Panasonic G100 - A good entry-level point into the Micro Four Thirds System

[Phaser]

Pros:

• RAW shooting
• Capable for photography
• Quick Autofocus and Decent Tracking
• Top Center High Resolution EVF
• Built In Flash
• Touch Screen
• Very Small & Light
• Micro HDMI port
• 3.5mm Microphone Input Jack
• Responsive Menu & Controls
• Included 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens is very sharp, contrasty, and renders very well
• Can be found cheap
• Has a high quality 20MP sensor, practically the same quality as the G9

Cons:

• No IBIS (Why would a camera marketed for video vlogging not have it?) The GX85 has IBIS and it's very compact...
• 4K Video has a large crop
• Electronic E-Stabilization on "High" reduces video quality substantially because it's not oversampled (better to rely on O.I.S lenses and "Standard" E-Stabilization)
• No Environmental/Weather Sealings
• Audio Bitrate is only 128 Kbps. 320 Kbps or PCM audio should really be selectable options!
• Recording Limits (4K, 10 Mins/1080p 20 Mins)
• Mechanical shutter limited up to 1/500 sec
• Flash limited up to 1/50th Sec (you might be better off using LED Light Panels)

Other thoughts:

• Good for Street Photography, Landscapes, Portraits. The lack of IBIS has been a non-issue for stills.
• Auto and P modes tend to use very small Apertures (like F11-F22) in good light if shutter type is set to "Electronic Front Curtain". This is because the Mechanical shutter is limited up to 1/500 sec. Set the shutter type to "Electronic Shutter" for better results in good lighting.
• AF Custom Settings for video will need to be manually set for best results (AF Speed & AF Sensitivity) Recommended AF Sensitivity to "locked on" and Autofocus mode to "tracking".
• If recording video on a Tripod, turn off E-Stabilization to get the sharpest video and least amount of crop.
• If you need a cheap MFT camera as a backup or just starting out, just get one!

Sample photos converted from RAW and lightly processed:


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100


Panasonic G100

 

[Markusweld]

I like this shot. Zoomed in and worked out that it was Point Lonsdale. We put the car on the ferry on the other side of the bay many years ago and travelled across to Queenscliffe but we didn't stop to look around (noisy kids in the back can make road trips difficult). I will have to put this town on my list of places to visit.

--
Pete

Yeah, been across on the Queenscliff to Sorento ferry quite a few times. Sometimes just as a foot passenger, other times with a vehicle. It's a really nice day out to just cruise across the bay to either town, have lunch at a nice pub or cafe etc, go for a bit of a swim, let the kids play and burn off some energy, then cruise home again. It doesn't get much better than that

 

[Pete_W]

I don't really know just why when someone shows "the happies" over a camera body that satisfies just why the image quality of the sample images supplied becomes more important than the worth of the camera body itself as an imaging tool.

Cannot we just accept that no Panasonic camera body is incapable of making high quality images. Let alone the G100.

That's the nature of this forum, Tom.

Whenever a Panasonic camera or lens is released, there is the inevitable 'hunt' for the fatal flaw that proves beyond any doubt that it is not as good as the Olympus/OMDS equivalent. It can therefore be regarded as an unworthy alternative, a lesser product that doesn't challenge Olympus. Those users can then sleep soundly at night knowing that their choice was right and correct all along.

Not having PDAF was the killer punch for years despite the fact that many shooters didn't even need it. That complaint has gone so now we're worrying about the speed of writing burst images from the buffer to the card. Two hundred images in the space of a few seconds is apparently egregiously slow. Colours that appear to be "off" when photos are taken through perspex screens in a stadium under a variety of artificial lighting. And a camera boot-up time of 1 second that is regarded as too slow.

Hopefully this post won't cause a riot. The main title is about the G100 so it should go unnoticed by the majority who will get their noses out of joint.

--
Pete

 

[Pete_W]

I like this shot. Zoomed in and worked out that it was Point Lonsdale. We put the car on the ferry on the other side of the bay many years ago and travelled across to Queenscliffe but we didn't stop to look around (noisy kids in the back can make road trips difficult). I will have to put this town on my list of places to visit.

Yeah, been across on the Queenscliff to Sorento ferry quite a few times. Sometimes just as a foot passenger, other times with a vehicle. It's a really nice day out to just cruise across the bay to either town, have lunch at a nice pub or cafe etc, go for a bit of a swim, let the kids play and burn off some energy, then cruise home again. It doesn't get much better than that

It's a lovely part of the world for sure. I always enjoy visits to Melbourne and surrounds. I was last there a few months back for a conference but didn't get out of the city due to the schedule. I stayed in a hotel on the Yarra next to the convention centre. Great spot.

