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PMA 2009: Small Cameras Are Big News
Sony, Panasonic, Olympus and Samsung are packing big features into small bodies.
By John Owens
March 2009
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Sony's new DSC-HX1 is a superpower of a superzoom packing 9.1MP, a 20x optically stabilized lens, 3-inch LCD, and 1080p HD video capture. So far, sounds like an impressive electronic-viewfinder model, but not enough to stop the show.
What is outrageous-and fairly amazing-is the camera's brilliance at taking and making panoramic shots. Using the HD video function that's powered by a brand-new CMOS sensor, just sweep the camera around a scene, and almost instantly it stitches together an all-encompassing panoramic image. This capability alone puts this $499 model into a league of its own.
Panasonic, too, proved that news-value can be inversely proportional to the size of the camera. The first day of the Las Vegas show saw the debut of the Lumix DMC-GH1, a successor to the first Micro Four-Thirds camera, the Lumix DMC-G1, which was Popular Photography's 2008 Camera of the Year. Despite having interchangeable lenses and a full-sized Four Third-format sensor, Micro Four Thirds cameras are smaller than traditional DSLRs thanks to the use of a high-quality electronic viewfinder instead of the DSLR's prism and mirror assembly.
As we predicted when the G1 came out, this new model packs not only impressive 12MP still capability, but also major-league video capture. The result is what many are calling a "photographic hybrid."
Shooting at 24 frames per second and 1080p, this new camera promises very high-def high-def. For smoother motion of moving subjects, there's a faster frame rate at lower resolution (60 fps at 720p). Nonetheless, that's serious video. Add stereo sound, as well as an aspect ratio that matches your TV (3:2, 4:3, or 16:9), and you've got a unit that rivals any consumer-level camcorder.
In fact, it's arguably far better than a camcorder. With DSLR-style lenses, you can get cinema-style shallow depth of field, something that consumer camcorders can't achieve with their keep-everything-in-focus lenses.
The potential of this approach has been glimpsed in the work of Canon pro Vincent Laforet who made a beautiful short film using the high-def video capability of the new Canon EOS 5D Mark II (blog.vincentlaforet.com). That full-frame DLSR, however, starts at $2700, body only. The new Micro Four Third Lumix is expected to come in around $1000.
Still kind of expensive for a small camera? Perhaps, but that could change when Panasonic faces some head-on competition from Olympus.
At the PMA show, Olympus displayed the Micro Four Thirds concept cameras we saw last fall at the Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany. Only this time, Olympus is offering a timeframe for honest-to-reality cameras-"Summer 2009."
Samsung, too, displayed concept cameras. At first glance, the units look just like Micro Four Thirds units. But a video playing next to the display as well as interviews with Samsung executives, suggest a slightly different approach that will use an AP-C-size sensor and a new lens mount for Samsung's own line of yet-to-be-seen tiny lenses. Called the NX series, this new camera is slated to debut "in the second half of 2009." And top brass at Samsung assures us that this will not be a "me-too" camera. In fact, it is being touted as a "flagship" that will bring together technology from throughout the company's consumer-electronics empire and establish Samsung as a "real top-tier" camera company.
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