Two new cameras announced by Panasonic today, one an entry into their G line of mirrorless compacts based on the 4/3 system, and the other a rather thinly veiled competitor to Sony's RX100 line of large sensor compacts called the, er, LX100. Yeah... So, there's that.
The GM5 will be a new entry in their "fashion" conscious line of mirrorless bodies, and will slot in above it's older and lesser sibling the GM1. Most notable in the differences is the sprouting of an EVF on the GM5, as well as a hotshoe (using the same ISO-standard mount and pin configuration of all Olympus and Panasonic flashes.) Also of curious note is a maximum shutter sped of 1/16,000. Which is not something I read every day. It's a pretty solid shooter in other regards too, with a 16 megapixel sensor, ISO up to 25,600, a much improved AF system, built-in WiFi, and a continuous drive of almost 6fps. Release is Novemberish and it'll run $899 with a 24-64mm equivalent lens.
The other camera, the LX100, is part of a quickly growing market of compacts with 1" sensors and fast lenses. The Panasonic entry is a step-up from its already tried-and-true LX series including the LX7, and will sport a 12 megapixel sensor behind a newly Leica-designed 24-75mm f1.8-2.8 equivalent lens. It has a high resolution EVF for still shooting, and on the video side does the regular HD twins of 720 and 1080, but is also ready to do 4K at 30fps. It'll turn in focus times as fast as .014 second, with the depth from defocus feature inherited from the bigger G series to help cheat a bit more subject/background separation from the still ultimately smaller sensor. It'll go as fast as 1/4000 second with the mechanical shutter and up to 1/16,000 with the electronic. Wifi, NFC, yadda yadda. And an $899 price tag this fall.
