Panasonic Lumix GX1 price, release date, and specs

If you’ve been waiting for a golden opportunity to grab a Micro Four Thirds camera, now’s your chance. Amazon is selling the black Panasonic Lumix GX1 for just $395 — a heavy discount from the camera’s retail price of $699.99, and at least $100 cheaper than competitors like B&H. Amazon is also providing a deep discount on the GX1 14-42mm kit lens package, which is on sale for $492.95. The mirrorless camera has a 16.01 megapixel Live MOS sensor, and supports Lumix G / Leica DG lenses — so you should have plenty of options for blowing those extra savings on accessories.

The GX1 features a quick Light Speed AF allowing it to autofocus in about 0.09 seconds and a new AF Flexible mode locks the focus when the shutter is half-pressed. The camera captures images in RAW format, if you want, and video in 1,920 x 1,080 / 60i AVCHD (or MP4 format) with an intelligent auto mode to keep things simple.

Watch the video below for a three-minute overview of the GX1’s features, then click the comparison image to see how it matches up with its Lumix peers spec-for-spec.

Panasonic has placed intro and demo videos for the Micro Four Thirds DMC-GX1 on its website, just in time to whet our appetites for the camera’s rumored November 8th announcement. The intro video confirms previous leaks of a built-in flash,16-megapixel sensor from the Panasonic G3, and an improved imaging engine we now know is called “Venus.” The camera also has the interchangeable X lenses we’ve been expecting and a roughly 1.44-megapixel attachable viewfinder option. We’ll find out if it lives up to the promise of out-shooting any previous Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera when we get our hands on one; in the meantime, hit the source for the rest of the videos.

It’s a rare camera that makes it to market without getting leaked, and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1 is not one of those — as you can see from this leaked pic, it just happens to be a stunning black Micro Four Thirds shooter paired with one of the amazingly compact X-series lenses Panasonic introduced a few months back. The shots, out of Taiwan’s Mobile01 forum, don’t reveal much about the innards beyond a retractable flash, stereo microphones, full HD video recording and the lack of an electronic viewfinder, but rumors detailed some other possibilities a few days ago. Reportedly, it’ll have a 16-megapixel sensor, a new and improved image processor, and up to 12,800 ISO. Expect to hear some official details next month, and you might as well circle November 8th on your calendar. One more pic below, and plenty more at our source link.

[Thanks, Zeo]

4/3 Rumors’ sources have been hands on with the rumored Panasonic GX1, and they say that it’ll have a new and improved processor inside a high quality body — the image above is a mockup from Livedoor Blog. According to the report, the image quality improvement will beat out any Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera to date, even though the GX1 has the same 16-megapixel image sensor as the older Panasonic G3. It’s an interesting move — the G3 has an excellent reputation for capturing detail, and the new processor is said to improve low-light performance above ISO 1600, all the way to ISO 12800.