Panasonic interview: “we are developing lenses for sport photographers”

There is a new Panasonic interview at Imaging Resource (Click here) with Mr Darin Pepple, senior marketing manager at Panasonic. There is a lot of talk about WiFi and mobile integration but also some talk about MFT. Here are some highlights:

1) Mr. Pepple says that “we’re seeing a lot of professional photographers who are in the wedding and event fields making the transition to video. In fact, in an upcoming trade event, you will see us present several photographers who are showcasing their ideas on how a traditional photographer can make use of video as part of their workflow.”

2) Interesting: The GH2 and a lot of the hacks that you saw coming into the GH2 inspired Panasonic to do more.

3) Panasonic clearly underlines the advantages of contrast af that is far more reliable and accurate than phase detection AF. And Panasonic says that on sensor Phase detection is “really more of just a software trick.”

4) About the development of a new bigger sensor mirrorless system he answers: “I don’t think we’re going to do that.”

5) And finally a real new “rumor”. Mr. Pepple says that “a 300mm f/2.8 or even a 600mm f/2.8 would be a great thing to have. We don’t have that yet. So, at f/2.8 we go to up to about 100mm and that’s the limit for us. We’ve got some development to do in the optics to make the sports photographers interested.”

6) There are also some interesting considerations about how to market Panasonic mirrorless cameras. They are no more trying to advertise the general “mirrorless” concept, they are now more and more focusing on advertisign the top features of the camera. That’s the right approach I think.

It’s a really interesting interview I invite you to read in full at Imaging Resource!