Shopping CartPanasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 12 MP Micro 4/3 Compact System Camera with 3-Inch Touchscreen LCD and 14-42mm Zoom Lens (Red)
Date : January 21st, 2012
Review : 3 Reviews
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Price : $ 599.99
Today : $ 449.00
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Tags : 1442mm, 3Inch, Camera, Compact, DMCGF3, Lens, Lumix, Micro, Panasonic, System, Touchscreen, Zoom
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 12 MP Micro 4/3 Compact System Camera with 3-Inch Touchscreen LCD and 14-42mm Zoom Lens (Red)
- 12 Megapixel Ultra Compact System Camera
- Micro Four Thirds 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zoom Lens
- 3.0″ Free Angle Touch Enabled LCD
- Built-in Popup Flash
- Multiple Lens Options including 3D Still Lens
Panasonic’s LUMIX DMC-GF3 realizes all the features you want from a bulky DSLR interchangeable lens camera, only it accomplishes this in an ultra compact point-and-shoot camera body about as wide and tall as a typical smart phone yet is lightweight and simple to master. This remarkable reduction in size and weight is thanks to advancements in new mirror-free camera technology, and large DSLR format sensors that are more compatible with a new class of compact Micro Four Thirds (MFT) System lenses. This new class of Compact System Cameras (CSC) offers a weight and compactness not seen in traditional DSLRs, yielding greater portability and creative control. The DMC-GF3′s image quality comes from a large DSLR-sized 12.1-megapixel sensor and newly advanced image processing technologies. The DMC-GF3 provides a traditional DSLR-like experience without the need for complicated external mode dials, yet provides intuitive and quick access to common modes like Program, Shutter and Aperture Priority, Manual via a touch-enabled LCD that operates much like a smart phone. The DMC-GF3 provides a dedicated video button that can be used to switch to video capture quickly without changing modes. At the heart of the DMC-GF3′s simplified functionality is a large 3.0-inch LCD (460k- dot) that allows for intuitive touch control of menus and most shooting, focusing, playback and effects controls. Menus can be customized using simple drag-and-drop actions like those on most touch-enabled smartphones. This allows for a custom user interface, giving Quick Menu access to functions that can be tailored to any user’s expertise level. Using the touch-screen operation, a user can lock onto a subject, enabling AF Tracking in both still and video modes. When you’re ready to shoot, the subject will be in focus and ready to capture.
Happy so far. Compared to Olympus Pen Mini E-PM1,
Forgot to check Amazon reviews before buying this, but glad I didn’t because the camera is quite good for my needs and I might not have bought it based on the mixed and sparse reviews on Amazon. I did look at “professional” reviews on photographyblog and dpreview, which were much more positive.
I was deciding between the new Olympus Pen Mini E-PM1, Sony NEX C3, and GF3. Tried out the Olympus and GF3, and decided on the GF3. I got a better price on the GF3 than I could for the Pen Mini, but that was just icing on the cake, because the features on the GF3 meet my needs better.
Similarities between GF3 and E-PM1:
–body size about the same
–similar price range
–Micro Four-Thirds sensor
–both are the budget, easy-to-use version of their respective camera families
–instant-record movie button
–kit zoom lens 14-42mm
–neckstrap
–to my layman eyes the photo quality was about the same, as was auto-focus speed, though E-PM1 is billed as having the fastest auto-focus in this category.
The features that put the GF3 over the top for me:
–Price. I got a great deal on the GF3. Sony was just too expensive, though I’ve read great things about photo quality
–GF3 touchscreen, while not very responsive (resistive screen you have to press down on, rather than capacitive screen like iPhone), is very useful for quick adjustments. It just makes the camera easier to use, much like an iPad is easier to use than a laptop. Deleting batches of photos is much easier than using buttons. So is scrolling around a photo you’re reviewing in close-up. You can also touch to change the subject of focus, like on an iPhone.
