Panasonic 16.01MP Lumix DMC-GX1

Panasonic announced the LUMIX DMC-GX1 compact Micro Four Thirds camera. The new LUMIX GX1 features a 16.01 Megapixels Live MOS sensor and Venus Engine, 150-12800 ISO sensitivity range, ultra high-speed Light Speed AF at 0.09 second, 1080/60i AVCHD video capture and a 3-inch touchscreen LCD display. The GX1 uses Contrast AF for its focus system. Different from the Phase difference system AF, Contrast AF achieves higher accuracy especially when shooting with a bright lens with small F value. For instance, the accuracy of Contrast AF is approximately 90% while Phase difference AF is approximately 60% at F1.4. 

The GX1 also comes with full-area focusing, making it possible to set focus on any point in the field of view. There's also a newly-added focus mode AFF (AF Flexible) which locks on the focus when the shutter button is half-pressed, however, if the subject moves, the focusing is reset to get the best results. Combined with the Touch AF control, setting and focusing on the subject is incredibly easy and quick. The GX1 comes with a hot shoe on the top for attaching the optional tilt-shift Live View Finder (DMW-LVF2), with approximately 1.4x and 1,440,000-dot equivalent, 100% field of view. The GX1 is available in black and silver bodies in the following kit options: DMC-GX1-X with the G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH. lens for $949.99; the DMC-GX1-K with the 14-42 standard zoom for $799.99; and the DMC-GX1, body only for $699.99. 

Here's the summary of review by RegHardware, giving the camera a rating of 80 out of 100:"With the tiny new zoom fitted, the GX1 slips easily into a coat pocket and becomes a very flexible take-anywhere camera. APS-C based cameras, such as Sony's NEX range may offer much smaller camera bodies, but the lenses are necessarily much larger, making them more bulky when fitted with a zoom. The GX1's larger body, but more compact overall kit size makes for much better handling. The GX1 delivers significant refinements over the GF1, with its ISO sensitivity now extending as high as 12800. It also does a pretty good job even at this high sensitivity and is a vast improvement upon the previous generation Micro FourThirds cameras. 

Despite its relatively small sensor - when compared to DSLRs and APS-C compacts - the results were impressive. Exposure was handled well both indoors and outdoors, and the auto white-balance did a good job of rendering colours faithfully under a variety of lighting conditions. Even with tricky exposures, the GX1 rarely put a foot wrong. Difficult scenes such as backlit naked branches backlit or the subtle shades of clouds against a grey sky were most often rendered without any loss of detail due to overexposure provided the ISO setting was kept low enough. There's plenty of competition for the LumiX DMC-GX1 from other vendors, but perhaps the biggest threat comes from Panasonic's own Lumix DMC-G3. 

It's physically a little larger, but features an almost identical image sensor and broadly similar features minus a few physical controls. Lest we forget, Panasonic has recently unveiled the DMC-GF5 - a revamped DMC-GF3 with full HD video capture.If you loved the GF1, the GX1 could be exactly the camera you've been waiting for. Its superb build quality and ergonomics are matched with speedy performance and excellent image quality. It's a little unnecessarily complicated to use and could do with a few more operational hints from the screen, but put in a little time with the manual and you'll reap great rewards. Save a few quid and buy the lens kit with the new Lumix X 14-42mm zoom and you have a very flexible, pocketable camera with superb control and performance."

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