My first shot of 2012 is of my new Panasonic GX1 with its optional LVF2 viewfinder and my new 14mm f/2.5 pancake lens. It was taken with my new red Panasonic GF2! Why red? Well, next week I will be sending the GF2 down to LifePixel in Washington to be converted to a dedicated infrared camera and I figured a red body was fitting and will make it easier, at a glance, to tell which body is the IR one. That, and the fact that Panasonic was out of black GF2 kits that came with the 14mm pancake!
I received both these cameras just before Christmas and have been shooting with the GX1 quite extensively for the last week. Watch for an upcoming review in the February Beau Photo newsletter and on the Beau Photo Digital Blogs, but suffice to say for now that I am very impressed. In fact, I would say its image quality on stills is slightly better even than my GH2, although I do miss the multi-aspect-ratio sensor. How is it better? Well I am judging the colour to be slightly more accurate and the dynamic range to be a little better. Also, while high ISO noise levels are similar, I feel that the GX1 offers a slightly tighter "grain" pattern with a little less blotchiness and less pattern artifacts like banding, when compared to the GH2. Again, these improvements are very minor so I would not hesitate to grab either camera in any given situation.
One thing I find is that the metering of the GX1 is absolutely amazing, quite possibly the most accurate of any camera I have ever used. Time and time again, I was surprised at not needing to dial in any exposure compensation on difficult shots, even nighttime exposures that had large areas of black, with the camera seemingly reading my mind as to how I wanted the exposure to turn out. Really amazing.
Finally, a quick note that views through the new electronic viewfinder are superb and every bit as big, bright and sharp as the internal one in the GH2. Not only that, but the low-light refresh rate and lack of graininess was superb, likely more attributable to the GX1's excellent low-light sensitivity. Also, the viewfinder is nowhere near as large as the perspective of the above photo makes it seem - see photos below...
Finally, here are several side-by-side comparison shots between various cameras. First, a "family" portrait, the GX1 with the red GF2, both with their respective viewfinders. The viewfinder on the GF2 is slightly tilted up - did not notice when I took the photo...
Here is the new GX1 beside the little Panasonic LX5... a point & shoot. Here, you can see how surprisingly compact the GX1 really is!
Here is a top view, the Micro-4/3 interchangeable lens GX1 (with 14mm pancake) versus point & shoot LX5...
Lastly, here is one more eye-opener: Panasonic GX1 versus the larger GH2 versus my huge (in comparison) Canon EOS-7D with its EF-S 15-85mm kit lens...
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