Hands on Last week, Sony announced to the world that it had produced the smallest APS-C interchangeable lens Camera, the NEX-C3. The timing suggests the company might have got wind of something, as a couple of days earlier Panasonic had been busy showing off its latest micro four thirds (MFT) models in an exclusive press preview in Rome.
Big idea: Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-GF3
Here, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 made its debut, which has been hush-hush until now. This diminutive 12.1Mp model has fewer physical controls and lacks the viewfinder of the 16.1Mp Lumix DMC-G3 announced last month. With the catch-all phrase, ‘compact system Camera’ (CSC) now describing these lens swapping, mirrorless marvels – from the likes of Samsung, Sony and Olympus – Panasonic now lays claim to having the world’s smallest of this particular breed, albeit sporting the smaller MFT sensor to match. Read the rest of this entry »
Review While Panasonic further extends the range of its Micro Four Thirds cameras with the recently announced Lumix DMC-G3, this new arrival with its bulging bridge form factor won’t be for everyone. Keeping up with Olympus with its PEN models, the Lumix DMC-GF1 was Panasonic’s first compact MFT alternative and with the DMC-GF2, the company has gone to town on both size and ease of use. It even accommodates a 3D capture that gets tested in this review along with the 14mm pancake wide angle lens.
Touch and go: Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-GF2
The Camera is almost 20 per cent smaller and 20g lighter than its predecessor due mainly to the introduction of a new touchscreen interface that replaces almost all external physical controls with virtual ones that can be activated on screen. Some key features, including the 12.1Mp sensor with a 4:3 aspect ratio, are unchanged from the previous model but there are also a number of significant upgrades. Read the rest of this entry »
By Bob Dormon at Focus on Imaging 2010 via (reghardware.co.uk)
First Look With a DSLR dangling from my neck, unpacking the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 was certainly quite a contrast. The diminutive lens is remarkably light and, even when married to the body, you certainly don’t feel like you’re being burdened by bulk.
Finishing touch: Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-G2
A DSLR it ain’t and it’s easy to see that there is probably some truth in Panasonic’s claims that Micro Four Thirds cameras are fast becoming a favourite among compact owners wanting to trade up to the flexibility of interchangeable lenses, and advanced users needing something small, but versatile.
With the DMC-G2 and DMC-G10 officially announced only moments earlier, as the Focus on Imaging show opened, press samples were dished out with just an hour allowed to play. Panasonic was keen to stress that the G2 test models were running version 0.20 firmware. The underlying message being, it’s work in progress, so be kind, but have fun. There will be many refinements between now and the release models in June.
Indeed, it was pertinent to keep that in mind on turning on the G2 and seeing a purple wall through its viewfinder where a grey one stood before me, but on moving around things steadily improved. According to a Panasonic product specialist, the samples are still running on algorithms based on the G1, but the G2 and G10 both feature the new dual processing Venus Engine HD II. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Are we at the point where people will only buy one product to film and take great stills? Instead of camcorders that can take the odd sub-10Mp image, Camera manufacturers are coming at it from the other side and offering HD video on models previously only equipped for stills. The Lumix DMC-GH1 is the Camera that Panasonic left the door open for with the previously ‘photo-only’ DMC-G1.
Sharing the same 12.Mp sensor as the DMC-G1, the DMC-GH1 is almost identical in specification, so rather than repeat all of its functions here, take a peek at our earlier DMC-G1 review for details. Yet its the HD video capabilities that are the real difference, which, combined with a growing range of interchangeable lenses, can shift us away from the ‘sharp throughout’ video capture we are accustomed to and deliver better images that have a look more akin to Super 8 or even 16mm.
This Camera, as with the DMC-G1 before it, is of the Micro Four-Thirds variety, which is a branch of the Four-Thirds standard that Panasonic, Olympus and Leica have adopted; producing lenses and bodies for cameras that have a mix of DSLR looks and dimensions, only slightly smaller. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Panasonic’s DMC-TZ7 has been around for a while now, although the company maintains it in its current range. It’s not surprising, because it’s one of the few compact super-zooms on the market that includes HD recording – its closest rival is Canon’s PowerShot SX200 IS.
Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-TZ7
The DMC-TZ7 is what you might call a travel-cam or a holiday-cam. It’s a digital compact with an extended zoom, in this case, a 12x optical zoom in the shape of a 4.1-49.2mm f/3.3-4.9 Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens, offering the equivalent range of 25-300mm on a 35mm Camera. The PowerShot SX200 IS has a longer telephoto offering – equivalent to 28-336mm- but we think the DMC-TZ7’s wide angle lens will prove more useful for most photographers.
It also has a 1/2.33-inch CCD comprised of 12.7 megapixels, but only offers 10.1 effective megapixels. The reason is that the DMC-TZ7 offers three aspect ratios – 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9, and it uses the additional pixels to leave the angle of view unchanged, whatever aspect ratio you are shooting in. There’s even a multi-aspect mode that lets you shoot the same image in three different aspect ratios with just a single press of the shutter. Read the rest of this entry »
