The Panasonic G1 sparked a great debate when it was announced “Is it an SLR, or is it a compact?” and to be honest I feel this is irrelevant. The question I want answered is: “Is it any good?”
After testing the camera as a compact I found it useful although a little too cumbersome to be considered an easily portable device, requiring a separate camera bag or to be hung from your neck like other SLR cameras. However it was easier to use then a conventional compact due to its fast access to change settings, a quality that it has taken from the SLR world. Its main rival in this sector of the market is the bridge camera; these are shaped like an SLR without the interchangeable lenses. But due to their size they are able to zoom on average twenty times, where the Panasonic can only zoom two and a half times with its standard lens, however due to this low zoom factor on the lens optical quality is noticeably higher.
Using the DMC-G1 as an SLR made much more sense; it is a smaller, lighter version of a Canon EOS 450D. Using the Live View or viewfinder it was fast to focus, accurate in its exposure and gave me complete control over all the settings, with the large 3” screen at the back providing real time exposure previews and giving a trustworthy manual focus option which assists you by zooming in for enhanced precision. The vary-angle screen allows easy shooting from creative angles, however holding the camera still while at this angles requires practice and sufficient light to give a faster shutter speed.
The menus are clear and easy to navigate, with all the options you would expect a DSLR to provide combined with the simplicity of a compact camera. When combined with the 45-200mm telephoto lens the size difference in very noticeable, the equivalent Canon EOS 450D with the 100-400 IS USM lens is roughly two and a half times the weight and three times the price.
The camera easily matches its main rivals’ with 12 megapixels, offering the same screen size and, providing better battery life, this must be a strong contender as your entry level SLR of choice. The tonal range from this camera was good, better than previous generation SLRs like the Canon EOS 300D or Nikon D40, although it does face stiff competition from the likes of the Canon EOS 500D and Nikon D90. My favourite feature on this camera was the speed and simplicity at which you could change your film style from colour to black and white, or increasing the saturation and contrast. This is accessed by pushing a button on the top right of the camera just behind the shutter release. This, alongside the fact that you can change your aspect ratio, allows the camera to be completely creative without the need of a computer, shooting the modern 4:3 ratio and giving the option of 3:2 allowing you to conform to traditional paper sizes, or even 16:9 to add a cinematic feel to your pictures.
It is sure to bring out your creative side and perhaps encourage you to further your photographic ability. Panasonic cameras have always been well built and this one is no different, with metal mount lenses and a well-engineered battery door, areas normally susceptible to breaking are reassuringly strong. The lens is smooth in its use with a long turn on the manual focus ring, making it easy to get pin sharp images and with its almost standard 52mm thread size filters are cost effective and available at Park Cameras.
The DMC-G1 stands out from the market of conventional cameras and instead of just becoming a fashion statement it is a genuinely practical alternative, smaller, lighter and with the ability to operate it from any angle, possibly the most versatile camera in production today. This camera has proved that the advancement in technology needn’t mean more, sometimes it can mean less. This camera is a hint at what the future of digital SLRs will be like, and like all founding technologies there are numerous things that will change and improve but like Carl Benz’s motor carriage; this genesis of digital non-prism based SLRs is a technological breakthrough and the start of a whole new generation of cameras.
