Pansonic Lumix GF1

Jeff Keller, founder and reviewer over at DCResource, has completed another one of his hands-on, everyday-use-oriented camera reviews. This time he tackles the highly-awaited Panasonic GF1. Panasonic, who not so long ago was a fairly criticized underdog in the camera world has really made some unbelievable leaps and bounds since I’ve been here and are now one of the strongest imaging companies I can think of, with such stellar offerings over the years as the LX3, the TZ5, the GH1, and now, apparently, the GF1. WHat’d Jeff think about it? ‘ll save you some tension and quote this from his conclusions, but for the rest you should over and read his many-page in-depth review.

I’ll start off this conclusion with a personal story. In a matter of days, I’m headed off to Asia for a three week vacation. In the past, I’ve taken my digital SLR with me, and while I love the picture quality and selection of lenses, carrying all that gear around gets a little tiring after a while. I could bring a compact camera, but the photo quality often disappoints, especially in low light. When the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 came out last year, I was intrigued — it had the flexibility and performance of a D-SLR, but in a smaller body. But it was still a bit larger than I wanted. When the Olympus E-P1 showed up I’d found what I had been looking for. Unfortunately, I was let down by its slow autofocus system. Enter the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1: it’s roughly the same size as the E-P1 and has better AF performance, a built-in flash, a higher resolution LCD, and a nicer movie mode. Add in full manual controls, a second-to-none live view experience, great photo quality, and lots of bells and whistles and well, I was smitten. Not only do I highly recommend the DMC-GF1 — I can tell you that I bought one to take on my trip.

DCResource Review

Preorder a GF1 @ Roberts