Review - Panasonic G2 & G10 Side by side

[ed9119]

The following lenses will be available for pairing with the cams tomorrow ......

LUMIX G VARIO 7-14mm/F4.0 ASPH
LUMIX G VARIO HD 14-140mm F/4.0 -5.8 ASPH Mega OIS HD Lens
LUMIX G VARIO 45-200mm F/4.0 - 5.6 Mega OIS Lens
LUMIX G FISHEYE 8mm F/3.5
LUMIX G 20mm F/1.7 Pancake lens
LEICA DG MACRO-ELMARIT 45mm F/2.8 ASPH Mega OIS

 

[ed9119]

The burgundy red G2 is just sweet..... and got to love the tilt and swivel screen... dont have to break your back getting low now

notice his regular DSLR hanging by his side... sidelined in situations like this

 

[ed9119]

from Bananadiver

Got the chance to try out the sample unit for Panasonic G2 and LX5 before it is released...

i must say both cameras are good and competent for most genres of shooting...

cheers... let the pictures do the talking...

all photos are shot in jpeg... Auto mode... Auto ISO... IA mode on... basically Auto everything...

Used the touch screen focusing method...

Minimal editing to my own taste with adjustments in contrast and straight conversion to B/W...

#1

#2

#3

#4

 

[ed9119]

One thing I really appreciated yesterday when shooting with the G2 .......was the tilt and swivel LCD screen AND the ability to focus&shoot with a touch of the LCD screen WITH LEFT HAND

Click the icon 'On' in the LCD and the function is there..... there I was , looking just like any other tourist in Little India reviewing my images , nodding my head, laughing and smiling as I 'pretended' to go through the Playback mode with RIGHT HAND FINGERS WELL AWAY from the regular shutter button ...... and RIGHT HAND cradling the camera ....everyone, almost all strangers, blissfully going on about their business with no worries about being photographed ....... WHILE ACTUALLY I was frantically shooting away with the LEFT FINGERs furiously tapping at the screen

Muwahhhahahahahahaha !!!!!!!

 

[ed9119]

these are pics taken with the G2 + UWA 7-14mm zoom ..... at 7mm uwa, I was pretty much an 'invisible' man shooting away....

Dream Merchant and Headfonz will be posting more soon

 

[ed9119]

 

[ed9119]

F1 started today and with a nice Sky Suite pass invite at Stamford (war memorial section) , i was packing my regular gear a couple of days ago FF body + a 16-40 UWA, a 70-200 and a 100-400 AND a 580EX flash + batteries and all ...... until i noticed the G2 + a 7-14 UWA and a 45-200 tele zoom sitting quietly there

Weighing the 2 outfits ..........
- the Canon outfit weighed a ton and came with a Mini Trekker
- the Panasonic weighed (EVERYTHING) about the same as the ONE 70-200 L lens and could be thrown into my daily run-around backpack

Should I ? Should not I ???

With not too many images in this thread I decided "To hell with breaking my back today..." and picked the featherlight Panasonic outfit

I was worried.......... scared actually ...... no F2.8 to fall back on..... m4/3 sensor .... 2 little batteries to live on for that afternoon, a tiny in-camera flash and night and a whole lot of shooting

We only live once ...... I left home with the Panasonic + 2 little zoom lenses .... and a prayer

An Honest note: Actually there was a compellling reason for me to go for the event as lightweight as possible. My company's strategic partner had sponsored the ticket .... a couple of tables at the Sky Suite no less with a 3 day pass costing quite a few thousand dollars. It was a business invite .... and it would look poorly on me to bring the heavy artillery. A lightweight outfit in this situation was MUCH more discreet ..........and polite too.

So here goes.... for exif info please use one of those exif peeping programs to dig it out of the posted images .... 4am now and I NEED to go to bed soon:

Before going up into the swanky suite, I walked around appreciating the great weather (it had threatened to rain at 4pm..... THANK GOD the clouds cleared and great light was available)

Just ONE Qualifier from me before I start posting the images : I RARELY shoot motorsports like car or motorcycle racing so I am NOT an expert in that area and not always comfortable with focal lengths above 50mm ..... I am more at home photographing people with a UWA

 

[ed9119]

I was happy.......... C and N were not the only brands of cameras that were being brandished (although there were alot of C and N cams). Other brands were well represented in the crowds

 

[ed9119]

Lots of foreign tv crews were there filming away like crazy in the warm late afternoon light

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[ed9119]

http://gallery.clubsnap.com/data/735/ushers.jpg[/IMG

[IMG]http://gallery.clubsnap.com/data/735/tv_screen.jpg

THIS is how F1 should be enjoyed ........ free flow of beer, wine, champagne, GREAT selection of cheese and Ice-Cream (Haagen Daz) , a non-stop top-notch buffet all day long ...... and plenty of door gifts ....... spotlessly clean toilets and a STRONG Air-con.

