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It did not take me long decide which replacement camera to buy now that my DSLR kit bag has been despatched to pastures new. In fact I had concluded that the Panasonic GF1 was going the be the camera of choice for me a couple of weeks back, as I mulled over the decision to sell kit on. I had considered the G11 but the distortion of the lens on the G10 put me off and the S90, Canons supposed LX3 competitor is nothing more than plastic in my eyes and in my hands. So, when the GF1 became available I decided that it would be my 'new toy'. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, I adore the LX3, but I did write about how awkward the camera is in manual control and of course the fact it is all electronic. But, picture wise, the LX3 was and still is the first camera in compact guise that I had seen take pictures of SLR quality with good tone, detail and geometry which bodes well for the GF1. Further inspection reveals a pocket rocket; a small compact but super quick body with dual focusing options and stylish looks that compliment what is in effect the dearest compact I would likely spend money on.
Stand alone, the GF1 has all the boxes ticked. Great optical performance with fast aperture telecentric lenses for great geometry and corner performance. Also, the one thing I constantly talk about when I teach or in the least advise people is perpendicular shooting where you stay flat to your subject, thus givng excellent compression and importantly, with a 4/3rds chip set, great off centre resolution should you decide to print big. In simple terms a telecentric lens sits right over the sensor thus resulting in no corner drop off. The closest thing to this currently I suppose is DX and EF-S lenses from Nikon and Canon, but they still cant compete with the nice lines of a 4/3rds system....
I have mentioned this before but it is worth noting that Olympus came up with the concept of 4/3rds way back in 1994. Chief engineers foresaw the problems that a 3:2 chip set would throw up regards barrel distortion and pin cushion and the fact is that if we took side by side photos of lamp posts running along a street, then the 4/3rds system will trump everything, right up to and including cameras such as the 5d2, D3 and D3x et-al. To me, the only company currently addressing the issues the modern SLR face are Sony who are looking at ways of flipping the sensor ala its compact cameras and creating new high pass filters and glass to combat all of the afore mentioned problems. The interesting thing is that a cameras filter and sensor is not actually flat. Film of course was, but the DSLR sensor is a mass of ridges and valleys of which light can and does get trapped in thus creating dark corners, poor geometry and distortion as it tries to 'bend the light'. To put it simply, the GF1 catches light at right angles and simply works. Oddly, in certain situations the telecentric performance renders the camera as a mini tilt and shift piece of kit, which is nice. Historically, Olympus, Pentax and Konica Minolta often changed the goal posts with invention, namely 4/3rds, image stabilisation, pentaprism, dust cleaning but sadly in the West poor marketing and sales has seen Canon and Nikon taking pole positions and often lets face it, tipping a nod of thanks to the three aforementioned camera companies as they go onto implement technology into their cameras and lenses.
Of course, I am aware that there are compromises and I bought this camera more than aware of the issues it may throw up. Slow refresh rate in dark situations, average high ISO performance but all of these things are rendered moot when you consider the fact that I no longer have to carry or consider carrying a DLSR out.
Build wise I love it. Classic piano black finish with a real quality feel and some easy to navigate menus and options. In camera processing is superb and I will look at JPEG over RAW in the coming weeks if this helps expedite processing. It has all of the usual pseudo menus such as portrait, night mode on board, which I will also look at but my main port of call will be aperture variable due to the fast glass.
The 20mm F/1.7 is a lens reminiscent of days gone by. With a working focal length of 40mm on the 2 x 4/3rds chip set it is endemic of the classic range finder focal lengths of around 35mm-40mm before the 50mm and then the 85mm lenses became more prominent in the 1950' and 1960's with famous London portrait photographers such as John French and David Bailey favouring the 85mm due to its flattering perspective. In my eyes, 35mm-50mm is the ideal street lens though the 7-14mm lens from Panasonic also appeals for 'walkabout'.
Overall so far, I cant stress how much I rate the GF1. It really is uber compact and I feel that it will allow me to take some brilliant pictures in the coming weeks, of which I will share on flickr and on the blog.
