New Canon lens announcements for fall 2010: includes brief info on the lenses, images, and the full press release.
Olympus today announced a new Micro Four Thirds body, the E-M5. It is the first in what Olympus is calling it's OM-D line of Micro Four Thirds bodies. A new lineup that is intended to attract a more...
There are few industries as heart-wrenching as the fine art business. It's a six-car pileup at the intersection of art and commerce and the amount of opinion and hyperbole that is somehow labeled as...
How does the Panasonic G1 work with adapters for Leica M and Canon FD lenses? by Josh Root, May 2009 (updated March 2011)
For a more expansive history of the four-thirds system, please check out the related entry on our good friend Wikipedia.
The Four-Thirds (or 4/3) system has never really taken off. In the beginning it was hyped as a new “digital designed” format that was going to get rid of some of the legacy designs of film and allow for smaller high quality professional cameras designed around a digital sensor, or something like that. But it never really took off. Sure, the 4/3 camera bodies were small. But they weren’t really that much smaller than whatever the comparable generation APS-C cameras were. The lenses were somewhat smaller, but again, not by that much. The camera designs were mostly just SLRs or variations of the same. And professionals never really took to the system. Probably because most of us have so much invested in our lens systems that it would take a lot to convince someone to make the switch. The 4/3 cameras being offered are nice, no doubt, but not nice or radical enough to make a working pro leave the tried and true Canon/Nikon system.
But then in August of 2008, Panasonic and Olympus announced the creation of a new “Micro Four-Thirds” standard that would change the game for the four-thirds world. Market research had shown that while people still thought of SLR’s as being the highest quality cameras (as they had in the film days), many consumers shied away from buying them due to their size and weight. So the four-thirds designers set out to address this issue with the micro four-thirds standard. The sensor size would be the exact same four-thirds size, but a few key specifications would be different in the cameras. First off, the micro four-thirds standard does away with the “SLR” concept. The reflex mirror and accompanying prism have been ditched on the micro four-thirds system, all viewing has to be done via the LCD screen of via an electronic viewfinder (EVF). But getting rid of the flapping SLR mirror, the micro 4/3 designers were then able to cut in half the lens mount-to-sensor distance from 40mm to 20mm. With the idea being that a thinner mount-to-sensor distance would allow them to make the micro 4/3 cameras much smaller than the original 4/3 cameras had been. Now, as smaller cameras were only half the equation for a smaller overall package, the micro four-thirds designers also shrunk the lens mount diameter by 6mm to 44mm (from 50mm) and added two additional electrical contacts. The reduced lens diameter would allow for smaller lenses and the new electrical contacts would allow for more features to be added in the future.
In September of 2008, both Panasonic and Olympus showed prototypes of micro four-thirds cameras at the Photokina trade show. Then November of 2008 saw the introduction of the first production micro four-thirds camera, the Panasonic G1. Olympus has continued to show it’s same prototype at various trade shows, but as of April 2009, has still not released any information regarding a release date, specifications or estimated price. By all accounts it appears to be Panasonic who is driving the bus for micro four-thirds. Reinforcing this was the announcement at PMA 2009 of the upcoming Panasonic GH1, essentially a G1 with the ability to record HD video. There are currently two lenses available for the micro four thirds system, a 14-45/3.5-5.6 and a 45-200/4-5.6, both from Panasonic. Panasonic has also released an adapter to allow original four-thirds lenses to operate on micro four-thirds cameras (with some limitations) and has announced that it will be coming out with three more lenses, including a fast pancake 20/1.7, later in 2009.
Photo.net’s partners have the Panasonic G1 available. Their prices are fair and you help to support photo.net.
Panasonic has stated that they view the micro four-thirds system as a stepping stone camera for those photographers who want to move past their p&s camera, but view DSLR’s are too big, heavy, complicated and expensive. For the sake of conversation, I’m going to call this group of photographers “tweeners”. As in, “in between” p&s and DSLR. So, while originally aimed at these tweeners, the Panasonic G1 has been well received by these photographers and praised by reviewers as a nicely designed camera with very good image quality. Somewhat surprisingly, the G1 has been well received by a much more advanced “class” of photographers than Panasonic probably expected given their market research and stated marketing plan for the micro four-thirds system. The reason for this is twofold.
