Panasonic's Freshly Announced Lumix GF5 Comes To Grips (Literally)

Panasonic has just announced the Lumix DMC-GF5, their latest entry-level Micro Four Thirds camera and upgrade to the previous DMC-GF3. We’re glad to see that the trend for further downsizing seems to have come to a halt, with the GF5 maintaining roughly the same proportions of its predecessor. On the contrary — Panasonic have even made it a bit larger, by adding a more pronounced, rubberized grip similar to that on the new GX1.

So, what else is new? The sensor is claimed to be “new”, yet retains a useful pixel count of 12.1 million. The screen’s resolution has gone up, from 460,000 to 920,000 pixels, which seems to be one of the actually useful improvements (besides the grip.) Not so useful, and probably more about marketing than anything else, is the new high-ISO limit of 12,800, as opposed to the previous 6,400. The new Venus Engine VII HD2 processor, however, has a new noise reduction algorithm called 3DNR (“3D noise reduction system”), which sounds great and will surely improve the camera’s high-ISO performance significantly just with its cool name.

The Lumix DMC-GF5 will be available in black, white and red later this year in the following kit options: Body with 14-42mm standard zoom lens will have a suggested retail price (SRP) of $599; body with 14-42mm power zoom lens will have an SRP of $749.

For full specs and more pictures, continue after the jump.