Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Micro Four Thirds bridges the great digital camera divide


Today, an announcement from Olympus and Panasonic sent shockwaves through all the photography forums. The traditional gap between point and shoot and DSLR has been crossed. High quality, compact digital camera is now possible with the Micro Four Thirds format. This format standardizes a mirrorless interchangable lens digital camera with the same sensor size as the Four Thirds system. Imagine, a digital rangefinder with perfect framing, not made by Leica. Entry-level DSLR buyers will be delighted to find a much smaller camera delivering the same quality images, with a big LCD for easy composition. How many times have you heard people complaining about the small and dark viewfinder on entry-level DSLRs? This new system has the potential to steal A LOT of sales from Canon and Nikon. Watch out!

On a side note, we will probably see a Panasonic-made Leica-branded digital rangefinder in the future, but I think it's quite obvious Leica will exist only in name from now on.

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