"Panasonic G series" Owners Thread

danolive1 said:
Hi everyone, Iam after a new lens for my lumix g2 but which one? currently i have the kit lens 14-42, and two legacy lenses a 28mm f2.8 and a 50mm f1.8 via an fd to m43 adapter. So this gives me a 35mm equivalent of 28-82mm, 56mm and 100mm. Lens will be used for general walking about in park etc but mainly for pictures of people,kids etc indoors and out sometimes fast moving sometimes sitting still.:rolleyes: Budget is upto £250 so i was thinking lumix 14mm f2.5 (£110) lumix 20mm 1.7 (£220) or olympus 45mm 1.8 (£230)or any others i should consider. (Prices second hand and new.)cheers
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I find the 45mm way too long when walking about, and it needs good light to get the shutter speed up... Not great indoors because of this. But it is a very sweet lens. If I had to choose a single lens for your budget, I'd go for the 20mm, but it's slow to focus, the 14mm is nicer this way, but obviously slower at f2.5.

Give the Sigma 30mm f2.8 a look, not the fastest aperture, but cheap at around £130 new, and bloody sharp. I've just bought one and am loving it, only fly in the ointment is it slows the camera startup time a tad. You could pair this with a used 14mm if you don't mind the missing stop or so of aperture speed from the 20mm and 45mm...
 
I just wanted to come on here to say that I just purchased a battery for my Panasonic G2 for only £5.99 from 7 day shop. It works despite my camera being the newer version 1.1. It shows charge status in the camera fine and behaves just like a Panasonic one when being charged and used. It beats paying £42 for an actual Panasonic one and it got delivered in 2 days.

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_3&products_id=108871
 
Has anyone hacked their Panasonic G2? I gather older firmware versions 1.0 can be hacked which opens up better manual controls in video and other features like higher bitrates.
I used my 20mm for video the other day and I am very impressed with the image quality, but I do find the footage very shakey. It shows how much IS in the kit lens helps. I have not worked out how to change apeture/shutter during video or can you not do this on the fly? Any tips most welcome.
I am going to have a play with my OM adapter and old legacy Olympus lenses this weekend.
 
ronnus said:
I find the 45mm way too long when walking about, and it needs good light to get the shutter speed up... Not great indoors because of this. But it is a very sweet lens. If I had to choose a single lens for your budget, I'd go for the 20mm, but it's slow to focus, the 14mm is nicer this way, but obviously slower at f2.5.

Give the Sigma 30mm f2.8 a look, not the fastest aperture, but cheap at around £130 new, and bloody sharp. I've just bought one and am loving it, only fly in the ointment is it slows the camera startup time a tad. You could pair this with a used 14mm if you don't mind the missing stop or so of aperture speed from the 20mm and 45mm...
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Them sigmas look interesting both the 30mm and the 19mm hmmmmm now theres a spanner in the works.:bonk:
 
One big question you'll have to ask yourself is will you be happy shooting with the back screen and no VF? Although of course you can add the external add on VF.

I had a GF1 and it was a lovely thing but I just didn't like rear screen shooting and thought that an external VF would add bulk and be too volnerable. Personally I'm much happier with a Gx body, in my case a G1.
 
Yes, I was worried about snapping it off.

Is there a significant size difference for you between the GFx and the G3?

The G3 has the advantage of the EVF and the adjustable screen. I turn mine to the body unless I want to shoot at an odd angle. But, IMVHO the GF1/GX1 is the better looking camera and if it had a VF in the corner (Nex 7 like...) I'd love it, I'd probably marry it if it had the adjustable screen from the Gx too.
 
Yes. The new Oly looks nice but as usual there are a number of things to think about...

IQ looks good.

The in body IS may be a big help.

There are reports of a fan type noise possibly caused by the IS. Some people report being annoyed by this whilst others don't notice.

There are reports that the camera isn't happy with the Panny 20mm f1.7 and gives noisy images... baffling...

There's no built in flash.

Rumour has it that Panny is about to introduce a new camera, or maybe more than one camera, so I personally will almost certainly hold off buying anything until announcements are made. Although if Panny are true to form it'll be a while before any new camera actually appears in the shops.
 
