Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G3 16 MP Micro Four-Thirds Interchangeable Lens Camera with 3-Inch Free-Angle Touch-Screen LCD and 14-42mm Lumix G VARIO f/3.5-5.6 Lens -

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B. Fuller (United States) –

  

  

If you have looked on with dismay as Panasonic abandoned the enthusiast small M4/3 and instead chases a smaller and smaller and dumber and dumber form factor with the GF line, then you now have a reason to be happy. It appears Panasonic is positioning the G3 as the successor to the GF1. They might not know that but that is how I view it. Viewed as a replacement to the G2, the G3 is a bit of a let down. Much the way the GF2 was compared to the GF1. However, the G3 is a great replacement to the GF1. It is a little bigger but not that much. The physical controls are the same but now there is touch screen controls and to make up for many of the missing physical controls there are the C1 and C2 modes on the mode selector. a Before continuing something that very few people seem to understand with these camera systems is the lens, not the camera body, determines how big the camera is. I will use extremes to illustrate the point. Put a 14mm f/2.5 on a GH2 and it seems very small. You can’t put it in a shirt pocket but it will fit inside a jacket pocket. Also, you can get it in a very small carry case. It is so small and light I use a wrist strap and not a neck strap. Put a 100-300mm on a GF3 and it is going to be huge and because of the form factor really unusable.

The first thing to note about the G3 is the price is $699. That is $100 cheaper than the G1 or G2 at launch and $200 cheaper than the GF1. In addition to being $200 cheaper than the GF1, the G3 has a built in EVF (would have been nicer rangefinder style) and a swivel screen.

Another nice change from the G2 and the GF line is the new sensor. Panasonic and Olympus have been using a 3 generation old sensor in every m4/3 line except the GH line. The G3 now has a new 16mp sensor and updated image processing engine. The G3 takes slightly better pictures than the GH2.

As far as IQ goes, the m4/3 are not as good as DX sensors and they never will be as good. The same way as DX sensors will never be as good as FX sensors. All else being equal. With that said, IQ merits some discussion as most people don’t really understand it and most “professional” review sites confuse the whole issue. Here is everything you need to understand on the issue. First every generation of sensors the differences between m4/3, DX, and FX decreases. At some point the difference become negligible. Where that point is depends on what you want to do. IQ is very dependent on the size of what you are going to do with the image. I think for the vast majority of what people are doing, the differences are already negligible. Here are a couple of examples of what I mean. The biggest of computer monitors is right at 3.6mp. Most are around 2mp. That means to view a medium format 40mp image on a (2mp) monitor you are only using 5% of the image data. The rest is getting thrown away. For a 16mp image you are using 12.5% of the data. So that means noise, detail etc is getting thrown away as you deres the image. The same goes with printing. The human eye can see 200-300 dots per inch (A useful piece of information is monitors used to be 72 dpi and are somewhere around 96 dpi. That means if you blow an image up to 100% on your computer screen you are effectively magnifying by 2 to 3. Therefore, the images at 100% on the computer monitor are not going to look as good as on paper) Using 200 dpi, that means you need 2000×1600 pixels to print a decent 8×10. If you do the math that means you need 3.2mp to print an 8×10. (At 300 dpi you would need 7.2mp) That means for a 16mp image you are using 20% of the data. If this fits what you are doing, then any IQ differences are not important for you. As you start printing larger than this, the difference can be noticeable.

Where these m4/3 cameras excel is handling. The GH2 is the king, in my opinion, for handling. The controls are so well laid out it is a breeze to do anything you want quickly. Additionally, the contrast based auto focus is so fast, that live view is exceedingly useable. The swivel screen gives you huge options over a hold up to the eye only or a fixed back screen. You can hold the camera way over your head or way down by your feet and still frame the image.

On top of that is the light weight. It has gotten to the point that I don’t travel with my Nikon D7000 at all. I only keep and use that for portrait/wedding/event type photography (I did however just shoot a wedding with m4/3 only. The 100-300 was my primary lens. It is a little slow but still grabbed some amazing shots). I usually travel with 2 GH series bodies, 5-8 lenses, and an iPad all in a Domke F4 bag. (With my G3 I will now travel with 3 bodies) All of this weighs right around 10 lbs. You could also just carry the 7-14, 14-140, and 100-300 lenses and cover from 14mm to 600mm equivalent with 3 lenses. All of these lenses can be attached to 3 camera bodies and in…

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