Panasonic, not Olympus, debuts Micro Four Thirds camera

Leonard Goh | Sep 12, 2008

Last month, Panasonic and Olympus announced the Micro Four Thirds Standard and promised users smaller dSLR-like cameras. Two weeks ago, Samsung mentioned that it is looking to develop an interchangeable lens camera system that utilizes APS-C-sized sensor, and this is set to rival the former two companies' format. However, that won't happen till 2010, so Panasonic's (and the world's) first Micro Four Thirds camera, the Lumix DMC-G1 can rest easy.

Shooters using Micro Four Thirds Standard have three advantages:

1) Approximately 50 percent shorter distance between lens mount to sensor.
This makes the G1 smaller than the petite Olympus E-420, which is currently touted as the world's smallest dSLR.

2) Lens mount diameter to shrink by 6mm.
Bulky lenses will be a thing of the past, even for optics that cover a long focal length such as 300mm.

3) Increase of electrical contact from 9 to 11 points.
More functions such as optical image stabilizer can be built into the lenses as we can see from the two new optics announced with the G1.

The 12-megapixel shooter has styling similar to a dSLR, but it doesn’t have a mirror to reflect light and thus the optical viewfinder was dropped from it. In place is a 3-inch LCD for framing via Live View or the high-resolution 1,400k electronic viewfinder. It has also incorporated standard Lumix features such as Intelligent Auto mode to help novices start shooting. Read our initial impression of this camera here.

What is surprising was that I thought Olympus would be the first company to make a Micro Four Thirds camera rather than Panasonic. The former has been regularly using the Four Thirds system for its E-series of dSLRs. The last time we checked, the firm told us that it won't have a similar offering any time soon.

Also, Zeiss has mentioned that it will be announcing a new lens mount next Monday, leaving us speculating if it will be for the Micro Four Thirds Standard. If the system takes off, cameras will fly off the shelves and any lens maker jumping on this bandwagon would be deemed far-sighted indeed.

Filed under: Digital Cameras
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