Hands-on session with GF1 today

[davidsim]

Today just went to Panasonic bldg for a preview of the GF1...

Must thanks EOW and the staffs of Panasonic for organizing this hands-on session.

Some personal observations.

1. The flash is tiny... but i think better than nothing right..but the mechanism looks really flimsy
2 AF speed is noticeably faster than my EP1, however, when i tried both EP1 and GF1 side by side, the focussing confirm tone of both is quite close. So i guess it is a matter of milliseconds differences.
3. The zoom lens is quieter. No rotating lens when focussing, unlike my EP1 zoom lens.
3. Body Color wise, din like silver, felt that it is neither silver nor gun metal... red looks good though.
4. Some guys commented that the rotate dial is not very well designed... i dunno abt that as din had the chance to play with it long enough.
5. Personally, I prefer my EP1 retro look anytime.
6. Screen resolution is bright and crisp. So for manual focussing, should be more useful.
7. Have not tried it with bright backlighting, but my guess is that it will suffer just like EP1.
8. Zoom lens rotates in the opposite sense as compared to oly.
9. IMPT consideration: I was told that GH-1 battery costs S$199!! and GF-1 uses the same battery!!! ouch!!

One very important observation...
I swopped the kit zoom lens of GF1 and EP1 and i noticed that the EP1 now focus faster!! And GF1 focus slower now! Reason i guess, is that panny lens is IF. So that tells me that the lens play a big part in the focussing speed!! Passed the cameras to some of the bros to test and they said the same thing, EP1 now focus much faster... hmmm.. maybe i should just buy the panny lens..
THen i will have best of both worlds.. retro looks with faster AF too.

some pictures, side by side with my EP1.

Front View


Rear View


Top View

[davidsim]

Silver GF1


My EP1 with Panny zoom kit lens


GF1 with Oly zoom kit lens

[adamadam]

Thanks a lot!
how does it feel?
As solid feeling as the EP1?

What's the pricing going to be like?

[spidey89]

doesn't look very solid to me

[davidsim]

in terms of build, i prefer EP1
GF1 feels like my LX3, build-wise

According to Panny, no news on arrival and price yet... hopefully before EP2.. lol

[spidey89]

looks very much like their compact with the idea of LX3's style flash with the L1's flash design

[ricleo]

red one looks great1

[FilterFunk]

thanks for sharing.. any pics of the black model?

for those still 'tearing their hairs' over which is better.. here is a comparison of the 2
http://www.radiantlite.com/2009/09/o...sonic-gf1.html

[davidsim]

At the preview, there were 3 sets.. i cannot remember whether black was there...
more pics.

[Fotophilic]

hi, do u have any comments about the panasonic 20/1.7?

[davidsim]

i did not get any chance to fiddle with it long enough to comment. But focus speed of it on GF1 is fast. And it does not have IS.
But if you put in on my EP1, you will have IS still.

Originally Posted by Fotophilic hi, do u have any comments about the panasonic 20/1.7?

[NiVleK]

Whoa, the red is nice. And the flash looks like its coming from transformers or what. LOL

[pphyll]

Originally Posted by Fotophilic hi, do u have any comments about the panasonic 20/1.7?

its focusing speed is the same as the ep1 14-42 to me. thats my 2cents. when i try the panasonic kit lens its faster af.

to me the af speed really depends on the lens. focus is ard the same for ep1 and gf1 to me at least.

[pphyll]

noise control is better than g1. the color noise is better to me. now the question to me is do i really want evf and build in flash to make me sell and buy again... sigh. video ep1 is a lot easy to view on pc or mac. i cant seem to open the gf1 video.

anyone tested the LCD/EVF screen when shooting in dark lighting??? i forgot to test it.

[Fotophilic]

Thanks! Been watching this lens for sometime. A 40mm equiv at 1.7 on ep1 with IS will be interesting. hopefully it won't be too expensive.

Originally Posted by davidsim i did not get any chance to fiddle with it long enough to comment. But focus speed of it on GF1 is fast. And it does not have IS. But if you put in on my EP1, you will have IS still.

[Fotophilic]

thanks for the opinion. I hope i understood u right that u are saying the 20/1.7 when mounted on the ep1, focuses same speed as an ep1 with 14-42.

Interesting observation for the second paragraph. I always tot tat the panasonic has a faster af system for their m4/3 compared to olympus. I tried G1 b4, its really fast.

Originally Posted by pphyll its focusing speed is the same as the ep1 14-42 to me. thats my 2cents. when i try the panasonic kit lens its faster af. to me the af speed really depends on the lens. focus is ard the same for ep1 and gf1 to me at least.

[pphyll]

Originally Posted by Fotophilic thanks for the opinion. I hope i understood u right that u are saying the 20/1.7 when mounted on the ep1, focuses same speed as an ep1 with 14-42. Interesting observation for the second paragraph. I always tot tat the panasonic has a faster af system for their m4/3 compared to olympus. I tried G1 b4, its really fast.

I had a g1 before its fast the af but that was when i m using panasonic kit lens. so if we use the panasonic kit lens on ep1 i think it will be a different speed too.

I meant 20/1.7 on gf1 feels the focus same speed as an ep1 with 14-42.

[Fotophilic]

Originally Posted by pphyll I had a g1 before its fast the af but that was when i m using panasonic kit lens. so if we use the panasonic kit lens on ep1 i think it will be a different speed too. I meant 20/1.7 on gf1 feels the focus same speed as an ep1 with 14-42.

Thanks for clarification.

[Rurouni]

Any idea on price and when its going to launch yet? Not sure how much more ex than the EP-1.

[theveed]

Here's mine, Dave http://reviews.davidleetong.com/?p=1275

No price released yet, but it "shouldn't" be that different from the Olympus, then again, SG prices are different from US/UK prices...