Your one stop shop for everything photo-video
It’s happened. Panasonic has announced the G9 II (buy here) and finally brought phase detection autofocus to its Micro Four Thirds line of cameras. No longer should it hunt 10ft behind your subject or get confused if they move or blink.
The G9 II comes with a 25.2MP Live MOS sensor, 779-point hybrid AF system, 7.5 stop IBIS, 60fps burst shooting with continuous AF, 4K video up to 120fps, and dual UHS-II SD card slots. And it costs less than $1,800.
Panasonic recently had a chat with Camera Beta at Photo & Imaging 2023 in China. The company has said that new entry-level and high-end L mount cameras are incoming. The video focus is still currently on 4K, 6K super-sampling, and 6K open gate but 8K is inevitable.
I wouldn’t hold your breath for new cameras just yet, though. Panasonic is looking at plans over the next few years, so while we might get something soon, we’re going to have to wait a while for some of it.
A couple of months ago, a new Yongnuo Micro Four Thirds camera was being shown off at an event in China. There weren’t a lot of details about it at the time, except for what we could figure out from the images. Now, the Yongnuo YN433 (buy here) has popped up on eBay.
The listings confirm some of our suspicions and fill in a few gaps. It does clarify that this is a camera designed as a streaming camera. This marks an interesting change from the company’s previous Android-powered Micro Four Thirds cameras.
7Artisans has announced its new (and tiny) 18mm f/6.3 pancake lens (buy here) for Micro Four Thirds and APS-C mirrorless cameras. In the APS-C mounts, we’ve got Nikon Z, Fuji X, Sony E and Canon EF-M. No sign of a Canon RF mount one, but given how swiftly Canon has been enforcing its intellectual lens property, that’s not much of a surprise.
As is the nature with pancake lenses, the 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 is extremely compact. In fact, it’s not much bigger than a regular standard body cap. It’s not optically complex and comes with a relatively cheap price point. Looking at some of the sample photos from Robin Wong’s video below, though, it looks pretty good!
The bigger, the better, right? Well, not always. Photographer Robin Wong shares his take on why there is quite a bit of merit in smaller cameras and lenses. In fact, if you look at Robin’s Youtube channel, it is almost dedicated to small cameras.
And while Robin shoots a little bit of street photography, where small cameras shine, the bulk of his portfolio is Events, Stage, Wedding, and Food photography. So I got curious.
For those who haven’t followed Alice’s story over the last couple of years, Alice is an AI-powered Micro Four Thirds camera that works with your smartphone. The smartphone is used both as the display for the camera as well as powering its AI features. It was announced in September 2020 and later came to Indiegogo. While shipping was expected to begin in the Summer of 2021, backers are still waiting to receive their cameras to this day.
Photographer and YouTuber Jimmy Cheng, also known as RED35, travelled to visit the Alice HQ to take a hands-on look at the camera and see what it could do. It’s long overdue, and past examples shown off in campaigns are believed to have been non-functional concept prototypes. Now, though, it looks like it can finally do all (or at least much) of what it promised.
In 2019, Yongnuo announced their first (sort-of) Micro Four Thirds camera, the YN450, a year before they joined the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group. It was an odd duck, with a Micro Four Thirds sensor but a Canon EF lens mount. It wasn’t easily available outside of China, but the few who managed to get their hands on one were definitely not impressed. In 2021, they announced another, the YN455. This one actually had a Micro Four Thirds lens mount, although it still seems to have been limited to a China-only release.
Now, it looks like the company is trying again with what looks like an Android-powered Micro Four Thirds studio camera for live streaming. The new camera has not yet been officially announced, although it’s said to be called the YN433 and apparently appeared at a recent trade show somewhere. Some images of the new camera were posted to Chinese social media website, Weibo, giving us views from all around.
A recent interview published in Nikkei Business with Sony Vice Chairman Shigeki Ishizuka reveals that Sony once considered joining the Micro Four Thirds camera system. Back in 2007, three years before the Sony E mount was first released in the Sony NEX-3, he says Sony was invited to team up with the pair and join the MFT system.
Back then, the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group was headed up by Panasonic and Olympus (now OM System). Since that time, they’ve also added Yongnuo, Venus Optics (Laowa) and DJI, amongst others. It sure makes you wonder how the camera landscape would look today had Sony decided to take the plunge.
In an interview with PhotoTrend at CP+, Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki says that the company doesn’t plan to develop any new Micro Four Thirds lenses. He claims that “demand for this format is decreasing very sharply”. This is the first manufacturer to publicly come out and abandon the Micro Four Thirds format that Panasonic and OM System both appear to be pushing with vigour.
The statement confirming the decision not to develop any new MFT lenses doesn’t come as much of a surprise – given that Sigma hasn’t actually developed any before. Sure, they have three MFT lenses in the lineup, but they’re not really MFT lenses. They’re APS-C lenses with MFT mounts on the end of them in a set set of focal lengths that’s pretty awkward for the 2x crop of Micro Four Thirds.
In a recent interview with DPReview, Yosuke Yamane, Vice President of Panasonic’s Entertainment and Communication business and director of its imaging business unit, spoke about a number of topics in Panasonic’s future. It covers, amongst others, things such as stills vs video, phase-detect autofocus and the role that AI will play in the future of photography. But what was particularly interesting to me was how he spoke about Micro Four Thirds.
What made it interesting to me is the fact that, like many people reading this, I’m a Micro Four Thirds shooter. Granted, I only use MFT for video, but how he describes it – and presumably how Panasonic sees it – is a little different. MFT does offer some obvious benefits for photographers due to its diminutive stature, but that small size also presents other implications. In essence, he described it as a gateway to larger systems.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!