Recently I read about a new book, “The Best Camera is the One that’s With You” ... an intriguing title.  Because it’s associated directly with an iPhone app designed to “enhance” your iPhone pictures it appears a little gimmicky, which according to some reviewers is an unfair assumption because it’s about much more than that.  Camera phones are an interesting mix, and while I find plenty of uses for my iPhone 3Gs camera, I would never consider it when trying to capture high quality images.   Not that you can’t take great pictures with an iPhone  ... after all it’s the photographer that counts, not the camera.  But it’s also true the camera sets limits on what type of images you can take,  as well as what you can do with the image file. So while the iPhone might always be with you does that mean you want to make it a staple in your image capture arsenal?

So while the title of the book is a great point, what you do about it is make sure whenever possible you always have a camera with you which is at least somewhat capable, and certainly more capable than an iPhone.

Judging by several forums I frequent, there are many photographers who feel the same way.  For years now point and shoot after point and shoot is discussed as they all search for the ultimate carry with camera.  Most have some very capable equipment ... top end dSLR’s and even Medium Format systems.  But what they also long for is a camera that fits in their pocket, or at least in their backpack or briefcase so when they’re out and about doing activities other than serious shooting they at least have a somewhat capable camera with them - just in case a nice photo opportunity presents itself.

“Moonrise”

Lumix GF1, G Vario 45-200 f/4.5-5.6 Mega OIS at 105mm (210mm equivalent), 1/400th at f/8, ISO 100

An example of why I  want to carry around a decent camera.

I pulled off the highway coming home from my daughters home when I spotted this moonrise.

For a few years now, the Canon G9, followed by the G10, has been the king of this category.  Pretty compact, adequate pixels captured, decent zoom lens, and perhaps the most important thing, RAW capture resulting in decent quality image files. I’ve had one of these with me most of the time since the G9 was introduced, and have some nice images from them.  But as I thought about this a little more, I realized a couple of things.  First, despite having one of these cameras with me on many occasions and taking many nice images, I have none which I rank good enough to use for anything other than small prints or web galleries.  It just isn’t good enough, so when I travel I am always lugging at minimum the Canon system along, meaning the G10 is pretty much relegated to tasks my iPhone camera would most likely handle just fine.  I also realized that if my main gear had a problem the G10 wasn’t nearly capable enough to use instead ... the very circumstance I found myself in Italy recently.  Both my 70-200 f/2.8 and my 70-300 DO had problems, leaving one side of the image soft, but I certainly couldn’t use the G10 as my main camera.

To me another big downside to point and shoots is the incredibly small sensor size, which means a “normal” lens is a really wide angle lens ... translated it means almost infinite depth of field.  It also means noise is an issue, and in fact the G10 is a pretty poor performer even at ISO 400. So I find myself  yearning for just a little more camera than a G10, and the downsides to the G10 are more about the category and its limitations, not just the camera itself.   Meaning the G11 won’t really change things much.

“Fall Path”

Lumix GF1, G Vario 14-45 f/3.6-5.6 Mega OIS at 34mm, 1.6 seconds at f/8, ISO 400

WHY THE GF1?

Then the 4/3rd’s group came up with a new twist ... what if instead of creating a new dSLR, they created a new point and shoot?  Instead of a slightly smaller dSLR, you have a slightly larger point and shoot.  This led to the development of the micro 4/3rds specification which basically puts a larger sensor in a point and shoot style body, complete with interchangeable lens functionality.  Because of the design, the lenses could be considerably smaller than those from a 35mm style dSLR or even a four thirds dSLR, yet because of the larger sensor the image quality should be much better than a point and shoot and even rival those larger cameras.  In addition the larger sensor means the camera performs more like a dSLR in regards to depth of field.

