BenQ G1 surprises with a zoom lens starting at f1.8, PASM, swivel LCD

We mentioned the latest BenQ announcement in passing in yesterday's Newsbytes section of the Cameraholic Digest but didn't pay attention to them until @aafuss pointed out the specs of the new G1 (one of the four models): it has a lens that starts at f1.8 and a 3-inch 920 kilo-dot twist-and-shout screen on the back.

Other features include a stabilized 24-110mm lens (f1.8-f4.9, 4.6x zoom ratio), a 14mp 1/2.3" Panasonic CMOS sensor, PASM (manual, Tv, Av), 6 fps stills at full size, 1080p video, SDXC support, 260 CIPA with LiIon battery. Sadly, no RAW.

Press release parade at Photography Blog which mentions a 6fps burst mode and ephotozine which mentions that the sensor is a Panasonic CMOS and Le Monde de la Photo which mentions a European price of 240 euro, Fotopolis.pl, et al.

Detailed specifications at BenQ Europe where you can also find the user manual of this camera in multiple linguinis.

The camera was apparently mentioned earlier, in early June, in the dpreview Canon Talk forum.

BenQ has prepared a 90-minute video promotion for the camera, hitting a lot of key demographics: cats, hipsters (typewriter), X-gamers (skater), HDR, etc ;-)