G1@DPReview

[splitimageview]

Ben, the EVF is superb. It's the best aspect of the G1; skip if you choose, but not for that. 🙂

Remember, they are testing not only the G1, but the kit lens, which is slow, and when you look thru a lens at f/5.6 in dim light, it's not the EVF's fault. It does the best it can (and far better than an optical VF at f/5.6) but it has a severe handicap.

It's amazing with a fast lens.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I think they were figuring that the target audience buying the camera would be using the kit lens on it rather than fast Leica glass, so were calling it like they saw it.

 

[splitimageview]

Yes, hence the Con of 'limited choice of lenses.' Heh. 🙂

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Ben, the EVF is superb. It's the best aspect of the G1; skip if you choose, but not for that. 🙂

Remember, they are testing not only the G1, but the kit lens, which is slow, and when you look thru a lens at f/5.6 in dim light, it's not the EVF's fault. It does the best it can (and far better than an optical VF at f/5.6) but it has a severe handicap.

It's amazing with a fast lens.

Hey, easy, tiger. I am working on my gear acquisition problem. Yeah, I definitely sense the potential of the design. Next time I'm in NY I will try to have a look through the EVF at B&H.

Ben

 

[splitimageview]

😉 Not trying to push anything on you Ben, we all have that affliction, it seems. 😀 The minute I saw their report it was obvious that some readers would get the wrong impression.

 

[Gordon Coale]

It's not just the DPReview review, it's all the reviews. The complaint that there are only two lenses simply amazes me. Between the M mount adapter, the Leica thread mount adapter, and the M42 adapter, there are more useable lenses then any other camera that I know of. And then there are all the other adapters showing up. I even hear that there are some nice lenses made for the Nikon mount. 🙂 Are we the only ones that know about this? It sure seems that way.

 

[back alley]

i guess from the point of view of a soccer mom, there ARE only 2 lenses available.
but they are great lenses🙂

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Gordon, believe it or not, there aren't many camera buyers around with Leica glass to adapt to a G1. I know, it's hard to believe, I know. 🙂

I suspect most potential buyers would never remove the kit lens over the camera's lifetime. But as back alley says, the existing lenses made for the camera seem to be pretty darn good.

 

[Ronald_H]

There are at least two things in the Cons section that are borderline, and others that look contrived just to fill space. In fact, some of the Cons should be Pros!

That's the first thing that I looked at, and what crossed my mind at the time was "did they actually USE the thing?"

For one thing, they give a Con for having no video. Hello? It's a still camera...

Another, shutter. Instead of saying 'relatively loud' they should say 'quietest shutter of any interchangeable lens digital' and put it into the Pros section.

Third, the already-mentioned EVF. It's superb, and it's only dark if you use the slow kit lens at 45mm (90mm effective) in a dungeon. In my tests, the EVF brightens ambient at least 8x! Can any optical VF do that?

Something with nails and heads... but I WANT video. I'm not a 'still-snob'. It just would make it even more versatile. Th HD video variant will be mine as soon as it comes out, and I'll get an M adapater as well.

 

[RayPA]

...
Third, the already-mentioned EVF. It's superb, and it's only dark if you use the slow kit lens at 45mm (90mm effective) in a dungeon. In my tests, the EVF brightens ambient at least 8x! Can any optical VF do that?

yeah, i was futzing with the camera indoors in very low light. I was looking at the LCD and adjusting exposure manually. I kept dialing the shutter speed down into the sub-handheld range to get a correct exposure setting. I started wondering why I had to dial the shutter speed down so low. I looked up into the scene and I couldn't believe that the room was as dark as it was. The evf is very sensitive, and it does lag a little in low light. However, the effect isn't really noticeable at wider angles. It's more noticeable at the long end of the zoom. Also, in manual focus zoom mode (when he magnified screen pops up) the lag disappears entirely, and focusing is really very easy.


/

 

[joachim]

It's not just the DPReview review, it's all the reviews. The complaint that there are only two lenses simply amazes me. Between the M mount adapter, the Leica thread mount adapter, and the M42 adapter, there are more useable lenses then any other camera that I know of. And then there are all the other adapters showing up. I even hear that there are some nice lenses made for the Nikon mount. 🙂 Are we the only ones that know about this? It sure seems that way.

Sorry, but I completely fail to see the appeal of a 21mm super wide turning into a standard lens when adapted to a 4-3rd. Also you loose a lot of functionality. Face it, it is a hack.

Already for the original 4-3rd one could adapt a large number of lenses - essentially everything which is on the menu now, but the Leica rangefinders. However many adapters are expensive to the point that the idea looses it's appeal quite quickly. This includes the 4-3rd to u4-3rd adapter. I regard this as a new standard and Panasonic/Olympus starting over and that is where the gamble is.

However conceptually I am sure this camera is the future (as was the Sony R1, which I regard as the first of this kind). I am sure the SLR with optical finder is a dead in a few years in the mainstream (as is the optical rangefinder). I am curious to see how the Nikon implementation of these ideas will look like.

