Panasonic GF3 Review

Overview

Panasonic GF3 Overview

Rivaling not only the new Sony NEX-C3, but also Panasonic's own deluxe digicam the LX5, the Panasonic GF3 brings the Micro Four Thirds camp a new definition of small. As did Sony, to achieve this size, Panasonic had to rethink much of the control system, as shrinking bodies leave little room for luxuries like mode dials, switches, and buttons. As a result, there's a learning curve to using the GF3, but for those seeking a very small compact system camera, the Lumix GF3 has a lot to offer in a very small body.

Along with the step-down in size, Panasonic saw fit to keep the resolution of the GF3's sensor to 12-megapixels, yet they're quick to add that the same sensor improvements that impressed us in the 16-megapixel G3 are included in the GF3. Also of note, the GF3 supports Full HD video, that's 1,920 x 1,080 in AVCHD format.

The main first impression one gets from the Lumix GF3 is that it's tiny. Especially with the 14mm f/2.5 lens attached, it really does dip down into digicam territory. It's a little taller than an LX5, but less wide; thickness of course varies with the lens mounted, but it's not far off, either. We have a few comparison shots below, pitting the GF3 against the Sony NEX-C3 and Lumix G3. It's a close call with the Sony, but the GF3 makes the small, feature-rich G3 look big again. The Canon G12 and Nikon P7000, already larger than the GF2, can consider the gauntlet thrown down.

Compared to the GF2, the GF3 is smaller in width and height, but not thickness. The Panasonic GF3 measures 4.2 x 2.6 x 1.3 inches (108 x 67 x 33mm), versus 4.4 x 2.7 x 1.3 inches (113 x 68 x 33mm) on the GF2, and weight is also reduced to 9.3 ounces (264g), from the GF2's 11.3 ounces (319g). Put another way, the GF3 is 16.7 percent smaller and 16.2 percent lighter than the GF2, according to Panasonic.

The Panasonic GF3 is indeed light, but still feels solid, and a little better balanced than the NEX-C3, with the lens positioned just a tad closer to the center. The grip is scanty, at best only supporting a two finger hold. Similar to the grip on the G3 in shape, it's smaller, and requires extra care to avoid dropping the tiny GF3. It might be a little better as a grip than the one on the GF2, though. I recommend at least a wrist strap with the Panasonic GF3, if not use of the included neckstrap. I'm thankful they went with metal loop mounts for that strap, by the way, as the cloth-to-metal interface is prone to less noise than the metal-to-metal D-ring approach.

Best described as clean and simple, the GF3's front is a contrast to the more boxy GF2, with sloping shoulders and more gradual curves. A bright chrome ring surrounds the lens mount, adding the unusual effect of making the lenses look even smaller, like they are smaller than the mount itself. An AF-assist lamp (which doubles as a self-timer indicator) peeks out from the upper right of the lens mount, something too many SLRs lack.

From left to right, the top features a monaural microphone, a speaker, a small pop-up flash, the Intelligent Auto button, Shutter button, Record button, and a sliding Power switch. The mono mic is a step down from the GF2 for video, and the lack of a hot shoe in addition to a pop-up flash is also a change from the last generation. At this size, Panasonic said they didn't see a lot of people adopting external flashes, so they were content to delete the hot shoe for lower weight and smaller size. That still leaves out the option of an optical or electronic accessory viewfinder, for whatever it's worth.

While the GF2 had a total of 11 control buttons (not counting the flash pop-up button), the GF3 reduces the count to 10: Intelligent Auto, Shutter, Record, Playback, EV, White Balance, AF-point, Drive, Menu/Set, and Quick Menu/Function (the thumb-operated rear dial also served as a button on the GF2). You can set the Function button to activate 15 different things, but then you lose the Quick Menu: AF/AE Lock, Preview, Photo Style, Aspect Ratio, Quality, Focus mode, Metering mode, Flash, ISO Sensitivity, ISO Limit Set, Ex. Tele Conv., Burst Rate, Auto Bracket, Guide Line, and Record Area. Mode and Display settings are made via the LCD's touchscreen overlay. Pressing the onscreen Display button, which appears in the lower right corner, cycles through available modes, and pressing the Mode icon in the upper left corner brings up a circular display of nine bubbles, each with a mode. Turning the physical rotary dial surrounding the navigation disk moves from bubble to bubble, or you can simply press one of the bubbles with your finger.