First off, the photographic world has been waiting for “the next Leica” since the beginning of the digital age. By this I mean that photographers who enjoy the Leica M rangerfinder’s small size and fast prime lenses still do not have a digital version that gives them the portability and low light ability that their film cameras gave them. Yes, there have been two different digital rangefinders (the Epson RD1 and the Leica M8) but due to the relatively small market share that RF cameras have, the high cost of R&D for digital products, and the specific technical challenges that a digital RF design faces, the general consensus is that the best chance for a digital “rangefinder style” camera is going to come from a totally new direction rather than a digital RF itself. For many photographers, the micro four-thirds system represents that chance. The cameras are small, light, quiet, and unimposing. Equally important, tiny fast prime lenses could be designed, even for wide angle focal lengths. No, we’re not there yet. The only lens that starts to fit the bill is the upcoming Panasonic 20/1.7. But the image quality and operational speed is there enough that rangefinder nuts can see what the future might bring.
The second reason is that the Panasonic is one of the best digital cameras ever for manual focusing using the LCD or the EVF. Couple that with the fact that it’s tiny mount to sensor distance, and you have a camera that with the right adapters can use just about any lens made in the past 50 years (as long as it has an aperture ring). This is truly amazing stuff and something that all photographers who have an older manual focus camera system in their closet should think about. In the past, manual focus on LCD’s has been hard at best and awful at worst. The resolution and clarity just wasn’t there. But that was a dream compared to manual focusing on previous generation EVF’s, which was nothing more than a joke best not told in polite company. The Panasonic G1 changed all that with it’s new “field sequential system” design EVF that easily doubles (or quadruples, depending on how you count, more on that later) the resolution of previous generation EVF’s. Now, many photographers are using their Canon FD, Leica M, Leica R, Nikon, etc lenses on the G1 with impressive results. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty much blown away with how usable manual focus was with the G1. Which brings me to the meat of why this article is being written.
The main purpose of this article is to discuss the options for and results of using adapters and manual focus lenses on the Panasonic G1. That ability is something that has a lot of photo.net photographers talking about the G1 and interested in using it. Though this isn’t a full review, I will start out by giving a quick (well, quick for me) overview of my thoughts on the G1 itself and it’s performance and usability.
Contrary to most camera reviews, I will put my conclusion here towards the top so that readers who aren’t really interested in the nitty-gritty of the camera itself can skip down to the section on adapters and manual lenses.
The Panasonic G1 is a capable camera that surprises in a number of ways. Most notable is the excellent resolution and clarity from both the LCD and the EVF. But not to be overlooked are the G1’s multiple AF features, a very usable MF option, a clever LCD/EVF auto switch, articulated LCD, overall quick operation, and compact size. Auto exposure is very good in most all situations, though white balance can suffer a bit under incandescent light. High ISO noise is well controlled up to ISO 800 and perhaps even ISO 1600 (depending on your tolerance), but is still a far cry from the top of the line Canon or Nikon models. To be fair, some of this likely has to do with sensor size differences. Larger sensors are going to have the advantage in sensor noise. Overall image quality was very good from both the camera and the existing lenses and IS worked as well as any in-lens IS system from other companies. The kit lens might just be the best kit lens I have seen in a long time, if ever.
Due to the very short mount-to-sensor distance of the micro four-thirds system virtually every SLR or rangefinder system out there has a larger mount-to-sensor (sensor or film) distance. Meaning that all you have to do to use an old manual focus lens on the G1 is to find the correct size adapter. There are a couple 3rd party adapters on the market, including the Leica-M and Canon Fd adapters discussed in this article. Panasonic is also making a four-thirds to micro four-thirds adapter that will allow use of four thirds lenses on the G1. Of course, adding older manual lenses requires manual focus and manual or aperture priority exposure, as none of those older lenses will properly interact with the G1. However, the G1’s wonderful LCD and impressive EVF allow for manual focusing on a level not previously seen on a non-SLR digital camera (although the EVF fails somewhat in low light due to noise and refresh rate). I was skeptical at first, but in all honesty, using manual focus with the G1 is very usable. This will be a great way for users of older manual lenses to be able to use them on a digital body. The only drawback being that due to the four-thirds sensor size, the focal lengths of any lens effectively becomes doubled. So that 35/1.4 Summilux you love so much for it’s “classic” rangefinder FOV becomes a 70/1.4. Now, that isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s something to think about. The Panasonic four-thirds to micro four-thirds adapter will allow some original four-thirds lenses to operate fully on the G1, but the list is limited. Read further down for more information on this aspect for the G1.
