Supposedly this new sensor technology could increase the effective sensitivity of the Panasonic sensor by a factor of 4 and will be implemented in a GH2 slated for September release! Source: EOSHD.com
Greetings! I too, am interested in what Panasonic does in the upcoming trade show, as I am reearching the GF1, and am strongly considering it, with a few lenses like the Panny 20mm f1.7, 7-14mm, and Leica 45mm Macro!
Hi Steve! I think you've hit upon the killer three lens combo there, at least for my needs. The GF1 is great as well, though I've gone for the G1/GH1. As you alluded, PMA is right around the corner. There is also reason to believe that Panasonic may announce new cameras at Focus on Imaging in early March (source). However, I very much doubt that we'll be seeing a GF1 upgrade soon. More likely a G1 replacement in early March, a GH1 replacement later in the year, and a GF1 replacement later this year or early next.
Sensor improvements are typically very slight, incremental changes. Look at DxOmark's data, for example, and you can see that Canon's latest Digital Rebel 550D (pre-production) has just about a 2/3 stop high ISO signal to noise advantage over the original Digital Rebel 300D which preceded it by 7 years. There's a lot of talk from various companies about 1-2 stop improvements in a single generation, but they are almost always referring to improvements in noise reduction processing for in-camera JPEGs. I like the fact that Panasonic is thinking outside of the box.
What about the Sony Exmor R sensor? I expect to see small sensor improvements accelerate over time - as a factor of the R&D budgets linked to scale of production. Really exciting for the 4/3rds sensor, that the m4/3rds market is taking off in volume. Cheers Brian
Yep, that's another good example of the kind of innovation we need, applied to the smallest sensors. Fuji did some really nice innovating with their DSLRs and dynamic range some years ago. Good to hear Panasonic talking tech!
I've been holding off buying into the m4/3 system for a couple of months until I see what the Panasonic 'G2' has to offer. Whilst by all accounts the G1 is a cracking camera I can only imagine its successor will be even better. I would imagine that the sensor performance will be much better, i.e. less noise at higher ISO speeds, and my own 'wish for' would be for a 'pro-build' body. Drool !!
Sadly, it seems that this Panasonic sensor technology is being developed for a 2.2/3" sensor and applies to video capture. EOSHD.com seems to have botched the story completely in associating it with the GH2 .
I am a Nikon fan - I bought the G1 for a number of reasons, (maybe by accident as I wanted to upgrade my "point and squirt"), - flip screen - DSLR shape - EVR - legacy lenses - etc., etc., and never into video - BUT I should have bought the GH1 and explored this video stuff - (have a look at what KevinParis has done with three "simple" vids - OK he is a pro plus very skilled and creative, but I did not realise that the video was so good on these cams) - I have now an order in for an Oly Ep-1 because i want to have a go an some video.
