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Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 reviews
You can find here the most interesting reviews / ratings from the well-known expert sites about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Camera. Here are the reviewers:
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- 02 March 2009 - |
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- 0 |
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- 19 January 2009 - |
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- 4.5 |
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- 16 January 2009 - |
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- 4.5 |
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- 08 December 2008 - |
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- 5 |
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- 28 November 2008 - |
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- 0 |
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- 26 November 2008 - |
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- 4.5 |
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- 22 November 2008 - |
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- 0 |
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- 16 November 2008 - |
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- 0 |
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- 11 November 2008 - |
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- 0 |
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- 12 September 2008 - |
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- 0 |
Steves Digicams 's conclusion / rating - 02 March 2009 |
“ The Panasonic DMC-G1 is an amazing little dSLR. Being one of the smallest interchangeable lens cameras in the world, the G1 performs well enough to keep up with its "bigger" competitors. My only concerns with this model are the fact that the lens offerings are very slim right now, and the image sensor not being protected by a mirror scares me a bit. However, it seems the Dust Reduction system is very effective, as I saw no traces of dust being on the sensor in our sample photos; and I was pulling the lens on and off quite often. With that said, I have no problem giving the DMC-G1 a very high recommendation to those who are interested in taking the leap into the dSLR world, but don't want to carry around a huge bulky camera. With a street price of about US$669 for the body + lens outfit, we feel this camera offers an outstanding value for the amount of features, technology, performance, and portability you are receiving. ... ”
Steves Digicams's rating: |
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- 0 |
Complete review here
DPReview 's conclusion / rating - 19 January 2009 |
“ Panasonic's intentions for the G1 have been clearly stated; it's designed to appeal to the less experienced user put off buying a digital SLR because of bulk, perceived complexity, and price. It arguably delivers on the first, and since a couple of price drops it's getting closer to delivering on the third, with a price that puts it on a par with its direct competitors, though way beyond the equivalent non-SLR. From a specification (and generally from a performance) point of view however, the G1 is actually pretty advanced, and - whatever Panasonic says about the intended user - its designers and engineers have produced a camera that has an awful lot to appeal to the more serious photographer and one that will seem pretty daunting to anyone less experienced; at least until they actually use it.
In use the G1 does indeed offer the ease of use of a compact camera - especially if you stick it on fully automatic and ignore the wealth of options and pages of menus. If you've been using a Panasonic FZ series - or any advanced compact camera - you'll feel right at home with the G1. There's a good selection of external controls as well as Panasonic's useful on-screen quick menu, giving the best of two worlds combined. There isn't really any halfway important shooting setting that you can't alter within two button presses at most and the menu structure is fairly intuitive as well which makes the G1 easy to use even for photographers who are new to the brand... ”
Complete review here
TrustedReviews 's conclusion / rating - 16 January 2009 |
“ The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 is a revolutionary camera that delivers on its promise of SLR-like quality in a compact body. Build quality and design are up to Panasonic's usual exemplary standard, and despite its small size the camera handles well. In terms of performance and especially image quality it matches other Four-Thirds system DLSRs. The only downside is the high price compared to an entry-level full-size DLSR... ”
TrustedReviews's rating: |
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- 4.5 |
Complete review here
LetsGoDigital 's conclusion / rating - 08 December 2008 |
“ This Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G1 has brought us to the eve of a new series of cameras based on the Micro FourThirds system. In theory, an extremely interesting development and in practice, the same as the LUMIX G1 shows us. The camera has convinced us, and is worth getting acquainted with. As far as we are concerned; surprising, striking and complete; recommendable without a doubt!... ”
LetsGoDigital's rating: |
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- 5 |
Complete review here
Luminous Landscape 's conclusion / rating - 28 November 2008 |