I’ve been watching these developments with interest and when Canon announced the new G11, I decided to wait and evaluate the announced and not yet shipping Panasonic Lumix GF1.  After reading a couple of reviews (I recommend these two Luminous Landscape :Panasonic Lumix GF1 and The Online Photographer: Panasonic GF1 Field Report) it indeed sounded pretty compelling so I ordered one complete with a Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 Mega O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)  (wow ... wonder what all of that means) which is equivalent to a 28-90mm lens on a full frame 35mm, Lumix G Vario 45-200mm f/4.5-5.6 Mega O.I.S., equivalent to a 90-400mm lens on a full frame dSLR,  and a pancake style Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 ASPH, 40mm equivalent, and yes that’s right - f/1.7.

The new Lumix EF1 is the middle camera, between a Canon 7D with 24-104mm f/4 lens and a Canon G10

I’ve had the camera for about a week now, and have been shooting with it frequently, including a couple of field trips where I was shooting it along side my PhaseOne p65+ system.

BASIC IMPRESSIONS ...

So the Lumix GF1 is a micro 4/3rds format camera with a 12mp sensor. Overall the camera has a nice feel - very solid - it actually feels a little heavier than it looks.  As with any new camera it takes some time to figure out the menu structure and options but so far I’ve only had to resort to the manual  once. 

The LCD display is bright, perhaps not as crisp as I’d like, but still good. I find it a little cluttered with icons. You can turn off the row on top which have more to do with overall settings, leaving  on the bottom row of icons which have more to do with your current capture setup, or you can turn them all off.  Unfortunately turning off the top row also turns off the live histogram (which is an option you can enable.).  They icons are pretty easy to ignore, but to be honest several of them don’t need to be on the display all of the time, and some of them are so small it’s difficult to figure out what they mean anyway.  What is displayed could be greatly simplified and more useful if the engineers would sit down and chat with some serious and experienced digital photographers who have used many brands of cameras to find out exactly what they want to see when actually shooting.

“Fall Splendor, redux”

Lumix GF1, G Vario 14-45 f/3.6-5.6 Mega OIS at 26mm, 1.6 seconds at f/8, ISO 400

This is the same shot I took with my PhaseOne p65+system ... see it here

The bayonet lens mount system is smooth and solid.  It’s a little unnerving to see the sensor exposed every time you change lenses, and I’m sure dust will be an issue with this camera.  I’ll probably keep a little squeeze blower of some kind in the bag.  The lenses themselves also seem solid, the focus and zoom controls very smooth and responsive.

Figuring out the effective focal length on a 4/3rds camera is simple.  No 1.6 or 1.5 crop factor sensor here... it is exactly one half the size of a full frame 35mm sensor, so the crop factor is 2 ... just double the focal length.  The 20mm provides the coverage of a 40mm on a full frame dSLR, the 14-45mm provides the same field of view coverage as a 28-90mm on a full frame dSLR.

As far as using the camera, it handles very nicely.  As I mentioned, when you turn it on, it is on.  Instantly.  Shutter delay is minimal and interestingly enough the camera “sounds” like a little mirror action is occurring.  Much louder than I anticipated (although it isn’t actually loud).

I used both lenses, and was especially surprised when I was in “snapshot” mode ... (P mode on the camera, large jpeg but no RAW) the camera really tries to hold the ISO down.  This was especially true with the 20mm/1.7 lens in low light. This was a sweet combination when taking snapshots in available light.

A couple of available light jpegs with the 20m f/1.7 lens ... there wasn’t much room light.

The one on the left was with florescent light ... the camera  does an excellent job of white balance.

With the 20mm lens, the camera is only slightly larger than a g10/g11.

The pop up flash is cleverly engineered ... and it is controlled by a manual release button ... perfect!  When I want flash I pop it up, when I don’t I leave it down.  No mussing with the menus.  Unfortunately it’s a little weak, but it seems to cover the 20mm quite nicely.  The design moves the flash further from the lens, helping reduce red eye.

