D-Photo: Where was Panasonic 15 years
ago, and what was its flagship product at
the time?
Andrew Reid: Fifteen years ago, Panasonic
was really just beginning its journey as a
camera brand. It was busy working on how
compact it could make a compact camera,
with models such as the FX2 and FX7,
while also working on some of the early
super-zoom cameras, such as the FZ20
and FZ3, both of which sported 12x zoom
and constant f/2.8 lenses.
What are some of the major
developments the Panasonic has had
since then?
A lot. Panasonic has led the market in putting
wider angle lenses and higher magnification
lenses into compacts. The current TZ220
leads the market with 15x zoom on a one-
inch sensor in a pocketable camera!
In 2008, Panasonic led the industry
into the world of mirrorless with the
DMC-G1 — the world’s first mirrorless
camera. It then continued to pioneer
by being the first to add touch AF to its
interchangeable-lens camera — now an
industry standard. The GH4 was the first
mirrorless camera to feature 4K video;
the GH5 continued down this path, being
the first mirrorless with 4K 60p and
10-bit video. Finally, Panasonic entered
the full-frame market this year with the S1
and S1R, featuring the highest resolution
EVF [electronic viewfinder] ever put in a
camera. The S1 is also the first full-frame
camera to record 10-bit internally.
Last year, Panasonic announced the
L-Mount Alliance; can you tell us a
bit about this, and what it means for
your products?
Panasonic has always been a
proponent of standards — HDMI, SD
Card, Micro Four Thirds — and the
L-Mount Alliance continues this. Instead of
having a closed mount that does not allow
compatibility with other manufactures,
both L-Mount and the Micro Four Thirds
set the standards needed for development
on these systems and guarantee
compatibility. This allows better confidence
for customers over what will work, as well as
increased competition in the same mount,
leading to increased innovation and price
competitiveness for end users.
We’ve recently heard the exciting news
of Panasonic’s new S1H full-frame
mirrorless. How does it differ from the
S1 and S1R we saw earlier this year,
and when can we expect to see it in
New Zealand?
Yes, it is very exciting. As it is under
development, there is little we can say, but
it’s the first full-frame interchangeable-
lens camera to feature a full 3:2 sensor
read-out and support for 4:3 anamorphic
video in this sensor size, short of going
to very high-end cinema cameras. It will
also support V-Log, with 14-plus stops
of dynamic range and 10-bit video with
internal recording, and no recording limits.
More will be announced at a later date.
The S1H is a very different approach from
the S1 and S1R; the latter were developed
as tools for still photographers who
needed some enhanced video capability,
but the majority of the engineering was
focused on making the best still cameras
possible. The S1H, however, is, first and
foremost, a cinema hybrid camera. This
could mean it would be used as a strict
cinema camera or as a stills/video shooter
for those who need a unit that is at the top
of its game in both categories, as it will still
excel in stills shooting. It should arrive in
New Zealand next spring.
Where does your focus lie next? Where
do you see the major developments takingplace, and what sort of changes will the
photographic industry have to make?
Panasonic’s focus will continue to be on
growing the Micro Four Thirds in terms
of market size and product range for the
photographers/videographers who prioritize
portability and high-quality imaging, while
also expanding our new Lumix S system in
the New Zealand market and offering the
unique solutions that this system offers.
I believe that the current development
ground is looking at what AI technologies
can be implemented and how they can be
applied to photography. We are seeing a lot
of computational photography technology
being implemented in smaller sensor devices
and need to look at what that means to
more serious photographic tools. Also,
technologies such as deep learning are
making it possible to have cameras more
aware of their environment and [able to]
adapt. This is going to lead to some very
powerful tools for image creation and is
exciting so see.
The global trend of photography is going back
to a more professional/enthusiast market as
phones have taken the majority of the casual
happy-snap market. As an industry, we
need to continue to support local industry
and businesses, who put back into the local
market, and not send our dollars overseas;
otherwise, we will end up with no local
industry to support New Zealand creatives.PANASONIC