Image courtesy: Quesabesde.

Panasonic manager Michiharu Uematsu had a press conference in Barcelona and there is an interesting report at Quesabesde (translation here). The main topic was the present and future of high end compact cameras with fixed lens.

Umeatsu compared the Panasonic LX7 versus the Sony RX100. He claims that the larger size advantage of the RX100 sensor is overridden by the lower brightness of the RX100 zoom. At the wide end the image quality of the LX7 and RX100 are equal while the LX7 tops the RX100 on the tele end. That said Uematsu also talked about a possible future fixed lens camera with larger Four Thirds sensor. He said that it would have to be smaller than the [shoplink 26836]GX1[/shoplink], feature a fixed and bright f/1.7 or f/2.0 lens and price could be around 700 Euro. But Uematsu does n0t know if there would be a high demand for a model like that.

So guess what…let us help Panasonic! Here is the poll:

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Let’s see if you like that camera or not!

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LX7 price check at: [shopcountry 34271].
Gariz LX7 case on [shoplink 34270 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

I am still not 100% sure but from what I got from some of my sources Olympus and Panasonic will introduce new compact cameras at the CES show in Las Vegas (Starting January 8th). But at the same time I have been told that new MFT stuff will be announced a couple of weeks later. Easy to guess that Panasonic and Olympus will release that new “MFT stuff” at the CP+ show in Japan that starts on January 31.

From Olympus we know from trusted sources that one new lens and at least one new camera should be released soon. (new PEN likely and maybe a new OMD). While Panasonic plans to release a new GF and G model.

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Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct