TOP's Most Popular Small Camera(s)

I'm happy to say that the Panasonic GF1 with its lovely little Lumix 20mm ƒ/1.7 Asph. lens arrived chez TOP last Friday, courtesy of a generous reader who's letting me try his for a few weeks (thanks, Jeff). Also, we expect to publish our first field report of the camera this week.

Rather incredibly, the Panasonic GF1 is already the all-time second most popular camera ordered through our links. It lags behind only that highly esteemed photographic Swiss Army Knife, the Canon G series—just barely if you consider only the G11, which should begin shipping very soon, and by a fair margin if you lump all the G-series cameras together. Still, that's pretty amazing when you consider that the GF1 just began shipping only a week or two ago—and when you consider the GF1's premium price. It obviously has a strong appeal to TOP readers.

The GF1 seems to be out of stock everywhere right now, too, which is probably an indicator of strong early sales. (Maybe order now if you hope to have it for Christmas?) Neither B&H nor Adorama are even listing the GF1/20mm kit right now. Let's hope there isn't going to be a chronic supply problem like there has been with the LX3.

So far I like the camera and my first impressions of the lens are very favorable. The lens seems very impressive wide open and even better stopped down just a little. But I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

Oh, and I've been carrying the camera and lens around in my pocket—the pocket of a fleece jacket, to be precise, in which it fits handily and securely.

Note that the 20mm lens interchanges freely with the Panasonic G1 and Olympus E-P1. I think this lens is going to be popular across the board in Micro 4/3.

If you're interested in the lens, you'll want to check out Andy Westlake's excellent review at dpreview.com. I'm becoming quite a fan of Andy's reviews and lens musings. Imaging-Resource's slrgear.com site also has a review of the 20mm ƒ/1.7—be sure to click on the "Blur Index" box and run through the apertures. Impressed yet?

Mike

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Comments

[Iñaki]

May I ask a quick and dirty shoot, comparing the Panasonic with other small lenses, such as the DA limiteds?

Just curious.
Cheers

[Martin]

Michael,
you will not be disappointed about this small, beautiful and excellent combo!

As I wrote in my litte hands-on about the GF1: "If you managed to turn the images into a workable format, there is just nothing but joy ...".

[Kees]

This is really a nice and interesting combo. I am looking forward to your review Mike. A little disappointed that it has no I.S.

Daydreaming: a 14/2.0 for this camera. And I.S. - shooting at 1/8th, wide open.. Then I don't need a fat Nikon or Canon, or Leica.

[David]

I'd love to see the GF1, with that 20mm, compared with one of the classic rangefinders for image quality and usefulness. The Canonet G-III QL1.7 and similar from Olympus, Minolta et al is what I have in mind.

[Jon Combs]

We have the GF1 and LX3 in stock at Pro Photo Supply in Portland Oregon.

[Frank P.]

Considering how many GF-1s you helped Pany sell, they should have sent you one last month....

[Mikal W. Grass]

You're wearing a fleece already? The heat index was 105 degrees here, Coral Gables, the other day.

Oh, sorry. This is a camera site.

[Curtis Clegg]

I'm glad to read that the GF1 is selling so well through your links.

Do you think we are finally getting to the stage where small cameras have developed beyond being "turdlets"? I have been impressed with the image quality of some of the p&s cameras I have tried lately, but I think they still have a ways to go in terms of performance and handling.
http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-choose-digital-point-and-shoot.html

[michael martin morgan]

OK so I'm being greedy here (and stingy); I'd love to see a comparison of this GF1 and 20mm lens against an M9 and let's say the 35mm Summicron at all apertures to print let's say up to 16x20 and really, really see if it's worth the enormous price difference. I'm not trying a this-must-be-better-because contest; I already know about the "character" of M Leicas and their optics, just that if I'm in the street - is it imperative that I hang that extra $6000 round my neck, get it?

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

I just got the kit today!
So far I love it.
Quick impression here.

