Panasonic Lumix DC-G100/G110 initial review

The marketing department decided that this the camera people want and this is what the engineers designed. Sigh. It's good that Panasonic listens to the customers, but it seems that Panasonic marketing department itself does not have a clue about photography.

In 2020, people don't buy cameras as gadgets. At least in the Western world, people are extremely knowledgeable about the technology. Just make great cameras. Stop following trends, let your designers create them.

Strange list as for example image detail have never appeared on the list of anyone problems with the GM series. Nor any need fir articulated screen. The GX series does that.

The spec for GM series replacement is high end ultra compact with state of the art content capture. Not fat, with mediocre 4K.

And yes we expect an improved shutter after all this time - not “selfie” features. We are the buyer group that actually points the camera the other direction.

@Osa25 I don't know who "we" are, but I am a GM5 owner who sees the G100 as a major improvement for a small camera. While the GM5 is a very cool camera with all the "pro" features in an incredibly small package, the viewfinder is mediocre to say the least, internal battery has failed after a few years on both the GM5s that I have owned, the camera is difficult to hold in one hand and operate at the same time, since it's too small to get a proper grip on it and reach some of the buttons and it lacks the articulated screen that my other Panasonic bodies have. The GM5 was never "state-of-the-art" content capture. It worked fine, but that was about it.

The G100 is not a perfect camera, but it improves on a lot of these things, and it's small enough to replace the GM5 for me. As for mediocre 4K, that remains to be seen. The GM5 obviously didn't have 4K, but the HD video out of that camera was bad enough for me not to use it.

Why is it that the glass for some is always half empty?

Your last sentence is rather odd after bellyaching about the GM5 which was Panasonic's enthusiast focused camera and a cult classic. Those who liked it understood it - the fiddling with controls was an add-on, not the main show. It did everything, and fit in your pocket. If you wanted to fiddle or faddle, you bought a GX9 or GX8.

This one is neither here nor there. Not going to stop anyone from buying a GX9, never mind a GX10. And isnt going to get the GM fans from holding on to their GM5 and continuing to ask for a GM9.

There is a reason this isn't called the GM9 - and that's because it dont fit the bill. I guess GX1000 did not work?

Thanks @zakk9!

This is EXACTLY the kind of thinking and approach I would prefer to see in DPR's reviews - a more balanced approach that appreciates cameras will be used in a variety of ways by a variety of people and for a variety of purposes.

There are many "markets" for cameras, not just a single market, and I am not talking about geographic markets here but customer markets. DPR's approach seems to be that there is one market with a homogeneous user base that expects every feature to be best-of-class or the camera is simply not worthy of consideration.

I get that Chris and Jordan have specific requirement that THEY see as being necessary but that doesn't make it right for others. The same applies to most other reviewers on this website - they are done by people with science and technology training but who seem to have little or no formal commercial training. It's a closed-minded approach that does a great disservice to a number of brands.

@Osa25 So use your GM5 and be happy. It should be pretty clear by now that there won't be a GM6 or GM9 or whatever. Reason? Panasonic probably didn't make a profit from it. My guess is also that there were too many problems with them. My last one has a dysfunctional viewfinder, internal battery isn't working and a part of the lid for the battery compartment broke off making it hard to open and close. In addition, it refuses to write to the card at random. Panasonic says that they may be able to fix it, but can't tell me how much it will cost or how long it will take.

I've had two of these cameras and 8 other Panasonic cameras the last 10 years. The GM5 is the only one that has had these kinds of problems. Call it a cult camera if you want, but I prefer cameras that work, and that are made in sufficient number for spare parts to be in stock.

The GM5 was a lovely camera, but nowadays it's as relevant as my Nokia 808. Time to move on.

@OremLK Which $700 option with a good viewfinder (1.46×, 0.73× 35mm equiv., 3,680,000 dots) and fully articulated high resolution LCD (1,840,000 dots) are you talking about?

And before you tell me that the viewfinder and LCD are not important, I can inform you that those two items plus the shutter release and sensor are the only parts of the camera that I absolutely need to take digital photos. If you worry about the 1/500s mechanical shutter limit, just forget about it. I have two GX8 bodies, and due to the shutter shock that comes included with that camera, I have been living well with the electronic shutter for several years and tens of thousands of photos.

The GX9 that you mention is a fine camera in many ways, but the viewfinder is much smaller with lower resolution, apart from showing clearly it's sequencial nature, the LCD is not fully articulated and it lacks a mic socket. It would be nice to have IBIS, but I've been doing fine without it (except the GX8) for 50 years.

Yup - what they need to do is price it as such , do a 12-32 / 35-100 bundle ..

I guess its too late to cut out the fancy microphone system to save cost so they can put in IBIS and call it a GM100

The ZV-1 looks much better than this but even that I think will have a hard time competing with smartphones simply due to its lack of connectivity. So much of vlogging is about immediacy and what people are doing right at this very moment that having your camera also be your editing and publishing platform is a huge asset. Sure the ZV-1 produces better video and has some useful features, but is it better enough to make it worth paying $850 for despite the lack of connectivity?

Bad jpegs, really? I shoot raw on my GX85 for important stuff and jpegs for general use. After tweaking the picture settings for the jpegs, I don't have much issue with them.

and you see what happened to them

Slow mechanical shutter is a no go for me, have that now, hard to shoot hummingbirds.

@kty That's why I said "if you want a longer shutter speed to intentionally induce motion bur". I don't see how a fully articulating screen saves battery life versus a tilting screen. Also, having a tilting screen on the back is very useful for taking photos at waist-level without making it obvious--but when you have to flip the screen out in order to tilt it, it instantly becomes obvious what you're doing to anyone who knows anything about cameras.

@junk It seems strange to bring up hummingbirds in the context of street photography. You find yourself frequently traversing the avenues of bird towns?

Glad you read my original reaction. Hope it helps.