World's smallest digital single-lens reflex camera

Panasonic Corp will launch in Japan the world’s smallest, lightest digital single-lens reflex camera on Sept 18, targeting young female buyers. The Lumix GF1 measures about 7 centimeters in height, about 12 centimeters in width and about 3.6 centimeters in thickness.

The camera, with 12.1 megapixels, weighs 285 grams, some 100 grams less than a conventional digital single-lens reflex camera. The camera is expected to retail for about 90,000 yen, or 70,000 yen without the lens.

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Latest 15 of 41 Total Comments Show All

Disillusioned at 07:25 PM JST - 3rd September
An interesting read about cameras with English menus. There are hundreds of international websites offering better deals on English menu cameras than you could ever possibly get here. They may be last years stock or even last year's releases, but they are 20-50% cheaper than in Japan. Just cos they make them here doesn't mean you have ton pay their overly inflated prices for the newest thing, nor do you have to deal with the mullets at the denki.
- I dropped Panasonic when they dropped their English menus. It's a shame because they are good cameras.
jeancolmar at 07:25 PM JST - 3rd September

No one is spreading falsies. Go to the local camera store, pick up a Panasonic four-thirds camera and try and find an English menu. I've talked to Panasonic reps and have had camera shops contact Panasonic with the same result. Japanese Only. No exceptions. As I said, there is no point in buying this camera abroad because there is no international guarantee. So I have decided to boycott Panasonic completely because of this. No more Panasonic products in our home.
gonemad at 08:05 PM JST - 3rd September

When you buy the same Panasonic cameras outside of Japan, they come with menus in English, Japanese and a zillion of other languages. Obviously they do the translation anyway. Selling a Japanese-only version in Japan actually increases the cost, as they have to handle different kinds of firmware.

The most probable reasons why they do it this way is warranty handling and/or market protection. Or some of that unique Japanese thinking like "if one of our customers accidentally changes the language and doesn't understand how to switch back to Japanese we'll have to support him and he might be pissed off"...

Coming back to the camera itself, I think there is a market for light cameras with interchangeable lenses - not only for women. This camera is definitely a step into the right direction. What is still missing is a set of high-quality, fast, but comparably compact, (prime) lenses with image stabilizer.
rajakumar at 08:13 PM JST - 3rd September

Way to go Panasonic and 300 thousand over panasonic staff.
gaijintraveller at 08:16 PM JST - 3rd September

Spudman, nobody is spreading false rumours. Lumix cameras sold in Japan did have English menus until a little more than a year ago when some idiots in Panasonic deemed that as this is Japan, everyone who buys a non-duty-free camera here must read Japanese.

I bought a Lumix for my son early last year and it had English menus. I bought another as a present for a friend in another country last summer. As it was a present, I did not open the box and unwrap everything. The salesman was unaware that English menus had been removed. English language reviews and Panasonic's English language homepage said it had English menus. When I complained to the Panasonic service centre, they basically told me to get lost as I could not have English menus.

Fortunately, the shop I bought the camera from had a better idea of service than Panasonic and gave me a refund.
bdaniel08 at 10:08 PM JST - 3rd September

nisegaijin

I was very clear when I said that English menus are available for Export market that are available at limited duty free shops where they are more expensive or outside Japan... Japanese market model does not have English menu and the one I have doesn't have Japanese.

You are always very clear and very wrong...always.

I have been in Tokyo for 35 years and my camera was not bought in a duty free shop because as a permanent resident i cant buy things in Japan in that kind of shop...(thats for tourist if i have to explain everything)

Secondly and thats your second mistake, my japanese model has english menu AND japanese one, too.

Understood ?
jeancolmar at 11:09 PM JST - 3rd September

Okay nisegaijin, what model do you have? I thought we were talking about Panasonic's micro four-thirds cameras. All of those babies have Japanese Only menus in Japan. I know. I have tried vainly to get a G-1 with an English menu. Nothing doing. Japanese Only in Japan. Abroad I can have a lot of languages but I cannot getting an international warranty.

Panasonic looks like it is following a script written by Monty Python.

Thanks, I'll get an Olympus four-thirds camera when they make one with a proper viewfinder.
pawatan at 12:05 AM JST - 4th September

Thanks, I'll get an Olympus four-thirds camera when they make one with a proper viewfinder.

I assume you mean micro 4/3 camera? All the Olympus standard 4/3 cameras are normal SLRs with proper viewfinders.
upnorth71 at 01:38 AM JST - 4th September

Boy, people really get their panties in a bunch over trivial things like English menus. How difficult is it to figure out the Japanese language menus?- they are all function based, and camera operation is basically a repetitive exercise. It's not like you're reading the Kojiki. Anyway, like people have suggested, just buy a different camera- preferably from a "real" camera maker like Canon or Nikon;-)
jeancolmar at 05:53 AM JST - 4th September

Right. Micro four-thirds. Olympus will have what I want before long I am sure.
inkjet at 06:07 AM JST - 4th September

How difficult is it to figure out the Japanese language menus?

LOL! even with an english menu there is a pretty steep learning curve on these new cameras. if you want to just point and shoot fine. but if you often dig into the system forget about it.

has anyone tried loading an english version firmware into a japanese camera?
bdaniel08 at 11:26 AM JST - 4th September

**upnorth71 ** You are right, it was a little too much "emphased" for so much trivial things.
jkoffman at 01:55 PM JST - 4th September

Will they make their delivery date, a third of the assembly line staff were thrown out of the country.
DarkKnightNine at 01:49 PM JST - 7th September

English language menu is not trivial. When you really want to use an electronic gadget to it's full potential, you really need to understand the menus. The more advanced the gadget, the more you need to understand. I just bought a Canon Kiss X3 (as it's called in Japan) last month. It has so many buttons and settings, I would be completely lost without the English menus. To strip a gadget of a particular feature for no apparent reason is just stupid. This was a blunder for Panasonic. Obviously they have the ability to provide English (or whatever language) menus, why exclude it? In a tough and competitive economic climate, you don't want to give any prospect pause when considering your product versus the competition.

Thank god for real camera makers like Canon and Nikon. You shouldn't just buy a camera anyway. When you buy a DSLR you have to think of the ecosystem i.e. lens and attachments. If you really think that far, you would never buy a Panasonic DSLR in the first place. They make cool video cameras though.
pawatan at 03:52 PM JST - 7th September

When you buy a DSLR you have to think of the ecosystem i.e. lens and attachments. If you really think that far, you would never buy a Panasonic DSLR in the first place.

The ecosystem? Like the plants and trees?

Anyway, Panasonic & Olympus are interchangeable in their lenses and accessories. And as I mentioned in an earlier post the Panasonic micro 4/3 cameras can use high-quality Leica M & R glass. Olympus glass is very nice as well....