Yeah the IQ looks excellent, I would be moving on from the Fuji X-Pro 1 I bought here, cracking camera and IQ is excellent but I'm missing the m4/3 lens range.

I have heard about this fan noise and I'm aware there have been issues reporting with both the 20mm and 25mm before on Oly bodies.

If I sell my XP1 + 35mm lens I might pickup a G3 in the interim with a few lenses and see what happens body wise, I suspect the OMD price will drop by year end and the G3 is only £400 new or £300 used roughly.

Quite like the NEX 7 but the lack of lenses totally puts me off right now!
 
Just done a childrens party and i am much happier with the shots from the 50mm 1.8, so have bought a secondhand 45 mm 1.8 olympus. :) mainly for the af and bokeh.
 
I've had fun with my g1, but have sold my 20mm and got myself a 40d and a 50mm. There was nothing wrong with the g1(or g10 and gf1 that i had)its just i felt like a change of system. At the moment i will keep it until i have a few quid in the bank then sell it and put that towards a 70-200l.
 
Well I've found something really stupid Panasonic have done on the G2. Well atleast it does this on my one. You know auto preview? So after taking a shot, it immediately displays the pic in the LCD and/or Electronic Viewfinder? Well...yes you can turn it to OFF, but when you have the continuous shooting mode set to the highest possible one (for the maximum fps) it turns auto preview on by default!!! What the? Am I going mad. It only previews it for about a second, but it's enough to not be able to pan whilst shooting and see what you want to take a photo off. I have to knock it back down to MEDIUM (out of LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) in order to have it completely off so that the Electronic viewfinder and LCD is always showing the actual live view.

This is the most bizarre decision from Panasonic. Why would you do this? Is it a limitation in hardware as to why it cannot display the live view whilst on the highest burst speed?
 
Mine does that as well clicktor, so its not just a one off. I hate it personally. I got a new puppy last weekend so I've been in the garden this week trying to get some photo's of him, but I've been really struggling with the panning when it turns on auto preview.
 
Silly isnt it. To be honest, medium speed is just about ok for me. Better than not being able to see anything! But still annoying.
 
matt b said:
I've had fun with my g1, but have sold my 20mm and got myself a 40d and a 50mm. There was nothing wrong with the g1(or g10 and gf1 that i had)its just i felt like a change of system. At the moment i will keep it until i have a few quid in the bank then sell it and put that towards a 70-200l.
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I'd keep the MFT setup alongside a DSLR. Personally, I think I'll always have three or maybe four cameras, unless something dramatic comes to market.

I think I'll always have a truly pocketable camera, although my Canon Ixus really is rubbish IQ wise. I also have a Medion compact and if truth be told my phone very possibly takes better pictures.

I think I'll always have a more upmarket compact, at the moment I have LX5.

I also have MFT and a 5D. The 5D is not significantly heavier than the 20D it replaced but both are significantly heavier than a MFT setup up and noticeably so IMVHO even when the 5D is only fitted with a 50mm. TBH I'd love to be able to move away from a traditional DSLR but at the moment I don't think there's anything to match the IQ. I think I'd also like to move away from Panasonic MFT as I've pretty much given up any hope of them making the system I want but the competitor systems seem even more flawed to me.
 
I must admit that reinvesting in a proper DSLR is something I've been thinking of a lot more lately. I've been struggling getting decent photos of my puppy this week as hr doesn't sit still, but I don't know if it's because my camera knowledge is lacking and therefore I'm not using the right settings, or whether the camera can't keep up.
 
Mandoo said:
I got a new puppy last weekend so I've been in the garden this week trying to get some photo's of him
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This post is useless without photos of aforementioned puppy!!! :)
 
Hey guys. Snapped a few pics tonight on my G2. Hope you like.



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danolive1 said:
Nice, what lens did you use?
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For those pics I was trying out my Dad's old Olympus Glass from the 80s. I bought an OM adapter from ebay for a tenner, and paired it with the Olympus 50mm Zuiko f/1.8. I will take some pics of all my gear tonight and upload it. I quite like using the 50mm. It was great way back when, and still is to be honest. Great build quality. That was wide open at f1/.8 on my G2. Nice focal length on m4/3rds too.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Well I've picked up a GF2 today which I will use as a backup to my soon to be received OM-DFancied something to go with the OM-D that I can stick in a pocket and picked up the 14mm with it.
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GF2 is a nice body - good compromise of features vs size (think they went too far with GF3/5). The main downside is noise at medium/high ISO, so I'm looking to upgrade to a OMD/G5 before I sell my DSLR. Will keep the GF2 too as manbag camera.
 
