Review of positioning high-end classic Panasonic GX 1 single camera evaluation

IT 168 Evaluation With the continuous upgrading of Panasonic GF series micro-cameras, it is gradually developing towards simple operation and entry-level user experience. At this time, the launch of Panasonic GX 1 made up for the market gap of high-end single camera. Today, let's evaluate this brand-new flagship product-Panasonic GX 1, and see if it has taken a successful step on the road of returning to the classics.

Panasonic GX 1 is equipped with M4/3 Live MOS image sensor with effective pixel of160,000 and 3.0-inch LCD screen supporting touch operation. 1920? 1080 resolution full HD video shooting capability.

▲ Overview of Panasonic GX 1

The positioning of the flagship product makes Panasonic GX 1 have a high hardware configuration. What is the specific performance? Next, we will make a comprehensive evaluation from its appearance, image quality and control. Let's have a look.

The tough and retro Panasonic GX 1 looks domineering.

Panasonic G 1X gives people the first impression that it is classic and retro, but it does not lose some fashionable design elements in details, and at the same time gives people a professional feeling, stable and low-key.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 front view

Seen from the front, the lines of Panasonic GX 1 are tough and the shape is quite satisfactory. The position of the lens is close to the center of the fuselage, and there is a raised grip on the left side, so you don't have to worry about slipping when shooting.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 back

Panasonic GX 1 is equipped with a 3.0-inch touch LCD with an effective pixel of 460,000. The positioning of its high-end flagship can also be seen from the key design on the back. There are many customization and shortcut keys, which are convenient to control.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 side

Panasonic GX 1 also has a high edge utilization rate. In addition to the link ring of the shoulder strap, you can also see the raised handle, fuselage interface panel and speaker design.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 top and bottom surfaces

Panasonic GX 1 also has a high usage rate on the top of the fuselage, including hot shoe interface, built-in microphone, mode dial, shutter key, video key and so on. A tripod interface and a battery compartment are distributed at the bottom of the fuselage.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 battery compartment

The battery compartment of Panasonic GX 1 is located at the bottom of the fuselage. After opening, you can see that the SD memory card slot is also located in the battery compartment. Under the highest lossless compression quality of RAW, the storage space of each photo recorded by GX 1 is about 18M, so users are advised to purchase an 8GB SD card.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 battery

Panasonic GX 1 is equipped with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a capacity of10/0 mm. The CIPA test standard shows that it can take about 340 photos when fully charged, which basically meets the shooting needs of users. If you are used to shooting high-definition video with GX 1, it is recommended to buy a spare battery.

On the whole, Panasonic GX 1 has reflected the positioning and partial performance of the flagship product in appearance. At the same time, the size of the fuselage is also very portable, which is116.3x67.8x39.4mm. The metal shell is full of texture and very wear-resistant.

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Panasonic GX 1 has good resolution.

In the test, we used Panasonic GX 1 equipped with 20mm F 1.7 lens, and took samples of ISO 12233 resolution standard board (4000 lines) under various apertures, and tested with Imatest software, and finally got the best resolution value. The following is the best resolution test result of Panasonic GX 1:

▲ Panasonic GX 1 resolution performance

According to the test results, the best resolution of Olympus E-PL3 is good, with the highest resolution of 2300 lines in JPG direct format and 2700 lines in RAW-JPG format.

▲ JPG with the best resolution for direct visual inspection.

▲ Visual inspection of the best resolution from RAW to JPG

From the visual results, it can be seen that the vertical resolution of Panasonic GX 1 in JPG format is about 2400 lines and the horizontal resolution is about 2400 lines, while the vertical resolution in RAW-JPG format is about 2600 lines and the horizontal resolution is about 2600 lines. It seems that the resolution performance of Panasonic GX 1 is really good.

The actual shooting effect of Panasonic GX 1 is also good.

Resolution test can let us know the theoretical definition of a camera, but it is best to see if the photo can reach the definition we want.

▲ Clarity test environment

We used Panasonic GX 1 to take this photo in a standard evaluation environment. The lens used is 20mm F 1.7, the shooting parameter is F8 aperture under A file, and the sensitivity is set to ISO 160. For the convenience of comparison, we 100% cut off four parts of the sample (the red box area above) for observation.

