(UPDATED with Mark Marano comment) Gianni Galassi’s ideal MicroFourThirds camera (wishlist)

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crack
"CRACK" by Gianni Galassi (Taken with the Panasonic GF1)

The italian photographer Gianni Galassi just sent us his wishlist for future MicroFourThirds cameras. Do you agree with him?
Considering that I’m really happy with my GF1, here is what my
Ideal-Micro-Four-Thirds-Camera should be like.

SENSOR: a square 4000×4000. Remember 6×6 cameras? They cleverly exploit the whole circle of illumination transmitted by the lens. It’s silly to crop out the upper and lower 500 raws of usable pixels only because we are accustomed to rectangular TV and computer screens. Imagine having the opportunity of a portrait/landscape option without rotating your camera (no need of add-on grips). Or a gorgeous in-camera “full frame” square. Exciting.

MECHANICAL INTERFACE: in addition to the mode dial, I need exposure-compensation and ISO dials as well. I hate fiddling in the menus, even in the so-called “quick menus” (which generally aren’t quick at all). Under this point of view, Canon G10 and G11 are a paragon every designer should imitate.

MEMORY CARDS: given the small SD card’s size, two slots (RAID 0 or 1 configurable) would be welcome.

ON-OFF SWITCH:
absolutely around the release button. Nikon is the paragon here. Nobody else does better.

VIDEO: Who needs it? If I had the choice to buy the same camera with video or without video at the same price, I’d pick the latter with no hesitation, though I’m aware almost nobody shares my opinion on this matter.

MENU: please, please, make it simple! I hate crawling between zillions of unuseful options which are there only because they help marketing people extend camera’s feature list at no-cost. Good designers must responsibly take their decisions. Offloading on the buyer the choice between too many options is unfair. By the way, the card-format menu is always hidden in some crazy location.

FLASH: I don’t think I have ever used the built-in flash of my cameras. GF1 has a ridiculous one.

VIEWFINDER: if I only used short focals, I’d be ok with a (costly) Contax G-style optical zooming viewfinder. But for medium-long lenses an electroni viewfinder is fundamental. The add-on Panasonic’s LVF1 does not bother me at all, but I wouldn’t mind a built in viewfinder, at the left corner of the body, taking the place now occupied by the collapsible flash. I could even accept a slightly higher (not wider) body for that. Speaking of electronic viewfinders, a huge improvement is to be expected in the next couple of years, IMHO.

STRAP LUGS: I’d prefer round ones, giving the possibility to easily remove a strap, equipped with spring catches.

SKIN: I definitely like the reassuring Canon G10 finish. It gives the photographer a good grip even when he wears gloves. And it’s gorgeous, too. The GF1 body is a little too glabrous and slippery for my taste. Moreover, efforts should be made to get rid of all those white or golden crappy writings and labels in the front panel of the camera. A plain matte black body is all we need.

Visit his website at www.giannigalassi.com

UPDATE: The very known photographer Mark Marano wrote:
“I especially agree with the square format.. the multi-aspect ratio introduced in the GH1 is a great idea, but why not make the square format the largest (or I’d even work with a sensor that’s bigger than the image circle – that may not happen, but would be interesting to use with larger format lenses with adapters!) RAID is interesting if it could be implemented properly without extra work on the effort of the user (or better yet, something like BeyondRaid found in Drobo/DroboPro) I disagree about video as I’m interested in motion work, and am interested to see future development in this area.. What we really need is something small, solid, mechanical, even with a mirror – how about a Nikon FA (or any other similar compact manual focus SLR) with a digital back? (I’ve been desiring such a camera since the beginning of this era of digital photography!) That’s what I really miss about the film world – the ‘feel’ of a solid, simple, intuitive, yet capable camera – more dials for photographic functions (bring back the aperture ring!) and less having to rely on digital menus or put up with the limitations of focus-by-wire! Despite the uses of a live view, photography just doesn’t feel the same if you’re not looking through the lens and can’t see the image come into and go out of focus as you feel the manual focus ring twisting between your fingers…” target=”_blank”>Marc Marano added his comment to Gianni’s wishlist:
great ideas!

I especially agree with the square format.. the multi-aspect ratio introduced in the GH1 is a great idea, but why not make the square format the largest (or I’d even work with a sensor that’s bigger than the image circle – that may not happen, but would be interesting to use with larger format lenses with adapters!)

