inconsequence

The next episode in the series “everyone except Nikon and Canon is doing interesting stuff” has come out. The newly announced Pentax K7 offers in-camera HDR imaging (by combining three photos), HD video (yawn), rotational vibration reduction, pro-level body construction in at an enthusiast price, pro-level viewfinder coverage (100%), and — zomg — an external microphone jack. It’s also smaller and better looking than its rivals.

And because it has in-body VR, its lenses are all cheaper. E.g. the 18-250mm lens is a little over $400.

It will be a shame if the street price isn’t considerably lower than the $1299 SRP. The street price on the model it replaces (the K20D, which is a very decent machine) is under $700.

Aside: at Adorama.com the Nikon D5000 is available now for around $730. The Canon T1i is around $800. The K20D is around $670 with those silly “add to cart to find out the price” deals, but it’s also out of stock, so it may actually be going out of production. Meanwhile the K7 is listing for $1300, the 50D is $1200, and the D90 is $975 (the D300 is $1700 … cough). If the K7 replaces the K20D with a price of around $900 it’s going to kick some serious butt (it would be $1350 bundled with an 18-250mm lens, which will probably be competitive with the Panasonic GH-1 with its 14-140mm lens, even when its price drops to reasonable levels).

One thing that may not be apparent from the picture above is how “lop-sided” the K7 is. Essentially the camera is really small (think smaller than an Olympus DSLR), but it makes up for this by having almost all of the body on the right side of the viewfinder. So, this camera essentially trumps everything on the market in features (except, aguably, the GH-1′s live view, and the flip-out LCD) while being metal, weather-sealed, small, having a pro-quality viewfinder (100% coverage, 0.95 magnification). And again, unlike Nikon and Canon, it’s not an intentionally crippled camera, so it has things like front and rear control dials, decent focus points, and a really good viewfinder. And, arguably, Pentax has the most interesting range of cropped frame lenses if you feel like spending money on cropped frame lenses which you’ll probably regret in a couple of years when everyone is shooting full frame again.

My only question is how fast and accurate the autofocus “feels”. (I have the same question about the GH-1.)

dpreview today links to Panasonic’s press release announcing pricing for the new GH-1. My reader will recall that I suggested this camera might give Nikon and Canon pause for thought — even if that thought is merely “hey, we need to start stealing ideas from Panasonic as well as Olympus”. Unfortunately, the announced price is $1499, bundled with a 14-140mm (effectively 28-280mm in 35mm terms) lens. This isn’t a terrible deal, but unless the street price is a lot lower, it’s not going to deter most punters from the “safe bet” of a Nikon D5000 or Canon T1i for ~$800, which will still be safely under $1499 with a Nikon or Canon 18-200mm lens (yes, Canon has one now in case you didn’t know).

It’s a safe bet that Panasonic has a lot of room to reduce the street price of the GH-1. Their excellent Lumix TZ cameras (of which I own two) tend to come in at the $350-450 mark and drop to the $200-250 range within a year. So, the $1499 may just be Panasonic’s plan for burning rewarding their early adopters.

With Canon’s new consumer DSLR offering 1080p video (albeit at 20fps), 15MP, and 14-bit RAW, the obvious shortcomings of the D90 are more obvious than ever. I also note that my favorite discount camera store is out of stock on the D80, while Amazon is selling D80s for the same price as D90s. Obvious conclusion — the D90 is replacing the D80 at the ~$700 price point and a successor to the D90 with the obvious deficiencies addressed is on its way.

Canon has announced the latest in its consumer DSLR line with 15 MP and 1080p (@20fps) / 720p (@30fps) video. Assuming Canon inserts this camera at the logical price point (presumably slightly cheaper than Nikon’s D90), that pretty much sets a new bar for DV cameras which will either need to match the 500D’s image quality or come in under its price. It also means that Nikon will need to respond with a D90x (say) that offers 1080p (and, I hope, 14-bit RAW).

And remember that the Panasonic GH-1 is already out there, waiting to eat their lunch. And while the Panasonic’s image quality may be marginally inferior to that of the Canon and Nikon DSLRs (the D90 in particular has ridiculously good low light performance), the GH-1 is smaller, cheaper, has it all over them on the video side of things.

And one — well two — more things. The GH-1′s rear video screen swings out and twists, like a video camera’s, and its electronic viewfinder works for video, like a video camera’s. Shooting video on a conventional DSLR is going to get old, fast.

Addendum

Oh and one more significant advantage of the GH-1 for shooting video — its autofocus works continuously while shooting.

And I’m referring to you Canon and Nikon (and Sony and Olympus).

(Can you tell I’m looking forward to WATCHMEN?)

Panasonic has released the GH-1, the “real” version of its G-1, aka the first truly modern interchangeable lens digital camera. In doing so, it marks the emergence of Panasonic as perhaps the leading manufacturer of consumer cameras today. Time will tell whether Canon and Nikon (and Sony) are able to preserve their dominance of the still and video digital camera markets by reacting.

What’s so special about the GH-1?

Well, it’s smaller, lighter, and cheaper than a DSLR by virtue of not having a mirror/pentaprism viewfinder assembly, or a large heavy shutter. It’s a “fly-by-wire” camera with an electronic viewfinder, but the electronic viewfinder is as big as a good DSLR viewfinder while accurately previewing the effects of shutter speed and aperture (because it’s live view). It focuses the way a point-and-shoot camera does, but it focuses as fast as a DSLR. Oh, and it shoots 1080p at 24dps and 720p as 60fps.

Image quality is not quite up there with the D90 or 5D MkII, but then you’re paying two thirds the price of the first and a fraction of the price of the second. It’s probably going to be cheaper than most halfway decent HD camcorders. And unlike the D90 it has proper stereo microphone hookups.

All this, and the option of Leica and Zuiko lenses.