Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Review

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 is one of the more customizable cameras, as far as compact cameras go. It's available in three colors: red and black, blue and black, and solid black. I prefer the blue one myself, but the choice is up to you.

The Lumix G1's body is made of metal and plastic, with a large, bright electronic viewfinder taking up most of the back. Now, if you don't like working with viewfinders, I wouldn't recommend this camera to you at all-- I found that to get the most out of it, you'll need to use the viewfinder quite a bit. But for those of us that have no problem with electronic viewfinders, this camera is a dream; the colors show up crisp and clear on the large 3-inch LCD screen.

The Lumix G1 offers a sturdy, comfortable grip and the buttons on the body are well-placed and easy to use, except for the jog dial, which was plain annoying. The jog dial is used to adjust exposure, which is nice, but when you use the camera, you may find yourself hitting the jog dial accidentally way too much.

The G1 performed exceptionally well for its price range. It had a very fast shutter speed, unlike some other cameras I've reviewed, shooting at about 3 frames-per-second when continuously shooting. The 12 megapixels is nice, too.

What I really like about this camera is all the extra features it has. Face detection, for example, worked wonderfully. It was able to find all faces (even a face in a picture) and sharpen them without making them too pixelated. Also, I Iiked the image stabilization feature as well.

One of the best things about the G1 is that, although it's not a DSLR camera, it has interchangeable lenses. The lenses don't cost much, either; about $20-$70 USD, depending on the type. This is a great feature because if you feel ready for some advanced photography, just add a lens and you're ready to go.

The picture quality of the Lumix G1 was phenomenal. The 12 megapixels allowed me to see everything in full detail. I didn't like the automatic white balance at all, though; the adjustments were always too dark. I'd rather just go into the menu and change the white balance myself.

The one drawback about the Lumix G1 is that it has no video capture. This camera would have made a great all-in-one if it had at least a low-resolution video camera included, but I guess we'll have to make do with the interchangeable lenses, exceptional picture quality, etc. (not that I'm complaining).

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 costs $668 USD, which may be out of some people's budgets. If you're looking for a cool, high-resolution camera for all your photography needs, I wouldn't go with the G1. Not only is it bulky and hard to carry around, it doesn't have a video capture setting. If you're looking for a camera for everyday photography needs, I'd take a look at the Panasonic DMC-LX3; it's smaller and has video, although it doesn't have quite as high a resolution.

On the other hand, if you're looking to buy this camera solely for some advanced photography, I'd say go for it. At $668, the Lumix G1 is much less expensive than many DSLR cameras with similar resolutions. Also, the design of the Lumix G1 is simple enough to help you transition into DSLR photography comfortably and easily.