However, as nice as the G1 is, the overall “tweener” concept behind the micro four-thirds system causes problems as well. The lenses are all (at this time) slow ‘consumer’ zooms with none of the 2.8 zooms or fast prime lenses that would make this a tempting system for advanced photographers. The camera has lots of capable features, but many of them are buried behind menus and button presses. The G1 is designed more for people who set their camera to “auto” and leave it there more than it is designed for people who like to adjust ISO, exposure composition, etc frequently. That having been said, at least the options are there and you do get used to using them. Overall, I think the G1 is an attractive option for those who have a lot of manual lenses that they want to use on a digital body or for photographers that don’t already have SLR lens investments and who want a higher quality larger-sensor system as a step up from their prosumer/p&s cameras.
Now, if that is enough opinion on the Panasonic G1 itself, you can skip to the part of the article where I talk about using manual lenses on the camera. Otherwise you can keep reading and I will go a bit further in depth reviewing the G1.
As I said above, this isn’t going to be a huge long review about the camera itself, there are a number of those out there already and I want to get to talking about using the G1 with adapters and manual lenses. But I will run through a few aspects of the camera and my likes and dislikes.
Despite the fact that there is no mirror or prism in the G1, the designers kept the camera styling very close to that of a DSLR. Perhaps this was done to try and keep their target market thinking that it looked like a “pro” camera is supposed to look, or perhaps it was done to keep more serious photographers from thinking that the G1 was a toy. In any case, the look isn’t bad at all. I don’t require high design in my camera bodies, just good results and ease of use. The body itself has a decent feel to it. It is a fairly plastic feeling camera and the texturized “rubber” coating over most of the body was actually better feeling that I expected. It is grippy without being sticky and doesn’t seem to gum up with use like some rubberized plastic does. that having been said, judging by the wear marks on the review camera I borrowed, the rubberized stuff is going to get a bit uglier after it has seen some scuffs and scratches. Not that it will be scraped off or anything, just that I think it will show wear much more quickly and obviously than the plastic of the body.
The Panasonic G1 is a small camera. With the kit lens, it’s really not much bigger than many “prosumer” small sensor cameras on the market. This is by design and is a big part of the whole idea behind the micro four-thirds system. It gets people into a large sensor interchangeable lens system, but without the bulk and expense (both real or perceived) of a DSLR system. At this, the camera succeeds very well. I could easily see taking this camera many places that I would have previously brought a smaller camera because I didn’t feel like carrying my DSLR. However, as with all small cameras, people with large hands should make the effort to try the G1 out before purchasing. While the camera has a surprisingly deep and comfortable handgrip, the buttons are all close together and small and the lack of larger navigation wheels/joysticks can make things difficult. In general, I didn’t have any of these issues, but I am smaller than the average guy. I don’t want to oversell this as an issue, but if your nickname in school was “Redwood” or “Paul Bunyan” you should try before you buy.
The buttons are small, and it takes more practice than I would like to get comfortable with being able to press them without having to take the camera away from your face. Some button space is also wasted with dedicated buttons for stuff like “film type” which more advanced photographers aren’t likely to use. I would have preferred to have more “custom” buttons that I could have mapped different commands to. In addition, like many cameras in the “non pro” price bracket, the G1 relies a bit too heavily on button presses and scrolling for my taste. While there isn’t really space in this form factor to add in something like the Canon 5D’s control wheel, it would have been nice to see something like the slick quick-menu controller joystick that is on Panasonic’s LX3. As it is, the G1’s quick menu is a lot less handy than it could be simply because it isn’t as quick as it should be to navigate. Which obviously defeats some of it’s purpose. Overall though, handling is adequate in terms of button layout given the size of the camera. Everything is usable and not nearly as frustrating as a lot of “prosumer” camera layouts.
