Gerald Undone vs Panasonic controversy

As you all know Influencers get early access from companies. The question is how this influences the honesty of their reviews. Gerald Undone shared his “bad” experience with Panasonic. He complains the marketing team wasn’t happy with his S5 review and therefore was cut out from the announcement loop. But at the same time he says Panasonic told him the S9 was not a kind of camera he would like to review…so Panasonic actually came back to him and this is what makes the story a bit unclear to me.

Sean Robinson answered “indirectly” to Gerald in this video:

And also Chris and Jordan from Dpreview shared their opinion:

CineD also gave a very honest feedback:

What are your thoughts on this?

SURPRISE: New Lumix camera announcement on June 5?

Our reader Jakub sent me a link to a ‘leaked’ information about a new camera. Now, if I shared this link publicly someone would get in trouble and probably get fired. So I’m keeping it under wraps for now, unless some other website publishes it and forces me to report it. In essence, this ‘leak’ tells us this:

  • On 5 June Panasonic will announce a new camera.
  • This camera will NOT be Full Frame

I see three options:

  • It will be a new MFT camera
  • A compact fixed-lens camera (possibly the successor to the LX100).
  • It is an APS-C L-mount (I think this is very unlikely).

We know that Panasonic has registered three new Lumix cameras in China. One is for the new Lumix S9. The other two cameras have yet to be announced. it sounds pretty unusual for Panasonic to unveil a new camera two weeks only after the major S9 announcement. But the “leak” seems pretty accurate to me. I still don’t know what to expect, all I got is info from a new source saying this is a new MFT camera…but this is not a confirmed info yet.

Please drop me a message at lrumorscameras@gmail.com or use this contact box if you have some more info to share! Stay tuned folks!

 

You can now install the new Panasonic LUMIX Lab

You can now install it from the Google Play store.

Our read Ryan told me:

After playing with it I see the app gives you the ability to share any downloaded LUTs using the standard Android share menu. This means you can email them or upload them to cloud storage like Google Drive. Then you can use them in desktop apps (Photoshop, Resolve, etc) or copy them to cameras not currently supported by the Lab App. 

Big marketing fail: Panasonic has used Stock photos shot on other camera to promote the new Lumix S9

FukuiAsobiWeb spotted quite an incredible marketing mistake made by Panasonic. The company used stock photos shot on Canon/Nikon and other Panasonic cameras to promote the new Lumix S9 (see the example above shot on the Canon EOS 5DsR). While Panasonic disclosed that not all images were shot on the S9 this is a major fail. The good news is that Panasonic Japan was quick in responding and issued the following note (google translated at the bottom).

My take, other companies did this ins the past, so this is not an “exclusivity” from Panasonic. But my position on this is clear: Always use images shot on the camera fro two reasons:

  1. Rarely somebody reads the notes in a long press text and production page
  2. And it damn looks bad if you need images shot on other cameras to promote your new camera!

The Press text from Panasonic (google translated)

About the images on the LUMIX S9 product website
We have received a number of enquiries about the images used on the product website for the new LUMIX S9 full-size mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera.
We have received a number of inquiries regarding the images used on the LUMIX S9 full-size mirrorless camera website.
The images used on the product website to introduce functions and scenes were partially licensed images from a stock photo service.
In addition to insufficient consideration of whether the images were appropriate for the product pages of a camera that generates creativity
In addition, the annotations on the website were in a location and with content that was difficult for customers to understand, as they were not taken with the new product.
We take your comments seriously and have changed our mind,
We will make the content easier to understand and communicate with users in a user-friendly manner.
As a camera manufacturer, we will strive to meet your expectations,
We will discuss a review of the content of the LUMIX website so that we can meet your expectations as a camera manufacturer.
We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere condolences to our loyal customers and to all LUMIX fans and camera enthusiasts,
We are very sorry for the anxiety and concern this situation has caused to our loyal customers, LUMIX fans and camera enthusiasts,
We are very sorry for the anxiety this has caused to our loyal customers, LUMIX fans and camera fans.
All of us involved promise to face everyone more sincerely and make changes,
We will renew our commitment.

P.S.: If you ask yourself WHY such a mistake could happen, the answer is easy: the marketing budget is small and the use of stock photos is cheap.