It’s the day that everyone’s been waiting for – Panasonic just officially announced their new Lumix GF1 Micro Four Thirds camera! The Panasonic GF1 is around the same size as Olympus’ E-P1 PEN camera but the GF1 packs a few extra features and will retail at a slightly higher price. Let’s cut to the chase, here are the main features of the Lumix GF1:
Panasonic Lumix GF1
(Micro Four Thirds camera)
- 12 megapixel Live MOS sensor (Micro Four Thirds, 2.0X crop factor)
- Micro Four Thirds lens mount (adapters available for normal Four Thirds and Leica lenses)
- Venus Engine HD image processor
- Dust reduction
- 3 inch high resolution LCD (460k pixels)
- Optional electronic viewfinder attaches via hotshoe
- My Color photo effects feature
- On-board flash
- ISO range of 100 – 3200
- Full manual controls with RAW mode and flash hotshoe
- 3 FPS burst mode (Unlimited JPEG or up to 7 RAW)
- 720p (1280 x 720 at 30 FPS) movie mode with sound
Continuous autofocus, exposure adjustment and windfilter available while recording
- Takes SD/SDHC memory cards
- Uses a lithium-ion battery
- Available in October for $900 (with choice of 14-45 mm kit lens OR 20 mm pancake lens)
Panasonic also announced two new Micro Four Thirds lenses today: the 20 mm f1.7 pancake set to be available next month for $400 and the new Leica 45 mm f2.8 Macro, which will go for $900 next month
Well, Samsung did announce two ‘compact’ super-zoom cameras earlier this year, the HZ10W/WB500 and HZ15W/WB550 cameras but today, they finally took the wraps off their first ultra-zoom camera. The new Samsung WB5000 packs a 24X zoom lens, a RAW mode, HD movie recording and more.
Samsung WB5000
(Super-zoom camera)
- 12.5 effective megapixels
- 26 – 624 mm (f2.8 – f5.0) 24X optical zoom lens
- Optical image stabilization
- 3 inch LCD with EVF
- Smart Album and Smart Auto modes
- Face and smile detection
- Full manual controls with RAW mode
- 720p 30 FPS movie mode with stereo sound
- Takes SD/SDHC memory cards
- Uses a lithium-ion battery
- Available in later this month for $400
Canon just announced their new mid-range digital SLR today, the fabled EOS 7D. As it turns out, the camera isn’t really a “full frame 5D Mark II Lite” as many had hoped for, but instead sits between the EOS 50D and EOS 1D Mark III models (which are APS-C and APS-H crop models respectively).
The new EOS 7D actually sits closer to its 1D-cousin in terms of ‘main features’ (ie burst mode, viewfinder, dual processors). So, you could look at it as a “mini EOS 1D Mark III” or “big step-up from the EOS 50D”.
Canon EOS 7D
(Mid-range SLR camera)
- 18 megapixel CMOS sensor (APS-C, 1.6X crop factor)
- Canon EF/EF-S lens mount
- Dual DIGIC IV processors
- Dust reduction
- 3 inch super-high resolution LCD (920k pixels)
- 100% viewfinder coverage with 1.0X magnification (wow, that’s huge)
- Shutter life rated at 150,000 actuations
- 19 point AF; 8 are dual cross-type sensors
- Live view with contrast detection autofocus
- Electronic level indicator (so you can take straight landscape photos)
- On-board flash; covers as wide as 24 mm and with built-in wireless control
- ISO range of 100 – 6400 (expandable to ISO 50 – 25600)
- Auto Lighting optimizer (brightens pictures) and vignetting correction
- Full manual controls with RAW mode and flash hotshoe
- 8 FPS burst mode up to 94 JPEG or 15 RAW photos
- 1080p (1920 x 1080) movie mode with sound; optional external microphone and seletable frame rate (24, 25 or 30 FPS)
- Compact Flash (Type I/II) memory card slot; UDMA enabled
- Uses a lithium-ion battery (LP-E6, same as 5D Mark II)
- Available in late September for $1700 (body only) or $1900 (with EF 28-135 mm IS lens)
Canon also revealed the successor to their 5-year old EF-S 17-85 mm, f3.5-f5.6 IS ‘walkaround lens’ today. It’s the new EF-S 15-85 mm, f3.5-f5.6 IS lens! This new lens covers a versatile 24-136 mm in 35 mm terms, has optical image stabilization and will be available in October for $700.
Next up is another walkaround EF-S lens, the EF-S 18-135 mm, f3.5-f5.6 IS – which would equal to 29-216 mm (35 mm equivalent). This lens will retail for $500 in September.
The third new lens for today is the EF 100 mm f2.8L IS Macro. This new 100 mm macro lens can take 1:1 lifesize photos, fits all EOS cameras (unlike EF-S lenses) and has a 9-blade aperture diagram and Canon’s new Hybrid image stabilizer (which compensates for more ‘shake’ motions). Like its non-L counterpart, it also features internal focusing, full-time manual focus and a USM drive for quick and silent focusing. The EF 100 mm f2.8L IS Macro will sell alongside (not replace) the existing EF 100 mm f2.8 Macro and will be available in September for $1050.
