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Panasonic digital SLR strip-tease continues

by Bob Crabtree on 28 February 2006, 12:03

Tags: Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1

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Steady as she goes


The world and its dog seems to recognise that 2006 will be The Year of the Digital SLR - with more manufacturers joining the fray and, we're presuming, price competition really starting to kick in. Panasonic has long been expected to be one of those firms coming onboard - a belief that dates right back to January last year when the company made a joint announcement with Olympus about co-operating on the development of "interchangeable-lens type digital SLR cameras" (see the original release on the last page of this article).

Clearly, though, Panasonic is not one for rushing things, judging by the fact that it's still not brought anything to market and its latest pronouncement on the topic, made on Sunday at the PMA show in Florida, still gives no launch date or pricing details.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 digital SLR

This is in sharp contrast with its development partner. Olympus currently has a four-model digital SLR range and announced early last month the March introduction of what looks like the first full fruits of the collaboration - the E-330, a £900 DSLR camera described as being the first with continuous live view.

That's one of the features that Panasonic newcomer, the DMC-L1, will share, along with what we think is a Panasonic-created 7.5 million pixels MOS sensor and Olympus’s Supersonic Wave Filter - said to keep the sensor free of dust by generating ultra-high-speed vibrations each time the camera is switched on, "literally shaking the dust off and capturing it to prevent recontamination".

Check out the latest revelation in Panasonic's DSLR strip-tease, then let us know your thoughts in the HEXUS.community.

Oh, and don't forget to turn over for that Jan 2005 joint release...