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

Related articles:

• Olympus E-P1 interchangeable lens camera
• Olympus E-P2 Micro Four Thirds camera; now official!
• Olympus introduces PEN E-PL1 camera; preview to come!
• Panasonic Lumix GH1 HD video interchangeable lens camera
• Panasonic Lumix GF1 and normal SLR… size comparison!