Serious Compacts contributor Cristian Sorega has blogged a report from Photokina 2008. Like Wouter Brandsma, Cristian's report is focused on advanced compact cameras. Lots of good information and photos in there!

Links:
Photokina 2008 - Part 1 at Ricoh GR-Diary
Photokina 2008 - Part 2 at Ricoh GR-Diary

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Serious Compacts contributor Wouter Brandsma has blogged a report from Photokina 2008. There's lots of great information there, mainly from the perspective of a compact camera user.

• Which compact had Wouter saying "I made a few photographs at ISO 400 and ISO 800 and was amazed by the details and the amount of noise. Only some noise to be spotted in darker areas, but much better than my GX200"?
• How was the Panasonic G1 EVF?
• How does the LX3 feel compared with the D-LUX 4?
• Was there anything to learn about a digital Leica CL?
• Will the DP2 improve on any of the DP1 shortcomings?

Find out the answers to those questions and more at Wouter photoblog: Photokina 2008

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I've been closely following the "Photokina Rumors, Speculation and Predictions" posts over at 1001 Noisy Compacts. First came the "DSLR Speculation and Predictions". Next came "SuperZoom Speculation and Predictions". Each was followed by a teaser for the upcoming update on Power Compacts. Of course, they published this the one day I had no access to the internet =).

1001 Noisy Compacts is on top of the latest rumors and has some interesting and entertaining speculation as well. If you're interested in learning more about the serious compacts possibly yet to come this Photokina year, go read "Photokina 2008 Speculation: Power Compacts".

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In an exclusive interview with the Chinese website IT168.com, Panasonic confirmed its plans to release an updated model (or models?) to the DMC-LX2 this autumn. The interview, in Chinese, is here. Unfortunately I do not speak Chinese, so I had to rely on the Google translation. Here is an excerpt from the translated interview:

Answer: LX2 is a very successful product (laughter), Matsushita concerned friends all know, every year, we will release two new products on time, is a spring in the March-April, mainly published consumer and household-level Cameras and camcorders, and the other is the Jiushi Yue in the autumn, before and after National Day, will release high-end cameras and camera products. LX2 has launched such a long time, the market performance is also very good, we began immediately after the launch of the new models of research and development, the current can say is that the new models have basically completed in the autumn of this year and will meet you.

The short interview also contains some discussion of sensor type considerations and Panasonic's role in the DSLR market.

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Mayank Bhatnagar started a thread in our discussion area regarding Canon's plans to use new CMOS sensors in compact cameras. As some may recall, this news was announced last summer. Rumors are circulating that we will see the first Canon compacts with larger sensors in time for Photokina in September of this year. While we've yet to see any good evidence for these rumors, Gordon Buck has posted evidence at Light Description that we will at least see a new G-series Powershot this year. Could the G10 feature a CMOS sensor, somewhat larger than the sensors found in the G-series to date? Or, as some rumors have suggested, could we see two advanced compacts from Canon at Photokina - one a G9 replacement, the other incorporating a larger (?CMOS) sensor?

It is likely that Panasonic, Canon, and Ricoh will introduce replacements for the LX2, G9, and GX100, respectively, in time for Photokina. We have reason to believe that both Canon and Panasonic are working to implement larger sensor designs in compacts, though we don't know when these compacts will be available, nor do we know whether they will supplement or replace existing lines. If anyone has more information, let us know!

Update: The Popular Photography briefly posted a G10 announcement containing some of the specifications (link).

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If one is in the market for a current model compact camera with RAW capability and an optical zoom lens covering wide to telephoto, there are basically two choices, the Panasonic DMC-LX2 (including the Leica version, D-LUX 3) and the Ricoh Caplio GX100. Both of these are highly capable compact cameras. Recently, we have been providing quite a bit of GX100 coverage. To see some excellent work with the D-LUX 3, check out Jim Radcliffe's D-LUX 3 page here.

When faced with the prospect of buying one versus the other, I personally went for the GX100 due to its wider wide and, arguably, rawer RAW. I also liked having a hot shoe, mainly for the prospect of attaching an external viewfinder. However, the LX/D-LUX series has several notable strengths including a native 16:9 sensor, a format which I greatly enjoyed with the LX1. Since the "28mm equivalent" is based on the diagonal angle of view (AOV), a 16:9 format also means that the horizontal AOV at 28mm equivalent is significantly wider (and the vertical AOV significantly shorter) than it would be for a camera with a 4:3 aspect ratio. For a side-by-side view of the features offered by these two cameras, look to DPReview's feature comparison here.

The GX100 and LX2 offer widely distinct feature sets yet stand together and alone in their class. With these two cameras, Ricoh and Panasonic are leading the way with regards to what can be done with an excellent wide zoom lens and user access to RAW in a compact camera. The reason for this post is that we are hearing rumors (and in some cases more than just rumors) that both the GX100 and LX2 replacements will be introduced for Photokina in September. Panasonic made a point of holding back the LX2 replacement while introducing eight new models for PMA, and the Lets Go interview (via 1001 Noisy Cameras) suggests that Panasonic knows the importance of the LX2 in their lineup. Ichiro Kitao, Product Planning Manager Panasonic Optical Group, had the following to say when asked about the advanced compact camera market, particularly in relation to the Canon G9:

I think it is a very important segment. We have a camera in the pipeline for that segment; the Panasonic LX2. It is the year of the Photokina show so you can expect a lot from us. I suppose you can compare the Lumix LX2 to Canon's G9 camera. Not only the enhanced amateur is using this camera; we know that there are professionals too that use the Panasonic LX2 as an extra camera and for personal use. The concept of the Lumix LX2 is different than that of the PowerShot G9. We try to aim more at the emotional aspect of a compact camera. However; the possibilities of both cameras are quite alike.

Some have speculated that all we'll see is a couple of 12MP sensors thrown into the same old bodies, but I am more optimistic than that. Ricoh and Panasonic each have strong recent records of innovation. Invigorated by the introduction of the Sigma DP1 in the high end compact space, I believe both companies will come ready to battle for the advanced compact segment at Photokina this year. If Sigma brings out a DP series camera featuring a zoom lens, things will be even more interesting. What do you want to see in these upcoming serious compacts? Let us know in the thread over in the SeriousCompacts.com discussion forum on Flickr.

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