The G1’s 3 inch 460,000 pixel LCD is one of the best I have seen on a digital camera. Color, sharpness, and clarity are just wonderful. The fact that it articulates is a big bonus for those who like to use that feature for above-your-head or at-your-feet type shots. One advantage that is often overlooked is that with an articulating LCD you can flip the screen around backwards (facing the body) and it will be protected while in your camera bag. While a nice LCD is nifty, it isn’t that much of a surprise. LCD screens have been getting better and better every year for a while now. What is a surprise, and a huge one at that, is the quality of the electronic viewfinder (EVF). EVF’s have been a technology that has never lived up to its hype or promise. They show up on a few camera models every year and every one that I have ever tried has been too low in resolution, sharpness, and refresh rate. The G1 changes all of that in spectacular fashion. Panasonic used something called a “field sequential system” in the viewfinder that shows red green and blue images sequentially one after another at 60fps. It’s all a bit technical mumbo-jumbo for me, but the result is that the G1’s EVF is really absolutely honestly usable as a viewfinder. It may be hard to believe for those who have used EVF’s in the past, but this EVF is honestly good enough to use when focusing manually (more on that later). All is not wonderful however, the EVF requires a decent light level to perform at it’s best. In low light conditions, the refresh rate drops quickly from the 60fps and the gain gets cranked up giving a much grainier view than normal. However, even at its worse, it is still usable if you really have something against using the LCD. One very cool feature of the G1 is that you can set the camera to automatically switch between LCD and EVF when you bring the camera to your eye or lower it down. Some may find this odd and annoying, but I found it to be excellent and used it all of the time. To be honest, it made me fell like the camera was a lot closer to the DSLRs I usually use than it would have if I had to remember to press a button every time I brought the camera to my eye or wanted to use the LCD to review or change settings.
The G1’s menu structure is not all that much different from any other camera. Lots of scrolling, lots of use of the 4 way controller buttons, etc. It works but is nothing special. The camera does remember what menu setting you were last at, which is really nice for when you are trying a couple different settings in a row. You do get a truly staggering number of choices for a lot of the options. Too many if you ask me, given the target market. Then again, perhaps that tweener market actually likes the ability to use a color picker wheel to decide the color that their b/w images will be toned in camera. In any case, you could get lost in the various options and effects if you had a mind to. However, one nice thing is that all of these options are only there if you go looking for them. Photographers who don’t care can just ignore them all day long. There are a few options that are particularly clever. First off is the fact that not only can you have a live-view histogram, but you can place that histogram anywhere you want on the image. This keeps you from having a histogram over someone’s face if you tend to shoot a lot of the same general compositions. You can also decide if you want all the shooting icons on the screen, just the most important ones, or none at all. And finally, you can decide if you want those icons overlain on top of the image (p&s style0 or in black bands on the top and bottom (DSLR style). Overall, the G1 is pretty well equipped in the display department.
The exposure on the Panasonic G1 is really pretty good. I can’t even think of anything that bothers me enough about it to comment on. In all the situations where you could expect a meter to perform accurately, it did so. It was fooled by the same sorts of heavily light/dark subjects that all cameras have a hard time with. Overall, I was very happy with it. White balance was overall quite good, but it did seem to have more problems than other cameras in it’s price range with artificial light when using the “auto white balance” setting, particularly in tungsten light sources. To be fair, many cameras have trouble with tungsten light sources in the AWB mode. But the results with AWB on the G1 were a bit worse than average. However, like most cameras, switching the white balance setting to “tungsten” cleared this problem right up. Other than that, there isn’t much to say about the exposure and white balance systems, they just seem to work pretty well. All the typical options are there for users who like to fiddle. But other than the using the tungsten setting from time to time, I have to admit that I really didn’t need to mess with them much at all.
ISO noise is well controlled in the G1. I was quite satisfied using the G1 at ISO levels up to 1600 (though 800 is a better choice if you can get away with it). The noise in the G1 seems to lean more towards the film grain-like luminance noise and shows comparatively little of the ugly blotchy chroma color noise. While this may be a personal opinion, I find that luminance noise is much more pleasing to see than chroma noise, particularly in the higher ISO levels. Is the G1 better than other cameras in it’s class? Well that really depends on which cameras you compare it to. If you compare it to “prosumer” cameras like the Canon G10, then yes the G1 blows it away. But that is as it should be, the G1 has a much larger sensor. If you compare the G1 to entry level SLR’s like the Canon XSi, the answer is a bit more mixed. In general, I would say that the G1 competes well with cameras in the entry level SLR range but that it can’t compete with the higher end or full frame SLR’s. Then again, you are paying a big premium with those cameras to get a few more stops of usable high ISO. Many photographers will be plenty happy to pocket that extra money and use some noise reduction post processing for those times when ISO 1600-3200 is required.
