Camera Digital Panasonic

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Reviews

Panasonic's Lumix DMC-G1 is the first camera to be based on the micro four thirds system, a joint initiative between Panasonic and Olympus.

Unlike any other digital camera that has come before, the G1 has been designed without the legacy of 35mm film in mind. It's an SLR in terms of looks and interchangeable lenses, but has been designed first and foremost as a purely digital camera.

There's the usual mode dial, which is surrounded by the power switch and the shooting burst rate switch. That said, there are a myriad of scene modes and preset functions to keep anyone busy, plus the usual manual/shutter/aperture/program priority modes.

Features
Sitting high on the feature list of the G1 is the 12-megapixel Live MOS sensor, which is the same size as used in other four thirds cameras (18x13.5mm). Due to the nature of the G1's construction, live view is always active on the camera; think of it as a trait carried over from compact digital cameras.

Next on the list is the rotating 3-inch LCD screen that can flip and rotate on an axis to sit facing inwards or outwards on the back of the camera, or face the body if you choose to use the viewfinder exclusively.

Panasonic has stated that as of this year there will be several more additions to the micro four thirds lenses, including a 20mm f/1.7, 14-140mm f/4-5.6 and 7-14mm f/4.

Adapters are also being made available that allow four thirds lenses to be mounted on the G1, though given the small stature of the camera, any lens not specifically designed for micro four thirds is likely to dwarf the unit. Also, autofocus will only work if the lens supports contrast AF.

Shot-to-shot time was similarly impressive; on the RAW+JPEG combination, we found there was about a one-second gap between pictures.

It may seem intuitive on a dSLR style camera to immediately head straight for the viewfinder, but the G1 has always-on live view which means that using the LCD screen to shoot is just as easy. Furthermore, the EVF may seem almost identical to shooting with an optical viewfinder in most situations, but in darker environments it struggled and a fair amount of noise was visible.

Source: cnet.com.au