The 3-inch LCD has a 460,000-dot display that's sharp and vibrant. Unlike the G3 and Sony NEX-C3, the display does not articulate (tilt or swivel), but integrated touch focus features somewhat make up for that omission.

Panasonic GF3 size comparisons

Panasonic GF3 vs Sony NEX-C3

Panasonic was clearly aiming for the NEX-5 when they spec'd the GF3's dimensions, which explains Sony's move to a smaller 3-series body with the NEX-C3. The hump on top of the GF3 boasts of its small size, just as the hump on the bottom of the NEX-5 did, even if it does make the GF3 a little taller. Sony's design offers a grip for at least one more finger than the GF3's provides.

Panasonic's choice of a smaller body for their kit lens helps the GF3 look a lot smaller. The 14mm lens provides a view equivalent to a 28mm lens, while the Sony's 16mm kit equates to about 24mm, a good deal wider. The NEX-C3 includes front-facing stereo speakers, while the GF3's is mono, but the GF3 also has a pop-up flash, an included, but not integrated accessory on the NEX-C3. Both feature simple power switches and easy access to dedicated Movie Record buttons.

Since both are offered in two kit configurations, we included the zooms as well. Panasonic's design is equivalent to 28-84mm, while the Sony covers 27-82.5mm. Both are optically stabilized.

Sony's control layout is even more simple than the GF3's, but both rely heavily on the LCD to drive the interface. The NEX-C3 has the advantage of a tilting LCD, while the GF3 is slightly less wide. Of course, there's also the resolution difference of 12 versus 16 megapixels. It's not really so important to most, but it's worth mentioning just in case.

Panasonic GF3 vs Panasonic G3

We thought the Lumix G3 quite small until the GF3 arrived just a few weeks later. Both have their place in this market, to be sure. From the front the major differences are a considerably smaller grip on one than the other, and a whole lot more flash potential on the G3, as it still includes a hot shoe.

The Mode dial, stereo speakers, and hot shoe again stand out as major advantages on the G3, but that huge protruding EVF is both a benefit and a hindrance, making the G3 noticeably thicker, and thus harder to put in a pocket or camera bag.

It's tempting to call the Panasonic GF3 "the G3 stripped down to essentials," and we could were it not for the difference in sensor resolution (again, 12 versus 16 megapixels). The tilt/swivel LCD is the obvious major difference on the back, and there's only one additional button on the G3, namely the DISP/Fn1 button on the back. The LVF/LCD button and Record button are also present, but the former isn't needed on the GF3 and the latter is on the top deck. Both have touchscreen interfaces, but the GF3 relies on it more heavily than the G3.

Panasonic GF3 Technical Info

Sensor and processor. The Panasonic GF3 features a 12.1 megapixel Micro Four Thirds-format image sensor whose output is handled by a Venus Engine FHD image processor. It's said to have the same image processing capabilities as the recently-announced Lumix G3, although the GF3's Live MOS image sensor has a total resolution of 13.06 megapixels, in place of the 16.68 megapixel chip used in the G3. Base sensitivity for the GF3's imager is ISO 160 equivalent, while maximum sensitivity is unchanged from that of the GF2, at ISO 6,400 equivalent.

Panasonic's full range of advanced features is supported by the processor, including Intelligent Auto, Intelligent Resolution, and Intelligent Dynamic Range Control. (See the Image Quality page to see how these features work.)

