GF1 confirmed to be real...

skibeerr said:
Read the full add:


This item has not yet been released.
You may pre-order it now and we will deliver it to you when it arrives.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
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Yes, I read it. The preorder was up right after 12am. It only shows the pre-order price when manufactory officially releases it.
No need to put in larger font, I have perfect eyesight.
 
Some more digging around shows the original prototype of the 20 1.7 had a 52mm filter thread, the released one has a 46mm thread. Also here are some basics head to head specs with the oly 17 2.8

Filter:
Oly: 37mm
Pana: 46mm

Close focus:
Oly: 0.2m
Pana: 0.2m

Weight:
Oly: 71g
Pana: 100g

Dimentions (D x W):
Oly: 57mm x 22mm
Pana: 63mm x 25.5mm


Looks like Panasonic went one further then Olympus here and got a stop and a half advantage with little added weight or size. But with the price of the Olympus 17mm being $299 I fear the Panasonic's price.
 
Well, with the GF1, Panasonic has addressed the three main criticisms of the E-P1, lack of EVF, low res screen, and slow AF (albeit the EVF sounds pretty useless to me). With an optical VF, sounds like a winner to me.

There seems to be a lot less buzz around this than the E-P1 though... maybe the novelty faded?
 
adrianzg said:
Hands on is out at dpreview. Looks good!
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I got a look at the sample images. Allowing for the usual caveats regarding evaluating a camera based on Web-viewed sample images, I liked what I saw. I would have liked some sample shots above ISO 160, but that'll come with the full review, no doubt.

I've been sufficiently bored with announcements of the digital camera du jour of late that I've sometimes wished for an easy way of avoiding them. This was, and is, quite different.

kywong said:
There seems to be a lot less buzz around this than the E-P1 though... maybe the novelty faded?
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I chalk that up to there simply being so many products being introduced, that a camera like this can get "lost in the sauce." It has relatively few silly/gimmicky "features" to sell it on... a plus to you and me, but a minus to the purely gadget-happy. The fact that this comes from a company with not much of a photographic pedigree, rather than the usual suspects, is also quite interesting. (I have a ton of respect for Panasonic's consumer products, BTW; I won't even touch anyone else's cordless phones, for one thing.)


- Barrett
 
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I'm excited about both the camera and the fact that the 20mm is finally seeing the light of day. I hit the magic "pre-order" button a few minutes ago, should be fun :)

I have really enjoyed my G1, using it more and more, and I hope for more of the same from the GF1. Great walk around cameras.

Kent
 
Progress is fast. They ironed out most of the E-P1's weak points. Only thing I miss is in body IS, that would be great with legacy glass. Going on the strengths of the G1 it will be a hell of a camera!

A rebranded Leica version seems logical, but maybe they surprise us... with a rangefinder version maybe? If you leave the LCD on youy would still be able to use the zooms AND we now have a 20 (40 equivalent) and a 45 (90 equivalent) lens! Leica CL anyone?
 
As there is already first micro 4/3 lens announced under 'Leica' name, I would guess we will see a similar camera from Leica soon ...
 
I hate to say it, the GH1 is looking more tempting (with that pancake lense).

Why? Just two reasons:

1. Its EVF is MUCH higher resolution.
2. The LCD is articulated.

This looks like an awesome little camera, but I'm not sure the size benefits are worth what has been excised...
 
Matus said:
As there is already first micro 4/3 lens announced under 'Leica' name, I would guess we will see a similar camera from Leica soon ...
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Yes, here's the link to Panasonic's website about these lenses.

Here's a portion of a screenshot from that link, talking about not only the Lumix lens but the Leica variant. Hmm, perhaps a Leica u4/3 camera announcement on 9/9 to go along with the lens?

~Joe

topic05.gif


g_lens_image01.jpg

All LUMIX G lenses comply with the Micro Four Thirds System standard for digital interchangeable lens system cameras. Even with their extremely small size, these high-performance lenses reflect Panasonic's advanced optical technologies, such as the MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) system and a design that minimizes wide-angle distortion to further improve optical performance. The LEICA DG MACRO-ELMARIT 45mm / F2.8 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S., which complies with the Micro Four Thirds System standard, has also been newly developed. Characterized by their compact size and light weight, these lenses bring out the full capabilities of the 4/3 image sensor, and support the Contrast AF function of the DMC-GF1.
* MEGA O.I.S. is not available on the LUMIX G 20mm / F1.7 ASPH. and the LUMIX G VARIO 7-14mm / F4.0 ASPH.
 
