Panasonic Lumix DMC-G7

John’s Camera

Description & Terms

The G7 is a “compact system

camera”

It is a “mirrorless camera”

It uses the “Micro Four Thirds Format”

Brief History of Digital Cameras

• The first digital still camera was a prototype developed by Kodak engineer Steven Sasson in 1975. He put together Motorola electronics with a Kodak movie-camera lens and some newly invented Fairchild CCD electronic sensors.

• The camera was the size of a large toaster and weighed 4kg. Black-and-white images were captured on a digital cassette tape and Sassonand his colleagues built a special screen to view them.

• It had a .01 megapixel resolution and took 23 seconds to record the first digital photograph.

Brief History of Digital Cameras

• The first commercially available digital camera in the UK was the Logitech Fotoman, introduced in 1990. It only produced 320x240pixel black and white images, had just 1MB of internal memory and a fixed focus lens for £499.

• Built in 1991, the first Digital SLR was the Kodak Professional Digital Camera System (DCS) , a modified Nikon F3 tethered to a separate 200MB hard disc drive that was carried over the shoulder, which was capable of storing up to 156 uncompressed 1.3MP images. It cost around $30,000 !

Brief History of Digital Cameras

• The first proper, mainstream consumer digital camera, the Apple (Kodak-made) Quicktake 100 built in 1994, was also the first to use USB to connect to a computer. It produced 640×480 pixel images, in colour, for just under $1000.

• In 1995, the Casio QV-10 was the world’s first digital camera to incorporate an LCD screen on the back (1.8″) for image preview and playback. The QV-10 could store 96 320×240 pixel images. It featured an innovative swivel lens assembly.

Brief History of Digital Cameras

• Introduced in 2005, the Canon EOS 5D was the first consumer DSLR to feature a full frame sensor. It was much smaller and cheaper than any previous full frame camera and for the first time opened up the format to the enthusiast as well as the pro.

• Launched in 2000, the J Phone built by Sharp was the first phone with a digital camera. It could take photos at 0.11-megapixels. It also allowed you to send your photos electronically. For comparison, the first iPhone launched in 2007 with a 2 megapixel camera.

Brief History of Digital Cameras

In 2008, Panasonic took the mirror and prism assembly out of a DSLR and replaced them with an electronic viewfinder. The resulting camera, the Lumix G1, became the world’s first Compact System Camera.

“Compact System Camera (CSC)”

A CSC is a camera with interchangeable lenses but no mirror.

It is a subset of the “mirrorless camera” family, as there are now compact mirrorless cameras, with fixed lenses.

CSCs and DSLRs are sometimes called “Interchangeable Lens Cameras (ILC)

The main advantage of a Compact System Camera is that it is smaller and lighter than full sized Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras, while offering ‘DSLR quality’ images.

This reduction in size is made possible by removing the dedicated AF sensor, mirror-box assembly and optical viewfinder found in a DSLR. However, as the imaging sensor also has to manage auto focus, it is generally less effective than the dedicated AF sensor in a DSLR, particular when the subject is moving.

SLR vs Mirrorless Camera Mirror moves out of the way when shutter button depressed, allowing

light to reach sensor

Mechanical shutter - DSLR

Mirrorless camera mechanical shutter

“Micro Four Thirds”• The Micro Four Thirds system (MFT or M4/3) is a standard

released by Olympus and Panasonic in 2008 for the design and development of mirrorless interchangeable lens digital cameras

• MFT shares the original image sensor size and specification with the Four Thirds system, designed for DSLRs in 2002.

• Unlike Four Thirds, the MFT system design specification does not provide space for a mirror box and a pentaprism, which means a smaller body and lens designs can be supported using a shorter flange focal distance.

Why “Micro” Four Thirds

• Four Thirds standard for lenses & sensors introduced by Kodak & Olympus in 2002 for SLRs

• Idea was to make sensor smaller than lens to allow light always to strike sensor vertically, triggering correct reading, but using smaller bodies and lenses than “full frame” DSLRs

• Micro Four Thirds uses smaller mount size than 4/3rds. By also removing the mirrorbox, the camera body and lenses are smaller = micro

• The Four Thirds system is now obsolete, replaced by APS-C or full frame DSLR cameras.

Micro Four Thirds vs compacts

• Compared to most digital compact cameras and many bridge cameras, MFT cameras have better/larger sensors and some offer interchangeable lenses.

• They provide far greater control over depth-of-field than compact cameras.

• There are many lenses available.

• However, Micro Four Thirds cameras also tend to be slightly larger, heavier and more expensive than compact cameras.

Bridge/Zoom

CompactMicro 4/3rds

Micro Four Thirds vs SLRs

• Compared to most digital SLRs, the Micro Four Thirds body and lens is smaller and lighter.

• However, their sensors are smaller than full-frame or APS-C systems, so they may produce noisier/grainier images in low light conditions.

• Unlike DSLRs, which use an optical viewfinder, Micro Four Thirds cameras use an electronic viewfinder.

• Micro Four Thirds cameras always afford a greater depth-of-field than SLRs when shooting at the same focal length and aperture, but it is more difficult to design a wide-aperture lens for Micro Four Thirds.

• Originally Micro Four Thirds cameras used a contrast-detection autofocus system, which is slower than the phase-detect autofocus standard on DSLRs.

