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Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

Digital Camera Review
November 04, 2009 By Steve Morgenstern 0 Comments (add your own)

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Conclusion

What photographer hasn’t bemoaned The One That Got Away — the perfect shot that was missed because you just didn’t want to lug your SLR around with you. The compact Micro Four Thirds camera is designed to cure this problem with gear that fits easily in a jacket pocket or handbag, yet still offers the kind of control and flexibility found in an SLR. You can change lenses. Use an external flash. Use manual controls, and bracketing, and fine tune image capture characteristics. And while the Micro Four Thirds sensor is smaller than a full-scale SLR, it’s much bigger than you’ll find in a compact camera, producing superior image quality.

We got our first exciting experience with this new format with the Olympus E-P1, a camera we rated very highly despite some significant flaws. Now Panasonic has addressed many of our E-P1 concerns, delivering fast autofocus, a built-in flash and the (albeit pricey) option to shoot with a viewfinder in addition to Live View. While there are still some performance areas that could use improvement (color accuracy is mediocre, and low light shooting lags full-size SLRs), the sharpness and clarity of our shots with the kit 14-45mm zoom was outstanding. The Lumix GF1 takes handsome pictures, it’s fun and easy to use yet still offers the flexibility demanding photographers require. And best of all, it convincingly breaks down the portability barriers to getting great shots.

Performance

Shooting sharp, clear photos is the camera’s strongest suit, with resolution test results that far surpassed the full-size video-enabled SLRs in the same price range. Image noise is always a factor when shooting with a smaller image sensor, but we were impressed by how little detail was lost when the noise reduction system is cranked up. Burst rate shooting is a decent 3.3 shots per second, and white balance accuracy was excellent, both with auto WB and custom mode. We were also impressed by the speedy performance of the GF1 autofocus system. It still won’t rival a sophisticated SLR for fast sports action, but you should be able to shoot a neighborhood soccer game without using language that disturbs the player.

Video

The Panasonic GF1 didn’t bring anything new to the table when it comes to video features. Its compact size can be beneficial for shooting video, however, and the camera’s movie mode is quite simple to use— particularly because of its live autofocus capability. Still, there are a number of video-capable DSLRs out there that have more video functions and can capture higher-quality video than the GF1.

Hardware

The GF1 boasts a handsome 3-inch 460,000-dot LCD, along with HDMI out for connecting directly to a high-def TV for watching stills or video (there’s even a better-than-average slideshow utility built in). The pop-up flash (notably missing on the E-P1) is a keeper, producing nice even illumination. Probably the most important feature, though, is an extra-cost option: an electronic viewfinder that mounts in the hot shoe and recreates the Live View display at eye level..

Controls

There’s a nice mix of entry-level and more sophisticated control here. The Intelligent Auto mode uses scene recognition to set aperture and shutter speed to match the situation, a better solution than simply taking a light meter reading. There are plenty of scene modes, and a few moderately interesting filter effects. More useful is the way adjustments to white balance, color and other settings are previewed live on-screen, allowing interactive control. And since we’re old-fashioned enough to want to see how much of a scene is in focus before we hit the shutter, the depth of field preview function, an endangered species in consumer SLRs today, made us smile.

Sample Photos

In the following sample images, clicking on the larger image will download the full resolution original. Each photo is accompanied by four actual-size crops.

Waterfront Sample

Focal length: 14mm
Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter: 1/500
ISO: 100

Shot with the kit lens at its widest setting, on a somewhat overcast day, with white balance set to daylight, film mode standard, using center-weighted metering and +0.7 EV exposure compensation.

We’re impressed with the solid sharpness from edge to edge, with undistorted straight lines and minimal color fringing.
Automotive Sample

Focal length: 20mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/160
ISO: 200

Shot in standard film mode on a fairly bright day, in program mode using auto white balance and multiple metering. This is a finely detailed, well balanced exposure.
Noise Reduction Detail Sample

Focal length: 31mm
Aperture: f/10
Shutter: 1 second
ISO: 3200

With a relatively high native noise level, the ability to use the GF1’s noise reduction system without losing out on fine detail is critical. We tripod-mounted the camera, set a 1-second exposure at ISO 3200, and adjusted the high ISO noise reduction setting in standard film mode from -2 through +2. As shown in the full-size crops below, the system effectively lowers image noise and doesn’t obliterate fine lines as we’ve seen with some other cameras.

Noise reduction at its lowest setting (NR-2)

NR-0 (the default)

NR +2 (the maximum)

Film Mode Samples

Focal length: 37mm
Aperture: f/8
Shutter: 1/320
ISO:100

We shot this sign with autumn decorations using each of the nine film modes, using automatic white balance and multiple metering. The standard mode image is on the left, and can be clicked to open a full-sized version in a separate window.

The dynamic and vibrant modes do add pop to the ribbons, but have an unfortunate effect on the greens (which are nicely rendered in nature mode). We’re not sure where washed-out nostalgic mode would be useful, but we really like the tone and grey values in the three black and white film modes.

Dynamic Increased saturation and contrast

Vibrant Saturation and contrast ramped up more than in Dynamic mode

Nature Brighter reds, greens and blues

Smooth Contrast lowered

Nostalgic Saturation and contrast lowered

Black and White Standard Default for black and white photos

Black and White Dynamic Increased contrast

Black and White Smooth Contrast decreased
Close-Up Sample

Focal length: 45mm
Aperture: f/9
Shutter: 1/640
ISO: 400

We boosted shutter speed by ramping up the ISO to 400 shoot this nautical detail handheld and leaning forward a bit perilously. The diverse textures are nicely reproduced, the lettering on the right metal fastening comes through clearly, and the white rope maintains a good tonal range.
Low Light Sample

Focal length: 24mm
Aperture: f/4.8
Shutter: 1/13
ISO: 3200

Shooting this fabric flower arrangement at the top ISO 3200 setting under low light conditions (around 40 lux) produces a lot of image noise, but also a lot of detail, as seen in the bar code label.\

The rightmost crop was taken from a shot at ISO 1600, preserving more of the fabric detail.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 Specs
Type Compact SLR / System
Focal Length Minimum 14.0 mm
Focal Length Maximum 45.0 mm
Still Pixel Count (gross) 13.06 megapixels
Still Pixel Count (effective) 12.1 megapixels
Sensor Size Micro Four Thirds
Sensor Type - New CMOS
Frame Rate(s) 30p, 24p
Original Price 899.95 $
Height 71.0 mm
Width 119.0 mm
Depth 36.3 mm
Weight 17.86 g
Model Colors black
Display Type LCD
Display Size 3.0 in.
Display Resolution 460000 pixels
Viewfinder Type none
Media New SD/SDHC
Connectivity Options USB, A/V, miniHDMI, wired remote, hot accessory shoe
Battery Type removable lithium-ion
Battery Model Number ID-Security Li-ion Battery Pack
Mirror Technology (Interchangeable Lens) Mirrorless
Waterproof No
ISO Options 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Minimum ISO 100
Maximum ISO 3200
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Digital Camera Review
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