“ The Panasonic G1 is an appealing camera. It's small size, light weight, and high image quality come together in a slightly pricey but basically affordable package. Though Lord knows I have enough cameras, I was so taken with the G1's compactness, decent standard lens, and image quality that a body and two lenses are now part of my travel kit for when a regular sized DSLR is just a bit too much weight and bulk, and pocket camera doesn't offer quite enough reach or high ISO sensitivity. There's always room for a Goldilocks... ”
Luminous Landscape's rating: |
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- 0 |
Complete review here
PhotographyBLOG 's conclusion / rating - 26 November 2008 |
“ Introducing a completely new kind of camera when nearly everyone now owns a camera of some kind, and at at time of global economic turmoil, is certainly a brave move by Panasonic. On paper the Lumix DMC-G1 makes perfect sense in a lot of ways, and it happily gets most things spot-on, unlike the majority of first-generation products. Users looking to move-up from a point-and-shoot compact should definitely consider the G1. It delivers a near-seamless Live View experience which doesn't feel as though it has been literally forced into the overall design, as with the Live View function on the majority of DSLRs. The combination of the high-resolution, swivelling LCD screen and the outstanding electronic viewfinder is a joy to use, and in many ways actually surpasses what a comparable SLR camera can offer. Despite its technological advances, the EVF can't quite rival a good optical viewfinder, as it has a noticeable flicker and becomes grainy in low-light, but it is preferable to the small, dim viewfinder of many entry-level DSLR. The DMC-G1 isn't as small as you may have hoped from looking at the glossy marketing shots, but it subsequently handles really well, even for someone with large hands. There's really very little to complain about in terms of the G1's design, feature set and ease-of-use. It delivers all the convenience of a compact camera shooting experience in a DSLR-like package that is smaller and more portable than most DSLRs.
In terms of image quality, the Panasonic G1 also gets most things right. As you'd expect with the G1 using a regular Four Thirds sensor, the quality is very similar to other Four Thirds cameras that we've reviewed. Chromatic aberrations are kept to a minimum with both kit lenses, colours are accurate when using the default Standard setting (and there's lots of scope to adjust the JPEG output to suit your own tastes), and the auto white balance is spot-on in most lighting conditions. The pop-up flash is fine for use as fill-in, the ability to make bulb exposures up to 4 minutes long will please night photographers, and anti-shake via the supplied lenses helps to keep things sharp in low-light. The notable downsides are the traditional bug-bear of Four Thirds sensors, namely noise at slow ISO speeds (it's visible at ISO 400 on the G1), plus the comparatively poor marco performance if you're used to the 1cm focusing capability of many compact cameras. Ultimately the DMC-G1 can't rival a DSLR camera with an APS-C sized sensor in low-light, but otherwise it delivers very good image quality that most of its target audience will love... ”
PhotographyBLOG's rating: |
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- 4.5 |
Complete review here
DCResource 's conclusion / rating - 22 November 2008 |
“ Photo quality was very good. The G1 took well-exposed photos with pleasing, accurate colors. As with digital SLRs, images are a bit soft straight out of the camera, but that can be fixed easily enough with the Film Mode feature. The 14 - 45 mm, stabilized kit lens had minimal barrel distortion and corner blurriness, and no vignetting. The DMC-G1 keeps noise under control until you hit ISO 800 in low light, and ISO 1600 in good light. At that point there will be noticeable detail loss, and I recommend shooting in the RAW format for best results (see earlier examples). The highest ISO setting, 3200, has too much detail loss to be usable for printing. I didn't find purple fringing or redeye to be problems on the G1.
Normally, the first model of a totally new product design isn't the greatest. That's not the case here, though, as Panasonic has done a really nice job with the Lumix DMC-G1. Still, there's some room for improvement, mostly in terms of ergonomics and lens selection. As I mentioned earlier, the G1's biggest problem may be its price. The Olympus E-420 that I mentioned costs only $450 with a 14 - 42 mm lens (though it lacks image stabilization), compared to $800 for the DMC-G1. Sure, it's a big larger, and its live view feature doesn't come close to that of the DMC-G1, but in this tough economy, $350 is nothing to sneeze at. If you're willing to part with the 800 bucks, then I can absolutely recommend the Lumix DMC-G1 -- and I look forward to seeing what Panasonic comes up with on future models... ”
Complete review here
DigitalCameraReview 's conclusion / rating - 16 November 2008 |
“ Nearly everyone with whom I shared my first impressions of the G1 only wanted to know one thing: "What's the auto focus like?" Having now worked with a production version of the camera, it's safe for me to say it: the G1's AF technology is truly impressive. With specially designed lenses able to get the most out of the Lumix's contrast-detection AF system, the G1 delivers a technologically mature experience in the one area of most concern for most buyers with this system. Not surprising, really, since Panasonic has been hitting good focus speed numbers with its Lumix point-and-shoots for awhile now. Overall, if there was a nagging viability question about around contrast-detection AF in an interchangeable-lens camera before now, the general opinion around here is that it's largely been put to rest with the latest Lumix.
