David Pogue on the Panasonic GI

[Arne Hvaring]

Easy, very easy. It is really, really good and I believe (after a few hours of using) that it is really usable!

Anyone considering it for M lens use, do not hesitate!:ROTFL:

Vivek, that's good news. I have one on order and plan to use it with various MF lenses. I wonder if a Leica R-adapter is in the works.

 

[jonoslack]

Easy, very easy. It is really, really good and I believe (after a few hours of using) that it is really usable!

Anyone considering it for M lens use, do not hesitate!:ROTFL:

shhhh shhhhhhh SHHHHH
Oh Help!

 

[Vivek]

Arne, Mine is a "pan-European" model and hence no English manuals. My language skills w.r.t German and Dutch are meagre French/Italian- non-existent.
So, I am also awaiting the online pdf (English) manual. However, the camera functions are all in English as a default (changeable to other languages).

Let me just say that I am very happy that I did not sell my 50/0.95 Canon lens.
It does a better job on the G1 than it did on the Epson R-D1s!:thumbs:

I will put together my adapter next week sometime once I have the required bits.

About using R lenses- yes it should be possible. But you will have to hold the camera in your hand to see how odd it would look and handle. This camera is really tiny and lightweight (the Canon 50/0.95 monster looks odd as well).

No offence to the G1 users here but I do not like the kit zoom nor the artificial camera shutter noise (which can be but has to be switched off).

Handling is closer to a P/S cam than a real rangefinder camera. But, this is a state of the art camera and I am sure the M 4/3rds format and the live view (EVF) focusing is here to stay.

 

[Vivek]

shhhh shhhhhhh SHHHHH
Oh Help!

Suffer!:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

 

[Vivek]

One thing that I can confirm- 0% UV response and no IR response as well- this is even without a lens on the camera!

 

[scho]

Another new red G1 owner (love ithe color!). Took it out for test walk in a nearby gorge and was quite impressed with the performance of both the camera and kit lens. Sample shot below. Looking forward to comparing sensor performance with the M8 using same M mount lenses when the new M adapter becomes available next month.

 

[Brian Mosley]

Just posted by my friend Bjorn Uptott on the dpreview Panasonic forum :

For those like me who like to go through the manual before making a final decision to purchase, the G1's PDF manual is now available for download (55 MB).
Scroll down to DMCG1K under AV Products, Digital Still Camera.

Manual on line

And here's a direct link to the English pdf
Direct Link - WARNING 55MB download

Kind Regards

Brian

 

[Vivek]

Thank you very much, Brian!

 

[jonoslack]

HI There Scho - and welcome!
That's a great shot - very very promising I'd say.

 

[Per Ofverbeck]

Lovely! Bought mine yesterday evening, and the Swedish manual is so lousy that I had to read the Danish one to get any idea of what they were talking about...:ROTFL:

Obviously the person who made the Swedish translation has no knowledge whatsoever of photographic terms. He/she seems to believe that noise and camera shake are the same thing..

Now, I can read the English one, which is (hopefully) somewhat better.

Brian, I´ll return to the UKPSG diary as soon as I have anything to say... Still shooting in the iA (idiots Assured?) mode, but now that I get a decent manual, I may get somewhere.

Lovely machine, so-so lens...

 

[scho]

HI There Scho - and welcome!
That's a great shot - very very promising I'd say.

Thanks Jono. Yes, and it is a real pleasure hiking around with this little featherweight.

Regards,
Carl

 

[Martin S]

Thanks SCHO for the info regarding the lens adapter.

Just started to use my blue G1.

No real results here yet. At work, and subjects are limited. Took a flash shot this morning in significant darkness. Focussed fine with AF light, and exposure, and focus seemed right on.

Body is an interesting hybrid of PS, and DSLR. Lens is just OK.

Will keep shooting when I time, and subjects permit.

Please, someone let me know when 4/3 adapter becomes available in the U.S. so I can try out a real lens.

Martin

 

[simonclivehughes]

Lovely machine, so-so lens...

Please, someone let me know when 4/3 adapter becomes available in the U.S. so I can try out a real lens.

