The Lumix GF1 is Panasonic’s answer to the Olympus Pen, and is the second “rangefinder” style Micro Four Thirds camera on the market. It blows away both the EP-1 Pen and also the new EP-2 Pen, and is — amazingly — good enough to replace all but the best of entry-level DSLRs.
The camera has been reviewed across the internet, but oddly some of the most important points have not been written about. These questions are particularly pertinent when it comes to compact cameras, whose performance varies so much more than that of DSLRs. Here we answer those questions, and hopefully fill in the gaps. The GF1 is here paired with the Lumix 20mm ƒ1.7 “pancake” lens.
Shutter Lag
Shutter lag is the best reason to buy a DSLR. Compacts are notoriously slow to fire when you squeeze the shutter release. The GF1 is as fast as a sub-$1,000 DSLR, taking a picture as soon as you tell it to. You can capture a fleeting expression on your subject’s face, and generally trust the camera to take the photo you want. There’s even a satisfying clunk as the shutter closes and opens (unusually, the GF1 keeps the shutter open until you fire it). In short, it feels like using a film camera.
Screen vs. Viewfinder
I was planning on buying an external, optical viewfinder to go with this camera (yes, I bought the camera myself). The optional electronic finder is a fuzzy, distorted piece of junk, and I usually hate composing on-screen. But although the GF1’s LCD panel has only 460,000 pixels (many newer DSLRs have almost a million), the 60fps refresh rate makes a huge difference. You actually feel like you’re using the focusing screen on an old medium format TLR. Weirdly, I actually find it easier to frame shots than with my Nikon D700’s fantastic viewfinder.
Focus
Auto-focus on the GF1 is startlingly quick, and it has been noted by other reviewers that it is in the same class as an entry-level DSLR. This is a surprise, as the contrast-detection used by live-view cameras is a fundamentally slower technology than the phase detection of an SLR. It’s not in the class of a pro Nikon or Canon setup, but it is fast enough, and more importantly, it is not annoying.
Manual focus, too, is handled well. Either switch into MF, or just turn the lens’ wide, well-damped focus ring when you have the shutter half-pressed, and the screen displays a zoomed view. This makes focus quick and, for a camera of this kind, surprisingly intuitive.
Video
This has been pretty well-documented, so I’ll just say that with the ƒ1.7 lens, you get some sweet, shallow depth of field, and the manual focus is ideal for video. A dedicated button will start recording immediately whatever mode you are in, making it a snap to shoot a quick clip.
High ISO
One of selling points of a large-sensor camera is low noise, even at high ISOs. The GF1 runs all the way up to ISO 3200. How does it do?
Pretty well. It’s no Nikon D3S, but noise is perfectly acceptable up to ISO 1600, and even at ISO 3200 the noise is handled well. More importantly, the color saturation and tonal range manage not to fade at higher speeds.
There are two tricks that will take a night-time, ISO 3200 shot and make it look amazing. One is to convert to black and white. This nixes the the offensive colored speckles that are color noise and leaves the pleasantly grain-like luminance noise. It looks like B&W film.
The other is to use Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Here’s a comparison after a conversion to black and white. On the left is the old noise-reduction algorithm, on the right is the new one. Even with this web-sized picture you can see the difference. It works this well in color, too.
The Bad
These are nitpicks on an otherwise amazing camera. First, it needs more dials. The Canon S90 has a useful dial around the lens collar, as well as a command dial at the back. The GF1 has a single, tiny dial which tends to slide under my normal-sized thumb. Also, there is no in-body image stabilization — it comes in the lens (an the 20mm doesn’t have it). Also found in the lens, inexplicably, is the accelerometer. Again, the 20mm lacks this feature and therefore the camera doesn’t auto-rotate images. And remember, this is a $1,000 device.
Last is the battery compartment. The plastic lid feels flimsy on the all-metal body, and the spring inside looks like it came from a $1 flashlight. Poor.
In all, though, this is a camera that feels most like my old Leica M6. If you think of it as a Leica lite, it is cheap. If you compare it to a Canon Rebel, it is expensive. It is also small, and a lot of fun to use. I can’t stop snapping.
And one more thing — I picked up a Micro Four Thirds-to-Nikon adapter. As soon as I get home, I’ll have my entire lens collection to try out, from Lens Baby to a 50mm ƒ1.8 (which will turn into a 100mm ƒ1.8) to an 85mm ƒ1.8, which will become a rather amazing 170mm ƒ1.8 on this camera. I am, it’s safe to say, quite excited.
Product photo: Jon Snyder
Photos: Charlie Sorrel
Top 1/30th sec, ƒ1.7, ISO 125
B&W noise comparison 1/1250th sec ƒ1.7 ISO 3200
