Lumix G1 mirrorless camera: first impressions

by - 10:49 AM

G1-11155

 

I got the opportunity to try out this micro 4/3 mirrorless camera. It’s an older model, so the newer equivalent will have video and other features.

 

G1-11151

 

I went straight to manual to see what it could do.

 

G1-11154

 

It has one dial on the front that is either the shutter or aperture. You just press it once to switch and press it again to switch back. That was pretty easy to pick up.  I didn’t do much manual reading to test this out, I wanted to see what I could quickly figure out.

 

G1-11156

 

There is an AF’AE lock button that I unsuccessfully tried to set to back button focus. I have become totally hooked on BBF and become extremely irritated when I can’t decouple the focus from the shutter.  Just last March I thought I could never learn how to use back button focus and now I’m hooked.

Changing the ISO is easily accessed by clicking the top button on the 4-way buttons on the back of the camera.

It only has one card slot. I prefer two just incase one card corrupts.

 

cedar-1060566 copy

 

I was not able to figure out how to have one focus point that I could toggle around. Very annoying, the camera was “thinking” and randomly choosing what it “thought “ was the right thing to focus on.

Then Molly said she’d model for me, and the camera thought I’d like some hairs under her chin to be the main focus of this photo. Grrr.

Molly didn’t like the way she looked even though I promised if she’d give me another chance or 20 I might get the camera figured out. She left.

 

G12048-1060529

 

Then I tried the girls in the pasture.

It seemed soft and mushy. Might be the kit lens, might’ve been me, I’m not sure but I was at f/16 so there’s no reason anything shouldn’t be in focus.

They took one look at me and left.

 

G12048--2

 

So then I decided I’d try out the sunflare. Shooting into the sun, I discovered I had a lot of finger prints on the lens!! Hmm, maybe I should’ve cleaned the lens first.

 

G12048--3

 

This little camera brackets 5 shots! That’s better than a lot of DSLRs, I’m impressed.

 

G12048--4

 

I also like how light it is for a camera with interchangeable lenses.

Would I buy it?

Not unless I could figure out how to select a single focus point. Which might be possible, I’m just not sure. And properly set up back button focus.

The battery life was not impressive, but this is a rather old camera in camera years. I think camera years are like dog years.

The next camera I want to review is the Sony a6000. I think there’s a lot to that little camera. Stay tuned.

You May Also Like

0 comments

Find me on

Facebook Taste spotting