Panasonic Lumix GF3 + 14 mm Lens

Just a few months after releasing the GF2, Panasonic has presented a third version of this interchangeable lens compact. The Lumix GF3 has the same 12-Megapixel micro four thirds sensor that equipped the GF1 and GF2. With each update, the camera's design has gradually moved away from the 'mini SLR' type body aimed at experienced photographers and morphed into a consumer camera with advanced automatic modes.  

Handling

The GF3 has changed quite a bit since the GF2 and is certainly more of an update than the GF2 was of the original GF1. It's been slimmed down by 15 mm in width and has a new design that's clearly more curvy that its predecessor. Build quality is good and the camera has a high-quality finish. The GF3 is a nice camera to hold and handle, even if we would have preferred a deeper grip handle, and all the controls are easily accessible. The new clock-round control wheel around the four-way arrows are a little too loose though, and you could end up spinning it round by accident.

The screen definition is decent enough and the viewing angles are good too. However, the screen is a bit too highly contrasted, greys have a blue tinge to them and colours aren't reproduced particularly accurately (although we've unfortunately seen much worse).

The touchscreen and the physical controls have exactly the same functions, which means you can stick to the physical controls without being missing out on options or settings. The only exception is the star function of Lumix touchscreen cameras—selecting the focusing zone (and even taking a photo) by tapping the area of your choice on the touchscreen. Don't get us wrong—you can still select the zone you ant to focus on with the physical buttons, but it doesn't feel as simple or as intuitive as using the touchscreen.

The graphic user interface is very simple and is geared up for the camera's iA and iA+ intelligent automatic modes, which can be accessed via a button next to the shutter-release button. Exposure, white balance, focusing and drive mode (burst, self-timer etc.) can be accessed directly via the four-way controller but for all other settings, you'll need to use the menus.

The Quick menu (Q.Menu button or touch-control in the top-right of the screen) is entirely customisable by a simple drag-and-drop system. Plus, in the main menu you can move the histogram around so it's not blocking your view—a handy touch!.

Responsiveness

The GF3 scored the same results as the GF2 in this part of our test: it's very responsive and a treat to use, taking just a few tenths of a second to power up.

That just leaves the burst mode, which is a little faster than on its predecessor, climbing to a rate of four photos per second with a maximum buffer of eleven frames.

Picture Quality

The GF3 has the same 12-Megapixel sensor as the GF2, but it's backed up by the latest upgrade to the Panasonic Venus Engine first seen on the G3.


In reality, the results are much closer to what we've come to expect from the GF2 rather than the G3, which has a much better 16-Megapixel sensor than the older 12-Megapixel model found here.  Things are still very impressive at 1600 ISO, but noise becomes very visible at 3200 ISO, despite blurriness which obscures some fine detail and some purple fringing which creeps into the shadows.

There's still been some clear progress since the GF2, but the Olympus E-P3 has the same sensor and does a better job of controlling electronic noise, albeit at the cost of a slightly green tinge.

In the image of the interface, the photos produced by the GF3 are much more likely to appeal to the general public, with contrast-heavy, saturated JPEGs that are ready to use straight away.  Anybody who likes retouching their own photos, though, might have preferred a slightly more neutral output.


We tried the GF3 with the same 14 mm lens as we used on the GF2.  It's a good product, with acceptable levels of detail, but it's a shame there's no stabilisation.  That might not be much of a problem when you're working with a wide angle, but it's a whole different story when light levels begin to fall.  The fact that the GF3's iA mode stubbornly refuses to increase the sensitivity above 800 ISO doesn't help matter; instead, it prefers extending the exposure time above 1/10 s, s.

Video

Video is recorded in 1080i HD at 50 fields per second (it actually records 25 full interlaced frames). The overall sharpness and autofocus are both excellent, but the sound isn't quite up to scratch: first of all, it's mono rather than stereo and, on top of that, you'll have to put up with a continuous hiss.

Like the G3, the GF3 can only shoot video in automatic mode, so users can't adjust the exposure or the depth of field during a recording.  They can, however, adjust the focus, moving from attention from one element to the other simply by tapping a new part of the screen.