"Panasonic G series" Owners Thread

Look what arrived this morning....

P1000616.jpg


First impressions are good. The fit of the cap to the body is a lot tighter than I'd anticipated even though I'd read elsewhere that it was - but now it's on it's unlikely to come off in the foreseeable future. There's a reassuring positive click as the focus lever locates on the hyperfocal point - it seems more positive than the setting for infinity, which is a good thing given there proximity to each other. All in all, very tidy. Suspect this is going to give my GF1 a whole new lease of life.

Well, I'm off to take a wander with my new toy.
 
Cool! Let us know how you get on, I'm quite tempted myself just not sure what I'd actually use it for!
 
Mandoo said:
Cool! Let us know how you get on, I'm quite tempted myself just not sure what I'd actually use it for!
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Buy one. Now.

I like it quite a lot. GF1 now fits comfortably into my jacket pocket. Image quality isn't too shoddy either. That said, I'll probably be using this to shoot pseudo-lomo stuff - and some street when there's a little more light about.


Broken Wings by ajday, on Flickr
 
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Lol, as you've commanded me to buy it, I shall go and check the finances!
Lovely shot that one though, really atmospheric.
 
Not sure I see the point of that Oly 15mm lens cap, you may as well take a m43 body with the 14mm if you wanted to save space and I would use my iPhone to get similar results.
 
I too don't see any other reason than NEW! BUY! to own the 15mmF8 blurry lens.
Oh yeah I said it. Blurry.
There is a reason why most pictures shown from this lens also undergo some artistic treatment to disguise the low sharpness compared to any of the other three pancake lenses.
£20 should be the target price for 'quality' like this.
 
It's just a fun lens that isn't meant to be taken seriously. You're not going to be taking any amazing quality photos with it, but if you've got some creativity you can take some pretty nice ones. I like the way the photos it takes can look classic and vintage, and it shows that photos don't always have to be pin sharp to be useable.
There are some example images over on m4/3 forum that show what the lens is capable of.
 
Yep understand photography is not all about pin sharp images. But I'll use my iPhone for these effects, just my opinion :)
 
ShrubMonkey said:
Not sure I see the point of that Oly 15mm lens cap, you may as well take a m43 body with the 14mm if you wanted to save space and I would use my iPhone to get similar results.
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Ulfric M Douglas said:
I too don't see any other reason than NEW! BUY! to own the 15mmF8 blurry lens.
Oh yeah I said it. Blurry.
There is a reason why most pictures shown from this lens also undergo some artistic treatment to disguise the low sharpness compared to any of the other three pancake lenses.
£20 should be the target price for 'quality' like this.
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I bought it as a novelty. Pretty much the same reason that I've bought CCTV lenses for m4/3. They all have their place. I didn't buy it expecting pin sharp - I bought it because it's blurry. And overpriced. And no better than an iPhone. But perhaps more importantly, because it's FUN. And it makes me smile. And I think you should both buy one so we can share the love. :D
 
I'm sure there are many other ways of getting those effects through our iPhones and existing cameras, but they require some sort of software manipulation and editing to get them. This lens does it straight out of the box so its very simple to use. I like that about it.
Having said that though, I'm not going to get one right now. I'm going to wait to see if the price drops and spend my money on a 14mm instead.
 
Mandoo said:
I'm sure there are many other ways of getting those effects through our iPhones and existing cameras, but they require some sort of software manipulation and editing to get them. This lens does it straight out of the box so its very simple to use. I like that about it.
Having said that though, I'm not going to get one right now. I'm going to wait to see if the price drops and spend my money on a 14mm instead.
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I bought this lens specifically to use for images that would undergo a fair level of post processing. The image I posted yesterday had been tweaked - but not to disguise any shortcomings of the lens. Here's the image SOOC...

Broken%20Wings%20SOOC.jpg


I think it's quite dull as it stands. 2 minutes of post processing - +0.5 exposure comp, B&W conversion, minor definition enhancement, heavy vignette and quad toning - makes, what I consider, a far more poignant image.

The 14mm is a far better investment if you've not got one already.
 
And the 15mm lens is an awful lot cheaper than an iPhone if you don't have one, and have no need for one! ;)
 
Hope you guys continue to enjoy your Panasonic M43 gear - the last of mine has now gone and I bought a Sony RX100 today.

