Most photographers who are hardware junkies eventually acquire a small “walk around” camera, something compact to carry when you don’t want the bulk or obtrusiveness of the “real” camera. The problem is that when the big opportunities present themselves the compacts are too slow, don’t have the lower light ability, or other deficits and you miss the shot and vow to always carry the good stuff.
We’ve had a variety of smaller cameras over the years, none of which really satisfied. Last winter Arctic expert and photographer non-pareil John Harries, mentioned he was really pleased with a new Panasonic compact. John is a Canon 5D shooter, so if he says the new Panasonic is OK we figured we needed to check it out.
When Elyse and her photographer hubby Todd Beveridge came to visit a few weeks ago they brought us a Panasonic G2 to add to our collection, along with the 14-140mm zoom lens John suggested. The G2 is to the right in the lead photo, next to our Canon 7D body. There is a huge difference in size and weight.
The camera has a processor half the size of a 35mm negative, so about 25% smaller than the Canon 7D. There is no mirror. You either look through an electronic viewfinder – not bad but takes some getting used to – or use the LCD screen on the back. There are a series of interchangeable lenses available.
In good light the results are stunning. In difficult conditions you want the big bodies and heavy duty glass if you have them. The focusing speed, light meter, and ability to record a wide range of lighting are all close to a good quality SLR from a few years ago – think Canon 30D, and way ahead of any of the fixed lens compacts we have recently used including the Canon G10.
Images are noisier than the bigger cameras, but so far our anti-noise filters have been able to handle it with ease.
The Panasonic G2 is easy to operate as long as you stay with the auto settings. Where you control shutter speed, aperture, and ISO it takes a little getting used to.
Bottom line, we get a lot fewer keepers compared to the bigger system, but we are getting many more than was the case with previous compacts.
About 10% of the photos we have shown you over the last three weeks have been from this system.
Posted by Steve Dashew (August 20, 2010)
August 20th, 2010 at 11:48 am
I have understood that you are very satisfied with your Canon EOS 7D. So am I. It is very pleasant and easy to work with. The frame per second rate and the high ISO makes it a very good allround camera, which I have used professionally since last December.
However; it produces much digital noise, easily seen in neutral areas (the sky, the ocean, even at low ISO settings), far inferior to the EOS 5D mk II (even to the 5D). I cannot understand that Canon could produce such a noisy (lousy) camera after they had produced such a diamond as the 5D mk II.
But if you can live with the noise, and if you have good light conditions (so it looks from your pictures), the 7D is a good companion!
August 20th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Hi Sigmund:
It is our third 7D with which we are happy. The first one was very noisy, second had focusing problems, third is a gem. Comparing the 7D to the 50D I would say it is one stop better noise wise in moderate light. But it produces usable images for us at 1600 and 3200 ISO. Usable meaning web sized and correctable with NIK’s noise filter (with some loss in detail).. The real advantage is tracking moving targets for which is it wonderful.
September 5th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I’ve had the 7D since March and am very happy with it, though it’s my first DSLR. It took a few weeks to get used to how it focuses and since then I’ve been getting some very nice results. One comment, an obvious one I’m sure, is that the bulk of the 7D package you show above could be reduced quite a bit by removing the battery extension pack. That would be a more valid comparison with the Panasonic. How about the new Canon T2i? Much the same sensor/focus engine as the 7D but smaller and you could use your existing Canon lenses.