I was an early adopter of the Micro Four Thirds [MFT] camera
system starting in 2009 with the Panasonic Lumix G1. I abandoned Canon DSLRs of
the time because of their woefully unreliable autofocus. The new MFT cameras
had much more reliable single shot AF because they evaluated focus directly on
the imaging sensor.
But over the years MFT cameras grew ever larger and
Pana-Lumix persevered way too long with their contrast detect AF system which
did not work well for moving subjects (it still doesn’t).
So ten years later I went back to Canon which introduced the
RF mount in 2018, together with the vastly improved Canon dual pixel AF system.
Several camera industry observers including me thought that
MFT would be unlikely to survive in the long term.
I lost contact with the MFT world for a while but I did
notice that Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake then with DP Review, voted the G100
the worst camera of 2020.
The problem appears to be that Panasonic marketed the G100
as a vlogging camera but then failed to endow it with precisely the things
which a good vlogging camera should have, namely IBIS, Phase detect AF and a
decently rapid sensor readout speed to avoid the worst of rolling shutter.
It has a multi-directional microphone system which nobody
asked for, an older style 20mpx sensor,
an old style TFT LCD EVF and a budget single curtain shutter from the
old GM cameras with a top EFCS speed of only 1/500 second.
It is hardly surprising therefore that many reviewers and
user forum members laughed at it. I have
no idea what goes on in the decision making rooms of camera makers but in this
case it appears the product development, design and marketing people were
completely at odds with each other resulting in a product which was unsuitable
for its advertised purpose.
So I ignored the G100 and its marketing misadventures for the next three years.
But then some curious things stared to happen. The G100 was
reported as selling well in Japan and I noticed several contributors to user
forums insisting that the G100 is actually not a bad camera if we embrace what
it does offer instead of whinging about what it does not.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained so I bought a refurbished
G100 from the Sydney repair and service agent for Panasonic. Most things about
this little camera impressed me except for the EVF which I found impossible to
adjust for optimum appearance in both bright light and low light.
So I found a G100D on sale at an electronics and music
outlet, not a camera store. This has a much better OLED EVF and USB-C charging
plus a few minor menu changes.
This review describes my evaluation of the G100D with the
12-32mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens as a compact camera for single shot still photos only.
I make no attempt to use it for video or
sport/action/wildlife. As a compact, the
camera functions very effectively and is a pleasure to use.
It appears that the folks at Panasonic have accidentally
produced one of the more appealing compact cameras on the market today.
General description
The main selling point of the MFT system is the possibility
of camera bodies and lenses which are smaller and lighter than can readily be
achieved with APSC or full frame models.
A secondary benefit for street, documentary, lifestyle and
close-up work is the ability to hold foreground and background subject elements
sharp at moderate apertures such as f5.6.
The G100D is very compact and light, and in the spirit of
the original MFT concept manages to offer very good image quality and pleasing operation provided we stay within
the envelope of single shot still photo use.
Of course the G100D can do video with limitations as
described by many reviewers and will accept any lens designed for the MFT
system including super tele zooms but if I wanted to use such lenses I would
mount them on a more suitable camera body.
I have recently been using the Leica D-Lux 8 and Pana-Lumix
G100D side by side. These cameras appear to use the same sensor, monitor screen
and EVF so it is natural to compare them even though I could buy three G100D‘s
for the price of one D-Lux 8.
I have found that when out and about doing street and
documentary photos, I prefer using the G100D which is about the same size as
the DL8 but lighter and has a fully articulated monitor screen and a set of
controls which I find more user friendly.
The G100D is a proper camera. It has a very good built-in EVF located
optimally over the optical axis, a very nice fully articulated touch screen, a
proper built-in handle and thumb support and easy-to use mode dial and twin
control dial layout.
With the 12-32mm kit lens mounted the G100D fits nicely in a
Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 5 bag with space for spare batteries, memory cards
and cleaning cloth.
Sensor
The G100D appears to use the same 20.15 Mpx Four Thirds
sensor as the G90 and possibly several other MFT models. This has a track
record of being able to deliver good image quality, with very good detail,
sharpness and dynamic range and well controlled high ISO noise.
My tests show that the G100D with 12-32mm lens delivers the
same high ISO noise level, dynamic range and detail as the 24 Mpx Canon EOS R10
with 18-45mm lens when images from each are viewed at the same output size. In fact my G100D and R10 test images appear
almost identical when viewed side by side, even at 100%.
