By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)
With high end rumors and announcements regarding both Nikon and Canon dominating the month of February, it’s easy for a second tier camera manufacturer like Panasonic to be forgotten. Even though they make a line of fine quality digital cameras that have excellent video quality, the notion of a high end camera has eluded them. Until now …
I want Panasonic to be known for very high-quality cameras, and we are currently restructuring the range of products that we offer to include a very high end model. – Ichiro Kitao, Panasonic’s Director of Digital Stills and Camera Business
What’s interesting about Panasonic going head to head in the high end category is that they’re planning to do it on the shoulders of the micro 4/3s platform. And while initially, the program will focus on compact system cameras, could it also point to a shift in seeing just how deep the micro 4/3s platform really 9is? I’m not saying it could a challenge to platforms like the Canon 5D and Nikon D800 platforms, who work off a full frame CMOS censor. But on it’s face, it would seem to me that there’s plenty of competition for APS-C platforms like the Canon 7D.
“Our sensors are 60% of the size of APS-C units, which is less than one step behind,’ says Michiharu Uematsu, product planning group manager for Panasonic’s DSC Business Unit”
Panasonic’s position is that the micro 4/3s platform isn’t really that much different from APS-C, which is what cemented the decision to work up a high end line. But, that’s not entirely accurate. It’s more like 60% the size from the outset. But they go on to say that enables them to focus on improving the quality and speed of the glass used in micro 4/3s lenses. And to a certain extent, that makes sense. Many APS-C shots have to deal with lens distortion and barreling as a result of having to convert 35mm lenses which lose a portion of their focal length. And it doesn’t hurt that Panasonic has a very healthy relationship with Leica Lenses – which supplies their higher end glass.
But video quality wise, micro 4/3s is likely to be a mixed bag. Although Olympus turned heads by shooting their Olympus PEN commercial with the camera itself, cameraman Phillip Bloom recently included a Sony micro 4/3s in his recent holiday shootout and got mixed results: “The (micro 4/3s) initially looked pretty crappy, but after adjusting it, it looks OK. But there’s a lot of moire and jaggy detail,” said Bloom. Bloom went on to comment that he had sunlight to help out and in limited light the results would’ve been quite different.
Now, granted that’s the SONY NEX5, not Panasonic. But an extra 40% censor real estate that APS-C censors give you certainly helps when shooting video projects. So while Panasonic may interest shutterbugs looking for a lightweight alternative to DSLRs, but maintain the ability to use interchangeable, and higher quality lenses, the platform is certainly going to have it’s challenges in the realm of video. Then again, when you’ve got filmmakers making features on iPhones with a DSLR lens adapter, who knows? It may be that a higher end Panasonic micro 4/3s will provide crisper video that will rival an APS-C in the low budget/guerilla market where mobile digital filmmaking thrives.
Hat Tip – Amateur Photographer
About James DeRuvo
Very interesting article. However, the NEX rage of cameras are not m4/3. Rather they are APS-C. The GH2 that Philip Bloom did test however, a m4/3 camera from Panasonic, that included one of the many hacks for it, performed with detail ad quality rivaling the Canon C300.