Photographic Equipment Part 1: $80 Pocket Camera-Panasonic GX1

Reason for purchase

Although the Sony A7m2 is said to be a micro single, the volume and weight of the body with the lens are not "micro" at all. I have always wanted to buy a Ricoh GR pocket machine that I can carry with me. However, I still want to find a pocket camera, and I always hope to find a camera with low price, good quality and compact size. Eventually locked to the Panasonic GX1.

This is a camera produced in 2011, and it still looks very beautiful. Small in size, one circle smaller than my iPhone xs max, and the quality of the M43 format is barely enough. After a long time in a certain fish, I finally bought a very good GX1 + Panasonic 14mm 2.5 biscuit head kit at the price of $ 150. The price of the Panasonic 14mm 2.5 lens itself is close to $ 75 ~ $ 80. Here.

Appearance Gallery

In fact, when choosing a camera, the m43 camera of the same level and the Olympus epl5 can be selected, and the epl5 has a body anti-shake and reverse screen than the GX1. In the end, the main reason why the GX1 was still selected was to prefer the appearance of the GX1.

Although it is a product 9 years ago, the design of the GX1 is not outdated, the lines are simple and retro, and the red wristband is very beautiful. The body is very small, much smaller than the iPhone Xs Max. Coupled with the Panasonic 14mm 2.5 biscuit head with a thickness of less than 3cm, the girl's small bag can be easily installed. Most of the body and lens are made of plastic. Whether it is volume or weight, carrying it will not increase the burden.

experience feelings

Manipulation

It is very unexpected that the old camera of GX1 is actually a touch screen, which can realize touch focus, data adjustment and menu settings. It is easy for people who are new to Panasonic to get started.

Generally speaking, the smaller the body, the worse the grip will be, and the GX1 is the same. The body is too small, so no matter how thick the handle is, it is not very comfortable. Rather than "holding", it is more like "grabbing" the camera with your fingers. Fortunately, the weight of the fuselage is properly controlled, and the positions of the pulsator and buttons are reasonable, and there is not much difficulty in one-handed operation.

The biggest disadvantage of GX1 should be the lack of viewfinder and flip screen. It is very painful to take pictures in a place with strong viewfinder without the viewfinder, without flipping the screen and holding the hand with a slightly hassle feeling, it will be very difficult to shoot at a special angle.

After all, the GX1 is a 2011 machine, and the picture quality cannot be expected too high. Taking pictures during the day is not bad. However, once the light is insufficient, the shortcomings will be very prominent, and the ISO noise will be obvious when it reaches 800. Too long a long exposure time will cause a lot of noticeable heat. The RAW format is also very limited in tolerance, and there will be a lot of color noise when brightening the dark place.

The video image quality is more general, and the dark light point is also severe, the tolerance is poor, and the body is not anti-shake, the video quality is poor.

Since it is M43 format, one has to say is the conversion coefficient. On M43, the focal length of the lens x2 is the equivalent focal length of the full frame. For example, a Panasonic 14mm focal length lens is equivalent to a full-frame 28mm. So before the Dragon Boat Festival went to the Changlong Wild Animal World, a fish with an 80-200mm 4.5 medieval lens was picked up at 200 yuan for a fish. The equivalent focal length is equivalent to the full-frame 160-400mm, which is equivalent to a small white . Apart from the very painful shooting experience, the telephoto experience brought by using the format to earn focal length is still very shocking.

Proofs

(Both post and crop)

to sum up
The Panasonic GX1 is a 9-year-old camera. It is difficult to meet the main shooting requirements in terms of image quality and focus, but it is still very good as a spare machine to carry. A GX1 stand-alone is about 400 to 600 in the second-hand market, which is cheap. The lens is more recommended for Panasonic's own 14mm 2.5, the picture quality is sufficient, very compact. Thousands of yuan prices are Olympus epl5, Panasonic gx7, Panasonic gm1s, Panasonic gm5 are more recommended.
advantage:

    Very cheap

    Compact and lightweight body that can be carried around

    M43 format conversion lens can have longer focal length

Disadvantages:

    Poor picture quality

    Poor focusing performance

    Poor grip

    Operation response is slightly slower