First Look: Panasonic Lumix G1

 

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Posted on 30 Sep 2008 at 10:34

It's always been the case that if you wanted to change the lens on your digital camera that you've needed to buy a DSLR, but that's no longer the case with Panasonic's Lumix DMC-G1K. This digital camera features removable lenses, but you can't use the viewfinder to look directly through the lens; instead, you look into a high-resolution 1,440,000 pixel screen.

This camera is the very first to use the Micro Four Thirds system, which is based on the Four Thirds system used in digital SLRs made by Panasonic and Olympus. The main difference is that the mirror and prism assembly that lets you look through the lens in SLRs has been removed, placing the lens closer to the sensor in the body. While this makes for a smaller camera - the DMC-G1K is incredibly thin and much smaller than any DSLR we've reviewed - it also causes a bit of trouble, as Four Thirds lenses can only be fitted with the use of an adaptor, and there aren't a great deal of Micro Four Thirds lenses.

Currently Panasonic is only listing the camera with the 18-45mm kit lens on its website, although the sample we saw also had a 45-200mm lens for it. Neither are very fast, with the 18-45mm lens' maximum aperture of F3.5 and the 45-200mm lens' maximum aperture F4. Both are optically stabilised using Panasonic's Mega O.I.S system, which works really well on the company's fixed-lens cameras such as the DMC FZ-50, and can help you take a steady shot at slower shutter speeds. With the Four Thirds system and a suitable adaptor you can buy faster lenses, though.

Photos can be taken either by using the screen on the rear of the body or by using the internal viewfinder screen. The internal screen looks great. As it's high-resolution, looking through the viewfinder is almost like looking through the lens on a DSLR, so it's easier to frame shots than with the company's super-zoom FZ-series of cameras. Having a screen rather than looking directly through the lens makes it possible to add extra features, such as face detection.

The downside is that while the high-resolution screen is almost as good as looking directly through the lens, it's not as good. A screen can never display the full contrast of a real scene, and manual focussing of the lenses is not as easy as it is on a DSLR. It also means that battery life will be affected, as you're powering a colour screen every time you take a photo; with a DSLR, one of the main benefits is that you use very little power while lining up and taking shots, as you're not using the LCD.

The advantage that the G1 has over its fixed-lens competitors is that it's got a larger sensor in the body, so the quality of the shots should be better and it should work a higher ISO speeds. We only had time to take a couple of test photos, and found that shots at ISO 1,600 looked a little grainy, but ISO 800 and below looked good.

As you'd expect there's the full range of advanced shooting modes that you'd expect to find on DSLRs including aperture and shutter priority modes, and full manual modes. Our short time with the camera meant that we didn't get chance to try out all of these shooting modes, or investigate metering and focussing options.

We're currently a little unsure of this camera, as we're not quite sure who it's aimed at. To us, the kind of people that want the look, feel and quality of a DSLR would be better off buying a DSLR, as the through-the-lens view just can't be beaten for composition and manual focussing. The kind of person that doesn't want these kinds of features, but still wants to take high-quality shots will probably be better off with a fixed lens camera, such as Panasonic's own excellent FZ range. We'll hold off on full judgement until we've got a camera on test, so look out for a full review soon.

Author: David Ludlow