RAID is interesting if it could be implemented properly without extra work on the effort of the user (or better yet, something like BeyondRaid found in Drobo/DroboPro)

I disagree about video as I’m interested in motion work, and am interested to see future development in this area..

What we really need is something small, solid, mechanical, even with a mirror – how about a Nikon FA (or any other similar compact manual focus SLR) with a digital back? (I’ve been desiring such a camera since the beginning of this era of digital photography!) That’s what I really miss about the film world – the ‘feel’ of a solid, simple, intuitive, yet capable camera – more dials for photographic functions (bring back the aperture ring!) and less having to rely on digital menus or put up with the limitations of focus-by-wire!

Despite the uses of a live view, photography just doesn’t feel the same if you’re not looking through the lens and can’t see the image come into and go out of focus as you feel the manual focus ring twisting between your fingers…

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HOT! Amazon US has the Panasonic GF1 in Stock…both combos! And the new Panasonic 45mm lens is also in Stock!

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Today Santa Claus visited the guys from amazon and now both cameras are in Stock for $899!

1) Panasonic GF1 Camera with 14-45mm LensIn Stock. Ships from and sold by 17th Street Photo! Only three left!

2) Panasonic GF1 Camera with 20mm f/1.7 Lens In Stock. Ships from and sold by Abt Electronics!


3) Panasonic 45mm f/2.8 Aspherical MEGA OIS Lens for Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Cameras is in Stock via Haystack Electronics for $879.95 + $7.99shipping!

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a little bit of everything…

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I liked the comment of this video:”Was my first time ever seeing such a thing and I never want to miss another one again. This was such a bad ass event I couldn’t believe myself. I was totally into it. I shot the event with my Panasonic Lumix GH1 Micro 4/3 Camera and edited up a little thing for ya in Final Cut Pro, using Magic Bullet Looks to grade the color and deepen the dirt. ”

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Some homework for you! Check out following three new patents: 1,2,3
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Adobe releases Lightroom 2.6, Camera Raw and DNG Converter 5.6 (Now with Olympus E-P2 and Panasonic FZ38 support)
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Three japanese photographer voted the five best cameras. Of course MicroFourThirds rules in their rankings! :)
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Today Deals:
Amazon US: The price of the Olympus Zuiko 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Lens dropped from $786.95 to $681.99!
Amazon US: Panasonic GH1 for $1,313.90
Amazon US: Olympus E-P1 Camera with 14-42mm Lens (Silver Body/Black Lens) for $673.95
Amazon US: Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 Lens for $289.00
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Support our website! When you click on those links it doesn’t matter what you buy (book, CD’s or electronic items) we get a small commission for it and you don’t pay any penny more! Thanks
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a little bit of everything…(with the most viewed Panasonic GF1 video ever posted on youtube!)

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This video has been made with the and is the most viewed MicroFourThirds video on youtube!

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Comparison Test: GF-1 vs. E-P1 vs. E-450/420 (source: dpreview forum)
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E-P2 — initial impressions from infrequent poster (source: dpreview forum)
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP8 Review (photographyblog)
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Olympus E-P2 review at ganref (Click here for the google english translation)
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Today Deals:
Amazon US: Olympus E-P1 Camera & Micro 14-42mm Lens + 16GB Card + BLS-1 Battery + Case + Accessory Kit for $739.95.
Amazon US: Olympus E-P1 (Body Only) for $669.50
Amazon US: Panasonic G1 with 14-45mm Lens (Blue) for $623.95
Amazon US: Olympus E-P1 Camera with 14-42mm Lens (Silver Body/Black Lens) for $683.50
Amazon US: Panasonic 7-14mm Lens in Stock!
Amazon US: Panasonic GH1 for $1,298.00
————————————————————–
Support our website! When you click on those links it doesn’t matter what you buy (book, CD’s or electronic items) we get a small commission for it and you don’t pay any penny more! Thanks
US shops: Amazon US / BHphoto / Adorama / J&R / Calumet Photographic for digital cameras /
Amazon Canada

European shops:
Amazon: Deutschland / France / United Kingdom

PIXMANIA: België / Deutschland / España / Holland / Italia / Österreich

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