[Mike Johnston]

Curtis,
I was a newer, younger, more wet-behind-the-ears blogger when I wrote that one. I doubt I would be so harsh today. But yes, digicams have come a long way.

Mike

[Brian Mosley]

Mike, I've been shooting with this lens on the E-P1 for the last week... as you know, the E-P1 has in body stabilisation, which makes shooting at 1/8sec easily possible.

I'm maintaining a gallery of example shots on pbase here : http://www.pbase.com/bmosley/20mmf17

I am really excited about this combination - at last, the E-P1 has a worthy m4/3rds native lens... and I can develop in raw without worrying about distortion/CA correction.

Looking forward to your review Mike.

Kind Regards

Brian

p.s. nice to see Andy Westlake getting star billing - his reviews are the best thing on dpreview!

[Arg]

I can't even *imagine* why it doesn't have in-body image stabilisation.

Putting lens politics aside, can you think of even one user-oriented reason? The old excuse that lens IS works better has been discredited by testing.

Very, very disappointing, for the precise reason that the rest of it is so exciting.

[Harold Glit]

Well that's good news for 2 reasons :
One that I am not the only one to think that the 40mm FOV ( in 35mm terms) is the ideal standard lens , replacing in most instances both a 35mm and a 50mm
Two , that contrary to popular belief , that there is a strong market for solid single focal lengths and not only zooms
so maybe we will get our m4/3 2.8/12mm SOON

[Christopher Lane]

Hi Mike,

Can you comment on the LVF?

Thanks,

Chris

[robert e]

It's funny to see min. and max. focus distances marked on a lens face, but I guess there isn't a focus scale to mark them on. I really wasn't at all dubious that it would go to infinity, though.

Panasonic's been on a heck of a roll after apparently abandoning SLRs.

[Martin]

Isn't the GF-1 (E-P1) too big for a carry-everywhere camera? I agree with the comments on this thread:
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10854

The GF-1(E-P1) is good for someone who normally carries a bag, not the casual walker.

[John Camp]

"The GF-1(E-P1) is good for someone who normally carries a bag, not the casual walker." -- Martin

That's true of the G1, but the GF1, with the 20mm, you can put in a jacket pocket. With a zoom lens, it'd take a bigger pocket. For me, the G1 and GF1 *are* my take-everywhere cameras, though I take them in a car...and only sometimes walk around with them. I can put the full two-body system, with the pancake and three zooms, in a Leica M bag.

I'm afraid people who are just getting them will look at ISO quality and noise, and decide that they're not as good as a D3x or whatever. But they're not supposed to be. These are to those big fat cameras what the Leica was to the Speed Graphic. The image quality, I would venture to say, is better than that of 35mm film in most ways, even at higher ISOs. And frankly, Panasonic is showing more creativity than either Nikon or Canon at this point, and the big boys have to be careful, or Panasonic will eat their lunches. The lenses are already amazingly good for what they are, and more are on the way.

If you want to see what else they can do, Thom Hogan has a five-shot pano, one with an E-P1, shot with a 7-14 wide angle lens at bythom.com. I'm more interested in these cameras than anything since the M8 came out.

[Cliff Lee]

To Arg:

I can think of a reason... patent avoidance?
Olympus, Sony(KM) and Pentax use in camera.
Nikon, Canon and Panasonic(Leica branded) use lens based.

If they added IS to the pancake lens, it would most likely be bigger, and it seems like its going to sell well without it.
So why include it?

Thats not to say I wouldn't be interested if they made a 20mm f1.7 'Mark 2' OIS somewhere down the line...

[YS]

Hi all, just in case you guys missed out, there's a 14/2.8 pancake Panasonic showed off in Japan.

I still want a 10/2.8 though!

[Carsten Bockermann]

A week ago I borrowed the GF1 with the 20/1.7 and the auxiliary EVF from my dealer for a couple of hours. The photos looked really promising. But: I hate shooting using the LCD with the camera at least a foot in front of my face. The alternative, using the EVF, is also not really appealing. It would be nice to have a true optical viewfinder with some information visible, like focus confirmation and shutter speed.

