{"id":4063,"date":"2014-09-17T10:35:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T15:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=4063"},"modified":"2014-09-18T01:24:06","modified_gmt":"2014-09-18T06:24:06","slug":"hands-panasonic-lx100-gm5-voigtlander-10-5mm-f0-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/hands-panasonic-lx100-gm5-voigtlander-10-5mm-f0-95\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands On: Panasonic LX100, GM5, Voigtl\u00e4nder 10.5mm f\/0.95 and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continuing the Day 2 coverage of Photokina, we’re off to Panasonic, to se what they’ve put together for this year. \u00a0There were a number of releases from Panasonic, though nothing earth shattering. \u00a0Or was there? \u00a0Let’s dive in with the LX100<\/p>\n

\"Panasonic's<\/a>
Panasonic’s New LX100 with 4\/3 sized sensor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Panasonic LX100 is Panasonic’s foray into large sensor compact cameras. \u00a0The LX line has always had good quality, but used smaller sensors. \u00a0Meanwhile, Sony with their RX100 line and RX1, Fuji with the X100 series and Sigma with their APS-C compacts have been staking out this niche. \u00a0Panasonic responds by skipping the 1″ sensor and sticking a 4\/3 sized sensor in the camera. \u00a0In order to keep the camera as small as possible, they’ve made the lens cut off a bit of the sensor and used a regular 4\/3 sensor as a multi-aspect sensor. \u00a0As such, the camera has a 2.2x crop factor and a bit more than 12 megapixels. \u00a0Still, the image quality should be stellar. \u00a0Of course, I was unable to use my memory card in the LX100, but I did spend a significant amount of time with the camera.<\/p>\n

The body is magnesium with a small but comfortable grip on front. \u00a0It feels rather nice in the hand. \u00a0It’s not a super small body, being a fair bit larger than an RX100, but it should still easily fit in a jacket pocket. \u00a0This is all the more impressive considering the range and speed of the lens. \u00a0The camera features a 24-75mm equivalent lens with an f\/1.7 to f\/2.8 aperture. \u00a0On a sensor this large, that will allow for very good image quality in dimmer light and even reasonable subject separation and shallow depth of field.<\/p>\n

Panasonic has laid out the controls in a manner that is quite different from other Panasonic cameras, but will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s used a Fuji X camera. \u00a0In fact, the controls are almost\u00a0identical<\/em> to the Fuji X-E2 or X100T. \u00a0There is a shutter speed dial on top, an aperture ring and a dedicated exposure compensation dial. \u00a0Third stop shutter speeds are selectable by using the rear dial. \u00a0I personally love this control scheme, so I enjoy seeing on more cameras, though Fuji may be casting a disapproving glance at Panasonic. \u00a0That said, it’s not like Fuji patented these controls..they’ve been around for decades on older film cameras. \u00a0There is also a switch on the lens barrel to switch between manual and autofocus modes, and I did find this switch difficult to engage due to its close proximity to the body.<\/p>\n

\"LX100<\/a>
LX100 from the top, showing the lens extended and the controls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The camera features an electronic viewfinder that is fairly large, but unfortunately is lower quality than the ones found in, say, the GX7. \u00a0It appears similar to the viewfinder in the GH2, though it’s a 16:9 aspect ratio and as such will show bars on the sides when shooting in 3:2 or 4:3. \u00a0 Despite not being up to more recent EVFs in Panasonic bodies, it still is a nice finder, especially in such a small camera.<\/p>\n

\"Manual<\/a>
Manual focus is a breeze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The LX100 is responsive and focuses quickly. \u00a0The only slow thing about the camera is that zooming with the toggle switch is quite leisurely. Manual focus is a breeze with the auto enlarging patch and focus peaking. \u00a0It’s easy, clear and accurate. \u00a0I can’t judge absolute image quality due to not seeing full resolution files, but looking at the rear LCD, the lens on the LX100 seems to be very good, with excellent contrast and color and good sharpness. \u00a0Use with flash is also great, as it has a sync speed of 1\/2000s with the lens’\u00a0leaf shutter. The sensor quality is a known entity, though, and should be similar to other recent Panasonic Micro 4\/3 cameras. \u00a0The LX100 has the potential to be a great all-in-one small camera.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The side of the body, showing the lens retracted and the AF\/MF switch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Continue: Panasonic GM5, Voigtl\u00e4nder 10.5mm f\/0.95 and Panasonic 35-100mm f\/4-5.6<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Panasonic GM5<\/h3>\n

