Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1

Firmly ensconced in the middle ground between digital compact cameraand DSLR, Panasonic's new DMC-GH1 picks up where the original G1 leftoff.

It looks and feels like a mini-DSLR and offers theadvantage of interchangeable lenses, but there's no lip-up mirror todrive an optical viewfinder.

This cuts down on the size, weightand complexity of the camera, and another bonus is that 'Live View'shooting mode is always available, along with magnification foraccurate manual focusing, but there are various trade-offs.

The electronic viewfinder image is quite noisy in low-light shooting conditions and its jerkiness is a pain when panning.

Likethe original G1, the new model uses the Micro Four Thirds format, basedon a sensor which is considerably larger than those of compact cameras,enabling a tighter depth of field for creative blurring of backgrounds– especially useful in portrait shots.

Even so, at any givenequivalent focal length, the depth of field is still nowhere near astight as on a full-frame DSLR and rather looser than DSLRs with a cropfactor of 1.5x or 1.6x.

The crop factor of the GH1 is 2.0x, sothe 14-140mm 10x zoom kit lens has a useful focal-length rangeequivalent to 28-280mm, along with minimal distortion throughout,although it's a bit soft at the edges of the frame at either end of thezoom range when shooting wide open.

Given that the ability tochange lenses is one of the major attractions of the GH1, compared withstraightforward compact cameras, there aren't many alternative MicroFour Thirds lenses available. Panasonic's offerings boil down to anultra-wide 7-14mm, a 45-200mm telephoto and a standard 14-45mm zoomlens.

So if you want a fast prime or macro lens, for example, you'll needto splash out an extra £140 for a DMW-MA1 adaptor so that you can itregular Four Thirds lenses to the camera – the MOS image sensor issituated right behind the lens mount, so there's simply not enough roomto it a regular lens.

Dust dangers

Whereasthe sensors of DSLR cameras are hidden behind a mirror assembly andshutter, the GH1's sensor is exposed, just a few millimetres behind thelens mount, so getting dust and dirt on your sensor when changinglenses is a much more major and ever-present danger.

Like mostcompact cameras, there are various scene modes as well as the usual P,A, S, M shooting modes and a fully automatic setting. You also getthree user-defined custom modes for dialling in and storing your ownsettings.

The GH1's full HD movie mode (1080/24p) isfeature-packed too, with a mini HDMI socket for connecting direct to HDTVs and built-in stereo mic. It's one of the most advanced 'videoDSLRs' yet.

Outright stills image quality is generally very good, with a wealthof Standard, Dynamic, Nature, Smooth, Nostalgic and Vibrant colour filmmodes to choose from, plus a few black & white modes andcustomisable user settings.

There's a similar abundance ofadjustments for almost all camera settings, although the menu andcontrol systems are fiddly to use. For example, there's a multi-screenmain menu, a Q. menu, a Film Mode menu and numerous other tweaks, sothe camera takes a lot of getting used to before you begin to rememberhow to get at everything you want.

The only other real problemin our tests was that autofocus proved quite hit and miss. Consideringits high asking price, the GH1 ultimately feels more like a clevergadget than a proper camera.

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