In conclusion, bear in mind that since 2005 I have had 2 X Canon Mark II N, 5D, Mark III, 5D Mark II and Nikon wise, a D300, D3, D700 and done some mad stuff with my cameras for work and fun, but this camera enthralls me like none of the above and to sum it up, I think Panasonic have out Leica'd Leica and that quite frankly, is incredible.
Stand alone, the GF1 has all the boxes ticked. Great optical performance with fast aperture telecentric lenses for great geometry and corner performance. Also, the one thing I constantly talk about when I teach or in the least advise people is perpendicular shooting where you stay flat to your subject, thus givng excellent compression and importantly, with a 4/3rds chip set, great off centre resolution should you decide to print big. In simple terms a telecentric lens sits right over the sensor thus resulting in no corner drop off. The closest thing to this currently I suppose is DX and EF-S lenses from Nikon and Canon, but they still cant compete with the nice lines of a 4/3rds system....
I have mentioned this before but it is worth noting that Olympus came up with the concept of 4/3rds way back in 1994. Chief engineers foresaw the problems that a 3:2 chip set would throw up regards barrel distortion and pin cushion and the fact is that if we took side by side photos of lamp posts running along a street, then the 4/3rds system will trump everything, right up to and including cameras such as the 5d2, D3 and D3x et-al. To me, the only company currently addressing the issues the modern SLR face are Sony who are looking at ways of flipping the sensor ala its compact cameras and creating new high pass filters and glass to combat all of the afore mentioned problems. The interesting thing is that a cameras filter and sensor is not actually flat. Film of course was, but the DSLR sensor is a mass of ridges and valleys of which light can and does get trapped in thus creating dark corners, poor geometry and distortion as it tries to 'bend the light'. To put it simply, the GF1 catches light at right angles and simply works. Oddly, in certain situations the telecentric performance renders the camera as a mini tilt and shift piece of kit, which is nice. Historically, Olympus, Pentax and Konica Minolta often changed the goal posts with invention, namely 4/3rds, image stabilisation, pentaprism, dust cleaning but sadly in the West poor marketing and sales has seen Canon and Nikon taking pole positions and often lets face it, tipping a nod of thanks to the three aforementioned camera companies as they go onto implement technology into their cameras and lenses.
Of course, I am aware that there are compromises and I bought this camera more than aware of the issues it may throw up. Slow refresh rate in dark situations, average high ISO performance but all of these things are rendered moot when you consider the fact that I no longer have to carry or consider carrying a DLSR out.
Build wise I love it. Classic piano black finish with a real quality feel and some easy to navigate menus and options. In camera processing is superb and I will look at JPEG over RAW in the coming weeks if this helps expedite processing. It has all of the usual pseudo menus such as portrait, night mode on board, which I will also look at but my main port of call will be aperture variable due to the fast glass.
The 20mm F/1.7 is a lens reminiscent of days gone by. With a working focal length of 40mm on the 2 x 4/3rds chip set it is endemic of the classic range finder focal lengths of around 35mm-40mm before the 50mm and then the 85mm lenses became more prominent in the 1950' and 1960's with famous London portrait photographers such as John French and David Bailey favouring the 85mm due to its flattering perspective. In my eyes, 35mm-50mm is the ideal street lens though the 7-14mm lens from Panasonic also appeals for 'walkabout'.
Overall so far, I cant stress how much I rate the GF1. It really is uber compact and I feel that it will allow me to take some brilliant pictures in the coming weeks, of which I will share on flickr and on the blog.
In conclusion, bear in mind that since 2005 I have had 2 X Canon Mark II N, 5D, Mark III, 5D Mark II and Nikon wise, a D300, D3, D700 and done some mad stuff with my cameras for work and fun, but this camera enthralls me like none of the above and to sum it up, I think Panasonic have out Leica'd Leica and that quite frankly, is incredible.
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... I know precisely what you are saying and feeling Ali... 
