Panasonic announces pricing for DMC-G2 and -G10 Micro Four Thirds cameras

[Updated: May 14, 2010 @ 8:56am] Panasonic has finally announced pricing and availability for the Lumix DMC-G2 and DMC-G10 Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens compact cameras that it announced last month.

The DMC-G2 features an articulating touchscreen LCD as well as a 1,440,000-dot 1.4x (0.7x) Live View Finder, 720p HD video recording in AVCHD Lite format, an HDMI output, and the ability to add an optional external stereo microphone. Like its predecessor the G1, pricing with a kit lens (in this case, the new 28-84mm equivalent, f/3.5-5.6 lens) will be $799.95. It comes in red, blue, and black versions and will begin shipping late next month.

Panasonic has priced its lightweight entry-level DMC-G10 aggressively at $599.95 (with the same kit lens), which pits it directly against the similarly priced Olympus E-PL1. Though the G10 is bulkier than the E-PL1, the latter doesn’t offer a built-in viewfinder (Olympus offers it as an optional accessory). Like the G2, the G10 sports a 12.1-megapixel Live MOS sensor and a 3-inch 460,000-dot touchscreen LCD, though the G10’s is a fixed standard LCD rather than an articulating touchscreen.  And while the G10 also records 720p HD video, it supports Motion JPEG, QVGA, VGA, and WVGA formats rather than AVCHD Lite format. Like the G2, the G10 will begin shipping late next month (in black only).

[Updated: The original post erroneously stated that the G10 included a touchscreen LCD.]

For more info, see the Panasonic press release.