Panasonic: Focus now on pro market. Redefining G series. Olympus rules out hybrid OVF/EVF.

Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine

Last week Panasonic Mangers Michiharu Uematsu and Yoshiyuki Inoue have been interviewed by the DPreview team and they admitted that they are rethinking the whole G product strategy. Today DSLRmagazine (translation here) also posted an interview with Mr. Uematsu and another part with Mr. Terada from Olympus. Here are the key info:

Panasonic:
– When asked if the new Kodak-JK Imaging MFT camera couldn’t bee lower the image of the Micro Four Thirds system (because of the Chinese manufacturer) the answer was “no”. Kodak has a big name.
– The GH3 is a clearly positioned product while the rest of the G MFT series isn’t. There is a huge competition and there is no clear target about what kind of features and specs the future G cameras should have.
– Different countries also like different cameras. So it’s hard to develop and make a universal G camera.
– Uematsu believes that there will be a considerable group of DSLR owners that will switch on High End Mirrorless cameras. 43rumros note: It clearly sounds once again that Panasonic wants to play a role in the (semi-)pro digital camera world.
– The good news is that Panasonic lens sales are good and particularly the two constant zooms are welling well.
Olympus:
– A Tilt Shift lens has very low priority for Olympus.
– It is highly Unlikelye that a Optical Viewfinder with a Digital Trans Panel like the one used by the Fuji X20 is going to be used by Olympus.

One more thing: Terada also explained that the ideal time for product launch is Spring and Autumn. That’s why there were no new MFT camera announced for the CP+ show. So let’s wait for spring and the new PEN with built-in EVF :)
And…what are your thoughts on those news coming from Panasonic and Olympus?