Following in the footsteps of Panasonic and Olympus with their Micro Four Thirds format, Sony has announced a line of compact cameras with APS-C sized sensors and interchangeable lenses. It will shoot 1080p video, which makes it direct competition to the Panasonic Lumix GF-1 and GH-1 cameras. Look at the image to see how big an APS-C sensor really is in a compact. In the comments to the Macworld article, I came across the following:
Gee, in the face of an established and growing open standard, Sony tries to establish their own proprietary format. Where have we heard that before?
I couldn’t agree more with that statement. Granted Micro Four Thirds isn’t an open standard, and neither is Canon or Nikon. But do we really need another lens mount? Sony just loves their proprietary formats – ie, MiniDisc with Atrac3, Memory Stick, etc
Lens mount issues notwithstanding, I think this segment of the compact camera market is really going to take off in 2010. I get asked all the time about pocket video cameras like the Flip HD, for when the big video cameras are just too much of a hassle to take out of the bag/case. With still cameras like the GF-1 and this Sony, you get great HD video and great stills in the same small compact. With interchangeable lenses to boot!
Pop Photo Blog here
Macworld article here
freaking sony. They really know how to screw up a “compact” camera!