--
Pete

 

[Tom Caldwell]

I don't really know just why when someone shows "the happies" over a camera body that satisfies just why the image quality of the sample images supplied becomes more important than the worth of the camera body itself as an imaging tool.

Cannot we just accept that no Panasonic camera body is incapable of making high quality images. Let alone the G100.

That's the nature of this forum, Tom.

Whenever a Panasonic camera or lens is released, there is the inevitable 'hunt' for the fatal flaw that proves beyond any doubt that it is not as good as the Olympus/OMDS equivalent. It can therefore be regarded as an unworthy alternative, a lesser product that doesn't challenge Olympus. Those users can then sleep soundly at night knowing that their choice was right and correct all along.

Not having PDAF was the killer punch for years despite the fact that many shooters didn't even need it. That complaint has gone so now we're worrying about the speed of writing burst images from the buffer to the card. Two hundred images in the space of a few seconds is apparently egregiously slow. Colours that appear to be "off" when photos are taken through perspex screens in a stadium under a variety of artificial lighting. And a camera boot-up time of 1 second that is regarded as too slow.

Hopefully this post won't cause a riot. The main title is about the G100 so it should go unnoticed by the majority who will get their noses out of joint.

Perhaps I take a brighter note:

There are obviously more Olympus people about. The big issue is that the Olympus/OMDS and Panasonic camera body interfaces are so different as to add to the reason why we might choose one from the other. I have more issue over this than most. Once or twice a year I get the opportunity to capture a live amateur theatre dress rehearsal. More often than not I don't know the plot in any detail. It is a great opportunity to get an in costume opportunity without the encumbrance of an audience. But there are no pauses for photography and I usually come armed with at least three camera bodies each with a different lens.

As I have decided that I really need to be higher than stage height this usually means telephoto of some sort. Furthermore the theatre is darkened for the show. This means no bright light to see the camera bodies or check control surfaces - finger memory is necessary and no time or easy capability for lens changes. A similar camera interface across all camera bodies hleps a lot. I started with Panasonic and did try to incorporate Olympus but the Olympus way is so different that i don't need "how do I do that?" type mental bothers when swapping camera bodies and interfaces as the action changes on stage. Simple as that. But I can use and appreciate Olympus lenses even though they are not stabilised.

(I do carry a very small torch whist I can use for initial set up checking when the audience lights are not on.)

However I am always careful to make sure that I follow civil necessities. When saying that in-lens stabilisation is very good and now that Panasonic also supports IBIS and arguably invented 'dual' stabilisation, I always defer to the original and the best and acknowledge that Panasonic dual is now nearly as good as Olympus IBIS. An argument over numbers of stops of stability is hardly worth the sweat for someone who always has somehow managed, since Canon was a slip of a digital girl, with in-lens stabilisation alone.

IBIS is great and I would never not use it if it were available. But my whole photographic life doesn't hang by a single IBIS thread on the edge of disaster.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

This reminds me of something that happened to me that long ago I care not to admit when - just beyond the ken of those of more recent memory.

Only Mornington-Peninsula/Geelong dwellers will fully appreciate this.

Many, many, years ago I went back to live in Victoria in the Western District. I was invited to a school reunion of my old friends at Rye. Tom get out his map and found there is a ferry service marked between Queenscliffe and Rye (? then?). So I hop in the car and head for Queenscliffe only to find when I get there that the ferry only ran in the summer months (must have been winter at the time). I am also not sure what sort of ferry it was.

I really set myself up to carry bricks that day but I was young and already foolish.

I was forced to drive the fullest distance possible around "the Bay" through all that urban traffic and it was well before Freeways. I remember clearly being introduced to the then concept of the heavily traffic-ed urban suicide centre overtaking lanes which could be used by dare-devils to overtake in both directions - just make sure no-one was overtaking coming the other way. Or hope that some civil minded driver in the congested regular lane would be find enough compassion to let you in when caught out.

I doubt if many would do this trip for kicks - even today.

Took many hours and I was quite traffic-exhausting to do so. The modern car ferry is a godsend - been on it and it does save a huge effort.

 

[Stu3133]

Yep Tom, that would make for a nice extended trip around the bay! :-D

[And in case you were too scared to check....that's a neat 301k !! :-O ]

 

[Lupata]

The big issue is that the Olympus/OMDS and Panasonic camera body interfaces are so different as to add to the reason why we might choose one from the other.

It's like owning a Japanese car and a European one left right right left with blinkers and wipers

At work as I do a heap of restoration it's imperial vs metric

....at home having two partners........

