Rick Waldroup
Well-known
It is kind of strange how we are now discussing vintage digital cameras, isn't it? 😎
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The unloved Panasonic Lumix GF1
- Thread starter Bolo Kukus
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Bolo Kukus
en vacances
Not at all. Anything that takes us away from discussing inanities like Instagram (or insanities like the current state of your politics) is a good thing...
Archiver
Veteran
@agentlossing The GX85 is enjoying a fair bit of online popularity as a travel/street camera, Fuji X100 alternative, what have you. There are a number of YouTube videos about it in this capacity, starting with Spencer Whiteman's videos some years ago, and as recently as this week by others. I'm hoping to pick up another GX85 or a GX9 at some stage because I love mine so much.
And here's a recent GF1 video so we stay on topic!
dkreindler
Established
I'm stunned. A year ago, someone gave me a GX7, and I checked the price online once I got home. $150 seemed to be the going rate. They're now close to $400. Camera prices have gotten absolutely bonkers, even for older, less desirable stuff.
agentlossing
Well-known
It's a positive sign, maybe. Demand may actually influence the release of more small system cameras. Micro 4/3 cameras have gotten too large.
dkreindler
Established
I really hope so, but we've had a few good years of compact camera sales increasing, used prices through the roof and constant sell-outs of the G7X and GR III, with no movement by the camera makers. It reminds me of how car makers left the small truck segment to Toyota and claim there was no demand...and then all at once, we had a flood of small trucks from the Hyundai Santa Cruz to the Ford Ranger and Maverick.
agentlossing
Well-known
Speaking of which, I'm thinking and hoping that a lightly-used Maverick may end up with me behind the driver's seat in the next couple years.
Bolo Kukus
en vacances
Many thanks for this, its a video I hadn't seen. And a good production. Intelligent talk. Not endless yap yap like so many YouTube presentations, and backed up with good images. What's not to like? Unusual, and certainly enjoyable.
Prices in Australia (most Lummoxes of this vintage seem to come out of Japan via Ebay) are through the roof for the GX85 - thanks, Canberra for our third world 62 cent dollar...
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Archiver
Veteran
Canon have begun to release new compact cameras, albeit for vloggers and 'content creators', so maybe there's hope for a return to small m43 bodies. Sony are continuing to miniaturize full frame, so there seems to be a trend back to small footprint. m43 has the edge in small lenses - we just need sensors equal in dynamic range and image quality to the full frame sensors of ten years ago, we'd be laughing.
bcostin
Well-known
It deserves respect! The first few generations of MFT cameras were not only really fun to use, but also the first practical way to use a lot of vintage glass on a digital body. While I'd been happily using M42, Rollei QBM, and Exacta SLR lenses with my Canon 10D, the new ability to punch in on a magnified live-view for focusing was a revelation for my nearsighted self. Plus I could finally adapt my dad's old Leica glass!
I had a blue Lumix G1 back in the day since I was accustomed to Canon DSLRs and preferred the internal EVF. I still regularly use the Lumix 20mm/f1.7 and 14mm/f2.5 that I bought with it.
When I wanted a smaller pocketable model I veered off the Olympus side of the MFT ecosystem, mostly because the Pen series had IBIS for use with vintage lenses. I've always wanted to play with a GX1 or a GF1, though, and almost got one before the prices started to creep back up out of the impulse-buy range.
I had a blue Lumix G1 back in the day since I was accustomed to Canon DSLRs and preferred the internal EVF. I still regularly use the Lumix 20mm/f1.7 and 14mm/f2.5 that I bought with it.
When I wanted a smaller pocketable model I veered off the Olympus side of the MFT ecosystem, mostly because the Pen series had IBIS for use with vintage lenses. I've always wanted to play with a GX1 or a GF1, though, and almost got one before the prices started to creep back up out of the impulse-buy range.
Archiver
Veteran
Those were the days! People were adapting their M mount glass to the Panasonic G1 and GH1 and noting that it was the first time rangefinder glass could be used with a digital camera. So cool 😎
Wow, you were an early adopter! And with a blue model at that.
That's the issue now, because people on YouTube are pumping up these now-vintage digital cameras and driving prices back up. I should have got a spare GX85 when one was available a few years ago at my local. They hardly turn up secondhand now.
Interestingly, it appears that the GF1 battery can also be used with the G1, G2, GH1 and G10. Which remind me that I should have got the GH1 which was at my local a while ago, too. I can never quite justify those purchases because I already own cameras that are their descendants, like the GH3, GH4, G9, GX85 and GM1. I don't NEED a GF1 or GH1/2, but I feel it might be fun. 😆
Archiver
Veteran
This now reminds me how much I used to enjoy just going out with the GH3 or GH4 and a couple of tiny primes like the Olympus 25mm f1.8. Those cameras were intended for a prosumer market and were adopted by many video professionals in that niche, but they were still quite small. The GH5, 6 and 7 were increasingly large and heavy, perhaps not quite as fun for a day's jaunt about the town.
