Panasonic DMC-GF1

	Playback Summary
• Good selection of playback displays, including histograms, calendar and 16x magnification • Full-featured slideshow utility • Limited in-camera editing functions • Decent software, but only for Windows
	Sample Photos	Page 8 of 21	Hardware

Playback Mode (10.75)

You have a nice range of options when reviewing your images on the GF1, including a histogram display, up to 16x image magnification and an easy to use calendar display with images sorted by shooting date. 

Playback Displays
Normal Lists film mode, image size and quality, LCD mode, battery status and image number across the top, flash setting, shooting mode, aperture and shutter speed, exposure compensation, ISO and white balance settings across the bottom.	Detailed Information Reorganizes the information from the normal display and adds metering mode, focus setting, image stabilization and Intelligent Exposure status, shooting date and time, color space and file name.
Histogram Provides basic shooting information plus RGB and luminance histograms.	Highlight Overexposed areas blink. This view can be turned on or off in the custom menu.
No Display The photo is shown with no information overlay (if there are no blown highlights, only the battery indicator changes).	Zoom Turning the control dial right during playback zooms in by 2x, 4x, 8x and 16x.
Multi Turning the control dial left from full-screen playback brings up a 12-thumbnail, then 30-thumbnail display.	Calendar One more control dial click left produces a calendar view with images arranged by shooting date.

You can filter the files to be displayed during playback, choosing only stills, movies in either supported format, or pictures taken in particular scene mode categories. In addition to using the calendar view function to find photos taken on a given date, you can use the camera's travel date function to sort through vacation photos.

Photos can be deleted individually, in groups chosen using thumbnails, or all images can be deleted at once.

Movie playback has most of the features we're after, including fast forward and rewind, frame-by-frame movement forward and back, and volume control. The only missing is an easy way to jump back to the beginning of a clip.

The slide show feature is pretty elaborate, in a good way. First off, you have extensive control over what's included: stills and movies, just stills, just movies, photos shot in particular scene modes or on specified travel dates, or only files you've flagged as favorites. There are three different transition effects, and a guitar background track that can be played or muted. It's a major improvement over the barebones capability found on most SLRs, and especially welcome in a camera you can connect directly to an HDTV to show off your handiwork.

In-Camera Editing (4.00)

Pictures can be resized to one of the lower-resolution settings available in a particular aspect ratio, handy if you're planning to email a photo. Trimming is also available, but it's limited to a few zoomed sizes and the same aspect ratio and orientation as the original. There is an aspect ratio conversion utility, but it's only used to alter shots taken in 16:9 format.

The Title Edit system lets you create a text overlay that's displayed as you browse your photos, and can optionally be imprinted on your images using the Text Stamp function. It's a one-letter-at-a-time process, not worth the effort for browsing purposes as far as we're concerned, though it might be useful if you want info (about where photos were taken, for example) stamped onto your prints. The Text Stamp function can also be used to imprint the time and/or date a photo was taken, the age of a recognized individual if that's been entered in the camera memory, and the travel date.

There are no in-camera tools to adjust color, brightness or contrast of a stored photo. However, we do like the option to add a brief audio caption to a photo.

Software (3.50)

The provided CD-ROM includes two programs, the Photofun browser app and Silkypix, used for image manipulation of both RAW and JPEG files. The flaw here is the lack of Macintosh support, an important omission for Apple aficionados who shoot RAW files.

Software
	Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0 SE This program offers lots of image editing freedom once you get the hang of it, but the learning curve is steep, particularly with the mediocre online documentation. We do appreciate the precise RAW file processing controls. And the software takes an unusual approach to JPEG image editing, creating a virtual RAW file so you can alter parameters such as white balance and lens distortion with minimal image degradation. You still can't make pixel-by-pixel, Photoshop-style adjustments, though.
	Photofun Studio HD As usual with manufacturer-provided browsing software, the primary advantage of using this program is the ability to read camera-specific information such as film mode or My Color setting. Photofun Studio HD does offer a few additional capabilities that are interesting, though, including automatic photo categorization by recording date, scene mode, number of people (using face detection), camera model, picture storage folder or keywords. Grabbing stills from AVCHD video files is easy, and you can also trim these files (but not Motion JPEGs).

Direct Print Options (3.75)

As expected, the GF1 offers computer-free PictBridge printing to compatible USB-connected printers and Digital Print Order Form (DPOF) file creation, used to give instructions digitally when using an output service.