I love Panasonic and the innovation they have brought to the market ever since the start of their Leica partnership in the early 2000s. They are pioneers and the result is that boring Canon are on 35% share of the market Panasonic started, and Panasonic is on a pathetic 2.5%. This clearly isn’t long term viable and I am starting to wonder if Panasonic have soft quit the market. Today was a very strange launch, and the last chance in 2024 to get new gear out for the busy November/December period. Today there was no S1 Mark II. Instead, the very old Lumix S5 OG got re-released with DJI drone compatibility, in Europe only! Who asked for this? Rather than an exciting new S1H Mark II – we got an S9 kit lens launch. This is to be a full frame 18-40mm zoom, very compact (which I applaud since mirrorless lenses are getting far too heavy) but the trade off is that it is uselessly slow – F4.5-6.3. Again, and like with the strange pancake at launch – I don’t know who Panasonic thinks is begging them to shoot at 40mm F6.3. Who is it for? The S1R Mark II meanwhile (SL3 with a Lumix badge), remains missing in action since 6 years now. This is not a normal time frame for a camera. This is a normal time frame for a cancelled product. When Sony released the RX1R Mark II full frame compact, it was crystal clear come...
Published By: EOSHD.com blog - Tuesday, 8 October