http://www.dpreview.com/news/0809/08091202panasonic_DMC_
G1.asp Panasonic’s new rangefinder-like G1 camera—interchangeable lenses like a DSLR, but without the pentaprism and mirror, and hence smaller and quieter. I’ve never understood why DSLRs even bothered to exist in a digital age. When images were recorded on film, it helped to be able to preview what you were going to get when you released the shutter via the SLR’s mirror and prism, but with digital, you can read the data directly off the sensor. For some reason I don’t quite understand, the fast autofocus technique used in SLRs (phase detection AF) can only be implemented with the SLR design but apparently the G1’s contrast detection AF (as used in all compact cameras) is almost as fast. (I still think I’ll get the LX3, though.) 12:03