Panasonic concentrate on Micro Four Thirds

Olympus and Panasonic have both been developing Micro Four Thirds Systems and Panasonic have said this is where their efforts will remain for the moment.

This decision suggests they could be leaving the Four Thirds System behind.

In a statement to ePHOTOzine, Fiona Gaitens from Panasonic UK said: "If the market requirement exists there is nothing to stop us developing four thirds cameras in the future.  But currently all of our resources have been concentrated on developing the Micro Four Thirds system."

Four thirds fans shouldn't panic just yet as Olympus are not going down the same path and will continue to produce this sort of camera.

Mark Thackara, General Marketing and Imaging Manager for Olympus said: "We believe we will be stronger with a twin range strategy. Think about the car market. A one range company has limitations in potential business and therefore in long term investment. Those that have done best have several ranges aimed at different sectors. They can develop in stages and invest more. Some aspects are shared, new technology used in all. This is true to an extent with the differing ranges of conventional SLR's and compacts but if you can expand your market reach further, so much the better."

He added: "We will continue to develop 4/3 systems as highlighted by the EA1 which was previewed at Photokina. We continue to see a demand for both styles of product."

Panasonic hope to use the Micro Four Thirds system in a range of cameras and they have already announced that a follow up to the G1 will be released with a video feature.