Hmmm... interesting comments! While it obviously isn't a Leica lens, I had thought that others such as Brian had reported that the lens was quite good. Per and Martin, can you perhaps expand on what you don't like about the lens?

I should have mine today or tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing what is can do.

Cheer,

 

[Martin S]

Perhaps, I was a little too hasty in my lens comments.

Weather here is too wet to really evaluate the camera, and lens quality.

It is an interesting concept, and the viewfinder, and AF are much better than I was expecting.

AF seems almost as fast as my Canon 40D!!! Also, in adaquate light, no focus hunting with overshoot, and then re-correct.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Martin

 

[Per Ofverbeck]

... Per and Martin, can you perhaps expand on what you don't like about the lens?...

Well, at this early stage my impressions are mainly from the build and feel of the lens, less about performance. It is VERY "plastic-y"; turning the zoom ring feels more like opening a screw cap bottle than adjusting fine optics. To be fair, however, it has a nicely finished metal bayonet, and the sideways play when fully extended is less than many "consumer" zooms from Canon or Nikon. The focus ring is quite smooth, but then it is of the "fly-by-wire" type, so it doesn´t mechanically move anything.

Also, it is quite slow, of course. I really look forward both to those adapters, and to the 20 mm pancake...

Some test shots I did yesterday afternoon of the Stockholm skyline looked a bit soft at the corners, even stopped down (center was OK), but they were hastily made free hand, so not really conclusive. To complicate the analysis even further, I didn´t use my final copy of the camera and lens then, but the shop´s demo, kindly loaned to me for one day while they sent for a blue one for me (that´s service, indeed!). Got the final one in an unopened box today, battery still charging. Let´s see how that lens performs a s a p!

And, it has to be said, the images shown here and in the UKPSG diary are very good; Carl´s gorge shots are downright stunning!

 

[simonclivehughes]

I just received mine this morning, and just finished charging the battery so I'm only now starting to play with it. I agree that the zoom control is not as smooth as the focus control, but I don't find it too bad on mine. Hopefully I'll be able to do some shooting with it soon, although right now it's pouring rain out there.

I posted some early impressions of the camera in Terry's thread:

http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3888&page=4

Overall, I'm very pleased though.

Cheers,

 

[Per Ofverbeck]

Got a chance today to shoot outdoors in freezing temperatures, also did some lens test shots from a tripod.

Lens test first: at least this copy is OK, not stellar but better than most consumer zooms I´ve tried. So, if I had any doubts there, they´re gone. Bokeh isn´t great, but hardly bottom of the barrel either; see attached image.

Handling the camera in the cold: This is NOT a "gloves" camera. Period. I have a pair of shooter´s mitts that I´ll dig out and try, but today I just had to take my thin, unlined leather gloves off to get anything done. And then, after five minutes, the fingers were too numb to get at difficult buttons like the preview one.

Apart from that, the camera was mostly a pleasure to use, but with some interface problems, besides the glove one. This weekend, I´ll try to get something written for Brian´s diary. Hope to get to shoot a few dogs () tomorrow...

 

[Martin S]

Just briefly tried out G1.

A possible user interface issue - if u select to move the focus point with the 4 button controller, the usual controller functions ISO, WB etc. don't seem to work, only the focus spot moves? Any way to toggle between the two functions??

Has anyone else seen this?? Am I missing something?

Please advise.

Martin

 

[Vivek]

Just briefly tried out G1.

A possible user interface issue - if u select to move the focus point with the 4 button controller, the usual controller functions ISO, WB etc. don't seem to work, only the focus spot moves? Any way to toggle between the two functions??

Has anyone else seen this?? Am I missing something?

Please advise.

Martin

Martin, No issue at all. Hit the middle button (menu/set) and see what happens (I'll let you discover that!)!

 

[Per Ofverbeck]

Martin, No issue at all. Hit the middle button (menu/set) and see what happens (I'll let you discover that!)!

Well,that didn´t solve the problem (I´ve dismissed this feature myself because of this).

What happens when hitting the middle button is simply that the yellow arrows for moving the focus area go away. But as soon as one of the four buttons is touched, they return. No way to get the standard functions, except to turn "direct AF area" off again.

So, Vivek, if you do know a solution that we´ve missed, please tell us in simple and direct language....