[Poagao]

My iPhone is my carry-everywhere camera; although I always have my LX3 in my backpack, and I almost always have my backpack, I use the phone for quick shots where I don't have time to dig around in my bag.

The GF1 looks interesting, however Panasonic has apparently decided to ban sales of this camera in Taiwan, which is a real mystery when you consider that both the LX3 and EP1 are selling like hotcakes. They must have too much money or something.

[Charlie H]

I have been thinking about getting one of these, but the price has really been putting me off, esp. when I note that it is double the price or more of the G11. And then it dawned on me, mostly just reading this post, that the 20mm f/1.7 is a removable lens and it will work not only on all the other micro 4/3 currently available, but any one built in the future. In that light, I can see getting one and then the next go round, I only have to get a body. Now thats crackin. ch

[Ken Ford]

A GF-1 with the 20 and 45 could make a capable travel kit, like a CL for the new century. My only wish would be for an in-body optical VF.

[Roger Lambert]

My excitement just got tempered significantly when I looked at the sample photos accompanying Mr Westlake's review article.

ISO 400 shots look usable, but ISO 1600 look as bad as the old Canon G10 for noise, and not nearly as good as the new Canon G11 at that ISO.

What is the advantage of a larger sensor supposed to be again? Isn't it supposed to be at higher ISO's?

And where is the in-body I.S. system? Can you really use a GF-1 hand-held beyond 70 mm without a stabilized lens system?

Do I really want to pay 2 or 3x for this camera vs a G11 or S90 or LX3 or, hopefully, an LX4?

[erlik]

Martin, when I have E-P1, yes, I usually carry it in a bag. But I usually carry a bag with me, not only because of cameras. But E-P1 + OM adapter + OM 28/2.8 can be carried in a leg pocket of cargo pants. With an OM 50 in the other leg pocket.

OTOH, I tried a couple of shots with 20/1.7 today. Yes, that's definitely a lens I'd like on E-P1, EVF/OVF or not.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Carsten: Spend some time with a view camera, and you'll get used to the viewfinder floating in space out in front of you :-).

And hey, a dark-cloth is just the solution to the problem of seeing some of the older LCDs in the sun, too!

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

The Panasonic GF1 with the 20mm actually fits in my pants pocket. Although visibly. "Is that a GF1 in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?")

I like "combats", pants with many pockets which close, to carry all my money and gadgets and such. And the camera also fits in the pocket on the side of the thigh, where it does not get in the way when sitting down. So for me it *is* a carry-always camera, if I wish.

[Rodney Dean]

As far as the 40mm-e being in between the 35mm and 50mm, because of the 4/3 sensor, it's really like a cropped 35mm-e. This is because the 40mm-e on 4/3 has the same vertical angle of view as a 35mm-e on a standard 2:3 sensor. For me this means that if I crop to 8x10 for my print, the Panasonic 40mm-e works like a 35mm-e would on say an APS sensor.

[Svein-Frode]

A fella' which opinion I trust says the GF1 has better IQ than both the Canon 1Ds and 5D. Maybe this is the camera I've always wanted for X-mas!

[Joe Sawicki]

I love the camera, but I was trying to fill a very specific niche. I travel a lot for work. Till now, I would pack my 1D and a single zoom. Took up a lot of the bag, and definitely couldn't carry it on work days. With the GF1, I can pack it with the 20mm and one or two other lenses, taking up less room in my bag, and can carry it with the 20mm everywhere.
I can imagine a whole series of shots of people sleeping on the trains in Tokyo!
Never loved composing on a rear screen, but the vast autofocus makes it tolerable.
Now if Panasonic could only get their supply issues worked out. Interchangeable lenses don't really matter if they can't keep them in stock.

Joe

[Peter]

Looks like other companies are trying get in on the act:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0910/09101501epsonhtpspanel.asp