–Flash is built in–not so on the Pen Mini or NEX. I’m not an “enthusiast” and have no intention of ever buying an external flash or viewfinder, so lack of a hotshoe was not an issue. Flash can also be tilted up to the ceiling (with some finger dexterity) to do a bounce-flash that brightens up indoor photos without that nasty flash look. Other 2 cameras come with a small add-on flash, but that’s just too much trouble.
–I like the physical on-off switch rather than the Pen Mini’s button
–Menus and options were slightly more intuitive, though I admit my previous camera was a Panasonic as well, so I may be used to their menus.
–In addition to dedicated movie button, there’s a dedicated “iA” full-auto button, which my wife can press to go to full-auto mode without digging into menus (it lights up).
–Big lens cap seems easier to handle.
–Comes with lens hood, which I might not use but is nice to be included.
–Battery charger is a one-piece mini brick with prongs built in, making it very portable. E-PM1 comes with a brick with power cord attachment.
I can’t speak to other reviewers’ issues with the pancake lens (since I don’t have it) nor the flash durability (since I’ve only had the camera a week).
About the Pen Mini:
–Body is about the same size as the GF3, but the kit zoom lens is smaller (shorter and narrower)
–Stabilization is in the body, not the lens like GF3. From what I read this is supposed to be an advantage, but I think it was adding noises to the videos I took (turning off stabilization stopped the noises). I haven’t noticed similar noises in GF3 videos with stabilization on.
–Lock on the lens to close it (but not open it) started to get annoying quickly.
–Flash was impressive–power is adjustable, and I think it auto-adjusts based on subject distance. From what I can see of the GF3, it fires full-power all the time, which can make photos look washed out. Fortunately the bounce-flash trick mentioned above avoids that problem.
–Neck strap attachment loops are hinged and tends to kind of make click-clack noises when handling the camera.
About me: my main photo subject is my 2 yr old daughter, so I was looking for a camera that would focus quickly, take decent pics in indoor light without flash, and still be small enough to throw in the diaper bag with room to spare for, well, diapers and stuff. These criteria rule out bulky SLRs, and most point-and-shoots. For my daughter’s first 2 years I had the Panasonic LX-3, a “high-end point-and-shoot”. The LX-3 produces great pics in good light, and decent pics in low light, but I find the focus is too slow (esp. in low light) now that my daughter is moving around (a LOT).
Long review and naturally biased toward the GF3, but I hope it helps your decision process!
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|No regrets. This camera is sexy.,
I got this kit about a week ago at Target. It was a deal I couldn’t pass up: $400 with a free $75 Target gift card. I’d been obsessively researching system cameras for a few months, and I thought I had narrowed it down to either the Canon T2i or the Nikon D3100. I wanted something that could do full HD as well as sophisticated focus pulling. I was pretty sure I wanted something that could shoot at 24 fps, but this deal got me rethinking that. The more I read, the more I realized that you don’t really need 24 fps to get that film look, that there are other factors that go into profession looking shots. I wanted to be able to achieve the rack focus effect of pulling the focus from the background to the foreground or between different subjects in the frame. With the touchscreen and the crazy-fast autofocus on the GF3, all you have to do is point where you want to focus. It makes it so simple, and if you want more controll, you can still focus manually. The mic is mono, but I decided I could live with that because I can alway use an external recorder and microphone and add the audio track to the clips later, which would lead to better sound anyway. The lack of viewfinder option is a little disappointing, but I’m over it. I may eventually get a third party LCD viewfinder for shooting in sunlight.
I had no trouble importing clips to Corel Videostudio and editing them.
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|dmc-gf3kk,
I found the DMC-GF3KK very easy to use compared to DSLR Cameras that I have used in the past. So far I have only used the IA setting and love the quality of the photos. The small body size is a real plus while traveling. I hope to purchase one of the Panasonic zoom lenses in the future to be used for my kids sporting events.
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