An Easter Surprise!

Well hello there, little guy! I wasn't expecting you to make an appearance on these pages.

That's what happens when you have way too many days off than what you are used to. While skimming through the pages of Norway's most popular online classified ads website Finn.no I chanced upon a Panasonic DMC-GF3 selling for a price so low it was almost a steal.

I was in any case thinking to have a second, smaller camera alongside my Nikon D800 (it still hasn't arrived) for the casual photography walks here in Oslo, or for taking pictures at parties where the chances of getting intoxicated are high, and I don't want to risk damaging an expensive, professional DSLR.

So after a few e-mails to the seller I found myself taking the tram to Jar to pick up the GF3. I didn't have enough time to do my research on this camera. I only knew that it was tiny and had almost all its controls on the 3-inch touch screen. It's also a Micro Four-Thirds camera, having a sensor two times smaller than full-frame (hence a crop factor of 2x). I have been apprehensive of the Four-Thirds cameras after having owned the Olympus E-620. But after a quick read on the internet it seemed that MFT cameras have come of age, and can yield pretty good results as long as you know the limitations.

I was able to take a short walk around the city yesterday to test this little camera. I have to admit I am not used to handling small cameras anymore! Professional DSLRs are heavy for a reason: it makes them easier to handle, stabilize and compose with. The GF3 is completely devoid of weight! It is also devoid of an optical viewfinder, which was the hardest thing for me to adjust to. Often times I would take the camera near my eye, only to realize a second later that there is no OVF to peek through.

But what is lacks in heft it makes up for in features. It has all the important features present in the modern DSLR like the P, A, S and M modes, bracketing (the most important feature for me), and all the necessary focusing and metering modes. I am starting to like the "point-to-focus-and-shoot" function more and more, where you just point to an area on the LDC screen and the camera will focus in that area and take the picture. Pretty nifty!

The 12 megapixel raw files yield quite good results too! The exposure and white balance is spot on. I have to take and evaluate more pictures but so far I like the results. The lack of OVF and 2x factor doesn't make this the ideal camera for landscapes, but I can see the potential of this camera for street photography, since it is quite stealthy!

As soon as my Nikon D800 setup is complete I will probably pair up the GF3 with the Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4. The large aperture, coupled with the Leica quality optics would make my GF3 the ideal camera whenever I don't want to lug around a heavy DSLR with me or when I am not taking those once-in-a-lifetime photographs.