Panasonic has herald the successor to the G1 with the….well G2. So after all the applause, what’s it going to be like and from it, will it be a better camera? Now I must say that I loved the G1, though it didn’t quite live up to expectations in low light, its still an awesome camera to use in daylight. Small, light and compact, it’s like using an rangefinder camera. Its been a year and now the trusty G1 is being replaced. Which is about time but would I upgrade?

The G2 in blue

To be fair, the specs look awfully gimmicky. First, we do not see any references to full 1080 HD video but instead, get the lesser 720p version found on the GF1. Then there is the built, which is little change from the original G1, you have the swivel out LCD screen but with touch screen. Convenient no doubt but not revolutionary. The EVF quality remains the same and do does the sensor size. The added change is that you have ISO6400 now but really folks, unless it is usable to a large degree, any big ISO numbers will be very difficult to justify switching to. Lastly is the kit lens, which has been downgraded somewhat to a 14-42mm, which is what Olympus is offering.

The new device will also be able to use SDXC cards, a higher capacity version of the SDHC. Now all this sounds fine and well but the two things I will be waiting to hear about is the dynamic range improvements and the High ISO handling. As you know the original G1 is limited to ISO800, though you may get acceptable results at ISO1600 if you don’t mind the chroma and luminance noise. Panasonic has to push this envelop if they want people like me to upgrade as I sure as hell didn’t when the GF-1 came out. So the GF was no more than a G1 with video capture, the rest is history of course .

Lumix G1

But that’s not all. Panny also announce the G10, an entry level M4/3 camera. This is the entry level system that is designed to compete with the likes of entry level DSLRs from the likes of Canon, Sony and Nikon and from the looks of it, the specs are nothing to talk about. Sure you have 720p video capture but to make it more affordable, they have handicapped the EVF, which has been downgraded to a 210K screen. Such a screen will only mean one thing, it will start to flicker in low light and you can’t possibly focus a manual lens on it unless you have Jedi like powers. Regardless, if the price is right, I think there is a good chance that it will sell a truckload every second. So far, all the products within the M4/3 family has not translated into price performance packages. Most of them have been priced above what you’d normally pay for a entry level DSLR from the other more established rivals like Sony, Nikon or Canon. Let’s wait for the street price and see if you’d be tempted to dump your DSLR for something more petite.