Sony says they want to make it better than MicroFourThirds!

Sony officially told in an interview at http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk that they will develop their own mirrorless system and that it will be better than the current Olympus and Panasonics MicroFourThirds solution.

Yann Salmon-Legagneur, Sony’s Marketing Manager for Digital Imaging (Europe) told us that ‘of course’ Sony is interested in Micro Four Thirds, but ‘not the format itself, but the products that [are] being launched’. Recent Micro Four Thirds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic have ‘moved the industry’ he said.

Olympus and Panasonic shouldn’t be scared, because:

a) Olympus and Panasonic are the only one for now to have such a system for REAL now!

b) Because in one or two year when Sony will effectively unveil such a system Panasonic and Olympus will already have a lot of experience, lenses, and probably better tecnology.

E-P1 + 17mm lens in stock in three big US onlinestores and Amazon Germany discount.

Still bad availability for the white E-P1 but things are going better for the SIlver E-P1 + 17mm lens kit!

Amazon US: Silver only + viewfinder (In Stock!)

BHphoto: Silver with + viewfinder (In Stock!)

Adorama: Silver with + viewfinder (In Stock!)

All three shops sells them fot the same price $ 899.99.
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Amazon Germany has a discount on the E-P1 Kit (14-42mm) EUR 712,98 (and white E-P1 kit!)
and Olympus E-P1 Pancake Kit (17mm) EUR 771,90 and white E-P1

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The only notable discount I found in amazon UK is for the Olympus E-P1 Camera (14-42mm Silver Lens Kit) – Silver

Panasonic Lumix GF1 SLR-Edition ;)

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Click on picture to enlarge

I received following picture and infos from “Reality Scanner”. He writes:

“have a look a my little experiment:
Lumix GF1 with Leica Visoflex and Elmar 3.5/65 mm Macro
http://www.flickr.com/photos/realityscans/sets/72157622265111636/

P.S.: I attached the Visoflex with the Lumix micro-FourThirds-Leica-M-Adapter.
Regretably the release-lever of the Visoflex does not meet the GF1 release button. for taking photos you have to arrest the mirror flipped up.”

Amazon US Panasonic GF1 preorder links and info


Here the links to amazon with availability info (I got the availability data from Panasonic, not from amazon):

Panasonic GF1 with 14-45mm Lens ($899,95) Available early October

Panasonic GF1 with 20mm f/1.7 lens ($899,95) Available in October

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens – Availability early October

Panasonic 45mm f/2.8 lens – Available in November

UPDATE: I made a mistake. The GF1+14-45 lens will be available early October!