The focus system of the micro four-thirds system required a shift away from the phase detection autofocus used on DSLRs and to a contrast detection system more like what is used in point and shoot cameras. This was an obvious point of concern for anyone who had ever been frustrated by their point and shoot camera’s slow auto focus. Contrast detection simply hasn’t been as fast or as accurate as it’s phase detection cousin. However, I am happy to report that whatever the Panasonic engineers did to soup-up and improve contrast detection autofocus, they did a great job. I’m not going to say that the G1’s AF is as fast as the better DSLRs. But I seriously doubt that anyone could tell the difference between the G1’s AF and the AF from DSLRs in the same class/price-range. The G1’s AF works fine. It’s quick and accurate and does the job you want it to do.
Once you get past the “is this AF system going to take 30 seconds to lock focus” you start to see that the G1 has some AF features that DSLR users only wish they could have:
Manual focusing with the dedicated micro four-thirds lenses is pretty nifty. You can set it so that as soon as the camera senses that you have touched the focus ring on the lens, it instantly engages the magnify function to assist with focusing. Along with the G1’s great LCD and EVF, this allows for accurate and easy manual focusing, should your needs call for it.
For many photo.net photographers, the ability to use older manual lenses on the G1 is probably what causes the most interest in this camera. Rightfully so, because the Panasonic G1 is the first digital camera with a short enough mount-to-sensor distance that virtually any lens from any camera system made could be used with the proper adapter. For those who don’t understand, here is a completely inadequate simple explanation. Lenses are designed to focus properly for a given distance from the sensor (or film) to the back of the lens mount. They will not focus properly if mounted further or closer than that distance and will lose either infinity or close up focus. For example, if a lens is designed to be 5cm away from the sensor, mounting it on a camera that has 7.5cm between the mount and sensor will cause the lens to be unable to focus to infinity. Mounting it on a camera with 2.5cm between the sensor and mount will cause the lens to be unable to focus on anything close-up (most likely closer than infinity). Now, if you take that 5cm lens and that 2.5cm camera and then add in a 2.5cm adapter between them the story is totally different. You have set the lens at it’s correct 5cm distance and there fore it will focus correctly at all distances. Now, this is totally dependent on the camera you want to use having a smaller mount-to-sensor distance than the lens you want to use. You can add distance with adapters but with only a few rare exceptions, you cannot take away distance. And this is where the Panasonic G1 really shines. It has the shortest mount-to-sensor distance of any camera that I know of. Other than a few mirror-lock-up or extreme wide angle lenses, It really can use almost any lens that you have sitting around in your closet as long as you can find the right adapter or combo of adapters.
At the moment, there are only a few micro four-thirds adapters that are easily purchased from standard photographic dealers. The adapters I used for this article are the Leica M and Canon FD ones from Cameraquest. These were the first adapters to be released onto the market and are probably the most popular. Novoflex has supposedly created a few different micro four-thirds adapters (Leica M & R, Canon FD, M 42, Contax/Yashica, Minolta MD, Olympus OM, etc). But so far the only one I have been able to find is the Leica M adapter and it is priced a good $70 higher than the Cameraquest adapters. Some interesting news I heard asthis article was being written is the fact that Voigtlander has announced that they will be making a Leica M micro four-thirds adapter in the very near future as well. No word on pricing as of yet. But if previous products and prices are any indication, it should be a good value and solid construction. There are also some cheaper adapters popping up on ebay but I have no idea of the quality. To be honest, I would tend to encourage people to order from Cameraquest. Stephen Gandy is a good guy who stands behind his products. Ebay can be great and ebay can be a nightmare. Sometimes it’s just better to deal with someone you know and trust.
