Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 12.1MP Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with Lumix G Vario 14-45 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH Mega OIS Lens (Black)

Added March 2013: By now the sensor in the G1 has been leapfrogged -- first by the Panny G3 (which went to 16 megapixels) and then by the Olympus OM-D (16 megapixels, faster and sharper because it has an extremely thin anti-aliasing filter.) If you want the best M43 camera performance, the OM-D (which we own) is your only choice right now. However, if you need a street shooter for a lot less money, this is still a wonderful camera to carry around. In fact I've sold a G3 because I never liked how it felt and didn't think the pictures were significantly better. I'm not buying the G5 but I will consider the next generation -- probably a G7 -- when it comes out this year. There have been a host of phenomenal prime lenses for the M4/3 family introduced in the last 3 years, so I use the 14-45 zoom a lot less. The Panny 14 and 20, the Olympus 45 and 75, are reasonable priced and all simply wonderful, especially the Oly for portraits. Between the lenses and the advance in sensors, there is absolutely no reason to lug around a crop-sensor DSLR (Sorry Canon and Nikon). Unless you need some specialized lens, or you shoot a lot of indoor sports, you won't get better images than the OM-D or the latest Panny G series unless you step all the way up to full frame. If you read photography forums, you will see thousands of references to photographers -- including some pros -- who are finally giving up their DSLR gear for M43 because they can get the same quality images with much less weight and expense. As rapidly as M43 technology is developing, the next generation is going to challenge full frame for most kinds of shooting (i.e. if you don't need to print giant poster sized images at 300 dpi) It is an exciting time; M43 has a very bright future. The G1 is the camera that started the whole mirrorless camera revolution -- but more importantly it is still, after all these years, a lovely camera to walk around town with. ------------------------------------------- Added November 2010: I've had the G1 for about 18 months now and my admiration has continued to grow and grow. I like to shoot architecture and print 13x19, so resolution and detail are critically important. The G1 with its kit 14-45 is just fantastic -- buy it while you still can. Be cautious about newer models because it is hard to improve upon this camera and very possible to do worse. I recently purchased the Canon T2i, the most advanced consumer DSLR on the market, with an 18 megapixel APS-C sensor, and even with highly rated lenses -- even stopped down -- the T2i has not been able to capture any more detail than the G1 when shooting outdoors. I'm still preferring the G1's images. Obviously the T2i can do some things the G1 can't -- low light and sports, for instance. But for the kind of photography I do, walking-around-outside photography, cityscapes, landscapes and well lit snaps, I believe you'd have to go to all the way to a full frame DSLR ($2500 and up for just the body) to get significantly better image quality, and even then it wouldn't matter unless you're printing posters. My daughter and I had a great time shooting the ceiling of Florence's 13th century Baptistry -- capturing detail 150 feet up without artificial light in a dimly lit interior, focus assist and OIS giving you sharp, croppable images at 200mm. Just mind-bogglingly good. The G1's sensor and kit lens are first rate, but I think maybe the secret to this camera is the hardware-software integration. The Panasonic processor is tuned to automatically compensate for the inevitable distortions produced by the glass. So you see very little barrel distortion or edge softness. The in-the-lens image stabilization system is extremely good, too -- you pretty much can leave it on full time and it will dramatically improve sharpness for slower shutter speeds. A couple of other things about the G1 that are still thrilling after 18 months: 1) Manual focus assist. Since the camera focuses through a high res electronic viewfinder, when you want to focus manually, it can automatically do a digital zoom to help you focus at long range. Most DSLRs will give you the blinking light/beep to help you focus, but that's still depending on the camera to focus for you. If you only want to trust your eyes, focus assist is an amazing feature. When I'm using the Lumix 45-200 telephoto (also an excellent lens), focus assist is an amazing help. 2) For people who like to do HDR photography, the auto-exposure-bracketing functionality is generous and better than most consumer DSLRs. You can shoot up to 7 frames up to 2/3 of an F stop apart, giving you a good sample of images to feed into Photomatix. I'm bracketing constantly to help preserve what would otherwise be blown out highlights in outdoor shooting. I would never consider a Nikon DSLR today because they dumbed down their exposure bracketing, making it almost unusable, since the D50. Canon is only slightly better. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may have noticed, this is a really hot camera among serious photogs that has sold out a lot of places. It is functionally similar as the much more expensive (and slightly smaller GX1). After a trip to Italy to give this camera its first workout, I'd like to offer an amended (and more informed review) 1)Wonderful feature set. At times bewildering to this amateur. There are so many ways to capture images that will produce different results depending on what you're trying to accomplish. 2)Excellent lenses and image quality. The 200mm (equiv to like a 400mm) telephoto is really fun and the basic 14-45 (equiv to 32-90) is an outstanding "street shooter." 3)The default settings on this camera are really nice and the JPGs are really quite close to RAW -- no great need to shoot RAW but you can. No over-punching colors like Canon does. Images are really true to what you actually saw. Panasonic sometimes underexposes slightly but I'd rather have that than blown out highlights. 4)HDR functionality is excellent. It will autobracket exposure with a total range 4 fstops. You can go out on the internet and see some of the fantastic HDR images this camera will produce. 5)Live viewfinder is a real benefit. I easily forget that it's an electronic viewfinder -- the resolution of the little viewfinder is that good. You can also tilt the larger screen so you can shoot around corners, above crowds etc. Serious photographers who like to play with settings will LOVE being able to see their changes show up as they're lining up the picture. My only criticism of this camera is the autofocus, and it may be just that I haven't spend enough time playing with the focus settings. The default is a 9 or 10 point focus that seems to compromise between the points and you can end up with soft images. The softness may only bother you when you're enlarging to 8x10 prints, but it should be much sharper given the excellent quality of the Zeiko lenses. At times the focusing is perfect -- it's just inconsistent and I haven't figured out the key to it yet. No question about it, this camera, with its large four-thirds sensor and excellent lens (and with software lens correction happening inside the camera), produces better image quality in normal light than ANY compact camera and and some of the entry level DSLRs. Resolution (when the focus is hitting) is comparable to a Canon 450, though low-light performance will not be as good as a DSLR.

