The italian photographer Gianni Galassi just sent us his wishlist for future MicroFourThirds cameras. Do you agree with him?
“Considering that I’m really happy with my GF1, here is what my
Ideal-Micro-Four-Thirds-Camera should be like.

SENSOR: a square 4000×4000. Remember 6×6 cameras? They cleverly exploit the whole circle of illumination transmitted by the lens. It’s silly to crop out the upper and lower 500 raws of usable pixels only because we are accustomed to rectangular TV and computer screens. Imagine having the opportunity of a portrait/landscape option without rotating your camera (no need of add-on grips). Or a gorgeous in-camera “full frame” square. Exciting.

MECHANICAL INTERFACE: in addition to the mode dial, I need exposure-compensation and ISO dials as well. I hate fiddling in the menus, even in the so-called “quick menus” (which generally aren’t quick at all). Under this point of view, Canon G10 and G11 are a paragon every designer should imitate.

MEMORY CARDS: given the small SD card’s size, two slots (RAID 0 or 1 configurable) would be welcome.

ON-OFF SWITCH: absolutely around the release button. Nikon is the paragon here. Nobody else does better.

VIDEO: Who needs it? If I had the choice to buy the same camera with video or without video at the same price, I’d pick the latter with no hesitation, though I’m aware almost nobody shares my opinion on this matter.

MENU: please, please, make it simple! I hate crawling between zillions of unuseful options which are there only because they help marketing people extend camera’s feature list at no-cost. Good designers must responsibly take their decisions. Offloading on the buyer the choice between too many options is unfair. By the way, the card-format menu is always hidden in some crazy location.

FLASH: I don’t think I have ever used the built-in flash of my cameras. GF1 has a ridiculous one.

VIEWFINDER: if I only used short focals, I’d be ok with a (costly) Contax G-style optical zooming viewfinder. But for medium-long lenses an electroni viewfinder is fundamental. The add-on Panasonic’s LVF1 does not bother me at all, but I wouldn’t mind a built in viewfinder, at the left corner of the body, taking the place now occupied by the collapsible flash. I could even accept a slightly higher (not wider) body for that. Speaking of electronic viewfinders, a huge improvement is to be expected in the next couple of years, IMHO.

STRAP LUGS: I’d prefer round ones, giving the possibility to easily remove a strap, equipped with spring catches.

SKIN: I definitely like the reassuring Canon G10 finish. It gives the photographer a good grip even when he wears gloves. And it’s gorgeous, too. The GF1 body is a little too glabrous and slippery for my taste. Moreover, efforts should be made to get rid of all those white or golden crappy writings and labels in the front panel of the camera. A plain matte black body is all we need.”

Visit his website at www.giannigalassi.com

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UPDATE: The very known photographer Mark Marano wrote:
“I especially agree with the square format.. the multi-aspect ratio introduced in the GH1 is a great idea, but why not make the square format the largest (or I’d even work with a sensor that’s bigger than the image circle – that may not happen, but would be interesting to use with larger format lenses with adapters!) RAID is interesting if it could be implemented properly without extra work on the effort of the user (or better yet, something like BeyondRaid found in Drobo/DroboPro) I disagree about video as I’m interested in motion work, and am interested to see future development in this area.. What we really need is something small, solid, mechanical, even with a mirror – how about a Nikon FA (or any other similar compact manual focus SLR) with a digital back? (I’ve been desiring such a camera since the beginning of this era of digital photography!) That’s what I really miss about the film world – the ‘feel’ of a solid, simple, intuitive, yet capable camera – more dials for photographic functions (bring back the aperture ring!) and less having to rely on digital menus or put up with the limitations of focus-by-wire! Despite the uses of a live view, photography just doesn’t feel the same if you’re not looking through the lens and can’t see the image come into and go out of focus as you feel the manual focus ring twisting between your fingers…” target=”_blank”>Marc Marano added his comment to Gianni’s wishlist:
“great ideas!

I especially agree with the square format.. the multi-aspect ratio introduced in the GH1 is a great idea, but why not make the square format the largest (or I’d even work with a sensor that’s bigger than the image circle – that may not happen, but would be interesting to use with larger format lenses with adapters!)

RAID is interesting if it could be implemented properly without extra work on the effort of the user (or better yet, something like BeyondRaid found in Drobo/DroboPro)

I disagree about video as I’m interested in motion work, and am interested to see future development in this area..

