When I got my mits on a G1 I thought it was neat but maybe not a keeper for me, panasonic cameras have never really struck a cord with me, now though its hard to say, it really is a clever little camera and I have to give panasonic credit for a great effort even if it is a little conservative in the body design, also i dont like how bare the left control for focus is, seems like a after thought. Also I am rather disappointed to learn that the 20mm 1.7 that many of us here would find so interesting will not be image stabilized which is kind of a let down.
I do find this a very compelling camera even with its problems, for instance the high iso performance is not great, and the way it can watercolor smear details is typically panasonic (though vastly improved from other panasonics I have used), I must say I wouldnt blame anyone for buying one. What keeps me from smacking down my money for one though besides the price is olympus, I want that in body image stabilization. Also the finder, though very nice and large is flanked top and bottom with a hell of a lot of unnecessary icons that could be put somewhere else where you dont always have to look at them. Maybe thats just from using a rangefinder for a while, you get used to a bare minimum. One of the things I like a lot about this camera is that the drive switch is indeed a switch so I can easily change from single to continuous mode, something I hate about my Ricoh GRD is that if you have it in continuous mode and shut the camera off it goes back to single then I got to turn the camera on, go to the shortcut menu and reengage it in too many button presses, panasonic made it a physical control and I appreciate that a lot.
So what does it come down to for me? The Panasonic is a great camera, a great choice for a walk around/light weight kit camera and then there is the fun to be had with adapted lenses. The incoming 20 1.7 is not stabilized, boo. The Olympus prototype did not have a finder on it, boo, but if it lives up to its DNA the Olympus will have in body stabilization, many points there. 2x image crop would not be so nice for adapted lens users but not a total loss, I cant wait to be able to stick my zeiss 28 biogon zm on the G1! The G1's battery life is so so, I have not run one down all the way but seems like a second battery would be a must. Also its not a main camera for me, even though both are 12 mega pixels, the canon 5D mops the floor with the G1, the 5D though old is still a titan. Also that prototype camera olympus showed....can you imagine putting a lens besides that small prime they showed on it? Even the G1's kit lens would look ridiculous on that thing not to mention a telephoto. Do you hold the camera and rotate the lens or the other way around?
Sigh...its a hard choice either way, I think we will know more in January when PMA comes around.
