Panasonic unveiled the awaiting GF1 successor – Lumix DMC GF2. This Micro Four Thirds camera is the lightest and one of the smallest interchangeable lens camera in the world and is 19% smaller than previous GF1 model. The camera has solid aluminum body, powerful pop up flash, 460,000-dot 3-inch touchscreen LCD, records 1080i video and is compatible with Panasonic’s 3D interchangeable lens, making it capable of taking great depth 3D photos.

Inside GF2 is powered by Venus Engine FHD, featuring exceptional high performance processing in photo and movie recording. The engine incorporates advanced noise reduction system with 3D NR and CNR (Chromatic Noise Reduction), so users can capture clear, naturally-balanced images even when shooting at high ISO and low lights scenes.

The camera can record 1080i or 720p video at 60fps in AVCHD or HD Motion JPEG and WVGA, QVGA and VGA at lower resolutions. The focusing system is improved to a 23-points focus, 1-area AF with a selectable focus area, Face Detection, and AF Tracking that gives precision like top Canon and Nikon DSLRs. Image sensor is 12.1-megapixel Live MOS sensor with build Dust Reduction System for clean lens interchange. We are little skeptic of integrated sensor even that Panasonic claims that is best of both worlds – the superb image quality of a CCD sensor plus the lower power consumption of a CMOS sensor. We usually want to hang out with CMOS DSLR cameras becouse they give better photo results. But that is only opinion, the real result will be available soon after GF2 camera photo tests.

The new camera menus are smartly organized to short the time spent for menu navigation. With the LUMIX GF2′s newly-designed Touch Q-menu, the user can customize the camera’s shortcuts by commonly used settings, and together with the simple button components, including dedicated buttons for video recording, users can operate the camera intuitively and easy.

The GF2 will ship in a variety of colors with lens kit with either an 18mm f2.5 lens or Panasonic’s 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 standard zoom. Both are unofficially expected to cost around $900 and will hit the stores in January 2011.

Tags | camera, digital, panasonic, Technology News