The unloved Panasonic Lumix GF1

[DownUnder]

Someone here has started a thread on another antiquated Lumix camera, the DMC-L1. A lovely camera, good enough that Leica actually copied the style for its early Digilux (ha!). And already it (the thread) has 20+ replies.

Mine is an equally undervalued Lumix, the DMC-GF1. I more or less inherited this camera, gifted to me by the friend/neighbor who also kindly gave me his long unused Leica Summicron LTM, the collapsible one. Which I then spent small fortune on to get it cleaned and working again, but let's not go there, it's only money.

Anyway, the GF1 is a marvellous camera, well ahead of its time - I believe it was hatched by Panasonic in 2007-2008 and marketed the year after, so 2009 = 16 years old. 12 MP, a lousy accessory clip-on viewfinder - but some of the nicest images I've made in many years. A Leica it isn't, not even a Contax G, and certainly not (quite) as good as my Nikon DSLRs, but then what is?

Yet to me at least there is something, well, liberating about carrying and using a GF1. Back to basics, maybe. Not as basic as one of the very early digitals, but even here I'm now on the hunt for an early Kodak P&S with a Schneider-Kreznach lens such as they produced pre-2005. Elementary but still good shooters, those are. And German glass of course, not Leitz, but good enough. Schneider was/is no slouch in the optics department, even those old lenses are stellar performers.

It should not be forgotten that pre-2005-2006 when digital cameras took off with the introduction of the first prosumer DSLRs, books and videos for commercial use were produced with 5.1 MP and 61 MP digital cameras. In experienced hands these can still give the goods. Just ask Thorsten...

If it means anything in quality terms, I have actually sold a few images taken with my GF1, for stock photos to book publishers specialising in architecture.

Done with the intro! For this thread, I will try to motivate myself to find some of the folders I've kept from the GF1, and post. Others please join in. There must be a few of us left and still able to press a camera shutter, let alone walk...

I will feel suitably rewarded if we make it to 12 responses. Go for it, people!

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

Here, I'll add an image of a GF1 that I stole from Amazon Japan.

Visual aids are always helpful. 🙂

Mike

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I was one of those participating in the L1 thread. I mentioned in that thread that I sold my L1 in 2010 to help finance my move to the m4/3 system. The first m4/3 camera I bought was the GF1 along with the Leica 25 1.4 lens. It is a great little camera, quirks and all. I recently left the m4/3 system but I was still shooting a GF1 as late as last year.


6th Street - Austin, Texas - 2011




Mexican Street Clowns - Grand Prairie, Texas - 2024

 

[peterm1]

I still have a Panasonic GF-1. In its time it really was quite special in terms of its ability to turn in lovely images. The only thing I did not ( do not) like about it, is its damn accessory EVF which has amazingly poor resolution even for its time. Still, it's a nice little camera and one must not be too judgmental - it is a creature of its time I suppose. I have always had a certain respect for cameras and lenses born of the Panasonic-Leica alliance.

 

[Bryan]

My solution to the less than stellar accessory viewfinder back in the day 🙂

 

[DownUnder]

I was one of those participating in the L1 thread. I mentioned in that thread that I sold my L1 in 2010 to help finance my move to the m4/3 system. The first m4/3 camera I bought was the GF1 along with the Leica 25 1.4 lens. It is a great little camera, quirks and all. I recently left the m4/3 system but I was still shooting a GF1 as late as last year.


6th Street - Austin, Texas - 2011

View attachment 4859622


Mexican Street Clowns - Grand Prairie, Texas - 2024

View attachment 4859623

Your two images alone are worth what you paid for your GF1 kit. Magnificent!

 

[trix4ever]

I already had an om-d e-m1 and wanted a smaller body to go with it for my 14mm f2.5 lens, looked at the GF1, but I then realised the GX1's were almost the same price and matched the 16mp sensor resolution so I went that way, but I probably would have been happy with a GF1.
Both fun little cameras that give great results.
I love those black and white photos above.

