The big news is so far that Panasonic has declined to increase the pixel count, which in its press release it calls a "bold" move. Maybe from the point of view of marketing it's bold to pull up in the megapixel race, but to us it just makes good sense.
Low pixel densities, i.e. large photosites, are finally coming into mainstream discussion as a key parameter; top review site dpreview.com recently added pixel density to their comparison pages:
Pixel Density now appears in our database and will appear when you look up a specific camera or when you conduct a 'Side-by-side' comparison in our Buying Guide. We'll also add it as a search criterion in the Buying Guide's 'Features Search.
Panasonic highlights the decision in their press release as follows:
Making the intentional choice to limit the number of megapixels to 10.1 on its CCD, Panasonic was able to give more space for each pixel and also redesigned the peripheral circuits and other components to further minimize noise generation.
Here's something I found interesting in the press release:
When choosing Manual Focus, the focus distance and the depth of field according to the zoom range and aperture is also displayed.
That feature could really help novice photographers understand depth of field. Bravo! Let's have more of these brilliant ideas.
Some nice pictures of the camera on Luc Saint-Elie's blog.
You can feel superior when you make a savvy purchasing choice on a camera or computer, using criteria that only well-read people understand as important, like speed and focal length of the lens, sensitivity of the sensor, for cameras, or an integrated video camera, for a laptop. But these days, that feeling of superiority is often short lived; suddenly these features become commonplace.
In the old days, the tech snob with money could brag about his gasoline-powered automobile without worrying about his friends laughing and saying they'd wait till the dealers start discounting them to make way for the electric cars.
These days you can pay an extra $1000 to get a laptop that's only .75" thick, or you can just wait a year, and they'll all be that size. So your $1000 dollars has a half-life of 6 months. What happens when we accelerate development to the point where the same thing happens in 4 months? Will it change a lot of "gotta-have-it-now" decisions into "on-my-xmas-list-I-guess"? In other words, are we all gonna relax from gear madness soon?
And in other words, are us geeks gonna have to figure out a new way to inspire envy in our peers?
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