A while ago I mentioned how I longed for a medium format rangefinder camera to use for those otherwise missed photographs that present themselves just after I have set-up the view camera which is pointing the other way.
I had in mind a Mamiya 7, but when I started to investigate the possibility I soon realised it was not going to be a practical partner to an already heavy and crowded large format kit bag. The body alone as large as my Nikon DSLR, if not bigger, and a standard lens about twice the size of one of my DSLR prime lenses. There was just no way a Mamiya would fit.
A Leica M9 would be nice, but with a price tag of a brand new small car it was not going to happen. I considered the Leica X1, but it still had a hefty price tag for a camera with a permanently attached fixed focal length lens. While I envisage a fixed focal length lens would be all I would want when travelling, loosing the flexibility of alternative lenses was a concern.
My two teenage daughters are taking their music very seriously and are performing live on a regular basis so I quite liked the idea of a camera that is both discrete and good in low light (my Nikon D2x fails on both counts). That's when I came across the Panasonic GF1.
The GF1 uses a micro four thirds lens mount with a 12 mega pixel DSLR sized sensor. Actually it's slightly smaller than the APS-C sized sensor in my Nikon, but still much larger than a digital compact camera sensor. The four thirds format generates images with roughly the same aspect ration as my 4x5 and 6x7 cameras which is just perfect as far as I am concerned. Unlike an SLR camera it has no use for a bulky mirror and viewfinder and thus fits into a compact camera size package. A DSLR quality camera in a compact format? There must be a catch. Well no actually, or at least none of any significance.
There are two kit lens options. One comes with a 20mm f/1.7 low profile pancake prime lens (equivalent to a 40mm on a full frame 35mm camera), the other a 14-45mm zoom lens (28-90mm). I chose the 20mm option because I prefer prime lenses for their quality and it meant the the camera is easily slipped into a jacket pocket and fits into my large format kit bag. I bought the optional electronic viewfinder for use when bright sunlight renders the LCD screen useless. I also I ordered a Voiglander Nikon F mount adapter which means I can mount all my Nikkor manual focus prime lenses onto this camera.
I was pleasantly surprised at the build quality of the camera. Being mostly metal came as a surprise (although the price tag should have been a clue) so it should be reasonably resilient to minor knocks. I was quickly struck by the excellent image quality, especially with the 20mm lens. I've not done any major image comparison tests, but my feeling after using it for a few days is that it is capable of equalling, perhaps even beating, my D2x for image quality. While the bigger Nikon is still a far more versatile camera, the little Panasonic just shows how much things have moved on in the 5 years since I bought the Nikon.
(Panasonic GF1 - 20mm 1/60s at f/2 ISO2500)I can't say I was surprised at how well it does in low light. My Nikon was never great in these conditions and I knew the GF1 would be better. While I know it will never match say the Nikon D3 in this area, I was still very pleased. I could not use them for commercial use but images taken even as high as ISO2500 were still perfectly printable at A4 size*. With such a large aperture, the 20mm lens means I will rarely need to use speeds this high.
With a smaller sensor than my D2x I was expecting to find diffraction kicking in at larger apertures than I am used to and I found f/8 to be about the limit before I noticed a fall off in sharpness. That said, f/11 is not at all bad and the extra depth of field for any given field of view meant I didn't need to stop down more anyway.
Colours are great and I have not seen any sign of chromatic aberration* (although think I read that Adobe Capture RAW in CS4 automatically takes care of this). I don't use it on my Nikon, but I found the auto white balance does an excellent job on the GF1 which makes life so much easier at the RAW conversion stage.
My only gripe is that the optional electronic viewfinder is pretty much useless for manual focusing which creates a problem if using my Nikkor lenses in bright sunlight. A focus indicator showing when a focus point is in focus like I have in my Nikon would have been useful - maybe there is one, but the manual is not an easy read! Still it's only a minor problem - I don't envisage using my Nikkors in bright sunlight often.
(Panasonic GF1 - 20mm 1/320s at f/2.5 ISO400)I have to say I love this little camera and plan on taking it with me wherever I go. I can see it's going to get a lot of use. Now, all I need is a 12mm pancake lens which would be the perfect wide-angle for me. One is rumoured to be on it's way.
*Images were processed using Adobe Capture RAW converter (v5.7) so I make no claims on the quality of out of camera jpegs.
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