Not everything with the G1 is as sorted as one might like it to be, but most of my concerns (white balance, high-sensitivity noise) can be worked around without too much trouble in the course of normal shooting. Considering its target audience, my primary sticking point with the G1 is two-fold, and has little to do with the performance of the camera itself: given the potential of Micro Four Thirds, but also the "bridge camera" niche the G1 is competing in, I would have hoped for a camera that was both smaller and more cost conscious than what Panasonic delivered. Serious shooters may be turned off by the system's lens and flashgun limitations, and in light of the fact that most of the G1's competition in the entry-level DSLR space is somewhat less expensive, general consumers may find the camera's price tag hard to come to terms with.
I was excited about the Lumix G1 initially, and working with the actual product has done little to dampen this enthusiasm. If you can get past the initial sticker shock, the G1 may just offer the "best of both worlds" when it comes to SLRs and point-and-shoots.... ”
DigitalCameraReview's rating: |
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- 0 |
Complete review here
Digital Camera Info 's conclusion / rating - 11 November 2008 |
“ As the very first camera in a substantially new and different format, we're impressed with the Panasonic Lumix G1. The company has successfully conquered the nagging problem of delivering an effective Live View system in an interchangeable-lens camera, and done so in a design that's both compact and comfortable. Image quality results from the lab also earned our respect: not flawless certainly, particularly when it comes to image noise, but competitive with the traditional SLRs we benchmarked it against and, in several cases, superior.
We have three points of hesitation, though. The first is largely tied to the very new-ness of the format: there aren't a lot of Micro Four Thirds lenses available (in fact, only two so far), and while an adapter will allow mounting existing Four Thirds lenses to the camera, only a small number will allow auto focus. This is the perpetual early adopter's dilemma, of course, but it bears careful consideration when the ability to change lenses is a key product benefit.
Our second concern involves portability, another major promise of the new format. The Lumix G1 is smaller and lighter than the SLR competition, but not by a whole lot in many cases. And given the size and shape, the functional difference in the way you carry the camera from place to place and use it out in the field is not very substantial. The size isn't a problem -- we still found the G1 easy to handle -- but it's not a great benefit either.
Finally, we wonder if Panasonic didn't overcomplicate matters for a camera that's presumably designed for point-and-shooters looking to upgrade their photographic experience. There is a lot to like for this audience, but there are also a baffling array of choices staring them in the face, with a level of complexity that's inevitably going to be intimidating. The Film Mode notion is clever, for example, but it's also kind of obscure for someone who may never have shot with film and certainly isn't thinking about it now. What's more, it's not a capability buried in a menu for the cognoscenti to find: it has its own button on top of the camera. And Film Mode isn't the only way to tweak imaging performance: there's also My Color settings available on the mode dial, right next to the relatively newbie-friendly image preset selections. This pattern continues throughout the camera design: a generous selection of customization options that may well prove overly generous and put off the most likely G1 buyer... ”
Digital Camera Info's rating: |
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- 0 |
Complete review here
Imaging Resources 's conclusion / rating - 12 September 2008 |
“ I first saw a very early prototype of the Panasonic G1 back in June of 2008, when I and a handful of other key editors from around the world were briefed on the Micro Four Thirds concept in Osaka, Japan by Panasonic engineers and product planners. At the time, I was quite taken by the G1's physical appearance and compact size, but had reservations about the concept of a high-end digital camera that would be restricted to contrast-detect focusing (the main reason digicams have such poor shutter response relative to SLRs). Now that I've been able to hold and shoot with a fully functional sample, I'm happy to say that many of my concerns have been addressed. Our final judgement on the Panasonic G1 will of course depend on how a production sample performs in our laboratory and shooting tests, but indications so far are very encouraging. Even with the rather preliminary firmware that exists at this time, the camera seems to perform quite well, and image quality frankly appears higher than I had anticipated.... ”
Imaging Resources's rating: |
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- 0 |
Complete review here
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