Well, it is May 2016 ...

[maltmoose]

I was kinda holding out for a GM7. I have the GM1 and its great but i miss a few features, mostly useablity like twin dials.

I dont have the GX7 but have an E-P5 which is superior to the GM1 in most every way yet i still find myself grabbing the GM1 and a small lens when i go out for a day with the misuses. I have the incredible VF-4 and really should take this on the sunny days but makes the E-P5 even more cumbersome and still end up with the GM1.

I still love the E-P5 but I was not expecting this. Whilst the GX80 ticks most of the boxes of what i want, silent shutter, EVF, twin dials, tilt screen, 4k, hopefully better AF and possibly higher IQ?

I'm concerned that i still may preference the GM1 if the IQ/AF/usability isnt noticeably improved on the GX80 over the GM1 and hopefully the size weight doesnt prove too much on the GX80 which is similar to E-P5.

I would also be really interested what features/advantages the GM5 has over the GM1, i only really know of the EVF, slight extra thumb grip and panorama? but must be more to it than that. quick edit, oh and the dial..

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Kind of the polar opposite of those big and beautiful 4/3s SHG lenses. I agree, there's a market, and the R&D costs HAVE been amortized, but is it worth the assembly line space/time? I ask that rhetorically, because I don't know the answer.

Well I don't know the answer either and the accounting is complex. Lets talk in AUD$ (AUD$1.00 - US$0.75) My guess in very rough figures that parts might be $100 in bulk and assembly another $100. But there is the cost of re-setting the assembly line, storage and distribution of stock, marketing, corporate overhead and whether it impinges on the marketing of other product that might return a better profit margin for investment of scarce capital. It could not be done in small batches as the cost of setting up would be too high. So it would presuppose steady demand. Lets make a complete and utter guess that perhaps 100% mark up on base cost could perhaps make it worth while for Panasonic. Add another 50% for distributer and dealer mark up and we get roughly what the GM5 is selling for in Oz today ($600). If Panasonic are happier with less than their 100% mark up it could be cheaper. If any of my figures are incorrect as they will surely be then the principle is good.

The original R&D cost would ideally be covered in the (say) first 100,000 units sold at a premium price.

The more major cost sensor would be covered across a wider range of cameras that it could be used in and as one that had been around a good while it would be pretty cheap. Much of the GM5 R&D would be joint with the GM1 and already well amortised before the GM5 arrived on the scene.

Unfortunately the constant thrust for the new makes an older model less attractive. But thinking heads will wonder just what can be changed in the GM1/GM5 without adding bulk (not a lot). This camera cannot cope with feature creep because as soon as extra features are dialled in it becomes a quite different camera concept (becomes larger).

So what is posisble with a very useful tiny camera - bring out the (low) price weapon. With no R&D to amortise parts becoming cheaper in on-going bulk sales and the assembly better understood and optimised this camera could become the Box Brownie of the digital camera market. Furthermore its very small size beckons photographers to own more than one body (as I do).

Of course what Panasonic will actually do is entirely up to Panasonic.

As I don't know what they might do I stocked up on GM5 bodies as they are certainly good enough for me and if it truly continues in production the price is unlikely to fall much more.

To improve the GM5 can only be by replacing parts, not by adding to them - unless by some miracle the parts can be made smaller. But realise that the extra weight of the GX80 over the GX7 is probably the IBIS and new shutter mechanism. That proportionate extra weight in a GM5 even if it could retain the same exterior dimensions would be huge.

If I'm not carrying mine separately (it's in my briefcase here are work, as we speak), I pair it with my E-M5/12-40. The GTM-5 has my Oly 45/1.8. It's almost perfect and takes up next to no space. I just have to remember that's there's no OIS with that solution. I know...Pany has the lens-based solution, but the Oly is the lens I have. And mine is sooo much fun wide open or at f/2.....

 

[brentbrent]

I was kinda holding out for a GM7. I have the GM1 and its great but i miss a few features, mostly useablity like twin dials.

Hey, Tom Caldwell can clear up your confusion. The GM7 is HERE!!!! It was mistakenly labeled by Panasonic as the GX85, but it truly is the GM7, since it was released about the time that The Rumors foretold the release of the GM7.

What's that? You say it's WAY BIGGER than the GM1 and GM5 and looks more like an update of the GX7? Uhhh, I'm gonna have to let Tom explain all of that to you. ;-)

 

[Tom Caldwell]

I was kinda holding out for a GM7. I have the GM1 and its great but i miss a few features, mostly useablity like twin dials.

Hey, Tom Caldwell can clear up your confusion. The GM7 is HERE!!!! It was mistakenly labeled by Panasonic as the GX85, but it truly is the GM7, since it was released about the time that The Rumors foretold the release of the GM7.

What's that? You say it's WAY BIGGER than the GM1 and GM5 and looks more like an update of the GX7? Uhhh, I'm gonna have to let Tom explain all of that to you. ;-)