A popco forum user took my original E-PL2 vs NEX-C3 vs GF2 size comparison and added attached the GF3 on the GF2 image. The proportions are correct because he took the mount size as reference. As you can see the GF3 keeps the same height as the GF2 in the middle where you have the mount. It’s also a bit less wider. I think the size advantage of the GF3 over the GF2 is minimal and the question here is if you really will notice it in daily usage. So who will win the miniaturization war between Sony and Panasonic? I think the smaller lenses of the m43 system are playing a bigger role than the camera size. A [shoplink 16258]Panasonic 14mm f/2.5[/shoplink] lens is almost half thick than the [shoplink 16258]Sony 16mm f/2.8[/shoplink] lens. So m43 still has a considerable advantage!Anyway, I am also curious to see how the Olympus Pen mini will look like!

At that point a reminder for everyone: The Sony NEX-C3 will be announced on Wednesday (June 8th), the GF3 on Monday (June 13th) and the Olympus mini on June 30th. That’s why you should keep following us! P.S: Join us on Facebook and Twitter

Links:
The Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 at [shopcountry 16258].
Panasonic GF2 at [shopcountry 17361].
Sony 16mm f/2.8 at [shopcountry 22793].

And here it is the new Panasonic GF3!!! It has been leaked inside the video you can see below. Panasonic chose to replace the only eight month old [shoplink 17361]Panasonic GF2[/shoplink] in order to compete against the upcoming NEX-C3 (which will be announced on June 8th). Yes guys, as we all know the Megapixel war is over and let’s say hello to the Miniaturization war! P.S.: You can see the GF2 vs NEX-C3 size comparison here. The GF3 has about the same size of the current Panasonic TZ cameras ([shoplink 22338 ebay]Click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]).

Two more pictures (Click on them to enlarge!):

The GF3 mount is actually higher than the camera itself. We know from our sources the camera has no hot shoe and it’s almost completely a touchscreen oriented devices (why do we need buttons? Bleh!). We are not sure about the specs now but we do believe it features the same [shoplink 22077]Panasonic G3[/shoplink] 16 Megapixel sensor. The camera will be announced on June 13 at 7 am London time along the new Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens (yes guys that’s FT5 for us!!!)

For those of you waiting for a more professional GF camera and worthy [shoplink 19929]Fuji X100[/shoplink] competition wait a couple of months when Panasonic may will announce the Micro Four Thirds version of the Panasonic L1 ([shoplink 20740 ebay]Click here to see that cam on eBay[/shoplink]).

You can see the GF3 inside that video starting from minute 3:40. It’s an official commercial made for Panasonic! I bet the video will be rmeoved soon!

Links to the cameras discussed in that article:
The current GF2 camera at [shopcountry 17361]. P.S.: You can get the Panasonic GF2 with 14-42mm lens for $499 only at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Panasonic G3 at [shopcountry 22077].
The current Sony NEX cameras at [shopcountry 20638].
The Panasonic L1 Four Thirds camera at [shopcountry 20740].
The Panasonic TZ compact cameras at [shopcountry 22338].

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Reminder -> 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

There have been some new rumors about the competition during the last 24 hours. Before that I can tell you that other soruces confirmed the Panasonic and Olympus announcement dates. June 13 for Pana and June 30 for Oly. So be prepared to follow the announcement live on 43rumors on those days!

1) Pentax will launch a 12 Megapixel APS-C mirrorless camera in August (MirrorlessRumors.com via Photorumors)
2) Sony NEX-C3 will be announced on Wednesday June 8 (SonyAlphaRumors.com)

The real suprise is that Canon seems to have no plan to make a mirrorless system at all! Anyway, I hope Olympus and Panasonic do recognize that they are not alone anymore. It’s time for them to bring some real r-evolution!

Zone-10 (Click here) wrote down his mix of speculations/predictions about the upcoming Olympus cameras:
“No less than two distinctly different prototypes have been seen in the wild. One has a built-in EVF, the other not. M43 line-up will be expanded to three cameras with presence in the low, mid and high price ranges”
But Olympus future success doesn’t only depend from the quality of their products:
“In fact, as Olympus market share and overall sales has continued to drop, even a successful product launch will most certainly still end up a failure because Olympus Sales and Marketing–especially Olympus America, is unable to get product out to where the buyers are.”
And to scare our Four Thirds readers the article ends with that sentence:
“It is very obvious that Four-Thirds is dead, dead, dead.”

Now let’s hope Olympus will not disappoint us on June 30. That would be a good start to get back some of the share they have lost during the last years!

So here we are, tomorrow (June 8) Sony will announce the new ultra compact NEX-C3 (you can follow the announcement on MirrorlessRumors.com). And five days later (June 13) Panasonic will launch the counterattack and announce the new ultra-compact GF3. A fully touchscreen oriented device which is around 15% smaller than the current GF2. It should have almost exactly the same [shoplink 22077]Panasonic G3[/shoplink] specs. We also heard that the price will be very similar to the original GF2 price ($699 with kit lens). The GF3 is that tiny that the mount is higher than the camera itself. Sources that have seen the camera said that it is an ugly looking camera :)

Panasonic will also launch the Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 Micro Four Thirds lens. Hope to get some info about the price soon. But it should be definitely cost less than the discontinued Four Thirds Leica 25mm which costs around $1000 dollar/euro on [shoplink 16340 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Don’t know if many of you will buy the lens when you can get a much cheaper and unlike the Leica lens much more compact [shoplink 14796]20mm f/1.7 lens[/shoplink]. It will be interesting to see if that lens will become are hotseller or not!

Reminder -> 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

Image on top: The E-30 sensor (not the rumored new one!)

I got two small rumors from reliable sources. They told me that the real new highlight of the upcoming new Olympus cameras is the sensor. All new upcoming PEN’s will use completely new sensors. I want to remind you that a very reliable source told me weeks ago that Olympus has designed their first sensor which will be produced by Panasonic. So if one plus one makes two than my speculation leads me to believe (or to hope) the Olympus E-P3 could be the very first camera using an own designed Olympus sensor. But that has not been confirmed by my sources yet!
By the way, Olympus has the necessary sensor technology knowledge because they are already using own designed sensors for medical products (See endoscopic stuff). And you can find many sensor patents fulfilled by Olympus (See the last one here at freepatentsonline).

The other news is that the E-P3 will use a dual processor. It will become the very first Oly camera having that. Usually this should be a sign that noise reduction, fps and video quality will be improved. The [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink] and [shoplink 22077]G3[/shoplink] for example already do feature a triple processor. UPDATE: The [shoplink 22580 ebay]Olympus SZ-30[/shoplink] is already using a dual processor. It’s not a MFT camera as you knwo but it’s interesting to know that the camera can simultaneously capture full 16 Megapixel still photos and 1080p Full HD movies (Thanks Nomen Oblitum!).

P.S.: I have still no clue if the Olympus will have a built-in viewfinder a la [shoplink 22269 ebay]rangefinder style[/shoplink] or not. Some new sources do say yes, some say no. Sounds like Olympus isn’t sharing detail about that, making anyone guess based on Olympus staff reactions and smiles :)

Links to the:
Olympus SZ-30 at [shopcountry 22580] GH2 at [shopcountry 16254] G3 at [shopcountry 22077] See some rangefinder styled cameras on [shoplink 22269 ebay]aBay (Click here)[/shoplink]

Reminder -> 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

We don’t know the real E-P3 specs yet, so we are free to dream our own perfect E-P3 camera. Here is the question: How should your imaginary E-P3 be?

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