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In September, Panasonic released LUMIX GF1, a compact camera with a large sensor and inter-changeable lens mount to compete with Olympus EP-1.



Since then there were waves of good reviews:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicGF1/
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/pan ... 0_1p7_o20/

Someone even compare it to M9, the new full frame digital range finder from Leica:

http://www.stevehuffphotos.com/Steve_Hu ... IEW_8.html

I bought GF1 with 20mm f/1.7 M4/3 lens (equivalent to 40mm in 35mm photography) based on those reviews and found out it’s back ordered. After waiting for a month, I finally received GF1 package and I was surprised by the IQ of GF1 with 20mm lens. Under ISO 800, IQ is quite comparable to my old Canon 5D with EF 50mm f/1.8 lens (both have a 12 MP sensor, but GF1 is much smaller). I will post some of my test shots in Photography Works Forum.

I think comparing to Leica M9 is definitely a stretch. However, since Panasonic and Leica are strategic parterres in this digital age, Panasonic does provide a M Mount Adaptor DMW-MA2M to use Leica M lens on GF1 and it will use movable MF assist function on GF1 to enlarge the selected area in LCD monitor when focusing manually:

http://www.panasonic.net/avc/lumix/syst ... html#acc03

So Leica fans can use GF1 as a cheap backup to their expensive M9 or film M cameras at 1/10 of price tag.

In my opinion, GF1 is more like Contax G1/G2 in film age. So far, there are only 2 dedicated fixed focus lens released. The other one is 45mm f/2.8 with Leica Macro-Elmarit label on it (equivalent to 90mm in 35mm photography).



I hope there will be more fixed focus lens released such as 14mm f/2.8. Then GF1 will be a good complementary camera to a DSLR system.

Here is a 100% crop from one of my test shots, which gives a example of GF1's IQ. You can see the original photo by clicking the following link:
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