G1 discontinued (According to the official website)

[Godfrey]

All products have life cycles. If the G1 is out of production, so be it.

I hold out my expectation for the "GL2" that I've mentioned wanting a few times. A higher-end build and design, similarly featured body.

In the meanwhile, I'm quite happy with the G1 I've already got and don't need a replacement for any practical reason yet. My camera kit is quite complete ... FourThirds SLR + Micro-FourThirds bodies plus the lens kit I need but for one or two specific lenses ... and produces more than satisfactory quality, so I'm not really sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to buy a new camera.

I'd rather concentrate my energy on producing photographs than ogling and hoping to buy more equipment...

 

[ustein]

Whatever the new body is, IMHO it should also be offered as a body only solution.

If not that would be a let down. By now many have some lenses.

 

[Vivek]

I think the kitzoom has a high resale value. A pity I wrecked mine.

 

[kwalsh]

I've also been thinking that, and thinking that the GH1 can't be that much more expensive to make than the G1.

GH1 Body only in the uk is £649, G1 with 14-45 is £449, doesnt make too much sense in my opinion for the added video and microphones.

In an interview a Panasonic exec. mentioned that the GH1 sensor is significantly more expensive than the G1/GF1 sensor. That said, in the manufacturing sense "significantly" probably means $100 at the most. Looking at the prices for kits and subtracting lens prices seems to put the G1/GH1 body price difference in the US at about $100.

Yeah, those UK prices seem silly. Probably a mixture of body only markup (similar to the lens only mark ups) and the G1 kit being priced to move and clear inventory.

Ken

 

[monza]

We can still get G1s for the time being...all colors.

 

[Elliot]

Not to be confused with anyone in the vanguard, I just ordered a black G1 from Amazon.

 

[vincechu]

hmmm.... I can't help but to wonder that if the official availability of the GH1 as body only in the UK (not sure about elsewhere) is also because they want to clear out factory stocks of the GH1 (as well as the G1 using the promotion i mentioned above and buy lowering prices to stimulate demand) to prepare for production and space to stock their next model ???

Because the way i look at it G1's successor will be very close to, if not better than the GH1 - I think the G1 successor's almost certainly going to have HD video (as well as other improvements like IQ and ISO performance) as all the competition are implementing video (Canon 500D, Nikon D5000, Pentax K-x etc) so the successor would make producing more GH1s pointless, unless of course the price of the successor is much higher and they make the GF1 the lowest price model....

haha guess I'm thinking too much, needed to get it out

 

[apicius9]

I was just getting ready to sell my body - aehh, my G1 body, that is - now I'm wondering if I should wait a little bit. Who knows want will come and whether it will be in my price range. I had never planned on having a G1 and a GH1, but somehow the G1 seems worth more to me than what I get for selling it used.

Stefan

 

[pellicle]

Wouldn't it be nice if what ever comes along has yet another battery system

 

[Brian Mosley]

What surprises me is all this talk of Panasonic having to clear stock... how did they go from 'not being able to satisfy the outrageous demand' to 'having to clear stock' overnight?

It seems to me, the ideal approach for Panasonic would be to simply produce a GH2 with the new sensor, and reduce the price of the GH1 to take the place of the G1.

I can't see any future panasonic m4/3rds cam not having video, so replacing the G1 with GF1 innards seems like a small step - probably just a continuation of the G1 for another small production run. Seems messy to me.

We'll know soon enough, I'm sure. Meanwhile, Godfrey has the right approach... go out and shoot with what we've got!

Cheers

Brian

 

[vincechu]

I guess I'm over thinking it ;-)

anyway heres a link to another thread, its called "New countdown on Panasonic site"... time to speculate some more!

http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13441

Interesting that the site with the countdown on it has a picture of the "discountinued G1" on it

http://www.panasonic.com.sg/lumixg/

Then at the link below it says "Join us to celebrate the launch of our new lumix G micro (exclusive to the lumix G and L series)" and then it says "be the first to see our new range of camera products"

http://www.panasonic.com.sg/lumixg/register.htm

So definately a new range of G and L slr's coming out?

Perhaps the L will be the mirrored camera panasonic filed patents for:

http://43rumors.com/ft3-panasonic-four-thirds-camera/

And of course the g1 successor and perhaps a few others as they said "range" which implies more than one right?

whatever happens I'm really excited about the micro four thirds format - has so much potential, hope Panasonic will build on their strong start!

 

[drxcm]

This is an exciting development. Hopefully we will see a new generation of sensor in the new range..