Today we are featuring the fourth micro 4/3 camera in the market after the Panasonic Lumix G1, GH1, and the Olympus E-P1 Digital PEN, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1. I had the opportunity to attend a pre-media introduction of the GF1 courtesy of Panasonic Singapore. This hands-on preview is not meant to be a full-fledge review but a mere walk-through of the camera, sample photographs, and my personal opinion based on the units that were available for me to test.

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Technorati Tags: micro 4/3, Panasonic Lumix, Olympus E-P1 Digital PEN, , Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1, review

UPDATE (9/2/09) - DPReview already has a preview of the GF1, the price is a little cheaper than the GH1 and nearer to the Olympus E-P1, looks very nice.  See DPreview's Panasonic GF1 preview and Imaging-Resource's hands-on preview.

After all the noise generated by the G1, GH1, and the Olympus E-P1, Panasonic inevitably seems to come up with a "proper" combination of  the E-P1's image quality and size with the GH1's excellent AF and an optional EVF?

Image from Xitec.com

Image from Xitec.com

Pop-up flash, high-res screen, provision for EVF, possible Leica kit lens, smaller size... When will this come out and how much!??

http://forum.xitek.com/showthread.php?threadid=652133

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=32606187

http://www.1001noisycameras.com/2009/08/panasonic-gf1-.html

http://photorumors.com/2009/08/06/panasonic-gf1-micro-four-thirds/

http://www.imaginginsider.com/?p=100762

The little, bright light tube that comes with a camera since the advent of automatic exposure has been one of the greatest mysteries for camera owners. Most know (or think they know) that the little flash unit is provided to provide light when the sun goes down.

While it used to be that simple during the days when intelligent metering was absent, today's camera and flash allow users to have much more control on how the flash works with the camera as an individual unit. You'll be surprised on how simple the concept really is, and I hope I can demystify the simple flash and improve your day-to-day photography.

Note that I won't be covering the topic in detail as mastering flash photography is an art by itself.

There are so many things you can do with a flash unit that you're limited only by your creativity. In addition, we're not covering issues like flash settings if you're using a manual flash unit or choose to control the flash without automated metering (i.e. ETTL, PTTL, etc.) I'll provide you with a simple primer that will shed light (pardon the pun) on the whole subject matter, especially if you're a beginner.

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