Engine VI FHD also provides selective noise reduction to the outline, to let it have more naturally-balanced curve without any deterioration in resolution
•    Full HD Movie quality: The quality advances of the LUMIX G3 are not restricted to still photos. The camera lets you take over the Hollywood director’s chair to record Full HD movies. Long recording times and intuitive controls help you create perfect movies with ease. The LUMIX G3’s 16.0-megapixel sensor means the camera can record in Full HD AVCHD 1920 x 1080, 50i, producing higher quality movies with minimal noise. Due to the inter-picture prediction method for compression, the AVCHD format enjoys almost double the recording time compared to Motion JPEG. The Full-time AF and AF Tracking functionality allows you to take high-quality movies effortlessly. With just one touch of the screen, the LUMIX G3 locks on and automatically “tracks” the subject and keeps it in focus as it moves

Stunning images, with no boundaries
With its ultra-compact and lightweight aluminium-bodied design, the LUMIX G3 goes wherever you do, with no limits. High precision, digital processing functions are combined in an easy-to-grip body. While a choice of using either the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) or the 3.0-inch free-angle LCD featuring Full-time Live View for image-taking allows you to take capture the moment as the situation demands:
•    Sleek, ultra-compact and lightweight: At 25 percent smaller the LUMIX G2, weighing less than 340 grammes and with an easy-to-handle grip, the LUMIX G3 lets you take memorable photos, wherever you are
•    You choose how to shoot: Whether you want to take photos from above your head at a concert, or frame a portrait with your eye close to the camera, the high-resolution free-angle LCD screen or the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) gives you the right set up for the right moment.
Get the perfect result: With the Live View function, you can check you’ve got the perfect result, before pressing the shutter button. You •    can view the effects of your creative settings on the high-resolution, 460,000-dot free-angle Intelligent LCD and 1,440,000-dot 1.4x Live View Finder with a 100 percent field of view. The LCD screen rotates 180° from side to side and tilts 270° up and down. The correlation between shutter speed and aperture is shown on Live View, with a colour-coded warning that alerts you when the settings are not in the proper range
•    The world’s largest range of Micro Four Thirds lenses:  The LUMIX G3 gives you the widest range of Micro Four Thirds lenses to choose from to make sure you have the right set up for the right job. With eleven Panasonic lenses and the option to use all Leica M and R Micro Four Thirds lenses, you can select a lens for every kind of shoot

Let your creativity loose and make the most of every shot
For experienced photographers looking for advanced functionality of a DSLR, or a beginner who wants to take eye-catching images at the click of the button, the LUMIX G3 lets you get the results, as you want them. The LUMIX G3 provides the assistance to help beginners make the most of every shot, with advanced controls to take photography to the next level:
•    Touch control shooting: The LUMIX G3 features revolutionary touch control shooting, including full-area touch focusing where the focus can be set immediately to the subject, or to the background, by just one touch of the large LCD screen
•    Rich colour reproduction with Intelligent D-range Control: With the new Intelligent D-range Control, the LUMIX G3 allows photographers of all levels to achieve the rich colour reproduction expected by professionals. The blues skies of summer will appear more natural than ever, as the camera optimises the exposure and ensures that gradation and individual details are artfully reproduced
•    Intelligent Auto Plus functionality:  In addition to these advanced functions, Panasonic’s Intelligent Auto Plus (iA+) mode provides the best shooting results when a photo opportunity appears or when you do not have time to make manual settings. This includes MEGA O.I.S (Optical Image Stabilising), which helps prevent blurring from hand-shake, and Intelligent ISO Control, which reduces motion blur by adjusting the ISO sensitivity if the subject moves as the shot is taken. With Intelligent Scene Selector the camera automatically switches to the appropriate mode according to the subject touched. For example, a touch on a human face switches to the portrait mode and a touch on the background to the scenery mode. My Colour mode has a total of seven preset effects – Expressive, Retro, High Key, Sepia, and High Dynamic – alongside custom mode, which lets you manually set the colour, brightness and saturation levels
•    Taking photography to the next dimension: The LUMIX G3 also lets you add an extra dimension to your photography skills, with high-quality 3D still photography with the LUMIX G 3D 12.5mm / F12 lens. The lens produces 3D images without distortion or time lag between left and right images, even for moving objects

