THE PANASONIC GF1 REAL WORLD REVIEW

PAGE 1 - Intro and why I think M4/3 is here to stay.

PAGE 2 - The GF1 specs and features?

PAGE 3 - Compared to the Leica D-Lux 4 and Leica M9?

PAGE 4 - High ISO Sample and Crops.

PAGE 5 - My favorite shots with the GF1 & KIT Zoom.

PAGE 6 - The one lens you MUST buy with this camera. The 20 1.7.

PAGE 7 - My bottom line conclusion.

PAGE 8 - Just for fun! The GF1 and M9 side by side.

PAGE 3 - Compared to the Leica D-Lux 4 and M9     next---->

The GF1 is a 12.1MP camera, about 2 more MP than the Leica D-Lux 4, and 8MP less than the Leica M9. I wanted to see how the GF1 stacked up against these two favorite cameras of mine, so I went out and took this shot of an old factory. Here is the out of camera image from the GF1. The Exif shows it was shot at F6.3 (though I could have sworn I set it to 5.6) and I used the KIT Zoom lens, which is again,  all I had with the camera.

and here are the 100% crops from all cameras:

In the above crops, I can clearly see that the GF1 beats the D-Lux 4 for detail and color, but for some reason the D-Lux 4 shows more shadow detail, if you can call it detail :) The D-Lux 4 and M9 images were shot at F5.6, as that is what I thought I set the GF1 for, but the GF1 exif shows F6.3. You can clearly see the $7000 Leica M9 beating out both cameras for color, detail, and dynamic range. This should be no surprise, but ask yourself this: Is the Leica M9 $6200 better? Hmmmm... to normal people? NO WAY. To crazies like me? Well, yea.

Just for fun, here is a shot from the GF1 and M9. See the 100% crops below the image:

The above image was taken at F8 with the KIT Zoom at 18mm, WHICH IS A 35mm equivilant on full frame. As you can see, the kit zoom is good, but not great. The sides and corners are a bit soft, but the center sharpness on the shed looks good. This was shot on a tripod.

For comparison, here is the M9 version with crops:

Again, these two cameras should not be compared, as one is $700 and the other is $7000. Of course, the Leica M9 will out resolve the Panasonic GF1, but many have e-mailed asking for this, and since I shoot with an M9, I had to oblige. The question should be “how big do you print?” If 8X10 is as large you go, the GF1 print would probably look just as good as the M9 print, for an image like this. If you use the Panasonic 20 1.7, the results would be much better as it is a sharper lens.

More? Yep! But let’s bring back the wonderful D-Lux 4.

The D-Lux 4 is a camera that the GF1 should be compared against, as they are in the same price range, and sort of similar in size. I set my tripod up, set all cameras to F5.6, and took the same image using default settings for processing the raw files. Here is the scene, and then the crops:

Here, the GF1 spanks the D-Lux 4 so bad it is almost embarrassing. No contest. The GF1, with its KIT Zoom, beat the D-Lux 4 for sharpness, detail, and just about everything else. I did this test three times to make sure it was for real. I could not believe the D-Lux 4 was so much softer. Of course, the M9 killed the others, but that is to be expected. The M9 approaches Medium Format digital not only in image quality, but cost as well!

For those looking for a full size out of camera JPEG from the GF1 to download CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PAGE FOUR - “HIGH ISO”