New Micro Four Thirds cameras add touch screen control.
The touch screen control allows:
- choose subject to AF on by touching it on the screen, and the camera will then track that subject automatically (if it is not moving too fast)
- face recognition allows finer AF on the eye
- ability to choose AF region size or spot metering location
- multi-area AF possible
- further improves speed of manual focus by allowing you to quickly choose the area on the screen you wish to be magnified, then choose level of magnification 1x, 5x, or 10x PLUS you can change MF via touching a slider function on the screen instead of using MF ring on the lens – of course, I presume it will also be automatically activated when in MF mode and you rotate the MF ring of a M43 or Four Thirds lens.
- ability to trigger shutter
- ability to move guide lines around
- improves playback functionalities such as image selection
Panasonic G2:
- similar styling to the G1 and GH-1
- 12mp sensor
- 460,000 dot flip, swivel touch screen LCD
- 1,440,000 dot 60fps EVF – similar to that on the G1, GH-1 and thus much better than the GF-1 add-on EVF
- imaging engine upgraded to the new Venus Engine HD II detects 3 separate regions of the image – outlines, detailed texture areas and soft gradation areas, to optimise image quality for each region.
- adds AVCHD Lite 720p 30fps video with HDMI output, and can take a photo while recording movie by just pressing a shutter button.
- as a cost cutting measure, does not have the 1080i AVCHD mode of the GH-1, nor the 60fps 720p mode – these will come in the GH-2
- the front dial of the GH-1 has thankfully been moved to the rear – I was always plagued with accidentally changing exposure compensation on the GH-1 and there was no way to deactivate it.
- movie record start/stop button has thankfully been moved to the top of the camera – I was forever accidentally pressing it with my eye up t the EVF on the GH-1
- film mode button has been replaced by an iA button
- focus mode dial on top left of the camera has been re-designed to add AF type mode such as face detection, tracking, multi-point, while the rear button previously used for this is now the metering mode button which was previously only available via menu. This may be problematic when using legacy MF lenses with eye up to the EVF as the touch screen will not be there to help out, and presumably, one will need to use your left hand to activate MF assist, then right hand to hit OK button, then left hand to manual focus – not sure this will be a great sequence of events – the Olympus may be the better approach for those using an EVF.
- can divide videos in-camera
- added My Color (art filters) including Expressive, Retro, Pure, Elegant, Monochrome, Dynamic Art, and Silhouette, but seems as though you still can’t set the color filter for B&W images as you can on the Olympus cameras – I hope I am wrong, but I really miss this functionality.
- the 26 scene modes adds a Peripheral Defocus mode, and most of these can be applied for video capture as well.
- stereo mic port
- built-in flash with GN 11m (ISO 100) and flash sync 1/160th sec but still no remote TTL as is available with the Olympus E-PL1
- ISO increased to max. 6400
- shutter speed 60 -1/4000 sec but BULB limited to 4min
- 2, 2.6 and 3.2fps burst rates
Panasonic G10:
- similar to the G2 but a cut down version
- EVF is only 202,000 dot
- HD video at 720p 30fps is only motion jpeg with no AVCHD Lite option
- no stereo mic port
Panasonic 14-42mm Mega OIS 3x zoom kit lens:
- similar optics to the 14-45mm kit lens but cheaper build quality and no IS switch on the lens.