Key features:
•    Image Sensor 16.0 MP LIVE MOS
•    Engine Venus Engine VI FHD
•    ISO setting Auto / Intelligent ISO / 160 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400
•    AF speed Approx 0.1 seconds (measured with the LUMIX G3 attaching LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S. (H-FS014042) to move the lens position to “2m” from “infinity” position )
•    Burst shoot: 4 fps (16.0M) / 20 fps (4M)
•    Movie recording: AVCHD 1920×1080 50i (Sensor Output 25fps), AVCHD 1280×720 50p (Sensor Output 25fps)
•    View finder: Approx. 100% Field of View, 1.44mil dots equiv.
•    LCD Screen: 3.0”,  3:2,  460K dots Free Angle Touch LCD
•    Size: 115.2 x 83.6 x 46.7 mm (excluding protrusions)
•    Weight: 336g (body only)
•    Built-in Flash: TTL Built-in-Flash, GN 10.5 equivalent, built in pop-up
•    Interface: HDMI, USB 2.0, Digital AV Out, Remote input, microphone, speaker.
www.panasonic.co.uk

Most of them are for the Sony Alpha 55. Many reviewers have been attracted to this innovative photo camera.

• address compatibility with the iLife Media Browser
• improve reliability when upgrading existing Aperture libraries
• address issues with publishing photos to MobileMe, Facebook and Flickr

It should be complemented with the new update to Digital Camera RAW which adds RAW image compatibility for the following cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’11:

• Canon PowerShot G12
• Leica D-Lux 5
• Leica V-Lux 2
• Nikon D7000
• Nikon COOLPIX P7000
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2

This is not perfect (it does not take into account any of the ergonomics of the camera, for example), but for a photographer in love with great image quality, the conclusion will be quickly drawn as you can see below:

The Sony NEX-5 is clearly ahead except in terms of color depth (which is particularly sensitive for smooth areas and soft fading colors that are more important in portraiture than in action sports photography).

• Sony NEX-5: 69 points
• Samsung NX 100: 62 points
• Panasonic DMC GF1: 53 points

• Canon EOS 60Dli>
• Nikon D3100
• Nikon D7000
• Olympus E-5
• Pentax K-5
• Pentax K-r
• Sony SLT-A33
• Sony SLT-A55
• Sony Alpha 560
• Sony Alpha 580

But, let’s also see what the camera and accessories manufacturers did not announce or launched too discreetly.

• Panasonic launches a new Lumix: The GH2 sports an 18MP CMOS sensor in a body very similar to the Lumix GH1. 1080p video capture, autofocus is 2x faster.
• Panasonic: New “G” lenses (14 mm f/2.5, Vario 100-300 mm f/4-5.6 Mega O.I.S., 3D 12.5 mm f/12)
• Sigma is ready to push forward after the SD15 (very late in the market) with a new Foveon sensor at 48 MP (15.3 x 3) which will arrive in a future camera to be named Sigma SD1. Notice that Sigma announced that the SD1 sensor will be protected against dust by a glass filter which will hermetically close the mirror chamber (this should be very efficient).
• Pentax : SMC DA 18-135 mm f/3,5-5,6ED AL [IF] DC WR zoom lens for the Pentax K range of SLR photo cameras.
• Leica M9: A special edition built out of titanium (for rich art collectors).
• Große Überraschung (Big surprise): Fuji presents a very cool new APS-C compact camera, the FinePix X100 which looks a lot like a smaller Leica M9 (very good looking) and which nobody heard about before (did you hear about any kind of link for it?). Price: About US$ 1000 or 1000€
• Adobe announces a new Elements version: Adobe Photoshop Elements 9
• Sigma 150 mm Macro and 120-300 mm f/2.8 stabilized
• Leaf Aptus-II 12 medium format photo camera with 80 MP resolution and €23,995 / $31,995 price tag
• Samyang présented two new lenses: V-DSLR 8 mm F3.5 Aspherical IF MC Fish-eye CS et AE 14 mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UM
• Metz comes with 3 flashes: 44 AF-1 (99.90€), 36 AF-5 (69.90€), 24 AF-1 (179.90€).

According to OkCupid (a dating web site willing to be described as more “intelligent” than others), you can draw your own challenging conclusions by cross-checking available data from users profiles. For example, since he users can rate the photos they see, it is possible to link these ratings (and later dates) to the EXIF data present inside the picture files.

The SLR cameras (in blue) are improving your dating prospects, especially if they are Panasonic 4/3 cameras. A mobile phone (in red) will nearly get you dumped on the spot, if it is manufactured by Motorola.

From this, if the photo pleased the onlooker, it is easy to understand that this quickly led to “something more”… But with a title containing the word sex, and so bold an conclusion, it was impossible to risk publishing this news on April Fools day. It had to be more urgent than that.