 

[rover]

Ben, the EVF is superb. It's the best aspect of the G1; skip if you choose, but not for that. 🙂

Remember, they are testing not only the G1, but the kit lens, which is slow, and when you look thru a lens at f/5.6 in dim light, it's not the EVF's fault. It does the best it can (and far better than an optical VF at f/5.6) but it has a severe handicap.

It's amazing with a fast lens.

Ok, so this came to my mind. Considering that this camera is a hybrid high end P&S bridge to a DSLR thingy.....

How is the LCD. How much does the LCD dim with a slow lens? Is the LCD as usable as one on a P&S?

In the worst light, do you "loose the EVF" but retain the effective use of the LCD?

 

[johnastovall]

Ok, so this came to my mind. Considering that this camera is a hybrid high end P&S bridge to a DSLR thingy.....

How is the LCD. How much does the LCD dim with a slow lens? Is the LCD as usable as one on a P&S?

In the worst light, do you "loose the EVF" but retain the effective use of the LCD?

Why care about the LCD? The only thing that matters on the G1 is the EVF. You can't focus with the LCD held out at arms length.

 

[johnastovall]

Sorry, but I completely fail to see the appeal of a 21mm super wide turning into a standard lens when adapted to a 4-3rd. Also you loose a lot of functionality. Face it, it is a hack.

Already for the original 4-3rd one could adapt a large number of lenses - essentially everything which is on the menu now, but the Leica rangefinders. However many adapters are expensive to the point that the idea looses it's appeal quite quickly. This includes the 4-3rd to u4-3rd adapter. I regard this as a new standard and Panasonic/Olympus starting over and that is where the gamble is.

However conceptually I am sure this camera is the future (as was the Sony R1, which I regard as the first of this kind). I am sure the SLR with optical finder is a dead in a few years in the mainstream (as is the optical rangefinder). I am curious to see how the Nikon implementation of these ideas will look like.

You can focus a bit more than Leica rangefinder lenses, Canon rangefinder lenses, Zeiss LTM's and most interesting C-mount Cine lenses, like the Angenieux 25/0.95.

 

[rover]

Why care about the LCD? The only thing that matters on the G1 is the EVF. You can't focus with the LCD held out at arms length.

Reading the review at DPreview it is apparent that in Panasonic's eyes we are not the target market for this camera. The interest shown by advanced amatures is a nice surpise to them. They are selling this camera to a group of people who don't know what that hole in their camera (if their current cameras even has a viewfinder) is for. People who are frustrated with the limited image quality of their P&S and want more. If the LCD works as well as a P&S LCD, their target market losses nothing. And although we are looking for more from this camera, it will still be usable to us, just no how we want it to be.

 

[rover]

Let me add just a little more. I think this camera is targeted at a group of people looking to step up, but not all the way to a dslr, not to people looking to step down.

 

[Diane B]

Let me add just a little more. I think this camera is targeted at a group of people looking to step up, but not all the way to a dslr, not to people looking to step down.

I agree but its nice that it works for those of us stepping down, so to speak. I actually don't feel like I'm stepping down, though, but sort of 'over' to a complimentary small system (BTW, I'm a 5D shoorier, not rangefinder).

Diane

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Reading the review at DPreview it is apparent that in Panasonic's eyes we are not the target market for this camera. The interest shown by advanced amatures is a nice surpise to them.

This is actually related to what I find so exciting about the camera design: the flange-to-sensor distance. It is so narrow that many, many lenses can be hacked to attach to the camera. There will be follow-on cameras that use this mirror-less technology -- in fact, I think Leica is part of the 4/3 consortium. Folks here have said that the EVF is superb; I can only assume that however good it is that the further generations will be better. Looking forward to _all_ of it.

Ben Marks

 

[kxl]

Glad to hear that low light manual focusing is not as bad as dpreview seems to make it out to be.

I myself don't see it as a step down from DSLR shooting; rather, more of a crossover from a bulky DSLR to a highly capable P&S that allows me to use M lenses. From that perspective, I don't expect it to beat any of those 3 platforms at their core strengths, but that all around utility would certainly be very, very nice.

As I've said in the past, I will likely get one to complement my DSLR and RF gear. The thought of using my CV 35/1.2 as a low light portrait lens on the G1 is thoroughly appealing, as are the possibilities of a 50/1.5 Sonnar as a longer tele and the ZM 25/2.8 as a "normal" lens.

Keith

 

[nemjo]

As I've said in the past, I will likely get one to complement my DSLR and RF gear. The thought of using my CV 35/1.2 as a low light portrait lens on the G1 is thoroughly appealing, as are the possibilities of a 50/1.5 Sonnar as a longer tele and the ZM 25/2.8 as a "normal" lens.

Keith[/QUOTE]

Hi,

last weekend I was on a local exhibition opening. Took the G1 with a CV 50/1.5 on it. I find the results quite usable.

nemjo