Performance. The GF3 bests its predecessor by quite some margin in terms of burst shooting performance, and given the earlier camera's relatively sedate performance, that would be a very welcome change. Panasonic rates the GF3 as capable of shooting some 3.8 frames per second, some 19% faster than the company-supplied 3.2 fps figure for the GF2. In our own lab testing, the GF3 proved capable of 3.5 fps in High Speed mode. JPEG shooters will be happy to see that burst depth is still restricted only by available space and battery life when shooting typical subjects, given a fast enough flash card. We managed 20 JPEGs in a high-speed burst with our difficult-to-compress target. For Raw shooters, though, burst depth is unfortunately still quite abbreviated, at just seven frames. In our testing, we got at most five Raw frames before the GF3 slowed down.

Optics. Around twenty lens models are now available for Micro Four Thirds format cameras, and Panasonic itself offers a healthy selection of both prime and zoom lenses, as well as its unusual 3D lens, all compatible with the GF3. As you'd expect, a Supersonic Wave Filter dust reduction system is included, to minimize the effects of dust ingested during operation.

Touch-panel display. An important difference between the GF3 and its predecessor is the lack of any provision for an external viewfinder. With no accessory port on the GF3's body, all interaction is handled through its 3.0-inch touch panel LCD display, which appears to be unchanged from that featured in the GF2. The Lumix GF3's LCD has a total resolution of 460,000 dots, which equates to somewhere in the region of 153,600 pixels, commonly known as HVGA (Half-size VGA). Each pixel comprises adjacent red, green, and blue-colored dots. The panel has a 3:2 aspect ratio, approximately 100% coverage, seven-step brightness / color adjustment, and a wide viewing angle (although Panasonic doesn't specify the actual horizontal / vertical viewing range).

Focusing. Like the GF2 before it, the GF3 offers up a 23-point TTL contrast detection autofocusing system, as well as an autofocus assist lamp that helps when focusing in low ambient lighting conditions. As well as multi-point focusing, the GF3 also provides single, pinpoint, tracking, and face detection autofocus modes. In single-point mode, the focus point can be placed anywhere within the image frame, by simply dragging it on the touch-panel display. Autofocus speed is said to be similar to that of the Lumix G3 and GH2 models, and our test results agree.

Of course, you can also focus manually, and the GF3 offers a manual focus assist zoom that enlarges the display around the focus point, allowing precise focus tuning. Three zoom levels are available -- either 4x, 5x, or 10x. As in the G3, the lowest zoom level shows an enlargement only at the center of the screen, overlaid on the full image, providing a reasonably intuitive way to focus while retaining your desired framing.

Exposure. The Lumix GF3 offers still image shutter speeds ranging from 1/4,000 to 60 seconds. Images are metered with the Live MOS image sensor, using a 144-segment multi-pattern metering system, and the GF3 also provides both center-weighted and spot metering modes. +/-3.0 EV of exposure compensation is available, set in 1/3 EV steps, and the metering system has a working range of EV 0-18 (with an f/2.0 lens at ISO 100 equivalent.)

Flash. Like the GF2 before it, the Panasonic GF3 is said to be the smallest interchangeable-lens camera yet announced that includes a built-in flash strobe. The GF3's built-in popup flash has been relocated directly above the central axis of the lens, a position previously occupied by the hot shoe on the GF2, and this hints at an important omission. Unlike its predecessor, the Panasonic GF3 has no provision for external flash strobes. There's no hot shoe, and since the external accessory connector has also been removed, there's no possibility of a proprietary flash accessory being offered, either.

This change makes the built-in flash doubly important, and unfortunately, it still has a rather modest guide number of just 6.3 meters at ISO 160 equivalent. With that said, being a relatively compact camera, it's likely that an external flash would get left at home anyway, so perhaps the lack of external flash connectivity won't prove much of an issue.

Creative controls. As in the G3, Panasonic has retained its two main creative control function groups from the earlier GF2 model in the GF3, but with new names for each.

