Comments on: My experience with a micro-4/3rds camera – (Panasonic GF1 Review)

By: Goblin

Goblin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:16:54 +0000

An even smaller camera with slightly better image quality has been build, the Olympus E-PM1. Now , I can hear you thinking ‘this thing lacks buttons, I can’t work with that’. But try one and you’ll soon learn this camer is great and even without the extra buttons it’s really easy to control, because you can customize so much button and menu functions. The images it produces are slightly better then those of the GF-1 too. Nicer contrast and maybe a little bit sharper too. Impressive. And it’s smaller than anything else! Fit a 14mm f/2.5 on it and it looks like a compact.

By: Santorias

Santorias — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:55:39 +0000

Almost 2012 and after trying the G3 (expensive, soft output, almost as much image noise) and Fuji X100 (very expensive and slow) I am back to using the trusted old GF1. It’s such a user friendly high quality camera! I don’t miss the viewfinder very often and once you get to know the sensor and optics the output of this little camera is great. Pair it with a nice prime like the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 or Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 and you have a killer light weight compact camera system. You can buy a perfectly good secondhand GF1 for as little as 150 – 200 euro’s now!

By: Marilyn Armstrong

Marilyn Armstrong — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:29:38 +0000

Thank you. I think my next purchase will have to be a fast prime. Have the 14-42mm and the 40-150mm (both Zuiko). But they ARE slow. VERY slow for my purposes and I do love primes. I had my eye on the 25mm prime that Leica is putting out, but the price tag is pretty high and if I’ll get good results from the Panny 20mm, perhaps that would be a more sensible price. Have you any experience with the 17mm primes from Olympus? Or know anyone who does? Seems a bit wider than I want for a walk-around lens, but as I guess we all learn, while these little cameras can give amazing results, they are not DSLRs and the dynamics can be surprisingly different than we expect. Or anyway, that’s my experience so far … admittedly not a LOT of experience and I am still awaiting the arrival of the VF I ordered. I think it is on a very slow boat that might currently be crossing the Pacific whilst stopping at every atoll in between continents. All I can do it wait. Thanks for another perspective and additional much needed information!!

By: Martin Stainsby

Martin Stainsby — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 07:36:39 +0000

Sorry I missed the link on the previous post. This article was October 2010. There are many photo's on the Blog with the GF1 since then, using various lenses. Blog Article on GF1 by Martin Stainsby

By: Martin Stainsby

Martin Stainsby — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 22:05:22 +0000

This is a very useful article and helped me decide to buy the GF1 last September. I think the camera is absolutely brilliant. I use it for 90% of my personal photography with my Canon 5D relegated to the other 10%. I love the panasonic lenses but have had great fun with a couple of Olympus OM lenses as well (50mm f1.8 and 50mm Macro f3.5).
Many thanks for the article.

This is a link to a blog article I did about my GF1 after using it for a few weeks.

By: Igor

Igor — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:41:09 +0000

I am torn between purchasing an Epl1 from olympus and the GF1 from panasonic…. i would choose the 20mm for either camera… can somebody help me choose from one of these, having a really hard time doing so. Thanks in advance!

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 01:36:09 +0000

I have been shooting canon for many years, 1ds, 40 and a 7d. It’s really important that everyone understands that the GF1 is not going to replace these cameras but enhance your photo experience of real world view. When shooting up close, people look at you, not the end of a large lens stuck in their face. I purchased the GF1 and take it every place I go, something I cannot always do with my 1ds, I’m not comparing them at all and may get heat for even bringing that into this blog, but, I have to say, I really enjoy the GF1 very much. Another point, I have a 15 year old daughter that is very interested in photography, this camera is perfect for her hands and it trains her to work with the controls. The camera is made really good, seems better than the xti, and takes really nice photos, I’m really having fun with it. Everyone should realize what niche this camera is, better than any point and shoot, IMO, great size to take every day and still gives you the ability to control your shots.
Also, try the 7-14 4.0, very neat!

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:05:00 +0000

I would not want to mis this camera for the world. Small, cheap (compared to DSLR’s of the same build quality), sturdy, versatile, light, fast, low key, transportable). Only gripe…..no CA control with Oly lenses and I use it with Oly, Pana and Nikon lenses (last bought dead cheap second hand old AI’s and AIs’s) and hey a 36 years old 1.4 50mm becomes a breathtaking 1.4 100mm and who cares about corner sharpness if you are not using the corners.

Greetings, Ed

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:59:52 +0000

M43 cameras are going to take a hunk of meat out of the low-end DSLR market. Cameras like the GF1 are just infinitely more practical for a lot of people who don’t want to lug around a big DSLR.

By: Mike Minick

Mike Minick — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:45:18 +0000

There seems to be some confusion among some readers about 4/3 system. There are and have been many 4/3 cameras that have mirror systems. I use 2 of them,an Oly 510 &630. The mirrorless models are fairly new but they are not the only 4/3 cameras available. 4/3 doesn’t refer only to the mirrorless models. If you want to explore the 4/3 cameras, there are lots of fine mirror models to choose from.