New Toy -Panasonic G3 Camera.

Panasonic Lumix G3

We're off on holiday next year, and it's the sort of holiday where it's worth taking a decent camera. I have long been a fan of the Olympus OM cameras, currently I have an OM4, but the cost of e6 (slide to you) processing is going through the roof, £15 plus with a decent scan per  roll, plus the price of the film, and slides have never been the most user-friendly medium. Medium, that term does bring a smack of the spiritualist about it, gathering a darkened room to look at grainy images of the past -sounds like many a photo club meeting from the seventies and at least with 'the other side' you don't get the cheesy music (unless your spirit guide is Barry Manilow, what do you mean he's not dead!).

I have had a couple of digital cameras before; a Kodak DC120 which took surprisingly good pictures, and an Olympus 4000Z which you can still get CAMMEDIA memory for. But it is time for something that could produce quality shots rather than just snaps.

Why the G3? Firstly, I didn't want anything bigger and heavier than the OM4, small is beautiful, and that bought me to the small system cameras from Olympus, Panasonic and Sony. Secondly, call me old fashioned, but I wanted a viewfinder -that got me straight to the G3 (although some of the others offer it as an add on). Lastly price -it seems to offer the most bang for your buck. There's other good stuff too to wibble on about; such as the tilting touch screen, 16 MegaPixel sensor, cross-manufacturer micro four thirds system which means more lenses, the G3 looks like a proper camera without trying to fake one from 30+ years ago. If I wanted a range-finder I'd use my Nikonos or Voigtlander, come to think of it the Nik doesn't have a rangefinder -just 'f8 & be there'.

First impressions out of the box? The camera looks and feels great -the lens looks and feels cheap. Charge it up, turn the camera on and the G3 works pretty much as you'd expect, I was getting some sort of pictures out of the it at the first try.

I'll take it for a walk and let you see the results.