--
gfgfjup

 

[Pete_W]

I don't really know just why when someone shows "the happies" over a camera body that satisfies just why the image quality of the sample images supplied becomes more important than the worth of the camera body itself as an imaging tool.

Cannot we just accept that no Panasonic camera body is incapable of making high quality images. Let alone the G100.

That's the nature of this forum, Tom.

Whenever a Panasonic camera or lens is released, there is the inevitable 'hunt' for the fatal flaw that proves beyond any doubt that it is not as good as the Olympus/OMDS equivalent. It can therefore be regarded as an unworthy alternative, a lesser product that doesn't challenge Olympus. Those users can then sleep soundly at night knowing that their choice was right and correct all along.

Not having PDAF was the killer punch for years despite the fact that many shooters didn't even need it. That complaint has gone so now we're worrying about the speed of writing burst images from the buffer to the card. Two hundred images in the space of a few seconds is apparently egregiously slow. Colours that appear to be "off" when photos are taken through perspex screens in a stadium under a variety of artificial lighting. And a camera boot-up time of 1 second that is regarded as too slow.

Hopefully this post won't cause a riot. The main title is about the G100 so it should go unnoticed by the majority who will get their noses out of joint.

Perhaps I take a brighter note:

You are most certainly a positive influence on the forum Tom!

There are obviously more Olympus people about.

I guess that's the key. Which means that Panasonic products are in the main judged/assessed by how an Olympus camera/lens typically works as if that is the right way or the default. Not exactly fair, but there it is.

 

[Pete_W]

Yep Tom, that would make for a nice extended trip around the bay! :-D

[And in case you were too scared to check....that's a neat 301k !! :-O ]

Is that right?? That's further than I would have thought!

 

[Stu3133]

Yep Tom, that would make for a nice extended trip around the bay! :-D

[And in case you were too scared to check....that's a neat 301k !! :-O ]

Is that right?? That's further than I would have thought!

Hmmm, tried it again....thanks Google maps!! ...this time 236k. Still a fair distance!

 

[Markusweld]

Yep Tom, that would make for a nice extended trip around the bay! :-D

[And in case you were too scared to check....that's a neat 301k !! :-O ]

Is that right?? That's further than I would have thought!

Hmmm, tried it again....thanks Google maps!! ...this time 236k. Still a fair distance!

There's quite a lot of heavy industry over that side of town (Dandenong & South) whenever we need to visit for business purposes there's the choice of sitting in traffic jams over the West side, or a leisurely cruise across the bay on the Ferry, a stop for breakfast at a beachside Cafe, & a quite pleasant trip up the new Freeways. Guess which one wins? Every. Single. Time

 

[Lupata]

--
gfgfjup

 

[Markusweld]

It's interesting that the G100D isn't really an upgrade let alone a new model, yet it's getting a renewed promotional push in Japan where they've hired vloggers and camera channels to promote it. They've even forked out for a new ad campaign .

Watch the first 45 seconds of this

 

[Pete_W]

Yep Tom, that would make for a nice extended trip around the bay! :-D

[And in case you were too scared to check....that's a neat 301k !! :-O ]

Is that right?? That's further than I would have thought!

Hmmm, tried it again....thanks Google maps!! ...this time 236k. Still a fair distance!

It sure is! I am amazed. I'd have guessed half that.

 

[ahaslett]

IBIS allows me a lighter smaller kit. No idea why this is a problem for people who don’t need IBIS. I have no problem with people not needing IBIS and I don’t have it in the GM1.

Andrew

Okay, I'm curious. How does IBIS allow you a smaller, lighter kit? Can't get too much lighter than my G100 with some of my favorite, most used lenses, such as the PL 9mm, PL 15mm, Laowa 10mm, Lumix 20mm PL 25mm, Lumix 42.5mm, PZ 14-42mm, Lumix 12-32mm & so on.

No tripod.

Andrew

I don't take a tripod either

Do you shoot landscape?

Andrew

Do these count?

Couple more

Hi Markus

Sorry it's taken a while to respond but I'm feeling more myself today.

I tend to use a tripod for landscape where possible to have a stable platform for composition and make it easier to take long exposures, focus and exposure bracket. That's not always practical so my MFT gear is almost always used handheld.

IS extends the shooting envelope, not into long exposures but in situations where the light is poor like building interiors, golden and blue hours, and just typical UK dark cloudy light.


It's not always necessary


Especially in sunshine


There are times when it helps retain crispness at longer FLs



View attachment 90bd56d38624464090a6cecca0912d51.jpg




Times when the photographic intent requires a tripod or decent IS




Times when only a tripod will do

View attachment c984a4f65bf44b09ae965ca06ebd33c7.jpg

I see that all of your images were taken in excellent light, with one at ISO 100 and +ve EC. Two were with lenses that have IS, although the shutter speeds on all were way outside where IS would be valuable.