With all these announcements of new almost rangefinder digitals, it is easy to lose sight of what it is all about. And that is the purity, IMHO, of photography. I think there are a bunch of us here that do not want 350,000 features of the digital world to get in the way of the intuitive nature of photography. My brain can handle ISO, focus, shutter speed and aperture as if it was an extension of my own mind. How much more can a mind handle? Just look at the list of features and controls on this new rig. Astounding!! Frankly much like all the other serious digitals. Digitally speaking the Epson R-D1 is the closest thing to the "real thing" ( I guess the M8, too.) So I am staying put with all this.
 
urban_alchemist said:
I hate to say it, the GH1 is looking more tempting (with that pancake lense).

Why? Just two reasons:

1. Its EVF is MUCH higher resolution.
2. The LCD is articulated.

This looks like an awesome little camera, but I'm not sure the size benefits are worth what has been excised...
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I agree with you. I like my G1 a great deal and I already sold my E-P1 because the focusing was just too slow for me. Lately I am thinking "why not just buy a second G1 body, or GH1?"

I also will be interested to see if Olympus comes out with a more "professional" (i.e., improved) model. Basically a $900 camera should be faster for the trigger-happy street shooters among us.

I really applaud Panasonic and Olympus for doing such great new products, though. The GH1 is still brand new, for that matter. They have gotten people really excited. Lots of people on this forum think the E-P1 is just fine for fast shooting, because they are willing to use it as if it were an M4. Great!

I do want to see what Leica does next. It would be fine if they introduced a micro-4/3 camera that was not just a rebadged GF1 but something a little better--like in-body IS, or a built-in EVF or rangefinder (even a short base one like the CL). Frankly, if they just clad the GF1 in a more metallic body they will win a lot of points with part of the market, eh?

Tom
 
Yeah. Spec sheet says it's made of metal. Also on the Panasonic site there's a white version.

Quote from Panasonic website

"The DMC-GF1 comes in a choice of body colors: true black, active red, sleek silver, and clean white. With other body parts crafted of finely textured aluminum, it has a high-quality appearance to be attractive while it is exceptionally practical design. The DMC-GF1 is absolutely the camera that gives every photographer a pleasure to own."

The white version wasn't on the DPreview site. Hopefully it's offered in the U.S. I'd love to own that one.
 
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It's probably magnesium. Not the smooth lustrous high quality stainless steel you see on the EP-1. On the other hand, magnesium is much lighter.
 
Tom Diaz said:
I agree with you. I like my G1 a great deal and I already sold my E-P1 because the focusing was just too slow for me. Lately I am thinking "why not just buy a second G1 body, or GH1?"

Tom
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You could have put your G1 lens on the EP-1 and it would have focused just as fast as the G1. Or kept the EP-1 and bought the faster focusing Panasonic lenses (like the 17mm) for it when they are released?


There are a couple of things that caught my attention in the recent posts. One is the seeming need for IS in the body. No camera needs IS, no photographer needs IS. I mean, what did anybody do before IS, or has some new avenue opened up in photography just because of IS? I'd say carry on as before and buy the camera that most suits your needs, because no camera will suit all of them. And adding a fast Leica lenses to the GF1 won't make it slower. I wonder if the M9 will have IS?

Then there is kshapero's tongue in cheek (?) assesment of the complication of modern digital cameras. It was only a couple of hundred years ago that the human brain had to use far more processing power in finding enough to eat and survive than it does today in reading the instruction book of a camera. If anything the 'intuitive' part of the brain should be bigger and emptier than ever before in human evolution because of the ease in which most of us live. Surely some of that unused capacity can be used to simplify down what you need and don't need in a modern cameras functions?

:)

Steve
 
Instead of a debate over IBIS vs lens-based image stabilization, how about in-body autofocus? This would permit the use of any legacy lens to be autofocused, and the manufacturers could concentrate on prime and zooms lenses with better optical quality and smaller sizes, due to lack of electronics and drive motors.

~Joe
 
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