Galaxy66 said:
Gismo is a good looking lad :), lovely markings:thumbs:
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Is he a Springer or a working Cocker? He is gorgeous :)
 
Llamaman said:
GF2 is a nice body - good compromise of features vs size (think they went too far with GF3/5). The main downside is noise at medium/high ISO, so I'm looking to upgrade to a OMD/G5 before I sell my DSLR. Will keep the GF2 too as manbag camera.
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Cheers mate! I probably would have bought a GF1 used but I've just send my X-Pro 1 away and I'm cameraless until the weekend as I'm away for work in the morning and wanted to take a camera with me!!

Almost bought a GF2 a while ago for a lot more I paid, not too fussed about higher ISO as I'll be using the OMD for anything that requires that.

Pretty pleased to get the 14mm lens as well as I've always fancied one and when my OMD arrives this week will give me a lens lineup of:
9-18, 14, 25 & 45. Woo!
 
I really quite like the 14mm lens, I think its a nice size for a walkabout.
I've been wanting to get a GF camera for ages, but just can't afford it at the moment. I think I may have to have a hunt through the loft to see if there is anything I can flog off to raise some funds!
 
clicktor said:
For those pics I was trying out my Dad's old Olympus Glass from the 80s. I bought an OM adapter from ebay for a tenner, and paired it with the Olympus 50mm Zuiko f/1.8. I will take some pics of all my gear tonight and upload it. I quite like using the 50mm. It was great way back when, and still is to be honest. Great build quality. That was wide open at f1/.8 on my G2. Nice focal length on m4/3rds too.
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I like using my old canon fd 50mm 1.8 can be a tricky focusing on kids as they run around though which is why ive ordered the oly 45mm 1.8.:D

Here's some with the old 50mm.
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It's great being able to give old glass a life in the modern digital era. :) They are nice.
There's something about using manual focus though isn't there. Kind of feels old skool and almost more rewarding. Kind of makes everything feel "simple" setting apeture with the ring and doing all the work yourself. Love it.
 
I've got an OM fit 50mm f/1.8 and its a really nice lens, but as mentioned above, its tricky to use for kids and pets as I can't focus on things quick enough. I'm sure I'll get better with practice though.
 
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One from the Samyang Fisheye and G3. Nice sharp lens.
 
I have a question I have just bought an Olympus 45mm 1.8 and a lumix 14mm 2.5 for my G2 now do I keep the kit lens 14-42mm or sell it on? I really cant see a situation where I would use it over the other two lenses?
 
I've kept hold of my kit lens even though I very rarely use it. Its handy to have it just in case and it'll bump up the value of the camera body if I decide to upgrade it to a new model at a later date.
 
I suppose it could be handy for video if say i wanna go from 14mm to 42mm in one motion when tracking the kids/pets etc
 
Mandoo said:
I've kept hold of my kit lens even though I very rarely use it. Its handy to have it just in case and it'll bump up the value of the camera body if I decide to upgrade it to a new model at a later date.
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This is exactly why I've kept mine for the time being. Panasonic thinks its clever to bring out new bodies on a near yearly basis, so the secondhand value of older ones plummets, I reckon it'll be easier to sell as a kit should upgrade time come. Goes against my normal rule of "dont use it? Sell it!" tho ;)
 
As I haven't contributed much to this thread recently... Flowers!!! :D

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I grabbed these between downpours.

I've been itching to buy something new...

I fancy the Fuji X Pro 1 but reports of poor AF/MF and bugs put me off and my local Jessops doesn't stock them so I haven't been able to try one yet. I sort of fancy a Nex 7 but the lens choice puts me off :thumbsdown: I switched my attention to the OMD but I spotted that the lowest ISO is 200 and as I'm a wide aperture fan that'll possibly mean using ND's more plus there's no inbuilt flash and I'd miss my G1's fully adjustable screen. I think I'll wait and see what the GH3's spec looks like.
 
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