The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

G1 VS Oly 520 sort of

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Well i just meet Terry up in my little cowboy town( Cave Creek) this morning to see the G1 . Okay the sucker is just so cute. She hated me saying that and not real macho. LOL
Anyway she is coming for dinner tonight and I will download the images i shot and compare them with the 520 . I shot them side by side for a few shots but I have to say the G1 is a lot smaller and the lens is very small. Certainly a camera to walk around with for a week and not notice it is on your shoulder. The viewfinder i was very impressed by . The Oly feels like i am looking in a tunnel and the G1 is much nicer in that regard and felt more like a DSLR FF finder. One curious thing though it seemed darker than the Oly 520. I also noticed the highlights on the LCD blew faster. Now not sure that will relate to real blown highlights or the camera just gives off the warning faster. Which i tend to think it does. The G1 does have way to many things going on which is a good and bad thing too. Certainly it is RTFM scenario and maybe twice. Just a lot of stuff going on but once you get used to it i bet there is a ways to make it look not so complicated and just picking it up it is a little overwhelming with all the options that it has. So it is certainly nice to have the options but like most folks that know me i do like a simpler path in camera's. I also brought Terry the Leica M8 8.2 to look at . She was afraid to like it too much. Darn thing is really quiet now and almost have to listen to hear it go off. Big improvement for Leica in that area.

One other thing i see why so many are excited about and it certainly is cool as can be is the magnification for manual focus built in. Okay HUGE plus for that and also see why the M8 shooters are getting really excited about the adapter. This alone would make me buy a G1 no question. The g1 does not feel like a DSLR though and that could be a plus or minus depending on where you come from. the Oly certainly does but the big downfall on the 520 is the finder in my mind and the lenses are twice the size. We did do a side by side shot with the Oly 520 and G1 and it is a big difference with regards to the lenses . I have the 14-54 on the Oly and obviously the kit lens on the G1 and let's not underestimate the size difference it is a huge one.

Certainly this is a camera to throw in a bag as a backup for maybe your big DSLR or MF systems. i can see tossing this little thing in my case and run off to a shoot. So no question the form factor is really nice the LCD screen going in all directions is also a big benefit for dog view and over the head views when shooting. i usually call shots over my head Hail Mary's because about all you can do is pray you are framed okay , with this no praying needed. Just adjust the LCD down and away you go and look up at the LCD for framing, nice touch for sure. So i do see the G1 as a really fun cute little camera. There is that word cute again. Hell I don't have a better word for it, it just is. Also the nice blue color i really like and from someone that has had maybe 50 different camera's in 35 years as black , well blue is kinda a change in color palette. LOL

Anyway just some first impressions and hope to get some quick and dirty shots up later. But i do see why your all so excited, i would be too if I had one.
 

Robert Campbell

Well-known member
Anyway just some first impressions and hope to get some quick and dirty shots up later. But i do see why your all so excited, i would be too if I had one.
Interesting that you find it so different from the 520 - I don't find the 520's viewfinder at all tunnel like; nor did I think when window shopping that it was that much smaller.

it seems made as a body for old leica lenses -- but I doubt if that was the original intention.

Keen to hear more.
 

Brian Mosley

New member
Hi Robert,

I tend to agree with you... the E-520 isn't really that much bigger, and would probably be the better choice for those interested in the 4/3rds lenses currently available.

Unfortunately, I don't have any Leica lenses, but I am *so glad* I bought the G1 for use with my Hexanon prime lenses - the 85mm f1.8 becomes a 170mm f1.8, and is really delightfully easy to focus perfectly.

G1, 4/3rds adapter, Hexanon 85mm f1.8
1/30s f/2.8 iso100


Kind Regards

Brian
 

Irenaeus

Member
[...had maybe 50 different camera's in 35 years as black, well blue is kinda a change in color palette. LOL...]

Perhaps you could get the forthcoming Olympus in BLACK and this G1 in BLUE and use them together for covering boxing, accidents, violent crime and hospital calls....

:D

Irenaeus
 

Robert Campbell

Well-known member
Perhaps you could get the forthcoming Olympus in BLACK and this G1 in BLUE and use them together for covering boxing, accidents, violent crime and hospital calls....

:D

Irenaeus

He needs a red one for this as well :ROTFL:
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Okay the Oly 520 is on the left with a 14-54 on it and the G1 with it's kit lens. My wife will kill me but that is the top deck of her BMW. :ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Okay here is at F8 at 1/200 for each camera at ISO 100 . Now i used ACR 5.2 camera raw since both cameras can be opened in them for now. All at default as opened then made for web so no adjustments made . Both at 14mm

Oly than G1
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Now the G1 looks a little hotter overall and we could balance the exposure. Let's try a crop on this one too
 

Terry

New member
There was a thread on DPReview where exposures were matched between the G1 and D300. It seems like the G1 is about 2/3 of a stop more sensitive.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
This is not real scientific since one camera is 12mpx and the other 10 mpx but at least the Oly is a good base camera to judge since we all know pretty much what it can do . So just some clues about how the G1 holds up which looks pretty darn good so far. So 100 percent crops Oly than G1

View attachment 9533


View attachment 9534
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
So let's go back and match the exposure . Let's try another shot and call the last ones the base files since the exposures will be different and now let's match that up better
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
let's show the crop here and you will se what we mean here. Terry is sitting here with me doing this making sure i don't cheat.:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Oly than G1 . Now we need to make sure this was not me too with more images but the G1 is much sharper here
 
Top