Panasonic Lumix GF1 fights back against Olympus E-P1

Pictures suggest a battle is coming

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6 August 2009 20:59 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The Olympus E-P1 micro four thirds camera could be about to get a new challenger from Panasonic, if images that have appeared on camera forums on the Internet are real.

Supposedly called the Panasonic Lumix GF1, the new compact camera looks to take on the same kind of styling as the Olympus E-P1 model recently released earlier in the year, but adds a pop up flash into a possibly smaller design.

Although details are incredibly sketchy, the new model from Panasonic could be an answer to the Olympus model, and see the battle between the two for dominance in the high-level compact camera market really heat up.

According to forum chatter, the pictures are from an internal PDF document from Panasonic.

The news comes as previous rumours circulated the Internet suggesting that Olympus was already working on an E-P2 model that would include a flash and possibly an optical viewfinder.

We will keep you posted.