 

[shawn]

GF1 kit with the 20mm was my first mirrorless camera. The 14mm was great on it too. Bought it looking for something lighter and easier for everyday carry compared to my D700. Ended up using it quite a bit and had a bunch of M4/3 glass. Walking around with it with the 14 or 20mm I was asked many times "Is that a Leica?"

 

[shawn]

These are with a Nikon 500mm F4P and a tripod. I didn't have the EVF so hitting focus in daylight was tricky with the LCD.

Final Flight

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Your two images alone are worth what you paid for your GF1 kit. Magnificent!

Thank you for the very kind words.

Later, as I got deeper into the m4/3 system, I used several different cameras. Towards the end, I shot two GX9 bodies for several years, but I always kept my GF1 until the very end.

 

[Steve W]

Can we include the GF1's cousin, the GH1 in this thread?

 

[DownUnder]

The GH1 deserves its own thread. So the Lumix revival will spread.

The early Lumix(es) are darn good cameras. Let's spread the word and start a revival.

An antiquated digitals club. Imagine that!

 

[aw614]

I still have my red GF1, I don;t use it as much but it still works and unlike my olympus EP1 that has a failing image stabilizer, that vignettes with wider m43 lenses

 

[dkreindler]

Unloved? I recall this camera being quite popular, and one of the bodies that kicked off the mirrorless interchangeable lens segment. I bought one used on a whim around 2017 and it came with a 20mm f/1.7. I seem to recall that the files made for some wonderful monochrome images, but all I have are color photos. I've bought and sold that setup twice now. In some ways, I miss it dearly, but I was gifted a GX7 with a 14mm f/2.5 and I really appreciate having an EVF.

Untitled by Derek Kreindler, on Flickr

Untitled by Derek Kreindler, on Flickr

Untitled by Derek Kreindler, on Flickr

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I still have my red GF1, I don;t use it as much but it still works and unlike my olympus EP1 that has a failing image stabilizer, that vignettes with wider m43 lenses

At one time, I owned a white body. It was a really nice pearl-white color. I always wanted a red one.

 

[Archiver]

Many of my cameras are from the m43 family, and I've considered picking up a GF1 for the heck of it. They aren't expensive, nor sought after, so are fairly easy to find. What's harder to find is a GX1 - that model can use the VF2 external viewfinder that I got with my sadly malfunctioning Panasonic LX7 compact camera.

 

[agentlossing]

The GF series started out as a photographer's camera par excellence. Then it went too casual - and the photographer's camera torch was passed to the GX series. The GX1 preserves pretty much all of what made the GF1 great, with more resolution and more useful features.

They're not perfect. The colors are really ghastly and require a lot of work, and shutter shock is a real issue with the GX1, not sure about the GF1. Panasonic got around to fixing both the colors and the shutter shock issue with the GX85.

By that time, Panasonic was getting closer to their current strategy of making every camera a hybrid camera, but still, the GX85 is probably the best of the series... But it never really went down in price.

GX1 can be had quite inexpensively, but be careful if the screen looks rough. Many of the LCD screens have a delamination problem and can affect your ability to view a scene clearly, for instance when checking focus.

 

[aw614]

I am surprised the GX85's price has stayed very flat. Early on the pandemic I ended picking up a body and three batteries for 200 dollars that I use for photos/videos of my sister's kid's sports they participate in.

 

[Godfrey]

I had a Panasonic GF1 for a time back around 2010-2011 ... It was a nice camera, more compact than the G1 and handy for travel.

Near Rorschach - Sunnyvale 2010
Panasonic GF1 + Olympus ZD 35mm f/4 Macro
ISO 400 @ f/5.6 @ 1/160​

Like so much of my equipment from that era, I sold it to help fund something else that I wanted/needed. I never considered it "unloved", just not my primary choice for most of my work—at that time, I was still taking assignments and selling photos under license.

G

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Main Street - Fort Worth - 2011



Lumix 20mm 1.7 lens