The new Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 is the first digital SLR not to use a mirror and the smallest camera with interchangeable lenses available on the market at the moment.
Introduction:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 is most certainly an interesting device. It has live view, rotatable, 3-inch, high resolution screen and plenty of other feature which should satisfy both amateurs and professionals. However, its the most interesting feature is probably the new lens mount thanks to which you can easily change the lens practically at any time. With appropriate adapter you can use almost any lens type, although some of them might not support autofocus.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 pros:
+ Very good photo quality
+ 12.2 Megapixel Live MOS sensor
+ World’s smallest interchangeable lens camera;
+ Available in three colors: black, red, and blue
+ Excellent live view shooting experience
+ High resolution, 3-inch rotatable LCD display
+ Very sharp and very large electronic viewfinder
+ Very good outdoor/low light visibility
+ Super-fast contrast detect autofocus
+ Dust reduction system
+ Full manual controls, including numerous white balance controls
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 cons:
- Expensive compared to entry-level D-SLRs
- Limited lens selection
- Burst mode could be faster
- No focus distance shown on lens, or on LCD/EVF in manual focus mode
- No movie mode
The design:
Panasonic DMC-G1 measures 124 mm x 84 mm x 45 mm and the camera body weighs more or less 380 grams, whereas the body with a memory card and the supplied lens over 600 grams. The camera is made of high quality materials which shows at the first glance. The front of the Panasonic DMC-G1 is dominated by the lens mount and the 12.2 megapixel Live MOS sensor. The camera, of course, has a dust reduction system, called by Panasonic: Supersonic Wave Filter. Above the lens mount is the pop-up flash. The flash has a few customizable settings and according to the manufacturer the range of up to 11 meters. However, should you need a more powerful flash there is the hot shoe at the top of Panasonic DMC-G1 so you can use any flash you want. The camera is very weel balanced and has a comfortable hand grip, but people with bigger hands and longer fingers may find some buttons misplaced. Accidental changes of settings due to unintentional pushing of a button can be an issue on every small digital camera so it is not so much a fault of this particular modes as of the class of the device. The back of the Panasonic DMC-G1 is dominated byt he 3” rotatable screen above which you will find the electronic viewfinder. The both the screen and the viewfinder have very good resolution and the screen has also excellent direct sunlight legibility. On both sides of the screen there are dedicated keys which will make it easier for trained photographers to quickly access the most frequently used features.
Performance:
Panasonic DMC-G1 is a very quick and quiet digital camera. Additionally thanks to the rotatable display you can take photos at different angles which would be difficult to achieve with a standard display. The Panasonic DMC-G1 combines the best of two worlds: plenty of manual settings make it perfect for professional users, whereas the automation options make it work as a point-and-shot camera. If you’d rather opt for the latter the camera has everything you need: automatic scene selection, face detection, subject tracking, intelligent exposure and Intelligent ISO control. Also in continuous mode the camera does a really good job as long as you have a fast memory card.
Nd now a few words about the image quality: the overall Panasonic DMC-G1 performance is very good. The camera does a good job in low light conditions as well as in brightly lit rooms and outdoors on a sunny day. The colors are always accurate, photos are well exposed and although some people may find the pictures a bit too soft you can adjust that with appropriate camera settings, in this case with Panasonic DMC-G1’s film mode. The noise levels are generally low but at ISO 1600 or 3200 that might be an issue.
All in all Panasonic DMC-G1 is a really good camera for taking photos of you family, but also for large format prints and thus more professional work.
Menus / ease of use:
The menu structure in Panasonic DMC-G1 is quite understandable and easy to grasp. The main menu is divided only in five sections: playback options, setup, My menu, recording and custom so you will find your way through it effortlessly. The only thing that I disliked about the menus is the quite unattractive look, but you can get accustomed to that too.
To sum up, although at the moment there are only a handful of available lenses at the marke the Panasonic DMC-G1 may be recommended to anyone, so if you are considering buying a digital camera I suggest you have a closer look at the Panasonic DMC-G1.
Selected Panasonic DMC-G1 features and specifications:
Sensor
12.1 megapixel (effective), 17.3×13.0mm Live MOS sensor
Lens/Zoom
Micro Four Thirds lens mount (full-size Four Thirds mount with optional adapter)
LCD/Viewfinder
3.0″, 460K dot TFT LCD with tilt/swivel function; high-resolution electronic viewfinder
Sensitivity
ISO 100-3200
Shutter Speed
60-1/4000 seconds
Shooting Modes
Intelligent Auto, Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual, Scene, Custom
Scene Presets
Portrait, Scenery, Sports, Night, Close-Up, Sunset, Party, Baby, Pets
White Balance Settings
Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Halogen, Flash, White Set, Color Temperature
Metering Modes
Intelligent Multiple, Center-Weighted, Spot
Focus Modes
Face Detection, Focus Tracking, 23-Area, One-Area
Drive Modes
Normal, Continuous, Self Timer
Flash Modes
Auto, Auto/Red-Eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced On/Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync, Slow Sync/Red-Eye Reduction, Forced Off
Self Timer Settings
10 seconds, 10 seconds (3 shot), 2 seconds, Off
Memory Formats
SD, SDHC
Internal Memory
Not Specified
File Formats
JPEG, raw
Max. Image Size
4000×3000
Max. Video Size
N/A
Zoom During Video
N/A
Battery
Rechargeable lithium-ion, 330 shots
Connections
USB 2.0, MiniHDMI, DC input
Additional Features
Face Detection, Intelligent Auto mode, Venus Engine HD, three body colors, hot shoe, 3 fps continuous shooting, 23-area AF, film modes
Other recently reviewed digital cameras:
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77, Canon PowerShot G10, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28, Nikon D90, Pentax K20D, Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, Samsung TL34HD, Nikon Coolpix S610c.