This little jewel is my 7th or 8th digital interchangable lens camera, starting with 20D-7D Canons and G3/G5/GX7 Panas and briefly an Oly EM1. This is the digital camera I've been waiting for, very much in the vein of the great adventure photographer Galen Rowell's Contax 35-70 TVS mini. The image quality from my hiking/biking/skiing S95 and LX7 just wasn't good enough for publication, large prints or crops or other manipulations and even my m4/3s cameras and lenses were too heavy to constantly lug uphill. I was wary about the GM1 after reading a negative review in Luminious Landscape regarding fiddly operations, but as a backpacker, biker, and skiier I really wanted something small and light with outstanding image quality. Now I have been simply amazed at how much fun this camera is, and while a bit fiddly at first, after a several days it was second nature, particularly after I added a perfect Richard Franiec grip.
It is sort of like having a superb sensor to attach to my numerous great lenses. I love putting my 12-35 2.8, 14, 20, 45macro, 45-150 and even 35-100 2.8 on it. I laughed out loud at how crazy it looks with the 100-300 on it--but it works! Of course its hard to hold steady at 400-600 eqv. with a long telephoto lens without an evf, but if I'm shooting wildlife, I'm mostly going to use my GX7. I'm also very impressed with the included 12-32 lens, which though relatively slow, is very sharp and very light--it is my ultra-ultralight adventuring lens.
I do miss having an evf and more manual controls, but for the weight saving it is absolutely worth it. And I knew this was the trade-off. Sometimes in bright sun I can't see the LCD very well, but I can still see well enough to frame the image, make it level, and place the focus point--sometimes I'm just blown away when I get home at the beauty that I was still able to capture. There's simply nothing else like it at this weight and size in the photography world for image quality and ability to use a range of the superlative m4/3s lenses. My ultra-light kits are either the 14 2.5, 20 1.7 and 45-150 or the kit 12-32 and the 45-150. When I'm biking or skiing I just use the kit lens. One of the things I love about this little camera is that it fits in a small pouch (Dash 20) that I can attach to the shoulder strap of my daypacks, hydration pack or backpack or hook on to my belt. For years I struggled with a camera chestpack but I hated not being able to see where my feet were in the kind of rugged terrain that I most enjoy.
The best thing about it, other than the rather amazing size and weight, is the image quality. Pixel peeping and making prints on my professional 17" printer, I cannot tell the images from this camera from my EM1 or GX7--and I am an experienced semi-professional photographer. I started printing exhibition sized digital images more than a dozen years ago from scans and then my 8mg Canon 20D, so I have considerable real world experience. 17"x22" prints from the GM1 are surprisingly close in quality to from those printed from my 7D and essentially indistinguishable from my GX7 and EM1 files. I don't do much video, so I can't comment on that.
I've just been climbing around the alpine zone on the Northeast's highest mountains, capturing the scenery and the masses of wildflowers--The little GM1 has been a real joy to have at the ready.
It is sort of like having a superb sensor to attach to my numerous great lenses. I love putting my 12-35 2.8, 14, 20, 45macro, 45-150 and even 35-100 2.8 on it. I laughed out loud at how crazy it looks with the 100-300 on it--but it works! Of course its hard to hold steady at 400-600 eqv. with a long telephoto lens without an evf, but if I'm shooting wildlife, I'm mostly going to use my GX7. I'm also very impressed with the included 12-32 lens, which though relatively slow, is very sharp and very light--it is my ultra-ultralight adventuring lens.
I do miss having an evf and more manual controls, but for the weight saving it is absolutely worth it. And I knew this was the trade-off. Sometimes in bright sun I can't see the LCD very well, but I can still see well enough to frame the image, make it level, and place the focus point--sometimes I'm just blown away when I get home at the beauty that I was still able to capture. There's simply nothing else like it at this weight and size in the photography world for image quality and ability to use a range of the superlative m4/3s lenses. My ultra-light kits are either the 14 2.5, 20 1.7 and 45-150 or the kit 12-32 and the 45-150. When I'm biking or skiing I just use the kit lens. One of the things I love about this little camera is that it fits in a small pouch (Dash 20) that I can attach to the shoulder strap of my daypacks, hydration pack or backpack or hook on to my belt. For years I struggled with a camera chestpack but I hated not being able to see where my feet were in the kind of rugged terrain that I most enjoy.
The best thing about it, other than the rather amazing size and weight, is the image quality. Pixel peeping and making prints on my professional 17" printer, I cannot tell the images from this camera from my EM1 or GX7--and I am an experienced semi-professional photographer. I started printing exhibition sized digital images more than a dozen years ago from scans and then my 8mg Canon 20D, so I have considerable real world experience. 17"x22" prints from the GM1 are surprisingly close in quality to from those printed from my 7D and essentially indistinguishable from my GX7 and EM1 files. I don't do much video, so I can't comment on that.
I've just been climbing around the alpine zone on the Northeast's highest mountains, capturing the scenery and the masses of wildflowers--The little GM1 has been a real joy to have at the ready.
