Just posted: Panasonic DMC G3 in-depth review

Panasonic cameras offer us quality every time. I wonder though when you enter the market with a full frame ?...

I went to Henrys with the intention buying one of these, and opted for the Canon T3i instead. Within 10-15 minutes, I knew a few things would be a pain for m, all preference-based and subjective:

1. The grip didn't feel comfortable in my hand. Thumb got crampy from the "pinchy" way I had to hold it.

2. I tried adjusting EVH with the dial but no matter what the edges were distorted. Overall, I found looking through an EVF distracting. I'm not AT ALL a DSLR "optical view" snob... like I said, I had every intention of buying the G3 knowing it had EVF.

3. It's smaller to the naked eye, but when a big attraction is "take it places I wouldn't bother to take a DSLR" it's still not small enough.

The auto-fucus was crazy fast, though, and full-time autofocus seemed to work like a charm. It was a plenty good camera, but left me no reason to not get the T3i instead.

Panasonic Lumix is doing great, this is the first time Dpreview say that image quality at high iso is the same we can see on SLR and not only on the consumer SLR, and this with a smaller sensor

Anyway I always think that it is not fair to compare smaller sensor to bigger ones, Dpreview does not compare APS-c sensors to Fullframe sensors, neither compare compacts or bridge cameras with micro 4/3 or other mirrorless cameras

Can I request for the AF-Tracking capability test while shooting video?

You realize there are no RAW images on the RAW studio page right? As of 8 AM EST 7/12/2011.

dprewiew continues to deliver. We appreciate the work.

Q: Is it silent? One of the reasons I use a compact for my street shooting is that nothing destroys scenes quite as effectively as dSLR shutter noise. At the first mirror slap, everyone starts posing for the camera, and that's that. In comparison, once you disable the phony shutter sounds on compacts, you have genuinely silent cams that allow you to capture whole sequences of life without the awkward street theatrics people insist on otherwise. Being mirrorless, these things should be silent, but you never know.

Thanks for the review but why no comment about the viewfinder's clarity? Is it as good as Canon's 600d for example?

Good review, BUT, I never agree when Dpreview says that Panasonic Lumix, jpg is not so good or the skin tones, I use JPG a LOT, got all images with pleasant colors, even skin tones, I have seen JPG from other brands like Canon and Nikon or Olympus and do not found any better or worst than Panasonic Lumix ones, I think this is a matter of taste.

Where is the viewfinder?

Now if Panasonic would only update the software on the G2 to pick up some of these improvements. The touch screen interface should be a software change. Computer manufacturers do this, at least Apple does.

Great form factor, but once again, the manufacture believes that the audience for a small body does not want to be overwhelmed by too many control surfaces. It's the myth of the step-up camera and the jittery consumer who is easily scared off of cameras that have more than 3 buttons on the back.

I still prefer the G2, but this camera is a small wonder

Regarding pinpoint autofocus: Is the G3's AF sensor dense enough to accurately sense from arbitrarily selected points all over the screen, or is it a design without a dedicated AF sensor?

60i and 60p from 30 fps capture: Is this from simply binning a continuously updated frame? A bit confused otherwise as to how the capture rate is 30fps yet apparently you can get up-to-date frames out of it at 60fps.

I have a feeling, jaggies on the frame of the park bench notwithstanding, that the 20fps drive mode will be used extensively. Loss of the viewfinder will make it hard to use though.

With a kit lens attached, the G3 has the dimensions of my 3-year old Olympus SP-570UZ, being a little heavier. It would take over the indoor and outdoor shots needing an external flash for filling in shadows, particularly in broad daylight. With a long zoom lens it would take over the yearly excursions to the Muriwai Beach gannet colony, having the benefit of a faster LCD-EVF refresh rate. For me its main gain over what I have is the HD1080p video with stereo sound recording. On the SP-570UZ the extra buttons do not make my operation any faster, so I welcome that the G3 has fewer of those. I cannot comment on the touch screen, none of my existing devices have. However, I mostly use now a 10x zoom pocket P&S camera.

QUOTE FROM DPREVIEW:
From the GF2, the G3 gains a touchscreen interface that is a vast improvement over that seen in the G2. It allows lots of control over camera settings as well as direct on-screen selection of the focus point - something that no DSLR can offer. Further distancing itself from previous G-series models, the G3 allows you to place the AF point anywhere throughout the entire frame, as opposed to just within a central portion.
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I believe that my G*2* has all the features attributed here more exclusively to the G3, esp on-screen selection of focus point throughout the whole frame. To me it seems the G3 is no improvement over the G2 in that regard - and the G2's focus-by-finger tip was already excellent, esp combined with the swiveling lcd.
(I understand that with the G3 you can change more camera settings via touch-screen than with the G2, okay, but i believe that focussing by finger tip might be about the same thing on both models.)