After the kerfuffle last week, I recorded the camera from Novatech.co.uk (UK based this time..) and received it yesterday.
I was very busy yesterday (lots of video editing going on at the moment!) so didn’t really get a chance to use it until the evening.
When I finally managed to open it and play, the first thing that struck me was just how small it was. This shouldn’t have surprised me, because I knew how small it was, I’d seen video reviews of people using it, but I just couldn’t help but be amazed by the compact size. This small size doesn’t make it feel cheap though, it’s a nice weight, and feels well built (if you can actually ‘feel’ these things). Holding the camera isn’t as comfortable as a bigger camera would be, as there just isn’t the space. There is a small rubberised groove on the back for your right thumb, and a curve in the body on the front, where your middle finger should sit. However, I seem to prefer holding it in my left hand (thumb underneath and fingers on the left shoulder) as there aren’t as many buttons to get in the way here.
The next thing that struck me, was the size and weight of the lenses. The pancake lens is absolutely minute, and almost feels like you’re holding a hollow plastic case. Both lenses feel a lot lighter than I’d have imagined, and the zoom and focus action feels slightly cheap, but I assume that them being lightweight was crucial, to stop them snapping off the body.
The touchscreen is a nice feature, although it’s fairly basic (only a resistive touchscreen); you do have to press quite hard sometimes, to make it do what you want, but it isn’t too bad when you get used to it, plus there are still directional buttons you can use instead for the most part.
The quality of images that this thing produces is quite amazing. It probably borders on professional standards (in the right conditions). Certainly semi-pro. That said, it really does seem to be aimed at consumers. The user interface has tried to follow recent trends (touchscreen, arty effects etc.) which could annoy avid photographers. For example, you can alter the depth of field, but the camera shows you an icon on the touchscreen, which, once pressed, brings up a slider that let’s you choose whether the background is in focus, or out.
Once I got past this though, and worked out where all of the manual settings were, I realised that instead of alienating people who take their cameras seriously, Panasonic have almost made something that simultaneously appears to both markets. Of course, the obvious flaw in this selling technique is that amateur/new photographers are unlikely to want to spend over £500 on what appears to be a compact camera. Whether it’s aimed at the right market or not, the micro 4/3′s market is attracting a lot of attention, so I doubt that this one will fare badly.
I’m really looking forward to getting a sunny day and being able to get out and experiment with this thing!
As it was dark last night, I was limited to taking photos of things in the house, and poorly lit things at that. Below are a couple of the ones that I liked (both shot using the 14mm pancake lens).
EDIT: This post receives a lot of traffic. If you’ve dealt with SE, please leave a comment, because there are definitely other users in the same boat (or on the verge of climbing into said boat).
This isn’t the kind of post that I’d usually write, but the Internet is built on opinions, so I thought I’d add mine (as a kind of public announcement I suppose..)
I ordered a camera at the end of last week (Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2), and I found it cheapest from simplyelectronics.net. Having never heard of them, I looked at a few reviews, and it all seemed ok.
I placed the order (paying via Paypal) and thought that would be the end of it.
I decided to check on the status of my order last night, and there had been no progress. I was wondering why, and just browsing round the SE website, and discovered that deep in their terms and conditions, were several things that I wished I’d already seen.
Although they give the impression that they’re a UK based company (a deliberate move on their part; they have UK addresses and phone lines), they are actually Hong Kong based. This means two things:
1. All products are not European models. More specifically, the warranty won’t be valid in this country. You’d have to send it back to SE in Hong Kong and wait months (not an exaggeration according to various people on forums) for them to deal with it.
2. The buyer (so me) would be liable to pay any import duty imposed by HM revenus & Customs. On a £500 camera, this could be pricy.
Once I discovered this, I rang straight away to cancel my order, and was told that they couldn’t do this by phone and that I’d have to email (ALARM BELLS! – My thoughts at this time were that in the time it would take me to send the email, my order would’ve magically been processed. Not the case, though.) I sent the email to the address that the guy had mentioned, and CC’d it to the sales address just to make sure. I got an email earlier to say that it’s being processed, but other buyers have reported extremely long delays in the case of SE.
My advice is harsh on smaller, less established businesses, but it would be to only buy from names that you know. Or perhaps to read the terms and conditions (Boring, I know).
I’ll edit this post and add updates as and when they happen. I don’t expect it to be over soon!
Edit: I was surprised at how quickly I received a refund from SE (got it on Tuesday). I suspect the fact that it was Paypal helped though.