GF1 - rumor mongering

Hi

there has been a bit of a stir recently with some images and discussion starting on some websites about a more slim version of my micro 4/3rds G1 camera without a tilt screen and without an EVF. These two things transform the camera into a more 'point and shoot' looking box (not unlike the Canon G10) with the rear screen that so many seem to have come to like.



These images were posted on that bulletin board but were taken down soon after (I guess because many people started linking to them). So in the interests of preserving this I'm going to "off site backup" them here.

The camera looks more compact than my G1 does, and some small changes to cope with the different form of the camera have seen buttons move around a little. Here's the back view, I notice that the dial from the front grip seems to have moved to the back.



From the top we get a good idea on how compact the camera acutally is, the Hot Shoe flash mount is a great indicator of scale.


So with a 20mm or 17mm pancake lens (like the 20mm shown below) this would be one very nifty little compact camera.



Don't let compact fool you, these cameras produce images as good as the top professional cameras of not that long ago. Cameras such as Canon's 1D MkII had a slightly lower image resolution of 3504 x 2336 coming from a sensor 28.7 x 19.1 mm ... this is barely larger than the micro 4/3rds sensors which are 18x13.5 The figure below is a scale diagram showing the relative sizes of the 1D in the blue, the micro4/3 in the green and the common compact camera sensor in the grey.


You can see that while the micro 4/3rds is smaller than the 1D (costing several thousands when it was new) its way bigger than the compact camera sensor. Its really more or less the same size as the sensor in all typical "consumer" DSLR cameras yet this will be more like a compact camera.

But unlike any compact cameras, this camera is an interchangable lens camera, so you can swap off the regular picture taking lens like above and put in something which will be great for taking pictures of the kids at footy or even birds nesting.

I run this lens on my G1 for stuff like that:



I like this one because it was very cheap (not being autofocus) but optically great! That's another great part of micro 4/3rds there's heaps of options out there ... heck just read my site if you want a starter.

I'm certainly pleased (and I'm quite demanding in my assesment of image quality) with the micro 4/3rds camera image quality. Not only are they great images but the system seems to give me much better exposure than any camera I've ever had before.

So, despite all the economic gloom, it seems there are some new toys out there to brighten our days.