You have the Laowa 10/2 and Panny 9/1.7. I always thought they were different enough that there is a case for owning both. I can only justify the 10/2 to myself. Could you share how you find them as alternatives, apart from the obvious MF/AF difference.

I have enough experience of using bodies plus lenses without IS to know that it can make a difference. Like AF, it's not essential but it can be valuable. When using a tripod, safest to turn it off (as I typically do for AF).

Andrew

--
Infinite are the arguments of mages. Truth is a jewel with many facets. Ursula K LeGuin
Please feel free to edit any images that I post

 

[Chromolume]

It's interesting that the G100D isn't really an upgrade let alone a new model, yet it's getting a renewed promotional push in Japan where they've hired vloggers and camera channels to promote it. They've even forked out for a new ad campaign .

Watch the first 45 seconds of this

Not saying it's a bad thing, just strange for a 3 year old model. Instead of a much needed mark ii this is a 'our supplier stopped making parts so we had to replace some' situation. Yet they're throwing 'new model' money at the promo. I suspect the pandemic is partly to blame here.

If anyone complains about a camera that can produce these results, the problem isn't really the camera!

 

[More Light]

The G100 may not be the best camera in its class, but it is championed by some of the best writers on photography that I've had the pleasure of reading.

Are you using some sort of filter or maybe some post processing magic? It's weird, your photos have an old digicam feel to them. Like something taken 20 years ago.

I don't really know just why when someone shows "the happies" over a camera body that satisfies just why the image quality of the sample images supplied becomes more important than the worth of the camera body itself as an imaging tool.

Cannot we just accept that no Panasonic camera body is incapable of making high quality images. Let alone the G100.

Here are some samples:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67427189

Same thread same camera body type.

I know the output of the old 20MP m43 sensor and I am well familiar with the "secret sauce" from Panasonic for their image pipeline. The images in the OP didn't match my expectation so I had to ask if it was on purpose (turns out it was user error).

I bet moderating a forum can be trying at times, but trust me, people can honestly ask questions without ill intent.

My apologies.

My comment was simply more about a generic (multiple) response to the OP more curious about the "Blue Ducks" than they were about the happy intent of the said OP that was offered relating to the use of the camera itself.

I did look at the example images and saw some good natural examples of what it could do as sample captures but certainly did not check closely enough for blue casts which were nothing really to do with the camera body whose praise was the object of the first post.

This is somewhat of an issue with all sample images uploaded - they seem to be judged on their perfection rather than their illustrative intent. As a result the capabilities of the camera itself are first called into question.

Obviously in the end the comments worked their way around to excusing the camera body and introducing operator-error to satisfy said curiosity. Again this was not the original intent.

No blame attached - this just seems to be part and parcel of the psychology of all photography - that we are all struggling for image perfection and we upload illustrative images at our peril as more often than not their original intent is only as supporting images. That they will need to be seen as perfect should not be needed nor are critiques required. in my mind that should have been obvious.

I am sure that there was no ill-intent meant by any such post and an merely commenting that the OP uploaded the images as collateral support for happiness with the camera body and unfortunately the images themselves became the principal subject of the responses made. The result was that the joyful praise was somewhat lost in the concern for lack of perfection in the images which were only collateral support for the original post about the camera body.

I make no criticism of the responses but this is more an observation that that every image posted by way of illustration does not need to be an example of perfect image making.

Nothing to do with Moderation - just my private opinion.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Yep Tom, that would make for a nice extended trip around the bay! :-D

[And in case you were too scared to check....that's a neat 301k !! :-O ]

Heavy traffic for most of the way - a million traffic lights and overtaking is hazardous. As already noted pre-motorways. Furthermore I had already clocked up a good 150km already. You can just about see Ryde from Point Lonsdale at Queenscliffe.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Yep Tom, that would make for a nice extended trip around the bay! :-D

[And in case you were too scared to check....that's a neat 301k !! :-O ]

Is that right?? That's further than I would have thought!

It was not the distance so much as the continual heavy traffic through beach suburbia along the way. Passing right through the centre of Melbourne ....

Yes the all-weather car ferry, year round, with two vessels, is a God-send.

 

[James Stirling]

Yep Tom, that would make for a nice extended trip around the bay! :-D

[And in case you were too scared to check....that's a neat 301k !! :-O ]

Heavy traffic for most of the way - a million traffic lights and overtaking is hazardous. As already noted pre-motorways. Furthermore I had already clocked up a good 150km already. You can just about see Ryde from Point Lonsdale at Queenscliffe.

I hope it was a good reunion after the travel woes