The lens itself has a very smooth focusing ring ... much better than a point and shoot motor control.  One really nice feature is when you are using  manual focus, as soon as you turn the focusing ring the display will immediately zoom in to about 10 times magnification, very similar to using a Canon camera with live view and 10x zoom to focus.  This means you can actually focus manually very accurately with the camera. 

One drawback to these cameras is they don’t have an optical viewfinder.  The G10’s optical viewfinder wasn’t terrific, but at least you could hold the camera up to your eye.  Panasonic’s answer to this is an optional EVF (Electronic View Finder).   It’s not great, and a little pricey, but you can see well enough to crop.  If you are using it the last capture displays on the EVF ( I would prefer it to display on the camera’s LCD) , but overall it’s effective.  One nice feature is the EVF articulates ... you can swing it up to as much as 90 degrees ... almost a waist level finder.  This means you can get the camera angle very low and still manage to see your cropping fine.  When you hold it up over head it isn’t quite that easy ... too bad the LCD on the camera doesn’t articulate - perhaps the best feature of the new G11.

“Hidden Valley #7”

Lumix GF1, G Vario 14-45 f/3.6-5.6 Mega OIS at 26mm, 1/320th at f/7.1, ISO 100

I used the the EVF on the GF1 to take this shot ... the camera is only about 2” from

the ground but I’m looking straight down into the viewfinder.

An interesting feature of the camera is you can adapt several other lenses to fit this system, such as standard 4/3rd’s dSLR lenses, and even Leica M series lenses.  In his review, Michael Reichmann suggests this may be the perfect backup body for users of the new Leica M9 camera.

Another feature that may be very useful to some is the camera can capture 720p HD video.  Because of the larger sensor it offers similar shallow depth of field benefits that makes many of the new HD recording dSLR’s popular.  Some claim the lenses and camera were actually engineered with video in mind, perhaps leveraging some of Panasonics experience with camcorders.  One thing I liked is the easy focusing options.  You can manually focus, set up the camera to focus whenever you depress the shutter half way, or continually focus.  Continual focus isn’t super responsive but it does work.

Such a small camera with decent video recording capability may be useful to some.  It’s missing some higher end  video features (such as 1080p and stereo mike input) found on cameras like the 5D Mark2, but I can see it helpful for some applications ... especially since so many videos are destined for the web ... no need for 1080p. I played with the video a little.  It has two recording modes, AVCHD Lite (recommended when the destination is Hi Def TV) and motion Jpeg (recommended when the destination is a computer).  The only good way I could find to get AVCHD video out of the camera is a direct connection to the Mac and importing via iMovie.  iMovie locked up, not sure what the problem was, but the video was all there when I restarted it. Some other movies taken later imported into iMovie without a problem. I did a little video of a rainstorm just for an idea of what it can do. (and yes, I’m a noob at video)

Huh?

There are a few Huh’s? with this camera.  What is a huh?  It’s a feature or lack of a feature which prompts a “what in the world were they thinking” feeling.

First the battery charger.  Every point and shoot I’ve ever used has a charger that plugs directly into the wall.  Usually the power prongs fold back into the charger so it is nice and compact.  Now I realize that not every place in the world uses the same plug style, so by using a cord they only have to make one charger,  but it would seem the US and Japan constitute enough of a market to justify it.  As it is, I have this amazing little camera system that requires me to haul around a power cord to keep my battery charged.  The cord takes almost as much space in my bag as the camera.  The least Panasonic could do is give me a little 3” long version of the cord.   I’m hoping someone makes a short cord like this ... I’ll update this if I find a source.

