It’s no secret that Olympus is seeking a way to merge their two Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds system in one. And the United States Patent US8390727 filed back in June 2010 by Olympus may show us how they intend to achieve that goal. Basically the optical viewfinder part showed on Figure Number 1 (see image on top) includes the Prisma and Mirror. It can be attached and detached from the original Mirrorless body shown on Figure 2.

Combined the camera looks like that:

Of course, patents are no proof that this may become real. But it shows that Olympus is seeking for a solution and I cant wait until they will announce their new High End Camera by end of this year. Will they finally solve that tricky situation?

On April 9th Panasonic will announce the new GF and G camera. And by end of the month there will be a second camera announcement for what I have been told is a “new kind of camera“. This is quite a top secret project and for now I can only speculate what it could be:

1) New GX with integrated EVF: Plenty of Panasonic patents described such a camera having built-in and tilting viewfinder. The current GX camera is super discounted ($499 with X lens) and is certainly due for a replacement. And having a built-in EVF would further differentiate it from the GF series.d

2) New high end compact camera with fixed lens: Panasonic showed some interest in fixed lens compact cameras with larger sensor like the 1inch Sony RX100.

3) New High End GH: A new GH camera with superb video quality for professionals and with the new Panasonic sensor tech with high dynamic range and over 1 stop noise improvement.

4) New Full Frame Mirrorless line: The Canon 6D and the Nikon D600. proved to us that FF sensor cameras are getting closer to the $1,500 price tag. And it will be hard for any MFT or APS-C high end cameras to compete against them. I got no rumor about Panasonic launching a FF Mirrorless but it may would make sense for them to do it. Also because Canon recently stated that they will further push the low end FF camera development.

5) New Sports camera line: Like the current GoPro Hero series. An unknown source told me that this is one of the areas Panasonic want to play a role in the future.

I repeat, we don’t know yet what it is coming by End of April. And as usual expectations should be kept low. That said Panasonic stated many times now that they want to get into the “high end” market. So let’s see if they are going to surprise us!

 Loading ...

According to multiple sources there will be a Panasonic announcement on April the 9th! Both, the new GF and new G camera could be announced on the same day. Both, the new GF and the G will be slightly bigger than the GF5 and G5 predecessors. I still have no final specs but I have been told the build quality and ergonomic feeling is of a more “higher level“.

If it is true that both camera will be announced the same day than we can expect a third new (MFT?) camera on late April when we will have the next Panasonic announcement! Let’s hope this is finally the GX successor. Or would you prefer something else? :)

And keep in mind that also Olympus will announce the new PEN and likely a new fast zoom by end of April!

I hope other sources can soon confirm the April 9th date. Meantime mark the date on your calender and follow 43rumors on facebook (Click here to subscribe) and twitter (Click here to follow us) to not miss any of the upcoming rumors!

—

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