Archiver
Veteran
Getting back to the GF1 content, here's a video of the famous Chris Niccolls in The Camera Store 15 years ago. What's remarkable about this video is that it is the very first camera promo by The Camera Store, and it's such a nostalgia trip!
And here is a recent video about the GF1:
And here is a recent video about the GF1:
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dkreindler
Established
Untitled by Derek Kreindler, on Flickr
Untitled by Derek Kreindler, on FlickrBoth with the 20mm 1.7
peterm1
Veteran
I agree this camera is a gem, and well before its time. I won't sell mine, I can't sell mine. But that BLOODY top mounted EVF with about a 2 pixel resolution! 😳🤣🤣🤣
Bolo Kukus
en vacances
Happy to know a few of us still love the unloved... when I wrote it (entirely on the spur of the moment), I truly did not expect this thread to go beyond the first page, as so few of my threads ever make it that far. But look at this one, ha!!
I reckon the GF1 viewfinder is likely more a 0.5 pixels. As I dislike having to use a digit P&S like a mini view camera, I lucked into a Wray adjustable viewfinder, circa 1950, in a charity shop in Ballarat last year. It cost $15 and it doesn't adjust wider than 3.5 cm as it seems wider lenses were a rarity 75 years ago, but it does go up to13.5 cm so well over the max telephoto end of the 14-42 kit lens on my GF1. This finder has made a difference. It isn't especially accurate but the big plus is I no longer have to use the primitive GF1 viewer which has been been banished to its own small case and likely to stay there.
As for the GF1's resolution I've yet to try making prints from the casual images I've taken with it, or use the telephoto (IRRC 55-150) Lumix zoom I also got with the camera. It is after all a 2009 camera, but our venerable Nikon D90 also dates from the same year, and its resolution is still more than adequate for most image needs.
For me the GF1 excels at casual snaps on the run, as it's eminently portable and slips easily into my backpack for bush walks, along with its mate my Fuji XE2 with the 18/2.0 or the stellar 18-55 kit Fujinon, which I tend to use more, tho the GF1 is no slouch in what it does, which it does well. Comparing the GF1 to the XE2 is like trying to match apples with kiwi fruit, but each has its own merits.
Given so much choice in my cameras I tend to use the Fuji more, but the GF1 is no slouch in the snapshot league. In my wanderings I still see a few photographers using now-ancient Lumixes. So it's a well-regarded veteran and still does what it can do well.
Panasonic P&S camera from that era (2009) are surely a well-kept hidden secret of the old digital scene.
I reckon the GF1 viewfinder is likely more a 0.5 pixels. As I dislike having to use a digit P&S like a mini view camera, I lucked into a Wray adjustable viewfinder, circa 1950, in a charity shop in Ballarat last year. It cost $15 and it doesn't adjust wider than 3.5 cm as it seems wider lenses were a rarity 75 years ago, but it does go up to13.5 cm so well over the max telephoto end of the 14-42 kit lens on my GF1. This finder has made a difference. It isn't especially accurate but the big plus is I no longer have to use the primitive GF1 viewer which has been been banished to its own small case and likely to stay there.
As for the GF1's resolution I've yet to try making prints from the casual images I've taken with it, or use the telephoto (IRRC 55-150) Lumix zoom I also got with the camera. It is after all a 2009 camera, but our venerable Nikon D90 also dates from the same year, and its resolution is still more than adequate for most image needs.
For me the GF1 excels at casual snaps on the run, as it's eminently portable and slips easily into my backpack for bush walks, along with its mate my Fuji XE2 with the 18/2.0 or the stellar 18-55 kit Fujinon, which I tend to use more, tho the GF1 is no slouch in what it does, which it does well. Comparing the GF1 to the XE2 is like trying to match apples with kiwi fruit, but each has its own merits.
Given so much choice in my cameras I tend to use the Fuji more, but the GF1 is no slouch in the snapshot league. In my wanderings I still see a few photographers using now-ancient Lumixes. So it's a well-regarded veteran and still does what it can do well.
Panasonic P&S camera from that era (2009) are surely a well-kept hidden secret of the old digital scene.
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phranklee
Member
I used G1s and GX1s with 14 and 20mm lenses for lots of portfolio images. Their noise pattern was nice and I thought the colors from Panys were great. They rarely missed focus too. Always shot raw though
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