Panasonic G1 Camera - Reviews and Overview

Here's some snippets of personal reviews of the Panasonic G1 Camera....

"...Noise reduction is much improved over their past efforts. Even at ISOs up to 800 and beyond, noise is not that noticeable. Even when it starts to kick in, it looks very natural, almost like film grain. A pleasant surprise...

"...The things that sold me on the G1 are as follows:
1. Camera is small size and fits well in my hand
2. Terrific articulating LCD with great resolution
3. Super fast auto focus in live view mode, best I have seen
4. Has all the control and features of most entry level DSLRs
5. Takes terrific pictures
6. Relatively fast operation
7. The "rubber like" texture of the camera body feels good
8. Performs well in low light and small pictures up to ISO 1600 are usable although not quite as good as the best entry level DSLRs
9. Electronic View Finder is very clear
10. Auto focus assist light

Of course there are some Cons as well:
1. Low light performance not quite as good as best entry level DSLRs. Although this should be expected with the smaller sensor.
2. Would be nice if the flash popped up automatically
3. Limited selection of lenses since the micro four thirds format is so new
4. Is easy to block the auto focus assist light while holding the camera
5. White Balance indoors under fluorescent lighting is poor. However you can manually adjust this.
6. It's expensive in stores (I paid more than I care to admit), although Amazon's price is reasonable in my opinion and a more logical price point. It is worth the $650 price.

The cons I've listed are actually minor. It really is a great camera and I'm very happy I decided to go with it. I have always liked Panasonic's picture quality. Especially if there is lots of light I have found that Panasonic cameras take as good a picture as anything else out there. It's a great handling camera that has all the performance of the entry level DSLRs without the bulk. I'm anxious to see what the future has in store for the micro four thirds format...."

"...Image quality is above expectation.

The images are simply outstanding, in both color, exposure and details, I say this as the owner of several pro DLSR and Leica M8 cameras. (well lets get real here. Clearly the camera do not compare to a $5000 camera, nobody would expect that, but at the $700 price its in a class by itself. you will be hard pressed to find a better camera for under $1000). The bottom line on image quality is this camera will not let you down, you can share pictures with friends and feel good about the image quality..." - Source

Product Description

The LUMIX G1 Ultra-Compact Digital Interchangeable Lens camera is as easy to use as a compact digital camera. It's a new-generation digital interchangeable lens camera that does away with the mirror box and complies with the new Micro Four Thirds System standard. It also features Full-time Live View for compact digital camera shooting ease and iA Intelligent Auto) for beautiful photos with point-and-shoot simplicity. In short, the G1 writes an entirely new chapter in the evolution of the digital interchangeable lens camera.