My camera collection has been reduced down to a single 'posh compact' for a while - but I'm sure I'll be back.

Thanks for making this and the OM-D thread the best source of info and friendly advice on TP.

Happy New Year to you all.
 
I'm heading full-steam back into Micro 4/3s after a year out, undecided between the G5 or OM-D yet (depends on offers in the new year, frankly) but either way a second compact style body is on the shopping list.

Does £250 for a new GX1 seem good value? I've done a fair bit of research and it seems to be the best choice. I will probably be bolting a 14mm 2.5 and 75mm 1.8 to it initially.
 
ukaskew said:
I'm heading full-steam back into Micro 4/3s after a year out, undecided between the G5 or OM-D yet (depends on offers in the new year, frankly) but either way a second compact style body is on the shopping list.

Does £250 for a new GX1 seem good value? I've done a fair bit of research and it seems to be the best choice. I will probably be bolting a 14mm 2.5 and 75mm 1.8 to it initially.
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Welcome back

There is a GX1 in the for sale forum for £190 currently
 
Thanks for the tips guys, I rather unexpectedly picked up a new GH2 with 14-140 for £400 (which appears to be a good deal looking at prices on the web). I'm not really a zoom shooter so will be off-loading the lens, judging by eBay prices just for the lens I should end up with a body for less than £100.

Now to decide on my prime setup. 14mm 2.5, 25mm 1.4 and 75mm 1.8 is looking likely. My only slight reservation is the wide end, I love the 14mm but I'm just not sure if it's wide enough. Are there any solid options other than the 12mm f2 (which is a bit pricey considering I won't use it all that much)?
 
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That sounds like an absolute bargain you got there. I've just purchased a 2nd hand 14-140 on these forums myself.

For the wide side, I have the Panasonic 7-14 which is a fantastic lens, also a little different but still great is the Samyang 7.5mm fisheye lens.
 
It was from the South West Panasonic Store, unfortunately they've just refunded me as they don't have any stock. I thought the price was a little too good, I'm never that lucky!

Gutted, back to square one now.
 
ukaskew said:
It was from the South West Panasonic Store, unfortunately they've just refunded me as they don't have any stock. I thought the price was a little too good, I'm never that lucky!

Gutted, back to square one now.
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Ahhh sounded too good :)
 
I'm in the club :)

G5 arrived today with the 14-42 and 45-150. Both lens have gone straight on eBay (although I have to say the 45-150 looked like quite a nice little lens) and have £130 cashback on the way from Panasonic. A conservative estimate would be £300 for the body once all sorted (eBay fees etc) which I'm very happy with.

Struggling with lens choices now, so many nice options it's hard to know where to start. For the wide end I'm having the following dilemma...

Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8

or

Panasonic 14mm 2.5
Panasonic 25mm 1.4
Olympus 45mm 1.8

Both options work out at roughly the same cost. I love primes, but the practicality of the zoom is hard to ignore.
 
Personally I'd have kept the 14-42mm. It's such a cheap but capable little lens that I'm happy to keep mine in a box in a drawer for the few occasions that it's wanted.

I think it's a good idea to have a capable cheapo "kit" lens for occasional use and the 14-42mm seems to produce better results than I got with, for example, my Canon 17-85mm.

Prime wise I think that the Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 is next to perfect as it can be used as a standard and as a sort of pseudo macro lens and then of course there's low light and creative DoF use. It's manual focus though, as are the numerous Rokkor, Zuiko, Canon FD etc lenses... My most used lens at the moment is a Rokkor 55mm f1.7.
 
ukaskew said:
I'm in the club :)

G5 arrived today with the 14-42 and 45-150. Both lens have gone straight on eBay (although I have to say the 45-150 looked like quite a nice little lens) and have £130 cashback on the way from Panasonic. A conservative estimate would be £300 for the body once all sorted (eBay fees etc) which I'm very happy with.

Struggling with lens choices now, so many nice options it's hard to know where to start. For the wide end I'm having the following dilemma...

Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8

or

Panasonic 14mm 2.5
Panasonic 25mm 1.4
Olympus 45mm 1.8

Both options work out at roughly the same cost. I love primes, but the practicality of the zoom is hard to ignore.
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Dilemma indeed, my heart says primes, but head says practicality. If your happy carrying the lenses around in the bag I'd go for the primes and lets be honest those lenses (I've owned the 14mm and own the 45mm and the 25mm) are so light and small that's not a big problem, so I'd say go with the primes :thumbs:
 
ukaskew said:
Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8

or

Panasonic 14mm 2.5
Panasonic 25mm 1.4
Olympus 45mm 1.8

Both options work out at roughly the same cost. I love primes, but the practicality of the zoom is hard to ignore.
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Hey you need A zoom, any mid-range zoom. What you don't really need is an expensive F2.8 zoom when that selection of primes will give you individually slightly better picture quality and apertures.
Of course my solution is to have a whole slew of bodies, one behind every lens so take my advice with a pinch of salt : buy the primes! - surely buy the 45mm first as a price-to-quality winner.
You can always spend £130 on a used original Lumix 14-45 or go for a wide end and get someone's castoff mZuiko 12-50
 
ukaskew said:
Struggling with lens choices now, so many nice options it's hard to know where to start. For the wide end I'm having the following dilemma...

Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8

or

Panasonic 14mm 2.5
Panasonic 25mm 1.4
Olympus 45mm 1.8
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I have a G5 and all 4 of those lenses!

The 12-35 is on my camera 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time it's the 7-14 or 35-100 on the camera.... In fact, I hardly ever use primes....
 
Hmm ... it seems the OIS on the 12-35 works rather well at low shutterspeeds, maybe you should get it instead of the primes ... but then you wouldn't have the 45mmF1.8 and that'd be a shame, so buy both.
 
I picked up the 25mm 1.4 on here for £340 yesterday, I've decided to head down the prime route.

I've always been a head= zoom, heart = prime person, but I usually end up selling zooms to fund primes, so I may as well start as I mean to go on! I will add a GX1 at some point so at least I can always have two lens available at all times.

Either way it's going to be an awful lot lighter than my last kit (5D, 35mm 1.4, 135mm f2).
 
You must live just around the corner from me ;)
 
I've been hanging my nose over a mirrorless camera for a while now, something to carry around when out and about. I had a serious look at the EP-L offerings and was sorely tempted by the EP-L5 but for the price at present.
Finally went for a GX1, seems very nicely built and fits just right in my hand.

The only downside is the cheapo kit lens but will be adding a couple of primes in the next few weeks, probably a 25 and 60 macro, either way it's going to be a lot easier than lugging the D600 and 24-70 around.
 
I read this article about face detection yesterday (and this review, which has more examples). I admit it's something I would never have remotely considered before, but following on from the article I tried it today on my G5 as I was out for my wife's birthday. It's pretty darn remarkable, I tried about 30 shots (shooting at f1.4 with the 25mm) with a fair bit of movement and action going on in a fairly dark environment and it nailed it every single time.

The swivel screen, silent shutter (which really is silent, unnervingly so) and face detect could certainly open up some interesting street photography options.
 
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I know some of you use legacy lenses, so I thought I would share my collection.


Canon FD and nFD Lenses by srhphoto, on Flickr

They're all Canon FD mount, with 3 of them being the older breech lock version. All of them are pretty much mint. The entire lot cost me less than the price of the latest Panasonic 12-35 OR 35-100mm lenses :lol:

I now don't own any native m4/3 lenses at all. That will sound barmey to some, but it suits what and how I shoot. I just love the whole experience of using these manual lenses and the rendering / character that they have.

Cheers,

Simon.
 
srhmoto said:
I know some of you use legacy lenses, so I thought I would share my collection.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/srhmoto/8354833370/
Canon FD and nFD Lenses by srhphoto, on Flickr

They're all Canon FD mount, with 3 of them being the older breech lock version. All of them are pretty much mint. The entire lot cost me less than the price of the latest Panasonic 12-35 OR 35-100mm lenses :lol:

I now don't own any native m4/3 lenses at all. That will sound barmey to some, but it suits what and how I shoot. I just love the whole experience of using these manual lenses and the rendering / character that they have.

Cheers,

Simon.
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Wow, they look in absolutely mint :)
 
srhmoto said:
I now don't own any native m4/3 lenses at all. That will sound barmey to some, but it suits what and how I shoot. I just love the whole experience of using these manual lenses and the rendering / character that they have.
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How do you find motorsport with these (presumably mostly the Tokina 300)? Very impressive Rallycross photos on your Flickr, an equivalent 600mm prime must take a bit of planning in terms of angles to shoot from!
 
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