Though it is currently (May 2009) very hard to find, the Panasonic DMW-MA1 four-thirds to micro four-thirds adapter needs to be mentioned. This adapter will allow use of original four-thirds lenses on micro four-thirds bodies and is the only adapter that will allow you to get any sort of automation with lenses that are not micro four-thirds specific. However, should be noted that the DMW-MA1 adapter is not designed to be used with extension tubes or teleconverters. Also, there are a lot of limitations on how much automation you can get with the original four-thirds system lenses. Because the AF system in the G1 is different from previous four-thirds cameras, not all of the lenses in the four-thirds system will work with it. In addition, of the lenses that will work, some number of them need to have a firmware update to do so. It’s more than a little confusing for the average person. But here is a page from Panasonic Japan that lists out compatibly lenses and this page here has instructions on doing the firmware updates. I also highly suggest posting a question to the Photo.net Olympus and Four-Thirds forum if you have more questions. I’m sure someone there will be able to assist you.
Once nice thing about the DMW-MA1 adapter is that it allows you access to a whole world of adapters that were for the original four-thirds system. Using the DMW-MA1 and an original four-thirds adapter will allow you to add lenses such as Nikon F, Pentax K, Olympus OM, Contax C/Y RTS, Leica R, Minolta MC/MD, Leica Visioflex, Exakta, Topcon, Rollei SL, and others. It really is surprising how expansive the list is of lenses that you can mount on the G1 when you have the right adapters. This really is going to give new life to a lot of old camera lenses.
The first thing to remember is that the sensor in the four-thirds and micro four-thirds systems is roughly half the size of a 35mm frame of film. That means that the field of view (FOV) for a given focal length will equal that of a lens that twice its length. So a 50/2 Leica Summicron used on the Panasonic G1 will have the same FOV as a 100mm lens. This can be a hindrance for wide angle lenses, as that amazing 24/2 Canon FD lens is going to become a more normal 50/2 on the G1. However, it can also be a great advantage for those who lust after fast telephotos as your Canon FD 135/2 becomes a pretty interesting 270/2 on the G1. Like it or hate it, it is what it is. Using old manual lenses on a Panasonic G1 means dealing with an effective doubling of the focal length.
The adapters themselves are fairly simple to use. You just mount the adapter onto the G1 and then add or remove lenses just like you were adding or removing them on the camera that your lenses normally go on. The Camera quest adapters mount solidly to the G1 and the lenses mount solidly to the adapters with very little play and seem to be well constructed. This info bears repeating for those who might have missed it, these adapters have no automation. The only micro four-thirds adapter that has any automation is the Panasonic DMW-MA1 with a specific set of original four-thirds lenses. When using a adapter like the Cameraquest FD or Leica M options, you are limited to shooting in either manual or aperture priority modes. As the camera cannot change the lens aperture, it cannot operate in any other mode. It should also go without saying (though I am saying it here) that even if the lens mounted was an autofocus lens, the adapters have no contacts or motors to interface between the lens and body. All focus is manual when using these adapters.
Once the adapter and lens are mounted, it is crucial that you make sure that your G1 is set to allow shutter release with no lens attached. Otherwise you are going to get a frustrating message that you need to “check the lens” and you will wonder why you were stupid enough to leave the instructions at home. At least that’s how I felt the first time. To do this you need to go to the cameras “custom” menu (indicated by a “c” with a wrench icon in the “menu” screen). You will find “shoot w/o lens” as the very last option under the custom menu. One more example of something useful for advanced photographers being buried under a pile of button presses and scrolling. But again, at least we get the option, I applaud Panasonic for that.
As I have previously stated, I was very impressed with how easy it was to manually focus on both the G1’s LCD and EVF. The quality of both screens is just flat-out better than anything else I have seen for that purpose. While it’s not like focusing with a true SLR, there is actually a “that’s in focus” moment a lot of the time when manual focusing on the G1. It’s not any sort of thing I can quantify, it’s just more of a feeling or trusting of instincts. I thought it was a crock or my eyes were tricking me at first. But as I began to check the images on the computer, I saw that I had been right. This, for me, is in large part what makes the G1 so usable as a manual focus camera.
If you wish to be more critical about your focusing, you can use the G1’s manual focus “magnify” function. However, unlike when using a dedicated micro four-thirds lens, you cannot set the camera to automatically activate the magnify function when you start to focus. This is not surprising, because with no connection between the lens and the body there is no way for the G1 to know that you have started focusing. In order to turn on the magnify function when using a manual lens and adapter, you first have to press a button (the “left” on the 4-way controller) to activate the function then press another button (the “menu/okay” button) to zoom in. While the G1 does give you the option of scrolling around and zooming in on any area of the frame (using the 4-way controller buttons before pressing “menu/okay”) overall this process was just too annoying and fumbly to do quickly with the camera up to your face. It really makes using the magnify function difficult within the flow of quick shooting. Happily, I found that I just didn’t need the magnify function that often. However, if you are the kind of person who is absolutely critical about focus or likes to use razor thin depths of field, you may have a different opinion.
