The Friday, March 9 issue from the Singapore magazine “TODAY” posted the [shoplink 29545 ebay]Canon G1 X[/shoplink] advertising you can see here on top. It shows a completely false sensor size comparison made up to clearly discredit the Micro Four Thirds system. The right size comparison should look like this:

Now, in defense of Canon I know well that very often the Marketing Campaigns are created by local advertising companies and probably the head of the Canon Marketing department doesn’t even know that this is going on. But in the era of Internet such fake way to do advertising will have a viral and negative effect for them. UPDATE: As noted by many readers the sensor size corresponds to that from the [shoplink 25767 ebay]Nikon 1 system[/shoplink]. So maybe the Canon marketing guys confused the Micro Four Thirds sensor with the Nikon 1 sensor? But than again how can Canon do a mistake like that???

At least this proves that for Canon Micro Four Thirds is the main and strongest competitor :)

And click here to see the full page of the Canon page on the magazine. It was our reader Ben to find this…Thanks!

P:S.: Frank reported this on CanonWatch.

On left the current [shoplink 23109]GF3[/shoplink] and on right the new GF5!

A post at Nphoto unveils what appears to be the first picture of the GF5 (on the right!). The poster says the GF5 will use a 12 Megapixel sensor with an improved SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio). THE SNR is as good as the one on the [shoplink 22077 ebay]Panasonic G3[/shoplink]. It goes up to ISO 12.800, super fast AF of 0,09seconds and a new 920k dots touch screen LCD. The touch screen interface has been revised. Sounds liek a nice evolution but it will be hard to beat the real big deal of the moment…the cheap and hackeable GF2!

And there is a second surprise. Also the Panasonic G5 will be announced soon and use the same [shoplink 22077 ebay]G3[/shoplink] 16 Megapixel sensor. What will change is the shape of the camera.

After two months of [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink] rumors and news we can finally start to talk about Panasonic again! ;)  The rumor has a FT4 value because other sources confirmed that the camera is coming. I am also in touch with the person that leaked this and hopefully we will get some more pics soon!

Links to the current two Panasonic models:
Panasonic G3 at [shopcountry 22077].
Panasonic GF3 at [shopcountry 23109].
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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

While the GF3 might not be the sexiest camera I really like it because of one main reason….the size! The GF3+14-42mm X lens (Click here) is probably the best compact camera with zoom lens you can carry with you all the time. Canon is the only one offering something similar, the [shoplink 29545 ebay]G1 X (Click here)[/shoplink]. But it is bigger, uglier, more expensive and has a fixed zoom lens only. Wondering if someone will spend $800 for this…

One more thing: The next Panasonic announcement will be made in early/mid April. The new m43 camcorder will be announced and hopefully the two new X zoom lenses too. I don’t know (yet) if there will be something else too.

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Shop search links to the three hackable Panasonic cameras:
Panasonic GH2 at [shopcountry 16254].
Panasonic GF3 at [shopcountry 23109].
Panasonic GF2 at [shopcountry 17361].
—
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

Olympus and Panasonic do often explain the advantages of a Four Thirds sized sensor over the classic APS-C format. But it’s nice to hear that Canon is on the same wavelength! As you know Canon is using a Four Thirds ratio sensor (just a tiny bit bigger than “our” m43 sensors) for their just launched Canon G1X (CLick here to see tha cams pecs). David Parry, from Canon UK explained at Techradar (Click here) why they didn’t opt for the APS-C sensor: “We managed to create a four times zoom in a very compact body, and really it has the biggest sensor that we could use and also get decent coverage from the lens. If you made the sensor any bigger, the lens would have to be a lot bigger and it would be much more difficult and expensive to produce.”

Sounds almost like Canon wants to join the Micro Four Thirds system :)   Hey it’s a joke and not a rumor! ….at least for now :)

image showing the sensor size comparison

The Las Vegas NAB show will start on April 14th. And of course we can expect new Panasonic (and other?) Micro Four Thirds camcorders. The questions only is….what kind of surprise should we expect? According to one of our sources there will be a new Micro Four Thirds mount camcorder with Super35 sized sensor! I haven’t got any detailed specs yet but I have been told all current m43 lenses will work fine on the new sensor size. For reference only, the Sony NEX-FS100 uses a super 35 sensor that which has a length of 23,6mm and a height of 13,3mm. The Micro Four Thirds sensor has a length of 17,3mm and height of 13mm.

I hope to get more specs about that soon. And as this is a major broadcast event I really hope Panasonic will finally release the new 12-35mm and 35-100mm f/2.8  powerzoom X lenses too :)

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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

A fake rendering of the GH3 made by our friends at E-P1/blog.livedoor (Click here)

The only thing we know about the GH3 is that 1) It is weather sealed 2) It will very likely arrive at Photokina in September. Now a new asian source sent me a list of specs of the GH3. I don’t know if these are real specs but I thought it’s good to post it here to see if my trusted anonymous sources can confirm and deny the spec list. And I am also curious to read your opinion about these specs:
Sensor: 15.5 mega-pixel sensor
Iso: Iso 160-12800, extends to 80-51200
Speed: 6.7fps
Body: Magnesium alloy body, weather sealed, thinner and lighter than GH2
LCD: 3.2″ ips, 1050k-dots, with capacitive touch screen (multi-touch depending on final setting in firmware). LCD tilt-able
EVF: new EVF with 2.06 mega-dots

Message for the anonymous source that send me this: Thanks for sending me the info. Sorry If I post it with a low rumor value but I had no chance to verify your info. Hope you will send me more details in future :)

In USA the GH2 now sells for $200 less than usual at Amazon (Click here). And thanks to the super hacking work from Vitaly you can enjoy a continual improvements. So the GH2 still remains a highly recommended camera particularly if you work a lot with video. I only hope those two nice X zoom lenses will arrive soon. No more prototype shows please Panasonic! :)

Panasonic GH2 shop links: [shopcountry 16254].

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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

Great news guys! The genius Mr. Miyazaki realized the first prototype of the Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 for Micro Four Thirds! For those of you not knowing who the creator is you have to know that he has a long history of handmade and nice quality M-mount lenses. An example, he made that super nice and compact [shoplink 29386 ebay]Leica Triplet lenses (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink]. The sonnetar protoype has a multi-coated lens, is only 25mm thick and weights 67g only! That is the design of the lens:

KTF-Turbo (Click here to read the google translation) is now testing the lens and you can already see the first image samples (Click here). I let you judge the image quality. I find the bokeh very… harsh :)

The lens you see here on top is a not available for purchase yet and price is unknown although I suspect it will have the same price of the [shoplink 29387 ebay]Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 for Pentax Q mount ($650 here on eBay)[/shoplink].

One more news: Photoshop launched the new App for the iPad (Click here to see it on iTunes). This really sounds like an amazing app!