Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3

ubern00b

ubern00b

ubern00b

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Hi all

My girlfriend has decided to purchase this camera and I am scouring the internet for the best price and came across the choice of two lenses. I know next to nothing about this sort of thing so I am hoping OCUK can shed some light on it for me. The two options are:

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 12.1MP Compact System Camera Kit with 14-42mm Lumix G VARIO f/3.5-5.6 ASPH MEGA OIS Lens

or

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 12.1MP Compact System Camera Kit with 14mm Lumix G f/2.5 ASPH Lens

Any help is appreciated. Thanks :)
 
The 14mm prime is smaller, better in lower light and a bit sharper however the 14-42mm is more versatile, giving you what would be called a 3x zoom on a compact.

PatZ1989 said:
Why would you want that camera, tbh get the EOS 7D or don't bother, only costs £1k

L2Camera x
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Learn to not troll.
 
Raikiri said:
The 14mm prime is smaller, better in lower light and a bit sharper however the 14-42mm is more versatile, giving you what would be called a 3x zoom on a compact.



Learn to not troll.
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Apologies, i'm not trolling - i just don't have the time for people who want excellent photographs and go to buy a camera, and have no clue what they are looking for.

Get a kodak disposable and be done with it. Psh
 
PatZ1989 said:
Apologies, i'm not trolling - i just don't have the time for people who want excellent photographs and go to buy a camera, and have no clue what they are looking for.

Get a kodak disposable and be done with it. Psh
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if you dont have the time to help someone then dont bother posting
simple really
 
Ignoring the forum trolling, if that's what they've decided on, then I'd go for the 1st option as it covers a wider focal range. I know almost nothing about the camera though, but if that's the price range you're looking at it seems like a decent choice. Plus it'd save you the £750 of the forum trolls' option :D

I'm assuming that the second option was including a lens that's better quality. If that's the case then this is where you need to know what sort of photos you'd be taking. If always wide angle shots, then option 2. Option 1 would be a good place to start though as you're covered for greater options.

Also, as I was bored I noticed the Tamrac Aero 36 bag being mentioned on a few google searches about the camera, which seems like a decent little option :) {edit} Actually it seems to be called the 3336 aero 36 in some places.
 
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Great, thanks for the help all. I will tell her to go for the 14-42mm lens as as you say its more versatile, she will be wanting to take all sorts of shots with it. As she gets more involved she can always purchase a more specialised lens at a later date.
 
ubern00b said:
Can you elaborate as to why you would choose the Olympus over the Panasonic?
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IBIS
Hotshoe for EVF

Also olympus colours and excellent Jpegs

Although the GF3 does have a flash and touchscreen which could be a bonus in this case?
 
Hi, I've just tested 3 Camera's for my wife and my findings are that the Olympus EPL-3 Has the better image quality especially in low light followed by the Nikon J1 and then the GF3 not a lot in it to be fair and the Nikon seemed fastest to focus than the other two but only slightly.
D700Test_3.jpg


GF3 was the better camera to use mind no silly buttons just turn on and fire with nice easy layout and the flash is neat and can be bouced off ceiling if you want to!!

I chose the Nikon in the end as 2 year warranty and the option the add F-mount lenses to it was cool!
Below is a comparison between the Nikon D700, Olympus EPL-3, Nikon J1 & Lumix GF3 noise test indoors, where we take lots of pics all apart from the D700 were in their auto modes.
CameraTest.jpg

Nikon D700 - iso 200 (just messing ;)) Olympus - iso 500 (the best even if a tad higher), J1 - iso 400 (helped by only 10mp) GF3 iso 400 (looked the worst)
 
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Skynet-T800 said:
Hi, I've just tested 3 Camera's for my wife and my findings are that the Olympus EPL-3 Has the better image quality especially in low light followed by the Nikon J1 and then the GF3 not a lot in it to be fair and the Nikon seemed fastest to focus than the other two but only slightly.
D700Test_3.jpg


GF3 was the better camera to use mind no silly buttons just turn on and fire with nice easy layout and the flash is neat and can be bouced off ceiling if you want to!!

I chose the Nikon in the end as 2 year warranty and the option the add F-mount lenses to it was cool!
Below is a comparison between the Nikon D700, Olympus EPL-3, Nikon J1 & Lumix GF3 noise test indoors, where we take lots of pics all apart from the D700 were in their auto modes.
CameraTest.jpg

Nikon D700 - iso 200 (just messing ;)) Olympus - iso 500 (the best even if a tad higher), J1 - iso 400 (helped by only 10mp) GF3 iso 400 (looked the worst)
Click to expand...

Did you not test them all with the same settings, lighting, etc? To me it seems pointless testing something if each camera had a different setting. How can you even begin to compare? Sure, test auto settings, but as a part of a more complete test, not just the one setting. It doesn't seem very controlled, or fair otherwise.
 
ElDude said:
Did you not test them all with the same settings, lighting, etc? To me it seems pointless testing something if each camera had a different setting. How can you even begin to compare? Sure, test auto settings, but as a part of a more complete test, not just the one setting. It doesn't seem very controlled, or fair otherwise.
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Well the shutters were all the same and iso was apart from the Olympus which was on 500 iso! All taken at the sometime in natural light all on the widest angle and lowest aperature! Didn't have time to mess about just wanted an out of box test for my wife who to be honest won't ever mess with settings but wants a decent image and to be fair there all very good!
 
not sure if this helps but ...

my wife (the camera person) and I have been looking for a decent camera for a bit and finally decided on the panasonic gx1 - has the hmmm retractable lens so the size is quite manangeable (wouldnt go for a fixed lens if you want decent portability - on this camera).
Lots of favorable reviews for this camera. dpreview just put out a nice one.
Not sure if this is in your budget or what you are looking for thou ... seems to have a fair amount of buttons and stuff (as you can tell Im not the camera guy).
 
you can get the gf3x which has a small retractable zoom lens which looks good. really considering swapping my slr for one of these (or similar) as i dont take it out much due to the size.

like reading people's posts about these mirrorless's.
 
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