There’s speculation looming that Panasonic ditching Micro Four Thirds after announcing two full-frame cameras. However, Panasonic’s denied these rumors.
Barnabu Sykes from Panasonic spoke with Photogearnews and confidently claimed Panasonic “will never give up on Micro Four Thirds.” Even though Panasonic made a huge leap last month with the Lumix S1 and S1R, it seems that Micro Four Thirds is still important to the company.
There’s been speculation Panasonic will stop developing Micro Four Third products
Speculation was rising after Panasonic announced the full-frame mirrorless S1 and S1R. A few weeks ago, YouTuber Tony Northrup claimed that Panasonic will soon give up their line of Micro Four Thirds cameras. His reasoning for this prediction is based on the fact that it’d be too demanding for Panasonic to developing two different technologies.
“I predict that they will abandon [Micro Four Thirds] soon,” said Northrup. “… it would be ridiculous for Panasonic to be sort of developing these two systems simultaneously.” Northrup went on to say that it’s not that Panasonic couldn’t develop two systems at the same time. However, in this case Panasonic would only be putting in half its energies into the new system. Northrup stated that it would be a smart choice to ditch Micro Four Thirds and focus on the Full Frame format.
On the other hand, Fstoppers wrote an article about Northrup’s prediction and believes that Panasonic won’t be ditching the Mirco Four Thirds format. The article notes Panasonic is still showing commitment to the Micro Four Thirds format. For instance, the company recently announced a G Micro Four Thirds lens: the 10-25mm f/1.7.
Northrup responded to the article:
“According to Panasonic, they’ll “never” abandon [Micro Four Thirds]. But show me where Nikon announced they were abandoning the 1 series. Show me where Samsung announced they were abandoning NX, or Sony the A-mount. Or, Panasonic the Four-thirds mount. They never tell us; they just gradually release fewer products until they completely ghost us.”
Will Panasonic give up Micro Four Thirds? Maybe
The thing about the tech industry is that the standard is always advancing. We can’t tell you with full certainty that Panasonic will ax its Micro Four Thirds format. Is it possible Panasonic will eventually slow down the format’s inclusion? Maybe. All we can look at is Panasonic’s verbal commitment to the format and the fact that the company is still releasing Micro Four Third formatted products.