• Alpha 33 (a pellix camera with a 14 MP sensor)
• Alpha 55 (a pellix camera with a 16.7 MP sensor, 10 fps, ISO 100-25600, 15-point AF, EVF – all to be confirmed)
• Alpha 560 (with 14MP sensor, 5 fps, ISO 100-12800, 15-point AF, swivel display – near certain feature set)
• Alpha 580 (same as A560, with 16MP sensor)

Note: Pellix is the name usually applied to describe a camera where there is no mobile mirror, but a pellix semi-transparent mirror which is providing a simultaneous and continuous AF while bringing light to the photo/video sensor. For more information about it, see the Wikipedia articles in both English and German. The presence of Pellix should also allow to keep a LiveView operation during the photo/video capture (probably in association with an Electronic View Finder or EVF).

Images of the A55 and A33

Images from DChome

A33/A55 size

What is now certain is that the Alpha 33 and Alpha 55 will be very small indeed. They are smaller than the smallest existing Alpha cameras (the Alpha 290). They are nearly as small as the NEX-5 camera.

Thanks to SonyAlphaRumors, you can see a marketing-based and meaningful size comparison:

As was reported here about a month ago, Canon does not believe that it is necessary to leave the traditional APS-C DSLR format factor to compete with the EVIL cameras. Sony seems to have understood this too. But they decided to provide both the (still?) smaller ones (NEX series) and continuously shrinking ones (Alpha series). It will be interesting to see how this works in the end.

At least, Canon appears right and we can expect to see similar comparisons appearing with Canon bodies of the near future.

Compatible lenses for NEX

Additionally, some companies are rumored to be interested in providing a real competition in terms of lenses for the NEX camera range (Sony will no longer be alone). If Zeiss and Leica are actually present there in a few weeks, it will mean that this NEX camera series will certainly be a huge success, if only because of the large advertisement effort supported by several companies at the same time. However, it is nearly impossible to sort out the good information and the false rumors in what is said from all sides.

photo credit: nhuhoai

• Samsung NX line would receive 3 new lenses according to Korean DDaily: Pancake 20mm, 20-50mm zoom and Macro 60mm lens.
• Canon could come with 3 lenses of its own: Possibly including an EF 16-50 f/4L H-IS.
• Panasonic already announced a 3D lens for the micro-4/3 (Lumix G-series). It should be visible in September and available in December.
• Samyang (the new company you should consider for compatible lenses) is readying a 35mm f/1.4 with manual focus, for the Samsung NX line. 8mm (fisheye) and 85mm have been rumored too.
• Nikon is said to be preparing at least three lenses: Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.4G N, Nikkor 24-120 f/4 ED VR N, Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 ED VR DX. They could possibly add a 18-200mm f/5.6 or a 28-300mm f/5.6.
• Sony has already said that we will see a 500mm f/4 G (big grey tele-lens for rich pro photographers) and a wide-angle lens Zeiss Distagon T* 24 mm f/2 ZA SSM, but the rumour has that it will not be the only lenses for the Alpha series. Sony could also present one or two lenses for the NEX line, on top of the 18-200mm already promised for mid-September 2010.

Of course, those could be announced a little before the Photokina show (brands try to steal the wind from the other by moving ahead of time).

Nikon boasted about its first place in Japan sales of SLR cameras in the first half of 2010 (January to June). What is interesting is that they exchanged positions in the list (compared to 2009) and, also, that Panasonic is still in the third position with more than 10% of market share.

Canon moving down by 8% is a major setback. Sony being far from the third spot is also quite a surprise, but it probably reflects the aging of its SLR line of cameras. Both companies still have some work to do here.

However, Canon had also very good news to announce: Their profits tripled over a year. And this comes mostly from photo cameras and laser printers. It means that the market is here. The crisis is over in the photography world (Canon sales are up 15%).

This is the best way to prepare the end of the year 2010: Plenty of product stacking up to grab the renewed interest of avid photographers! Photokina will be interesting.

You cannot miss the obvious progress of Sony who clearly became a major actor of this market, and a significant competitor for Canon and Nikon. Furthermore, as could be expected, the leader Canon is suffering most.

But in the end, in a market terribly difficult for all manufacturers, who will come fourth? I can’t avoid believing that Panasonic is doing it right and applying all the needed efforts to topple Pentax, even if nothing is done yet.

Be very cautious in terms of prices, some companies seem to be charging horrendously high prices (sometimes more than $2000) with a high risk of not receiving the part in the short future. Be attentive and check regularly the available offers in the page for the GH1.