The G100 is delivering as much detail from 20 Mpx as the G10
is from 24 Mpx possibly by dispensing with an anti-aliasing filter. Despite this I have not noticed any problem
with moiree in several thousand photos.
Lens
The tiny little 12-32mm kit lens proves to be a pleasant
surprise. Some reviewers and user forum members like to denigrate little kit
lenses apparently believing none of them could be any good.
But the 12-32mm has impressed me with excellent sharpness,
clarity, freedom from aberrations and good resistance to flare. On some of my
photos I can see the lens is resolving down to pixel level when I examine the
images at 200% on screen.
It utilises a double inner barrel extension design to keep
the size down. But even when unlocked for use it only extends 23mm. The
unlocking and zoom actions on my copy are fairly stiff but becoming less so
with use.
The only issue I discovered is that when files are processed
in Adobe Camera Raw there is significant barrel distortion at 12mm focal length. This
is noticeable with architectural subjects and is easily corrected with the
distortion slider.
Single autofocus is fast and reliably accurate. I can induce
some mis focussed frames by placing the AF area over a strongly backlit subject
with specular highlights. But apart from that I have not encountered any
problems with single AF.
On my usual test I find the optical image stabiliser in the
lens provides two EV steps of shutter speed benefit. This might not sound like
much when we see extravagant claims by some camera makers of 8 stops
benefit. But on my tests using the same
method I rate most current model Canon EOS body/lens combinations at 3-3.5 EV
steps benefit. So 2 EV steps is not so bad and is definitely worth having.
The lens filter thread is 37mm. I leave a B+W XS Pro 007
clear protect filter on the lens all the time as I prefer to clean the filter
not the front element of the lens.
Body and ergonomics
The overall size is very compact but many features of larger
cameras have been included. The handle is small but well shaped and comfortable
with a small lens mounted. The thumb
support is well positioned and shaped with a rubberised grippy finish.
All the key controls are well located with mostly good
haptics. The on/off switch, mode dial, front dial and shutter button are all
where my fingers want to find them.
The second dial, on the back of the control panel is
co-located with the 4-way cross keys. This is suboptimal design which has drawn
criticism from some reviewers who complain that they have difficulty turning
the dial without pressing one of the cross keys. I have not had that problem but co-locating
controls this way is never good ergonomic practice and I hope that if
Pana-Lumix ever do a G100 Mk2 they will put the second dial on top where there
could be space enough if the mode dial is moved a bit.
Viewing is very nice either with the OLED EVF or the fully
articulated touch screen.
Apart from the sub-optimal rear dial, setting up, holding, viewing and operating
are all achieved smoothly with no problems.
Performance
If we were to rate the G100D as a sport/action camera it
would not fare well. But as a compact single shot stills camera it works just
fine. Autoexposure is accurate and
reliable.
Autofocus is fast and accurate even in low light and in
difficult situations with bright lights and dark shadows, very high and very
low contrast and people moving about in front of the camera.
I encountered no problems with shutter shock and did not
expect to with electronic first curtain being the default shutter mode which
operates with minimal audible sound. At
speeds over 1/500sec the shutter switches automatically to fully electronic.
Editing small sensor Raw files.
Adobe Denoise AI has given a new lease of life to small
sensor cameras including MFT. High ISO images clean up remarkably well in just
a few seconds, in the process retaining and even enhancing detail.
Image size can be effectively upscaled either in Photoshop
or even more capably with Topaz Gigapixel, currently (October 2024) in version
7.4.4. My practice is to process Raw files in ACR and Photoshop then output as
a TIFF which appears to be the preferred file type for Topaz Gigapixel. Topaz
works best with urban type subjects having lots of sharp boundaries between
hard structures. It is also effective with natural subjects but with these is
less convincingly better than a simple up-res in Photoshop.
Downsides ?
As a compact camera the G100D gives us very little about
which to complain. The autofocus could be more reliable on specular highlights
and the co-located rear dial is not ideal. But that’s about it really.
The future ?
Who knows ? Yogi
Berra said “The future ain’t what it used to be” and he was right.
I have no idea whether the G100 will become a line of models
with upgrades or even if the Micro Four Thirds system itself will survive.
In the meantime the G100D with the 12-32mm kit lens makes a very capable user friendly compact camera which I can
easily recommend as a stand alone product.
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