The best thing about camera rumors is that sometimes they're really clear, while sometimes they're almost like a "choose your own adventure".
Take the latest rumblings from Panasonic, for example. What we know for sure is that the company has registered a new camera in China, as spotted by L-Rumors. The question is, is it a successor to the Lumix S9 or is it a Micro Four Thirds camera – perhaps one that uses the same body as the S9?
This is the conundrum in which we find ourselves, as there is conflicting information – some thanks to subtle teases from Panasonic itself, some thanks to a bizarre image posted by one of Europe's main camera retailers.
Let's go back to the release of the S9, back in 2024. While the camera now seems universally adored, it was a very different story at launch – with perhaps the biggest criticism being that the camera lacked an electronic viewfinder (EVF). Ever since then, there have been rumblings that the S9II would possess an EVF.
In October, as part of the 25 years of Lumix celebrations, some Panasonic representatives threw a little bit of gas on that fire in a YouTube video.
"I suspect that, much like with the [Lumix] GM line, a version with a viewfinder might eventually be released," offered one of the panelists.
"I hadn't even considered that – this video has turned into a session for making such predictions!" replied the Lumix spokesperson.
"It’s certainly possible – perhaps they could even add an articulating mechanism… Actually, I think it’s quite feasible. Well, we do receive that kind of feedback, so as for what kind of cameras we’ll develop next, who knows?"
However, at the beginning of November, there was a bizarre incident where Kamera Express – the biggest camera specialist in the Netherlands – posted an image of a Lumix S9 body with a Micro Four Thirds mount and sensor, which was spotted by 43 Rumors.
While it has now been removed from the product listing, which was for a titanium black Lumix S9, it threw gas on a different kind of fire – the one that said Lumix was finally going to return to making GM-style, super-compact Micro Four Thirds camera bodies. Which I would 100% be behind.
But the consensus seems to be that this was an AI-generated image, potentially done by the retailer to quickly add an image of the S9 without a lens – but with AI mistakenly replacing the lens with an MFT mount instead of an L-Mount.
Weird as it might seem, this would make more sense than this being an errant product listing for a new Micro Four Thirds camera; the two mounts differ greatly in size, and the lens release button is on the wrong side to be an MFT body. And there are the wrong number of pins (ten, instead of eleven), which further points to AI getting things wrong.
Still, whatever it is or isn't, we know that there's a new Panasonic camera on the way. While an S9 II is undoubtedly on the drawing board – and while it might have an EVF – I think we're too close to the original's launch for it to be a replacement. Especially when the original is so monumentally popular right now.
Of course, if you're in the UK, you can head along to the Lumix Collective event in Manchester on November 17 and ask the company yourself!
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