What we really need is something small, solid, mechanical, even with a mirror – how about a Nikon FA (or any other similar compact manual focus SLR) with a digital back? (I’ve been desiring such a camera since the beginning of this era of digital photography!) That’s what I really miss about the film world – the ‘feel’ of a solid, simple, intuitive, yet capable camera – more dials for photographic functions (bring back the aperture ring!) and less having to rely on digital menus or put up with the limitations of focus-by-wire!

Despite the uses of a live view, photography just doesn’t feel the same if you’re not looking through the lens and can’t see the image come into and go out of focus as you feel the manual focus ring twisting between your fingers…”

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As you know we don’t get paid by Panasonic or Olympus for working daily on 43rumors.

Thanks your support we can be free to talk about news and rumors. You are our boss!

If you are a usual amazon buyer you can help us by bookmarking our amazon links. Once you click on them if you purchase something in Amazon (it doesn’t matter what) we get a small commission for it. The cool thing is that you don’t pay any penny more and 43rumors can enjoy some help!

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The italian photographer Gianni Galassi just wrote a article the future of digital cameras. Interesting, he switched from Nikon to MicroFourThirds!

Many Leica user will be disappointed when they will read following text:

“IMHO Micro 4/3 can really be considered as the Third-Millennium Leica (whereas M8 and M9 can not). Image quality is there, along with lighter and smaller bodies, easier to build lenses (thanks to their reduced size), and all the possibilities of an almost open source system, which will help keeping the prices low. I made a rule of always carrying a camera with me.”

and:

“By the way, I use a point-and-shoot pocket-size ten mpixel Panasonic TZ65 every now and then. In my next exhibition there will be at least one photograph made with that camera. I promise I will make a gift of that photograph to the first visitor who will guess which one it is.”

I fully agree with what he is saying!

P.S.: I contacted him and he promised me to show us soon new images taken with the

Good moring!
I just found a very cool website which shows you the best Photography Hacks of 2009. You should absolutely check it ou!
Click here: lifehacker.com

We already knew it! Professional photographer does shoot with Fullframe Canon/Nikon cameras. They make the good photography and we make the bad photography.

Ok! Canon and Nikon users stop reading here ok? Don’t go further, your ego might suffer if you continue reading ;)

Let’s talk about real photography:
I was reading an article at TheOnlinePhotographer about the famous photographer Gianni Galassi. After that I visited Gianni’s blog and found an interesting line: “blablabla….Having recently adopted Micro 4/3…..blablabla”. He has started his career by shooting with MicroFourThirds cameras! Maybe he doesn’t know that MicroFourThirds don’t have a fullframe sensor inside? ;)

P.S: I have nothing against Canon/Nikon users, but I feel sorry for those who think that the camera or brand has a decisive influence on the quality of photography!

UPDATE: here you have the link to one picture taken with the Panasonic G1.
Galassi has been so friendly to visit our website and write a comment to our post:

“Unfortunately I’m not starting my photographic career now. I took my first pictures when I was a kid in the Sixties, using a 6X6 Eura Ferrania. My first reflex was a Canon FT, but I soon switched to Nikon (it was the “cool” camera then). After becoming a pro, I shot with 5×4 inch Arca and Linhof view cameras, 6×6 Rollei and Hasselblad and 35 mm Leica MP-4 and CL (an unforgettable little gem). I only made color transparencies and b/w negative. The latter developed, printed and finished by myself in my own lab.
When I stopped commercial assignments I kept my Leicas for personal photography. I entered the digital era scanning my b/w negatives and then editing them in the early versions of Photoshop. I turned towards digital capture only when a reliable sensor was available: the 6 mpixel Sony adopted, among others, by Nikon for its D100 and D70. And by Epson for its R-D1 viewfinder M-bayonet body, which was my choice as a natural Leica digital dub in 2004. Great camera.
Then came Nikon D200 and D300. Good cameras indeed, but definitely too heavy and bulky for my habits. Oh, there has also been a Leica M8, but I sold it after a couple of weeks).
When M4/3 appeared at least, I found it was a promising successor of my film Leicas. I tested a G1, and that confirmed my opinion: a good quality 12 mpixel is enough to get excellent exhibition-range prints. IMHO it can be considered as the 35 mm of the digital age. And the first GF1 in Rome has been mine. It reminds me of my old Leica CL. Definitely my kind of camera. Apart from the GF1, I have a Canon G10, which I like too. And sometimes I enjoy some shooting with a Lumix TZ65. My whole equipment can now be stored in a Micro-Trekker shoulder bag. Three lenses, spare batteries, chargers, filters, cards and a mini tripod included. And my iPod. How refreshing.”

Thanks Gianni!