I also took a quick look at the Panasonic GM5. \u00a0It’s a newly updated brother to the original GM1, which I reviewed last year.<\/a>\u00a0The GM5 is quite similar to the GM1, but adds a corner EVF and a hotshoe with a super tiny flash.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The diminutive GM5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The GM5 handles essentially identical to the GM1, with well laid out controls for such a small body and a very nice touch screen interface. The new EVF, however, is a disappointment. It’s extremely small and looks like you’re looking down a tiny tube. \u00a0I’d be wiling to overlook it if Sony didn’t have the RX100 III, with a similar amount of space taken up by the viewfinder, but with far larger optics and a clearer finder. \u00a0The GM5 comes in a variety of colors. \u00a0I handled the black and red, which I have to say, feels a bit overdone. \u00a0The silver and black models, however, look really sharp.<\/p>\n

\"Rear<\/a>
Rear of the GM5 with the EVF on the upper left corner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Panasonic 35-100mm f\/4-5.6<\/h3>\n

I’m not usually one to cover or use small, cheaply built, slow-aperture zoom lenses. \u00a0However, there is reason to stand up and take notice of Panasonic’s new 35-100mm f\/4-5.6. \u00a0The lens covers the same range as a 70-200mm lens on full frame, and Panasonic already has an excellent 35-100mm f\/2.8. \u00a0So why this lens? \u00a0Super tiny. \u00a0I mean, it’s really an incredibly small lens given the focal range. \u00a0It’s roughly the same size as Panasonic’s already small 14-42mm lens (latest version), and only barely larger than the diminutive Olympus 45mm f\/1.8. The lens is a collapsible design, and when it extends, the barrel protrudes for all focal lengths.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The incredibly tiny Panasonic 35-100mm f\/4-5.6, retracted, on the GM1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"At<\/a>
At 100mm, the lens is still incredibly small<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The lens is cheaply built, and it feels it. \u00a0Its all plastic barrel doesn’t exactly inspire confidence for professional use, and the zoom action is a bit gritty, but it’s not about that. \u00a0It’s about putting a GM1 or GM5 with the 12-32 pancake zoom and this lens in your pockets, and having 24-200mm equivalent in a kit that is incredibly tiny, yet has very good image quality. \u00a0The rear LCD was hard to judge image quality with this lens given where the hands on was for it, but it looked fairly good. \u00a0I’ll be interested to see how this stacks up quality wise. \u00a0A very intriguing little lens.<\/p>\n

Voigtl\u00e4nder 10.5mm f\/0.95<\/h3>\n

Voigtl\u00e4nder just continues to push the envelope. \u00a0Not content with their already excellent lineup of f\/0.95 Micro 4\/3 lenses, they’ve now added an ultra-fast ultra-wide angle lens to the mix, with a field of view equivalent to a 21mm lens on full frame. \u00a0I stopped by the Voigtl\u00e4nder booth today to handle one in person. \u00a0Unfortunately, I couldn’t mount it to a body, as I didn’t have a Micro 4\/3 body with me for the show (best to travel light!), but the construction is every bit as good as th other Voigtl\u00e4nder f\/0.95 lenses. \u00a0It’s slightly larger and wider than the 42.5mm f\/0.95, but it weighs roughly the same. \u00a0It’s not a small lens, when considering other Micro 4\/3 optics, but considering the design parameters, it’s impressively small.<\/p>\n

It focuses down to 0.17m, and features the ability to remove the aperture clicks if desired for video use. \u00a0This lens won’t see retail until next spring, but it’s another exciting release from this venerable manufacturer.<\/p>\n

\"Voigtl\u00e4nder<\/a>
Voigtl\u00e4nder 10.5mm f\/0.95<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The large front element (72mm filter thread)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continuing the Day 2 coverage of Photokina, we’re off to Panasonic, to se what they’ve put together for this year. \u00a0There were a number of releases from Panasonic, though nothing earth shattering. \u00a0Or was there? \u00a0Let’s dive in with the LX100 The Panasonic LX100 is Panasonic’s foray into large sensor compact cameras. \u00a0The LX line […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[184],"class_list":["post-4063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-photokina"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28RGq-13x","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4063"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4083,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063\/revisions\/4083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}