While the results from the Canon FD and Leica M were both great, I have to say that I much preferred using the Leica M lenses on the Panasonic G1. This wasn’t out of any preference for the fames “Leica glow” or because I am snobbish about my lenses, it was simply a matter of size. The Leica lenses, by and large, are much smaller and more compact than the FD (and most other) SLR lenses. The G1 is a pretty compact and light camera and the bigger FD lenses just didn’t balance or handle as well on it as the smaller Leica M lenses did. Now, the FD lenses that I used are not the smallest choices in the FD line, to be sure. The 135/2 is a pretty big lens. But given that many users will be picking from a pile of what lenses they have available in their bags or at the back of camera closets, I feel that it’s fair to mention this. I’m not saying that the FD lenses aren’t usable, they absolutely are and will give excellent results. I’m just saying that you lose a lot of the cool size/weight/handling aspects of the G1 when you start sticking big heavy lenses on it.
Overall, it’s really hard to not be impressed with the G1’s ability to use manual focus lenses. Did Panasonic have this in mind when they designed the camera? Probably not, in general companies are more interested in gaining new customers than they are in helping existing photographers use legacy lenses. For Panasonic, those “new costomers” are likely in their stated “in between p&s and SLR” target demographic . Be that as it may, Panasonic did make the effort to include a number of “advanced” features in this camera. They probably didn’t have to use such a high quality LCD and EVF setup and they absolutely didn’t have to include the ability to enable shutter release with no lens attached. But because they did, the G1 opens up a very viable path to digital imaging for users of older manual focus lenses. While the user experience of doing so isn’t perfect, I would have a very hard time not steering people to this camera if they had older lenses and wanted to use them on a digital platform.
Photo.net’s partners have the Panasonic G1 available. Their prices are fair and you help to support photo.net.
Yakim Peled 
, May 20, 2009; 03:32 A.M.
Vladimir Ferdman , May 20, 2009; 10:37 A.M.
Dean G , May 20, 2009; 06:33 P.M.
Starvy Goodfellows 
, May 20, 2009; 07:16 P.M.
Lindy Stone , May 21, 2009; 08:56 A.M.
Mark Cortella , May 21, 2009; 04:30 P.M.
Philip Wilson 
, May 21, 2009; 11:19 P.M.
Diane Fields , May 22, 2009; 10:27 A.M.
Torben Daltoft , May 22, 2009; 12:39 P.M.
Lindy Stone , May 22, 2009; 05:18 P.M.
Josh Root 
, May 23, 2009; 02:50 A.M.
Andrew Wells , May 23, 2009; 05:56 A.M.
Leandro Dutra , May 23, 2009; 11:12 A.M.
Josh Root , May 24, 2009; 12:36 P.M.
Joe VanCleave , May 24, 2009; 02:06 P.M.
Leandro Dutra , May 24, 2009; 02:21 P.M.
Baris John , May 24, 2009; 07:01 P.M.
Leandro Dutra , May 24, 2009; 07:14 P.M.
Lindy Stone , May 25, 2009; 10:01 P.M.
Yakim Peled , May 26, 2009; 01:30 A.M.
Lindy Stone , May 26, 2009; 09:17 A.M.
Yakim Peled , May 26, 2009; 10:11 A.M.
Lindy Stone , May 26, 2009; 10:21 A.M.
Yakim Peled , May 27, 2009; 01:47 A.M.
Lindy Stone , May 28, 2009; 12:39 P.M.
Lindy Stone , June 01, 2009; 08:17 P.M.
Richard Anderson , June 11, 2009; 05:03 A.M.
Ruben Bittermann , April 05, 2010; 03:41 A.M.
August Horvath , June 02, 2010; 11:50 A.M.
Alana Taylor , June 22, 2010; 02:36 P.M.
Roy Faverty , April 07, 2011; 10:27 P.M.
