The rumor every Leica user wants to be true.

The Panasonic GF1? Click the picture for more.

Imagine the capabilities of the excellent G1 packaged into a miniscule body with an electronic viewfinder and interchangeable lenses. With a decent ultrawide – say a 10mm f/2.8 (=20mm full frame equivalent) and the outstanding 14-45mm kit lens, you would have a pocket sized camera (OK, a big pocket is needed) which would suffice for almost all your travel needs.

It seems the EVF is a clip on accessory, and not built into the body, which is a shame as it will add to the bulk and make the shape more ungainly. Still, any finder is better than an LCD screen.

Panasonic has already clearly stated that they could have made the G1 much smaller and that they left the faux prism hump in the design to make the camera look like a viable competitor to the raft of modestly priced DSLRs on the market. But surely there is enormous unsatisfied demand for a small camera like this and not only from disaffected former Leica fans like me? So while the picture may be a fake, something like this is only a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’. But Panny, please integrate the EVF into the body – isn’t that just obvious, for goodness’ sake?

Meanwhile, the G1/GH1 are more than up to the task of acting the modern Leica.