▲ Sample 100% enlarged screenshot

As can be seen from the above proofs, the actual shooting clarity of Panasonic GX 1 is good, the details of the face and collar position are well preserved, and the purple texture behind the silk thread is also very clear, and the texture restoration of metal coins is basically satisfactory.

From the two aspects of resolution and clarity, Panasonic GX116 megapixel M4/3 image sensor really provides a strong guarantee for high image quality, and the overall clarity of the shot picture is satisfactory, which is a good level in the same level of micro-camera.

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Panasonic GX 1JPG format shows good sensitivity.

The following scenario is the standard sensitivity test environment of IT 168 evaluation room. We fixed the camera on the gear platform of a heavy tripod and let the camera shoot the photosensitive effect of each gear motionless. After that, we cut the photo slices from the same position in the above picture, as shown in the red box, to see what the sensitivity of Panasonic GX 1 is.

▲ Sensitivity test environment

First, let's shoot a set of JPG slices with noise reduction turned off.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 sensitivity performance

As can be seen from the above slice, Panasonic GX 1 has a good high sensitivity, and the slight noise only appears after ISO800, and the noise obviously comes from ISO3200. On the whole, the available sensitivity of Panasonic GX 1 is ISO800.

▲RAW to JPG high sensitivity contrast

However, by comparing the high-sensitivity performance of JPG direct output and RAW to JPG, it can be seen that Panasonic GX 1 probably optimizes the high-sensitivity image quality in JPG direct output, while in RAW format, the available sensitivity is only ISO400, which is somewhat poor for a flagship product. It is recommended that you record as many photos as possible in JPG direct output format in dark environment.

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Panasonic GX 1 automatic white balance is blue-purple.

Clarity and high-sensitivity imaging are important manifestations of image quality, and the color performance of Panasonic GX 1 is also worthy of attention. One is to see whether its white balance can accurately restore the original color temperature of the object, and the other is to see what theme its overall color tendency is more suitable for.

▲ Color test environment

In order to understand the imaging style of Panasonic GX 1, in the color test, we let Panasonic 20mm F 1.7 lens, set automatic white balance and manual white balance to shoot standard color cards respectively (the red box area in the above picture is the color test range), and get the final data through imatest software:

▲ Panasonic GX 1 Manual White Balance Test Results

The test chart reflects the difference between the actual imaging color value and the ideal value of Panasonic GX 1. The part surrounded by gray lines in the figure is the color gamut range of Panasonic GX 1. The square color block in the test chart is the ideal color value, and the circular color block is the actual shooting value. Among them, manual white balance exceeds sRGB color gamut 18.3%, and Panasonic GX 1 has moderate brightness, which can be used for post-processing and direct output. At the same time, manual white balance is very accurate, suitable for taking photos of various themes.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 Automatic White Balance Test Results

In terms of automatic white balance, we can see that Panasonic GX 1 is sensitive to blue and purple, which is very suitable for taking landscape photos, but when taking other styles of photos, we should try to use manual white balance to compare colors.

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Panasonic GX 1 has high control efficiency.

Panasonic GX 1 exposure adjustment

Panasonic GX 1 has a protruding handle on the front of the fuselage, which makes it easy to hold the camera when shooting. The positions of the video shooting button and the shutter button are ergonomically designed and feel good.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 Handheld Feeling

Panasonic GX 1 The mode selection dial on the top of the fuselage can easily switch between different exposure gears such as P/A/S/M, which is convenient for users with different usage habits to take close-up shots. You can enter the video shooting mode by pressing the video recording button.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 aperture adjustment

Panasonic GX 1 can adjust the aperture, shutter and other parameters in all exposure modes through the dial wheel, with simple operation and high efficiency.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 exposure compensation adjustment

Panasonic GX 1 white balance adjustment

▲ Panasonic GX 1 white balance adjustment

You don't need to enter the menu to select the white balance mode of Panasonic GX 1. The right arrow key on the fuselage is a very easy-to-use shortcut key. After pressing, you can directly select the required white balance mode or perform manual white balance operation.

Panasonic GX 1 continuous shooting Mode Selection

▲ Panasonic GX 1 continuous shooting mode selection.

