One Image, Ordered a GF… Oh, Not That GF: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 – 20mm f/1.7 Settling In.

Day 2 update. Settling in. There will be more. This will likely be the last one like this. An update to the original. The next one should be a standalone post including the first sample photos in the wild. So back to the original post with minor updates to the first thoughts below.

One image did me in.

Warning: A whole lot of utterly unnecessary nonsense camera nerdery ahead. You have been warned.

I did it to myself again. How?

In the words of David Alan Grier from his In Living Color days, “Wanna’ hear it? Here it go.”.

Part 1.

I mentioned it. This happened in a post about an affordable full frame daily carry camera. Turns out that is not a contradictory statement. Anyhoo. I mentioned Micro Four Thirds.

Started off ok:

If you compare the two on paper the OMD is a slam dunk. Smaller, better AF, has IBIS, higher resolution, does video, etc. I understand. 

But then I said:

Just not for me. Why? (Please turn away MFT adherents.)

• Full frame sensor.
• …that is all I have got.
• That is enough for me.

Then I made my mistake. I posted this photo:

A great pic. But not the one that did me in.

Part 2.

Since writing that post a favorite image of mine kept popping up in my head.

I love this image.

It was a moment I remember well. It was this young man’s first rehearsal and he wanted to sing a solo for the Director, Marlon West. As you can likely tell by Marlon’s face he did wonderfully. I was seated in the first or second row and raised a camera and lens so small…

…it was not noticed.

And we have now landed on one big advantage of the Micro Four Thirds system… Or at least it should be. But neither Panasonic nor OM… that is what they are calling themselves now, right?… seem interested in leaning into this advantage. Each subsequent new body seems larger than the last. Is it just me? So much so that I kind of forgot about this. The A7C upset the apple cart a bit. When looking at height and width anyway. I am getting ahead of myself.

The camera.

I had been looking at the Panasonic Lumix GX7. It has a swivel screen and an EVF (with a neat flip up stovepipe dealie) like I thought I wanted. But there is an issue. It is as tall and wide as the A7C.

So… what is the point? Granted the GX7 has considerably less depth.

But plop a proper MFT pancake on it compared to the smallest full frame AF FE lens (Rokinon/Samyang 35mm f/2.8. Admittedly a lens I am not that crazy about but it is quite small.) and once again the GX7’s size still works against it.

What also works against the GX7 is price. Around $400. While not expensive in photography terms it costs too much for a non main camera solution for me. Especially considering it is a MFT camera that does not meet my small size requirements. So… another E-PL5? That would make sense. But once again price is an issue at around $300. And there is also a lens issue. More on the lens chosen below, but the lens chosen reportedly does not play well with Olympus cameras. That will not do. So the requirements:

• Small.
• Panasonic.
• Inexpensive.
• Good AF.

Removed from the spec sheet to save on price and size is a built-in EVF and a screen that articulates (trust the good AF). Where I landed? Well it is in the title above.

The Panasnoic Lumix DMC-GF1.

It arrived. Quick size comparison addendum. From the back things still do not appear to be that different.

But the real difference in depth with the lens attached.

Much better. The GF1 on the far right is far smaller than the GX7. This is what I was after.

It even throws in a flip up flash for fun.

Already tested. I do not see myself using it often but it will be great for fill flash in backlit scenes. While it loses IBIS as compared to the E-PL5 that camera does not have a built-in flash. Not an exact trade-off, but nice to have.

Then a quick perusal of Flickr images taken with this camera sealed the deal.

Flickr came through. After taking a few test images I am very pleased.

I expected good, based on past MFT experience, but reviews I have read since ordering it have me even more excited (Exhibit A). Which is very cool for a camera that can be had for little more than $100.

On to the lens.

The lens.

I liked the rehearsal photo above so much so get another Lumix 14mm, right?

I wanted something faster than f/2.5 this go around. So, what about the very purdy all-metal AF clutch Olympus 17mm f/1.8?

But put simply it is not what I am looking for.

• This 17mm (34mm FF EQ) lens and the 14mm (28mm FF EQ) above are a bit wider than I would like for a daily carry lens.
• While small it is definitely not a pancake lens.
  • Similarly, that is why I have left the excellent and very affordable Panasonic Lumix 25mm f/1.7 off of the list.

That leaves a lens I have always been interested in but have never owned. The Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7.

