What does the future hold at Photokina 2012?

Panasonic

Panasonic has refreshed most of its Lumix range of cameras with the exception of its flagship CSC, the GH2, which is now looking a little long in the tooth. So we're expecting the imminent announcement of a replacement, which we'll go out on a limb to guess might be called the GH3.

The GH series is DSLR shaped, like the G3/G5, with an electronic viewfinder, but is bigger and quite a bit more expensive. One of its key selling points is the quality of its HD video, which is so good that the GH2 is second only to the Canon EOS range in its adoption by the pro broadcast video and film-making industry. Its Achilles heel has been its build quality - while fine for consumers, the all-plastic body doesn't really cut the mustard in the professional world that the GH2 aspires to be a part of. If Panasonic has been listening to feedback the GH3 will have a magnesium alloy body, like most other £1,000-plus cameras, and will feature built-in audio level controls and a headphone jack.

We also expect the flimsy 2.5mm mic input to be replaced with a more standard 3.5mm type too, and the electronic viewfinder to be upgraded.