Panasonic GX 1 also designed independent shortcut buttons on the fuselage for commonly used continuous shooting and selfie functions. We can press the arrow keys to enter the shooting mode selection menu when shooting.

Panasonic GX 1 sensitivity adjustment

▲ Panasonic GX 1 sensitivity adjustment

Sensitivity adjustment is one of the most commonly used functions of photographers. Panasonic GX 1 also designed an independent shortcut operation button on the fuselage. Press the up arrow key to select the sensitivity.

Based on the above tests, it can be seen that Panasonic GX 1 is a flagship single-battery product. Not only the commonly used functions have independent shortcut buttons on the fuselage, but also there are custom buttons on the fuselage, which can be set according to different user habits.

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Panasonic GX 1 sample display

Let's take a look at the samples taken for evaluation:

▲ 1/ 1300s，f/6.3， 14mm，ISO 160

▲ 1/640s，f/6.3， 14mm，ISO 160

▲ 1/800s，f/8，84mm，ISO 400

▲ 1/40s，f/6.3， 132mm，ISO 160

▲ 1/ 125s，f/2.8，45mm，ISO 160

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Panasonic GX 1 video autofocus is not strong enough.

The high-definition video shooting ability of the camera has now become one of the important performances that have attracted much attention. Panasonic GX 1 can not only focus automatically, but also have real-time continuous focus tracking function. Let's see the actual effect.

Let's watch a video shot with Panasonic GX 1 autofocus tracking:

▲ Panasonic GX 1 autofocus tracking test

As can be seen from the above video, the automatic continuous focusing of Panasonic GX 1 is still relatively fast. During the whole movement of the train, there are many behaviors of focusing on the front of the train, but in the process of automatic focusing, we are hesitant and can't always ensure the clarity of the front of the train.

In addition, when shooting still objects, there will also be some cases where the subject changes due to composition hesitation and scene change. In this case, can Panasonic GX 1 auto focus quickly? Let's do further tests.

▲ Panasonic GX 1 autofocus test

In the whole autofocus process, we can see that Panasonic GX 1 still showed some hesitation, but finally succeeded in focusing on a new subject, which is more in line with the consistent style of a single camera and still has a certain gap compared with the real DV.

On the whole, the high-definition video shooting function of Panasonic GX 1 is still very practical, and it can be used for automatic real-time continuous focusing, but the focusing stability of the shot pictures is not high, which is obviously different from the general DV. It can be used as a record of daily life, but shooting more professional short films is still insufficient.

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Evaluation summary: the classic specialty conforms to the flagship single electrical performance.

Through some evaluation results in the above article, we can see that Panasonic GX 1 has taken a successful step on the road of returning to classics and pursuing professionalism. The M4/3 image sensor with160,000 effective pixels brings a good image quality experience to Panasonic GX 1. The compact body is convenient for users to carry and use, and the efficient control experience is more in line with the habits of professional photographers and enthusiasts.

Main parameters of Panasonic GX 1

"function

"parameter

sensor

160,000, M4/3 frame

Continuous shooting speed

4.2fps

speed

ISO 160- 12800

concentrate

23-point multiple automatic contrast detection focusing system

Photometric determination

TTL image sensor

photometry system

Video shooting

1920? 1080,25p (line by line)

screen

3 inches, 460 thousand pixels

roll

1 16.3? 67.8 ? 39.4 mm

weight

272g (fuselage only)

▲ Panasonic GX 1 main parameters

Summary of advantages and disadvantages of Panasonic GX 1

superiority

1, small and portable

2, the picture quality has good resolution and high definition

3. JPG format shows good high sensitivity.

4. Support full HD video shooting and real-time autofocus.

5, high control efficiency

"shortcomings

1, the performance of high sensitivity in RAW format is average.

2, video focusing is a bit hesitant.

▲ summary of advantages and disadvantages of Panasonic GX 1

Purchase suggestion:

After understanding the performance of Panasonic GX 1, we can easily find that this is a flagship single camera with good image quality and high control efficiency. The price of more than 6,000 yuan is more reasonable than other single-electric brands at the same level, which is suitable for photographers to buy and use, and can also be used as a backup machine for photographers.