 

[ed9119]

Just too sleepy to post anymore .... its almost 4.30am..... just a little prelude of what will be posted tomorrow..... lets just say that focal length reach was not too much of an issue with the 45-200 zoom (translated as a 90-400mm zoom in full-frame terms)

Qualifier statement from me: I RARELY shoot motorsports like car or motorcycle racing so I am NOT an expert in that area and not always comfortable with focal lengths above 50mm ..... I am more at home photographing people with a UWA

 

[ed9119]

Qualifier statement from me: I RARELY shoot motorsports like car or motorcycle racing so I am NOT an expert in that area and not always comfortable with focal lengths above 50mm ..... I am more at home photographing people with a UWA

 

[ed9119]

 

[ed9119]

I used Manual Focus fixed at a spot on the track and released the shutter when the car arrived at the spot

There was no significant shutter lag to speak of so execution was easy

Also one thing to note....... with cars speeding past me at close to 200kph , I was mostly panning the shots ......

It will be difficult to pan and shoot in such a dynamic on-track situation if you relied on the external LCD screen...... using the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) in such situations helped tremendously...... although must warn you, looking through a EVF vs a regular VF on a SLR is very different...... it took me about 15-20 minutes to get used to it but once tuned-in it was not too much of an issue

 

[ed9119]

The puny little on-camera pop up flash TOTALLY SURPRISED me with its great performance.

There was a lively Brazillian samba performance (by real Carnival performers from Rio) on the open roof-top above the Sky Suite ...... really darkish place for relaxed breeze-catching. I had little choice but to use the pop up flash.

I thought I was going to get slaughtered with insufficient output. I was pleasantly proved wrong....

This little flash gave out gobs of light and the flash metering by the camera was really excellent...

Despite her violent gyrating, this turned out pretty ok (for personal viewing)

 

[ed9119]

Qualifier statement from me: I RARELY shoot motorsports like car or motorcycle racing so I am NOT an expert in that area and not always comfortable with focal lengths above 50mm ..... I am more at home photographing people with a UWA

OK enough car pics............ I am getting confused by too many race cars ......... it is not easy to shoot a fast moving target ...

Got back home just after midnight ............ I was deaf............ and happy.....

 

[sircam]

I really enjoyed watching your F1 pics above, ed9119! Look forward to more!!

 

[ed9119]

thanks sircam!

got a couple of PMs asking if this outfit can really replace a DSLR and the long zooms and teles when shooting sports critically ......... rest assured it will NOT .

the telezoom is a good lightweight lens for non-critical shooting for personal purposes ...........this is not for shooters who demand the ULTIMATE in high-speed AF, high speed FPS , fast lenses and low noise higher ISO

With the 7-14 ultrawide zoom , articulating LCD screen and left-handed shooting with the on-LCD touch shutter capability however, the G2 can be a serious serious contender for photojournalism and street photography work

A backpacker need no longer be restricted to a point and shoot

It is small enough to throw into a backpack or brief-case/laptop bag on business trips where you might want to take time off to also shoot before/during/after a business trip

 

[BananaDiver]

Hi ed9119... i did't realised post my pics here... haha... i must say the G2 is a nice camera to have if "stealth" mode is required... if only i have one to test longer...

btw... was passing by tiong bahru to get my weekly comics.... think i saw dream merchant outside the mrt station... lol and all those photos at "xin hai san" makes my hungry...

 

[ed9119]

.....btw... was passing by tiong bahru to get my weekly comics.... think i saw dream merchant outside the mrt station... lol and all those photos at "xin hai san" makes my hungry...

ha ha ha yes you are right.... DM was waiting for me yesterday ......... ssssshhhhhh...was passing him the new Fujifilm X... Leica lookalike for testing and review .... har har better not let the rangefinder gang hear about this !!!