photo - Ken Gilbert

lab pANASONIC luMIx DMC-GF1
amateur pro
* CAMerA TeST
Stepping Stone
pop-up flash
76 popular photography january 2010
The laTesT Micro Four
Thirds caMera is a sTep
in The righT direcTion
accessory
port
www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com
PHiliP ryan (lCD iMage)
With any new technology, it
takes time to work out the
kinks. And while the flurry
of coverage—and humanity’s
ever-shrinking attention
span—might make it seem as
though Micro Four Thirds has
been around awhile, it’s still
quite new. Panasonic’s Lumix
DMC-GF1 is only the fourth
camera we’ve seen in this new
format. It does a lot of things
right, but its images are also
noisier than its predecessors.
Of course, Micro Four Thirds
cameras are in large part aimed
at shooters who are less persnickety
about noise than are
advanced DSLR users. The main
draw is their portability and
greater functionality compared
with compacts. And this
Panasonic scores on both counts.
The GF1’s body (without a
lens) measures only 4.7x2.8x1.4
inches and weighs just over
half a pound—about half
the weight of the Canon EOS
Rebel XS, for instance. Even
with the 20mm f/1.7 kit lens, the
GF1 is still less than 1 pound,
while the 14–45mm f/3.5–5.6 kit
zoom brings it up to 1.2 pounds.
And the GF1 autofocuses
faster than most compact cameras.
Plus, you can switch lenses.
panasonic lumix Dmc-GF1
what’s hot
Speediest AF of any Micro Four Thirds
what’s not
Noisy at higher ISOs
who it’s For
Compact shooters craving lens choice
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