Futuresource Press Release

Following the release of a Futuresource industry report earlier this month on the Western European market opportunity for Interchangeable Lens Compact Cameras, James Wells, consultant with Futuresource discusses some of the key issues surrounding this market.

“Since the end of 2008 when Panasonic launched the world’s first Interchangeable Lens Compact, Olympus, Samsung and Sony have introduced their own models into this segment. The market was still relatively small last year, with just 80,000 units shipped across Western Europe, compared with 3.2m DSLRs.

“Moving forward there are some factors that will limit growth for the Interchangeable Lens Compact market in the short to mid term, such as certain technological factors that influence camera performance and higher average retail prices compared to entry level DSLRs.

“Another big influence on growth will be whether Canon and Nikon – who currently dominate the wider interchangeable lens camera market – decide to launch an Interchangeable Lens Compact product. Makoto Kimura, Nikon’s president, recently confirmed Nikon will launch a new type of SLR as early as this fiscal year, saying it ‘may adopt the so-called mirrorless structure’. To date there has been no official word from Canon regarding its future plans for Interchangeable Lens Compacts.

“In the short-term, whilst we are expecting significant growth for the Interchangeable Lens Compact market, it will still only reach shipments of 377,000 units across Western Europe in 2010, compared to expectations of 3.3m units for DSLRs.

“Panasonic, Olympus, Sony and Samsung (with a 20% combined share of interchangeable lens camera shipments in 2009) are expected to promote this segment heavily in 2010, particularly at the Photokina show in September in the run up to the important fourth quarter period. The long term aim is to try to break Canon’s and Nikon’s stranglehold on the interchangeable lens camera market. Suffice to say this will be an interesting space to watch over the next two to three years.”

Source: Photographyblog

Image courtesy: Quesabesde.com

For all those of you interested in MicroFourThirds the new Panasonic sensor (used for the new Panasonic LX5) may give us some hints about the next generation of MicroFourThirds sensors.

According to Panasonic the sensor has a new design which allows to capture more light for every single pixel. Quesabesde also noticed a better chromatic noise control (but this maybe depends form the new Venus engine). You can judge the difference between the LX3 and the LX5 sensor by looking at those images: http://www.quesabesde.com/camdig/noticias/Lumix_LX5_muestra_02g.jpg. Panasonic itself claims that the new sensor is noiseless at ISO 800 which (if true) is a very good news considering that the sensor has a much higher pixel density than current MicroFourThirds sensor. Panasonic also said that the LX5 sensor has a better sensivity (by 31%) and saturation (38%) and greater dynamic range compared to the older Panasonic LX3. More image samples have been posted here at DPreview and by RealityScanner on flickr

Image courtesy: Quesabesde.com

P.S.: You can now preorder the Panasonic LX5 on Amazon

Preorder the cameras on Amazon US:
Click here to get the LX5 ($499 and white model not available yet)
Click here to get the FZ100 ($499)
Click here to get the FZ40 ($399)
Click here to get the FX700 ($399)
Click here to get the TS10 ($249)

Interesting news:
– Optyczne.pl: LX5 and FZ100 presentation (in polish!) + LX5 and FZ100 image samples
– HOT-> First LX5 vs LX3 image comparison here: http://www.quesabesde.com/camdig/noticias/Lumix_LX5_muestra_02g.jpg
– LX5-> According to Panasonic it’ll prove noiseless at ISO 800!
– LX5-> Panasonic has added LED technology to the 3-inch LCD screen
– The LX5 sensor has better sensivity (by 31%) and saturation (38%) and greater dynamic range compared to the older Panasonic LX3

Announcements and Hands-on (latest added link on top):
Photoradar: Panasonic LX5 review
Image samples on dpreview
Reality Scanner: Images samples on flickr -> LX5 and TZ100
Photoscala (german!)
Quesabesde: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 toma de contacto (Spanish) with first image comparison between the LX3 and LX5!
DPreview announcement of the TS10, FX700, FZ45, FZ100 and LX5
CNET UK: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 review (but it’s more a preview!)
Fotointern.ch (LX5 -german!)
Photographyblog: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 Hands-On and Image Samples, Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 Hands-On and Image Samples
Photographyblog: FT10, FX700, FZ45, FZ100, LX5
Pocket-Link: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 – First Look review
PCpop.com (Click here to read the page about the new sensor!)

First videos made with the LX5: