I recently attended a media event with Panasonic… which turned out to be a surprise (to me, at least) event unveiling their Lumix GF1 Micro Four Thirds camera. Yes, in addition to press releases and speeches by important people, and the usual media affair – they had several live, real, working Panasonic Lumix GF1 models there (in addition to ‘people’ runway models). The camera itself will be available to the masses next month (October)… so meanwhile, here’s a teaser picture of how compact the camera is versus a conventional digital SLR.

On the right is a full-sized mid-range digital SLR with a nice lens slapped on, a 24-70 mm f2.8. On the left, is Panasonic’s Lumix GF1 which is really petite (that’s Panasonic’s new 20 mm pancake lens attached, by the way). Without a lens attached, the Panasonic Lumix GF1 is not much larger than the Lumix LX3 – so it’s understandably why people looking for an interchangeable lens camera that they can easily bring along anywhere are overly-excited about the Lumix GF1 (myself included).

More on the Panasonic Lumix GF1 later this week.

I recently had the opportunity to attend Panasonic’s Lumix Star Search event, which also turned out to be a surprise launch of their new Lumix camera.

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Have some spare change in these troubled economic times? Want a nice camera to go along with your sailboat? Leica unveiled two new cameras today that may just suit your needs. First off is the extremely anticipated (and expensive) successor to their M8 rangefinder and the second camera is a relatively compact camera that packs a large CMOS sensor and a fixed lens. Rangefinder/retro camera lovers will be drooling all right now; but for the average Joe, price vs feature set ratio… or even price alone, will make things like the Leica M9 one of those ‘unattainable’ items in life.

Anyway, here are their specifications. On a sidenote, you can buy a Canon EOS 1D Mark III or Nikon D3 or about four mid-range SLRs for the same price as the M9.

Leica M9
(Rangefinder camera)

• 18 megapixel Kodak CCD sensor (Full frame)
• Leica M lens mount
• 2.5 inch LCD (230k pixels)
• Built-in rangefinder with parallax correction
• Full manual controls with RAW/DNG modes and flash hotshoe
• No movie mode
• SD/SDHC memory card slot
• Uses a lithium-ion battery
• Available now if you’re in the UK, 4850 pounds (body only) or for almost $8000

Leica X1
(Large-sensor compact camera)

• 12 megapixel CMOS sensor (APS-C)
• Leica Elmarit 24 mm fixed-lens (equivalent to 36 mm), f2.8 aperture
• 2.7 inch LCD
• Live view only; optional external viewfinder attaches to hotshoe
• Shutter speed and aperture value dials
• On-board flash; hotshoe available
• ISO range of 100 – 3200
• Full manual controls; point-and-shoot operation also available
• 11 point AF
• 3 FPS burst mode
• No movie mode (obviously, it’s a Leica!)
• SD/SDHC memory card slot
• Uses a lithium-ion battery
• Available in January 2010 for $2000

Here’s my review of the Olympus FE5010, Olympus’ latest entry-level camera with 12 megapixels of resolution and a 5X optical zoom lens. Don’t forget to check out the Olympus FE5010 photo gallery as well.

Read the FE5010 review

I’ve posted the Olympus FE5010 Photo Gallery which contains full-sized pictures taken by the camera. Be sure to check out the Olympus FE5010 review as well.

Enter gallery

Hey, I hope everyone’s having a great long weekend. But are you still feeling all excited about Canon’s new cameras? Can’t wait for our Canon PowerShot G11 review? Here’s a little something to temporarily quell your Canon G11 lust (or S90 lust) – a nice and simple comparison of the PowerShot G11’s feature set versus its predecessor (G10) and mini-G partner (S90). Hit the link to read more!

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Here’s my review of the Nikon Coolpix S220, a budget digital camera, and the Nikon Coolpix S220 photo gallery is online too! Click on the link for the full review of the camera.

Read the S220 review