It is barely larger than the Lumix 14mm while being a significantly faster lens at f/1.7 and at 20mm, 40mm full-frame equivalent, it hits my prime lens daily carry sweet spot in an extremely small package. The cherry on top is that this lens, like the camera above, is very inexpensive used.

Why am I looking forward to receiving this pairing? I am glad I imagined you asked.

That EOS 5D and other larger sensor cameras fit the bill capability and budget wise, but were all too large to be stealthy in the least. Looking at the photos above the stealth afforded by a small MFT camera and lens yielded fantastic candid results. The moment you raise a rather large or midsized camera up to your eye or hip, it gets noticed.

Candid moment gone.

Sidebar: Another strong candid solution was the Samsung NX300/30mm f/2.

I tried going back a while ago but:

• I have a hard time using a dead mount and MFT seems to have more life left in it.
• I did not enjoy using it for reasons I cannot explain honestly.
• After looking at the Flickr album, save the candid group hallway pic above, its IQ does not seem to be much better than my MFT pics.
• I gave it to my daughter and have no plans of buying another so I am ready to let it go.

Back to the GF1 and 20mm.

By all accounts, it also focuses much faster than other tiny vintage oddballs. A low bar admittedly. Fun cameras when considered on their own merits. But candid moments are not their thing.

This GF1/20mm does not replace the other cameras above. The hope is that it will team a fast lens, very small size, and capable AF. A tiny AF-ing bricklet of a thing is the goal. Will it meet my expectations? Will it allow me to capture candid moments like I did in the past?

I hope so.

Only time will tell.

Further update, settling in thoughts added to notes from the arrival.

First off I purposely did not spend a lot of time pouring over specs. I only read a couple review posts. So a lot of these items below were pleasant surprises.

Close focus.

This lens focuses much closer than I expected it to. Very close for a 40mm FF EQ lens. Not Macro level but close.

Speed.

Not sluggish in the least. Starts up quickly. Focuses quickly. Shutter responds quickly. Writes relatively quickly. Very impressive for a 2009 camera.

Controls.

I am very impressed. Many manual controls. A dedicated shooting mode switch around the mode dial for instance.

Also, there is a dedicated video record button right on top. Nearly any adjustment I want to access is available right on the body.

Anything else can be set using the Q. MENU button. As advertised the back dial push two mode dial is ingenious. I use aperture mode 90% of the time. So in this mode, it defaults to aperture priority and with a quick push it adjusts exposure compensation. I am trying to think of a better implementation for aperture and exposure control and I cannot think of it. It is really nice not to have to move my thumb.

Feel and build.

I read somewhere that they did not like the chrome accents. Well, call me cheesy, but I rather like the aesthetic. I find it nicer than the humorless monochrome look of some of my other favorite compact cameras. And the build is great. By my memory, it feels more solid and better built than the E-PL5 I had and loved. Oddly, this may be helped by a lack of an articulating screen. A wonderful little all metal feeling bricklet of a thing in hand. Take, for example, the pop up flash. With other cameras I have with a pop up flash, it seems obvious that it exists. But not here. It looks and feels so solid, were it not for the flash release button, I would not even realize it had a pop up flash.

I would put its build on par with the larger and significantly more expensive also no EVF having Olympus E-P5 I once had.

Unexpected and high praise. I really liked the build of that camera.

Face detect AF?

I did not expect that. Sure, I could have read the specs. But it also works well. I also really like how quickly you can switch between AF modes. I do not miss having a touch screen because center point focusing is easily accessed and focus and recompose works really well.

Size.

Stating the obvious here since I imagine small size was the point.. but this camera is seriously small. Without much thought, I put this into the front pocket of some gym shorts. There are few interchangeable lens cameras that could pull that off. It is nearly as portable as the 1″ sensor Sony ZV-1 I liked so much. Powered on anyway. With the lens extended the two are not that much different.

Battery life.

This is likely the biggest surprise for me up to this point. The GF1 packs a fairly beefy battery. I did not charge the battery upon arrival and after a day of playing around with it was still showing a full charge. That would not be the case with many other Pez sized battery compact cameras I have tried before. Had put extra batteries in the old Amazon cart, but I may not need them.

AI Denoise.

I am happy to report that LR AI Denoise works with the RAW files. This bodes well for cleaning up high ISO pics if need be.

IQ and subject isolation.

f/1.7 pays real dividends with some pleasing subject isolation.

Alright. I will stop myself here for now.

More to come, including sample images, once I get out and about with it,

Happy capturing.

-ELW