Another entrant has entered the
Micro Four Thirds ring, and it's Panasonic delivering the Lumix DMC-G2 -- a new shooter with similar still performance but, this time, some rather nice enhancements, the most major being a three-inch articulating touchscreen. You can control some aspects of the camera with a touch, perhaps most useful being tap-to-focus augmented by the camera keeping focus on whatever you tapped on, even if it moves around. But, a full suite of physical buttons and dials still await your fingers, enabling you to tweak settings without fiddling with menus. The 720p video recording now supports AVCHD, giving your SDHC or SDXC memory card a break, and there's an input for an optional stereo mic. Ultimately still performance here is said to be identical to Panasonic's more budget-minded
DMC-G10, which clocks in $200 cheaper than the G2's MSRP of $799, but lacks 720p video and the fancy touchscreen. Worth the extra cost? That depends on how deep your pockets are.
Update: DP Review has its
review up as well.
posted July 9th 2010 8:46AM
That's a hot little camera. I'd get one but I got the Canon T2i a few months back.
@Shalabi
I just bought a T2i two days ago as well... and it's effing awesome. Got a sweet deal on it too!
This camera has been out for a month ... not much news here ... unless the GH2 gets announced.
@slyn4ice It takes time to review cameras though. :)
You know, if you are going to write an article about the cost of a product then you might actually want to put the price of the product in your story?
@PhonePhreak Fair point. Added.
Wait for GF2 ....
@littlea Totally. I bet it will be announced in Sept at Photokina. Of course the GF1 is available now and its a sweet camera. If you hack the firmware you can get some awesome video out of it and its $800 on BH.
@littlea
At a, likely, $700 premium over the G2 as a kit with lens.
Not that it won't be a great camera. I have a GH1 and am curious about what the improvements will be.
@littlea
Ahh, you wrote GF2 and my mind saw GH2
A missed big improvement over the G1 is the new LVF.
Extract:
"It has a large 1.4x (0.7x on 35mm equiv.) magnification, 100% field of view, and a 1,440,000 dot equivalent resolution, resulting in a very usable display that won't leave you cursing."
Actually resolution is 480,000 pixels x 3 colours.
Really interesting:
"The main downside of the G2's EVF system occurs indoors in low light, as it has to "gain-up" to produce a usable picture, resulting in a noticeably grainier picture. In all other situations, however, the electronic viewfinder on the G2 is the equal of and in many areas better than a DSLR's optical viewfinder, particularly those found on entry-level models which are typically dim and offer limited scene coverage."
@sibyy
I don't know where you get the specs, but the G1 has exactly same, high-rez viewfinder...
@pretol
I own both the G1 and the G2, and they're EVFs are identical.
@pretol my wrong. I quick-read the review and for some reason read that the EVF was better.
@sibyy
Buy a Zacuto Z-Finder and be happy.
It's a good camera, but I don't see why you don't just pay $200 and get the better sensor of the GH1 along with a 10X one solution zoom. G2's only really virtue over the GH1 is the touchscreen, which is a useful gimmick, but still a gimmick. If I wanted to save money I'd buy the G10. If I wanted the best in class I'd get the GH1.
Something stupid is going on at Panasonic. They have 4 cameras that are practically the same... First - just the G1, and now - GH1,G2,G10... They look the same they come with practically the same sensor... same size, similar features... etc
And now the lens, their lineup had a 14-45mm lens, now they introduce a 14-42mm lens... Why another very-slightly-different lens? Why didn't they instead introduce another lens? A portrait prime (100mm-equiv prime)? A true telephoto (>500mm-equiv )... Weird...
I long considered my Lumix G1 the perfect compact ILC, but after buying my G2 last month, it has now become my 2nd most 'perfect' compact ILC. The new touch screen ads a whole new degree of connivence/functionality.
M4/3 is just not worth the premium price at the moment. While the bodies are lighter than a DSLR, they aren't that much smaller and the lenses continue to be mostly large as well.
Seems like they are catering to the point-and-shoot crowd. No in-body image stabilization yet?
@Tohe
Some manufacturers do stabilization in the body, some do it in the lenses...
When it's in the body, it's more universal... When it's in the lenses, it's simply BETTER stabilization.
None of this applies to "catering to the point-and-shoot crowd"... so it seems you don't have a point.
@pretol
There is nothing BETTER about making the mechanics of a lens even more complex. Panasonic does this to make a more compact body.
Photography enthusiast go for this camera in part for its size. Panasonic already makes an excellent small pancake 20mm (x2 = 40mm) prime, but it lack image stabilization. In-body-image-stabilization is a very desired feature. Here is hoping that Panasonic will include in-body image stabilization in their next GH2/GF2 cameras.
@Tohe
By The Way, My point about catering to the point-and-shoot crowd has nothing to do with remarks about image stabilization and everything to do with the featured they DID add, such as: touch screen, tap to focus and articulated live view lcd.
@Tohe
I doubt they'll adopt the in-body... Panasonic has always done the in-lens stabilization.
I played with the g2, and I agree that the touchscreen is gimicky. Yes, you can focus by touching (panasonic has done this in the past on their smaller cameras too), but I saw it as distraction. There are much better/faster ways of getting the camera to focus where you want, than to smudge your finger around the screen...
I fully support articulated live view... ALL CAMERAS should have them, it is ABSOLUTELY a necessity for awkward position shots (over the head, from the ground, etc.)
I have the 20mm lens, the lens is so fast it almost doesn't need image stabilization. Usually I notice the lack of IS right away, but with f/1.7 it really is not a necessity.
@Tohe
I doubt they'll adopt the in-body... Panasonic has always done the in-lens stabilization.
I played with the g2, and I agree that the touchscreen is gimicky. Yes, you can focus by touching (panasonic has done this in the past on their smaller cameras too), but I saw it as distraction. There are much better/faster ways of getting the camera to focus where you want, than to smudge your finger around the screen...
I fully support articulated live view... ALL CAMERAS should have them, it is ABSOLUTELY a necessity for awkward position shots (over the head, from the ground, etc.)
I have the 20mm lens, the lens is so fast it almost doesn't need image stabilization. Usually I notice the lack of IS right away, but with f/1.7 it really is not a necessity.