Even though this camera is several years old, it is still a fine system. While looking at some later models, I ran across a good deal on a G1 and, after investigating further, found it had a lot of appeal. The excellent EVF, great kit lens, and overall image quality sold me. After some quick, initial tests, I am very pleased with it. Here are some first impressions. I purchased this open box G1 here on Amazon Deals. I've had mixed luck with Amazon Deals, but this one is a winner. The G1 is one nice camera. The size is nearly perfect for me, not too small, still can grip well and hold steady, but small enough to be more portable and, most importantly, light enough that when combined with several lenses and other gear it's not too much to grab and go. I can also use a light weight tripod since the camera is so light even with a long zoom (the 45-200mm Panasonic) attached. This is really convenient and means I'm much more likely to have what I need in any specific situation. My initial tests were very satisfactory. Very sharp, very nice images right off the bat. I realized immediately that the percentage of good images with this camera is higher than usual. The Intelligent Exposure and IA full auto mode work extremely well. The best I've ever used, personally. I tried lots of different shots in difficult lighting situations and the IA did a very commendable job of always getting a usable shot and often a great one. Very important for "capturing the moment" type shooting when you don't have time to plan your shot. I've got the Panasonic 45-200mm zoom and 20mm f1.7 pancake in addition to the 14-45mm lens included and I think this is a dream setup that pretty much covers it for me. And at a very reasonable cost. Anyone on a budget should take a good look at this setup, in my opinion. (You might prefer a different body, of course, but the G1 works for me.) In shooting with the 14-45mm right out of the box, I was impressed with the image quality, the sharpness, color, and overall results were very good. Excellent, in fact. I found this a pretty impressive camera from the get-go. I find the controls easy to use and easy to understand. The menus seem pretty well laid out to me. You have enough dedicated controls to handle all the important things. And the overall feel and handling are nice -- which is extremely important to me. I can't use a camera very long if it doesn't "fit" me. I'm very comfortable with this. I found the lens-based OIS stabilization to work very well. Guessing at least a 3-stop advantage. This is very important because it means I can hand-hold a lot of shots instead of using a tripod. I shoot a lot at night and late in the day, so this is a big plus for me. I am very impressed with the iA full auto mode. I generally don't use full auto much, but I can see that changing with this camera, it is truly good enough to rely on much of the time for quick shots. If you want to pull out your camera and take a quick shot, that's a nice plus. I liked also that I have all the shot info nicely displayed in the excellent EVF so I can 'overrule" the auto settings if I chose (but I rarely needed to). Of course, in situations where I have the time, I'll more likely shoot manually or in one of the PASM modes. Speaking of which, the manual focus works very well. I was a little concerned about the EVF, but I am happy to report that it is excellent and works great. I was able to focus very easily and the results were accurate. I also found the EVF and LCD display accurate in giving a good indication of what the shot really captured vs. some cameras (especially P&S) which the displays are completely unreliable in that respect. I really, really like the tracking AF -- that's a superb feature that I'd love to have on some of my other cameras. Kudos Panasonic! It works well. In general, everything on this camera seems to work well, so far. I was able to pick it up and start shooting very quickly and easily, though I do plan to study the manual carefully as I always do with a new camera. It's a good test of the overall design to see how far one can get before doing so. And on that score, the G1 does remarkably well. By the way, the excellent 14-45mm kit lens, the higher resolution EVF (worth 100 bucks in itself), and the overall excellent results (image quality) are what attracted me to the G1. Another appealing fact to me, as a bit of a gear collector, is that it is a historic camera in being the first really new style/design to come along in quite some time and so will, I think, have some collectable appeal down the road. But it's the great images that matter the most. As you can see, I very much like the G1. I can highly recommend it, if you can find one at a good price. 2015-10-17 Update: Many years (and cameras) later and I still love my G1! A historically great camera establishing the now very popular MicroFourThirds (MFT) line. So many good lenses and this (and many other) great bodies. This one still holds it's own, which is amazing. 2017-10-20 Update: Even more years and cameras later and I continue to be amazed at how fine a camera this model is. Though I now have higher resolution sensors and technically "better" cameras, I can still pick this one up and get truly excellent images. Wow. Hard to beat that. I saw one of these for nearly pocket change recently and could not resist. This would make an excellent first camera for a budding photographer and remains an excellent tool for the serious artist. Truly a classic.

NOS. I was really looking for that lens but it came with a NOS camera which is quite nice.