Panasonic has announced the Lumix G3, the latest addition to its Micro Four Thirds G-series. Considerably smaller and lighter than the G1 and G2, the new Lumix G3 sports an all-new 16MP sensor, a newly developed AF system that offers lightning-fast performance, responsive touch-screen controls and Full HD movie recording. Does this make it the best G-series model yet? Read on to find out.
We spent a morning with a production G3 earlier in the week, so we’re pleased to be able to share some preliminary thoughts on the new model based on an extended hands-on. But before we do that, let’s run through all of the main specs, features and upgrades.
The G3 will sit above the G2 in the G-series range but doesn’t actually replace it. The G2 will remain in the range for now, replacing the now-discontinued G10 as the budget Micro Four Thirds option. The new Lumix G3 is also book-ended by the existing GH2 and GF2 models.
Internally, the G3 employs an all-new 16MP LiveMOS Micro Four Thirds sensor alongside the Venus Engine FHD image processor. Panasonic claims it has made great strides in high sensitivity performance, with the G3’s sensor far less affected by intrusive image noise than previous G-series sensors. Indeed, Panasonic has even boasted of “noise levels of less than one third of a conventional sensor”.
The G3 will sit above the G2 in the G-series range but doesn’t actually replace it. The G2 will remain in the range for now, replacing the now-discontinued G10 as the budget Micro Four Thirds option. The new Lumix G3 is also book-ended by the existing GH2 and GF2 models.
Internally, the G3 employs an all-new 16MP LiveMOS Micro Four Thirds sensor alongside the Venus Engine FHD image processor. Panasonic claims it has made great strides in high sensitivity performance, with the G3’s sensor far less affected by intrusive image noise than previous G-series sensors. Indeed, Panasonic has even boasted of “noise levels of less than one third of a conventional sensor”.
To back this claim up, Panasonic showed us a set of A3 images shot in low light at high ISO settings that purported to highlight the practical benefits of the G3’s new sensor. From what we were shown it was pretty clear that the G3 images were less affected by noise thereby retaining more detail than the other images of the same scene (captured by a G2 and GH2).
Unfortunately, we don’t have copies of those images, although we have managed to take a few high ISO shots of our own that you can judge for yourselves on the Sample Image pages of this preview. Of course, it’ll take more thorough testing than we had time for on this occasion to be certain, but our initial thought is that the rather bold claims being made by Panasonic regarding the G3’s low-light performance hold up pretty well.
Unfortunately, we don’t have copies of those images, although we have managed to take a few high ISO shots of our own that you can judge for yourselves on the Sample Image pages of this preview. Of course, it’ll take more thorough testing than we had time for on this occasion to be certain, but our initial thought is that the rather bold claims being made by Panasonic regarding the G3’s low-light performance hold up pretty well.
Low-light performance isn’t the only thing to have been improved on the G3. The autofocus system also sees significant advances, with Panasonic claiming the G3’s newly developed AF module is the “world’s fastest”, with lock-on speeds of just 0.1 seconds. Furthermore, the company also claims that the new contrast-detect AF system is more accurate at smaller f-stops than regular phase-detection AF methods.
While we can’t vouch for the latter claim, we’d certainly agree that the G3 is incredibly fast at achieving focus. In fact, used in good light we found the G3’s contrast-detect AF system to be even quicker than some phase-detection systems employed by major-brand DSLRs. In less than optimal light we found it held up pretty well too. If you’re looking for a camera that’s quick enough to capture the moment before it’s gone, the G3 looks to be a sound bet.
With a choice of Face Detection to keep portraits sharp, 23-area AF to achieve a good balance, Single-area AF to select a specific point of focus, and AF Tracking to keep moving subjects in focus, the G3 offers something for every situation. In addition, the G3 also offers a new Pinpoint AF mode that creates a small square on the screen or viewfinder, within which the camera zooms-in to show a close-up of the specific point the camera is focused on for. As the name implies, this is to give you pinpoint accuracy when focusing.
And of course, this being a touch-screen Lumix model, the G3 also offers Touch focus and Touch shutter. Touch focus allows you to determine focus on a specific spot simply by touching it on the LCD screen, while the latter goes one step further by recording an image once focus has been established.
With a choice of Face Detection to keep portraits sharp, 23-area AF to achieve a good balance, Single-area AF to select a specific point of focus, and AF Tracking to keep moving subjects in focus, the G3 offers something for every situation. In addition, the G3 also offers a new Pinpoint AF mode that creates a small square on the screen or viewfinder, within which the camera zooms-in to show a close-up of the specific point the camera is focused on for. As the name implies, this is to give you pinpoint accuracy when focusing.
And of course, this being a touch-screen Lumix model, the G3 also offers Touch focus and Touch shutter. Touch focus allows you to determine focus on a specific spot simply by touching it on the LCD screen, while the latter goes one step further by recording an image once focus has been established.
In addition the G3 continues to offer the Peripheral de-focus feature seen in previous G-series models. This allows you to select a point of focus with your finger on the touchscreen, while the camera automatically selects a shallow depth of field to throw the background and make the subject stand out more.
Continuous shooting speed has been upped to a very credible 4fps at full resolution or 20fps at 4MP. Full-resolution images and movies are recorded in the same 4:3 aspect ratio of the Micro Four Thirds sensor, although the G3 can also record in 3:2 (14MP), 16:9 (11.5MP) and 1:1 (11.5MP) aspect ratio. Lossless Raw (.RW2 format) and compressed JPEG files are both offered.
Continuous shooting speed has been upped to a very credible 4fps at full resolution or 20fps at 4MP. Full-resolution images and movies are recorded in the same 4:3 aspect ratio of the Micro Four Thirds sensor, although the G3 can also record in 3:2 (14MP), 16:9 (11.5MP) and 1:1 (11.5MP) aspect ratio. Lossless Raw (.RW2 format) and compressed JPEG files are both offered.