Camera Sensor

• A= Bayer GRGB colour filter array

• B & C = filters to reduce colour casts from IR, moire patterns

• D = circuitry – either CCD or CMOS

• E= Pixel

• F = Micro lens

• G = black pixels around edges to reduce in-camera noise

CCD = Charge Coupled DeviceCMOS = Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor

Sensor sizes for

comparison

“Crop Factor”

Larger sensors are better because…

• They support higher resolutions (more pixels)

• They perform better in low-light situations

• They have a larger Dynamic Range (wider tones)

• They offer better background blurring (Bokeh effect)

• They have reduced diffraction (blurring round the edges)

But how many pixels do you need ?

A5

A4

A3

A2

A1

Effect on depth of field

• To get the same field of view on a cropped sensor, we need to move further away from the subject, or reduce the lens focal length.

• The effect in both cases is to increase the depth of field

Camera Market status

• Shipments of digital cameras dropped by 75% in June 2019, compared to June 2018

• DSLR shipments have fallen by 57% in the last year

• Mirrorless cameras have fallen by 80%

• Lens shipments have fallen by 67%

• Compact cameras have fallen by 88%

Lumix G series - history

• 2008 : launched G1, first digital compact system camera, 12Mb sensor

• 2010 : G2/G10 launched with 720p video, touchscreen & new 14-42 lens. G10 omits some features and retails at lower price

• 2011: G3 launches with HD video, 16Mb sensor

• 2012 : G5, higher ISO, faster cont. shoot, higher res touchscreen & new image sensor/processor

• 2013 : G6 – sold alongside G5, updates to ISO, shooting speed, sensor/processor

• 2015 : G7 – 4K video, updates to ISO, shooting speed, sensor/processor

• 2017 : G9 – 20Mb sensor, faster cont. shooting (20 frames/sec)

Spot the difference !

G1, G5, G7 and G9

Lumix G7 – my purchase

• Launched in 2015 at £599 (body only) or £679 with standard 14-42mm lens

• I purchased from John Lewis Nov 2017 for £350

• Current G9 price £999 (body only), £1299 with 12-60mm lens

Lumix G7 – features• 16 Megapixel Live MOS Sensor• 2.3M does OLED viewfinder• 3 inch 1040k articulated touchscreen• Shoots 4K video, at 30 frames/second – can extract 8Mb

stills (photos) from video• 8 frames/second continuous photo shooting with AFS

focusing (6fps with AFC focus)• ISO range 100-25,600• Max shutter speed 1/16,000th second• Fast Focus Acquisition (0.07sec) using new Depth From

Defocus (DPD) technology• 2 command dials, plus 5 function buttons• Separate mode dial and drive dial• Built-in Wifi• Silent mode using electronic shutter• Panorama mode

Lumix G7 – top view

Drive ModeSingleBurst4K videoHDR BracketSelf-TimerTime Lapse

Shutter Button & Front command dial

Mode Dial

Rear Command Dial

Lumix G7 – back view

Viewfinder

Focus mode

Touchscreen

ISO, WB, Focus Area Buttons

Lumix G7 – without lens

Lens Release

Sensor

Lens alignment mark

Viewfinder Display

My Lenses : 14-42mm

Reason for purchase :

Camera came supplied with this lens

• 14-42mm lens, f3.5-f5.6, 46mm

• Due to 2x crop factor, this is equivalent to 28-84mm full frame

• 14mm good for “wide-angled” shots

• Limited Zoom range

• Reasonably Fast aperture

• Light weight and small dimensions

My Lenses : 14-140mm

Reason for purchase :

Purchased second-hand 45-150mm lens earlier this year. Found carrying 2 lenses heavy & swapping them to be cumbersome.

Swapped 45-150mm lens for 14-140mm lens (also second-hand). Using this as my main lens now

• Lens is f4-f5.8, 62mm

• Introduced in 2010 – updated twice since then

• Due to 2x crop factor, this is equivalent to 28-280mm full frame

• Good range & versatile, from wide-angle to zoom

• Built in stabilisation

• Not a fast lens

• Heavy glass

My Lenses : 100-300mm

Reason for purchase :

Joined RSPB earlier this year. Found zoom of 150mm lens would not get close enough to birds on reserves. Images from cropping and digital zoom not sharp enough.

Purchased this second-hand. Using this as long reach (telephoto lens).

• Lens is f4-f5.6, 67mm

• Introduced in 2010 – updated since then

• Due to 2x crop factor, this is equivalent to 200-600mm full frame

• Able to zoom closer

• Small and light compared to full frame zooms

• Distant birds still a dot !

• Loses sharpness at extreme zoom

• 100-400mm lens costs £1400

Lumix G7 – things I’ve learned

• Standard exposure a bit bright

• Can adjust, but this seems to skew whole exposure range

• Touchscreen a nuisance – tend to leave display off and use viewfinder

• Small function buttons a bit fiddly

• When in a hurry, it’s not easy to find things through menus

• Can set up Quick Menu option

• There are lots of features on camera that I haven’t used yet !

Lumix G7 – example images

Lumix G7 – example images

Example images

Olympus examples

OM-D E-M10 Mark III £70016Mb sensor14-42mm lens, but interchangeable with any Micro 4/3rd lens3 inch touchscreen & excellent viewfinder

PEN E-PL9 £53016Mb sensor14-42mm lens3 inch touchscreen, but no viewfinder

Lumix G7 – conclusion

• Great value for money

• High spec, many features – good for enthusiast photographers

• Smaller & lighter than DSLR, larger sensor than compacts

• Micro Four Thirds Series now overtaken by APS-C & Full frame equivalents, although these can be more expensive

Over to you !

Please can you tell me about your camera ?

• Why did you buy it ?

• What do you like about it ?

• What don’t you like ?

• Are you happy with it or looking to change ?

• Are you using all the features or still learning ?