Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1K Digital Camera with 14-45mm lens Review

The Panasonic DMC-G1 is light in weight and very responsive with a bright, highly detailed electronic viewfinder, and a flawless 3 inch tilt-able LCD monitor. The 14-45mm kit lens is very sharp, rendering excellently detailed images.

The G1 is a well-designed camera capable of producing amazing images effortlessly. However, if you thought that because the Panasonic G1 has no mirror box/prism mechanism it would be a noiseless vibration-free camera, you will be disappointed. The lens itself focuses silently but the G1 body is just as noisy and generates more vibration than the Canon EOS XTi(400D), although for all intents and purposes the vibration has no bearing on the sharpness of your photos, thanks to the MEGA O.I.S (optical image stabilizer).

A comparison of photos taken within seconds of each other (using the Panasonic G1, the compact Panasonic TZ-5, and the Canon XTi with 24-105mm f4L IS attached) and printed as 11x17 inch images showed surprising results: the sharp optics of the Lumix 14-45mm showed no color fringing, and was sharp to the edges and corners. The real treat came in seeing the end results of working with the RAW files generated by the G1 and manipulated through the SilkyPix (v3.0.1.6) bundled software. Amazing, noise-free and beautiful. The G1 Film Modes allows you to alter sharpness, contrast, saturation, and noise reduction values to your own liking, as does manipulation through SilkyPix.

Interestingly, just comparing jpeg to jpeg 11x17 inch prints, there is a greater similarity in color rendition from G1 to XTi than from G1 to TZ5. The difference in fine detail on an 11x17 print between the G1 and the TZ5 is stunning and obvious to any eye; one straining through fuzziness, the other crisply detailed. The source of that image quality difference is the sensor. Granted, in an 8x10 inch print these differences would be moot. And to my surprise, the G1 even captured a crisper image than the Canon XTi.

Shooting in Single shot mode (RAW + Fine) there is noticeable delay (of perhaps three seconds) before the viewfinder becomes active again unless you press the shutter button lightly to activate focus. In Burst Mode shooting six shots (3 per sec.) in rapid succession is possible but then there is a delay of several seconds as the camera writes the files to the memory card.