By 
Cameraphones are a small, but growing, part of the smartphone market. I’m not talking about simply a phone with a camera on it. No, these are cameras with a phone inside. Samsung was one of the first Android OEMs to do it with their Galaxy Camera line. The problem with those devices is they are bulky and not that great at being a camera. Panasonic is trying to do both of those things better with their new Lumix CM1.
Panasonic doesn’t make smartphones anymore, but the Lumix CM1 is much more a camera first. It has a 1-inch sensor like you would find on a full-blown camera. It has 20MP resolution, a f/2.8 Leica lens, mechanical shutter, manual control ring, oh, and Android 4.4 KitKat. The phone side of things is powered by a 2.3GHz Snapdragon processor, and it has a nice 4.7-inch 1080p dispaly, 2GB of RAM, 16GB built-in storage, microSD card slot, and it’s not ridiculously thick.
The Lumix CM1 is 21mm thick, which is actually thicker than the Galaxy Camera 2. The Lumix is boxier, which makes it look thinner and less like a camera. Panasonic says it will go on sale in France and Germany this November at a price of around 900 euros. If all goes well in those countries we could see it here in North America. We love the look of this cameraphone. Would you be interested in buying this device?
[via The Verge]
I want it
For 900 Euros? Thats almost $1200. Ridiculous. I can buy a great mid range DLSR for that price, and if I’m doing just cheesy point and shoot, a smartphone works.
I don’t see that becoming very popular.
Agree with you on a limited market appeal. However, a point and shoot won’t have a f/2.8 Leica and a mid range Dslr won’t fit in your pocket.
Nikon Coolpix A, DX sensor size f/2.8 lens for $900… I think Pannie may have gone overboard in the specs dept. I don’t think people will want to pay for an overachieving camera. Sony is going in the right direction with their QX1, APS-C sensor and you choose the lens and use the phone you have, in the future they could release a dedicated LCD/WIFI/Android device to made it a dedicated ‘smart’ camera. If they fleshed this lineup out to be a modular camera system with DSLR sensors to mirrorless 4/3rd sensors that support standard existing lenses and a good/better/best or byop option for controlling the sensor/lens combo they’d be lightyears ahead of the competition
don’t rely on exchange rates for games and electronics.
often US prices are considerable lower than EU prices.
i once did some calculations to get an indication of the price for an HP tablet/laptop(from before everyone had android tablets)
it would’ve cost €1000 when bought here, and about €700 if imported(including import fees, shipping, and a replacement charger)
1-inch sensor definitely has me intrigued but a little turned off by the f2.8 lens. No matter what, this is better than what Samsung offers. Much sexier too.
I’ll be honest and say that I don’t want it. But, even at a $1200 price point, if it came to the US I’d get it for my wife. Switch carriers if I had to.
It would likely be less than that if it comes here, I would guess around $900 to $1000 approx (rough estimate). Generally, I look at the price in euros as the dollar amount.
I always liked the idea of a real camera phone but it just seems hard to execute. This definitely looks nice but it would be hard to justify such a price with a manufacturer that is new to the smartphone market.
That being said I really hope they get some traction with this because it looks great. I don’t mind some extra bulk if it has a great camera, but please put in some extra battery too!
“Panasonic doesn’t make smartphones anymore…”
They used to be in the smartphone game and made some pretty great devices, granted they never made it to the West.
Panasonic makes slot of quality products that tend to be overlooked or not in the Americas market. Must be their marketing teams fault or something.
Good to know, yeah I was not aware that they had released anything before.
If I had the extra money I would get this. Looks very sleek and packs a pretty good punch for photos. I love my Panasonic cameras, we have 3 in our household.
i wonder how well this one zooms.
it looks nice and certainly has good specs, but it’s also twice the price of a k zoom and doesn’t seem to have as much optical zoom.
the galaxy zoom series and this phone target very different markets.
the galaxy zoom is aimed at anyone who wants to carry a simple camera and a smartphone at all times.
this camera looks to be aimed at professional photographers who have a huge expensive camera with exchangeable lenses as main camera, and this one for when a big camera is inconvenient.
No sample pics?
If only this were a full smartphone…I love my Panasonic Lumix camera that I use for work.
I’d buy that in a heartbeat. My first smart phone was the Samsung Memoir.
@Chris Chaves:disqus (because i can’t tag Joe) The article fails to point out that 1 inch is HUGE ! Compact cameras usually have a 1/2.3 or 1/1.7 inch sensor. The only compact cameras with 1 inch sensors are the Sony RX100 (800$) series and the yet to be released Canon Powershot G7X (700$).
@Gamercore:disqus (because i can’t tag Joe) The article fails to point out that 1 inch is HUGE ! Compact cameras usually have a 1/2.3 or 1/1.7 inch sensor. The only compact cameras with 1 inch sensors are the Sony RX100 (800$) series and the yet to be released Canon Powershot G7X (700$). PS the tag is somewhat broken
I don’t mind some extra bulk if it has a great camera, but please put in some extra battery too!
great camera and all but I still just can’t get behind these devices.. :/