“Aspen Gold”

Lumix GF1 with G 20mm f/1.7 ASPH,  1/2 second at f/l7.1, ISO 400

Second is the USB port.  Instead of a standard mini-USB port on the camera, they are using a proprietary connector.  So I have to carry around their USB cable (another cord) if I want to connect the camera directly to the computer, rather than use the one I already have in my bag.  If I forget the cable I can’t run to Best Buy and get a new one.  Huh?  I don’t get it.  Someone isn’t thinking ... personally I think this is one of the dumbest things I’ve seen a camera maker do. (UPDATE:  Ok, I’ve already lost my stupid cable, and to make matters worse I can’t find a good way to get movies from the camera into iMovie without the cable.  This is definitely the dumbest thing I’ve seen a camera maker do.)

Finally is the auto bracketing options.  There are two reasons to auto bracket.  One is to just get a single “correctly” exposed shot.  Take 3 or 4 shots 1/2 of a stop apart and one should nail the exposure.  Currently though the main use for auto bracketing is HDR images.  Here you normally are trying to achieve a 5 stop range ... 2 under to 2 over.  Most of the time with current tools a 3 shot bracket is adequate, and a 5 shot bracket works fine.  To get this much range with the GF1 takes SEVEN exposures ... way too many shots and way too much time.  Sure it will work, but it isn’t necessary.  Why can’t I set my own parameters .. how many shots and how many stops.  Can’t be hard to do.

So is it small enough?

The Lumix GF1 along side a Canon G10

I’ll be honest -  the GF1 doesn’t make it as a shirt pocket camera, but it might fit in your coat pocket or the large pocket of your cargo shorts or pants if you have the 20mm lens on it. (The G10 doesn’t fit in your shirt pocket either but it is closer.) The main reason I feel this way is you will most likely want one of the zoom lenses on the camera which means you’ll probably have to carry it in your backpack or briefcase. Even with the 20mm/1.7 pancake lens the camera is larger than a G10, although closer.  But the 20mm lens doesn’t retract into the camera like the G10 does.

However, understand that the GF1 is a system ... in effect you can have a multi lens system which can do nearly everything a full dSLR system can do, and it can all fit in your backpack/briefcase or very small camera bag when making a trip without the better gear. Perhaps this isn’t small enough for some ... but hey ... did I mentioned it’s a very versatile interchangeable lens system with a relatively large sensor (from a point and shoot perspective)?

Image quality...

Of course the final and most important factor is the image quality.  After all, if it doesn’t take any better pictures than an iPhone or a G10, then why would you carry it around? Beating an iPhone in quality isn’t much of a challenge, but the real question ... does it take better pictures than a G10 ... or the new G11?

One place it wins out is depth of field.  Personally I like limited depth of field many times, and with a G10 there isn’t much control. This is one big advantage to the larger sensor in the GF1.  At least I can use some selective focusing to aid in composition if I want to.

As far as resolution, the larger sensor means you have the same number of pixels spread over a larger area, resulting in larger pixels.  This should offer advantages in reduced noise with higher ISO’s and increased dynamic range.  It should also mean cleaner detail.  The GF1 still uses an anti aliasing filter, but it is claimed it is “weaker” than those found in traditional dSLR’s.

From what I’ve seen so far there is some truth to these claims.  Image files seem more like those from of a Canon 50D than a G10.  It will take some additional testing to try and see just how much, including some larger prints.  I’ll be shooting a noise test against a G10 and the new Canon 7D later this week.  As of now it appears ISO 400 is quite usable, a setting of last resort on the G10, and even ISO 800 may work.   I’ll also be printing some large prints from a few files to see how the detail holds up.  I’ll provide an update when I do.

Detail from the picture at the top at 100%.

This is at ISO 400 and noise, while visible, is pretty minimal.

So in summary, I like this camera.  I like having the availability of a system in such a small package and I can make enough space in my computer back pack for it.  In Italy, I would have used it extensively in the small towns.  It’s quite a bit larger than a G11 (and a lot pricier), and I’m not sure it’s worth it for many. For me, I love the idea of being able to make a decent size print if I happen to be traveling and stumble across an unexpected opportunity which ends up providing  a great shot, or even as a higher quality backup system when carrying the better gear.