The earlier My Color mode is now known as Creative Control, and provides access to six effects, one more than in the G3 but two less than the GF2. Choices are Expressive (pop-art style), Retro (soft, tarnished effect), High Key (brighter image), Sepia, High Dynamic (localized color and contrast enhancement), and Miniature Effect (linear graduated blur towards the edges of the image).

The Film Mode function has also been renamed to Photo Style. This offers a selection of six presets, plus a custom mode, each of which can be tweaked in terms of contrast, sharpness, saturation (except in Monochrome mode, where it is replaced with a color tone adjustment), and noise reduction. Presets include Standard, Vivid, Natural, Monochrome, Scenery, and Portrait.

There are also 17 Scene modes that help amateurs get the results they're looking for without the need to understand shutter speeds, apertures, and the like, as well as Intelligent Auto and Intelligent Auto+ modes that both offer maximum ease of use, but differ in their level of control over the look of images.

Video. The GF3's movie capture capabilities are very similar to those of the GF2, but with a number of important changes. The GF3 still provides for Full HD (1,080i / 1,920 x 1,080 pixel) or 720p (1,280 x 720 pixel) video capture at 17Mbps in AVCHD format, as well as for Motion JPEG capture at 720p resolution or below. Recording rates are likewise unchanged -- NTSC models offer either 30 frames per second for Motion JPEG, 60 frames per second for 720p AVCHD, or 60 fields per second for 1080i AVCHD, all captured from 30 frames per second sensor data. PAL models are 50i for 1080i AVCHD and 50p for 720p AVCHD, from 25 frames per second sensor data.

The differences are threefold. Panasonic has dropped the 13Mbps "FH" and "F" options for AVCHD format, dropped the non-standard 848 x 480 pixel WVGA video capture mode, and replaced the GF2's stereo internal microphone with a monaural mic.

Exposure during video recording is fully automatic, though aperture can be adjusted while recording using the Defocus Control slider in either Intelligent Auto mode, and a flicker reduction feature lets you force the shutter speed to 1/50, 1/60, 1/100, or 1/120 second. Exposure compensation and white balance can be adjusted before recording starts in Intelligent Auto+ mode. Creative Control effects, Photo Styles, and 11 scene modes are also available for videos.

Of course, continuous autofocus is available during movies, complete with Touch AF. Other video recording features include a wind cut filter with four settings, and the mic's sensitivity can be adjusted to four levels. See the Motion Picture menu animation above right for additional features and settings.

Connectivity. The Lumix GF3 includes a mini HDMI Type C high-definition video output with VIERA Link compatibility, which allows the camera to be controlled by the remote control of a Panasonic VIERA Link-enabled HDTV. (VIERA Link is Panasonic's brandname for the HDMI Consumer Electronics Control standard, although compatibility with devices made by other companies is not guaranteed.)

The GF3 also includes a proprietary connector that provides for both USB 2.0 High Speed data transfer, and standard definition NTSC composite video output with monaural audio output. The USB port has PTP (for PictBridge compatible printers) and Mass Storage modes.

Storage. The Panasonic GF3 stores its data on Secure Digital cards, including the latest generation SDHC and SDXC types. As well as storing still images in JPEG compressed format, the G3 can also write RAW files, either alone or alongside a JPEG copy of each image. When using Panasonic's unusual 3D lens, the GF3 saves images in MPO (Multi Picture Object) format, with each MPO file containing two JPEG images with differing perspective. As noted previously, movies can be stored with either AVCHD or Motion JPEG compression, depending on the resolution.

Power. The Panasonic GF3 draws power from a proprietary 7.2V, 940mAh battery pack rated as good for 320 shots on a charge when using the 14-42mm lens, based on CIPA testing standards. With the 14mm lens, this climbs just slightly, to 340 images, as the 14mm lens lacks optical image stabilization. That's a slight improvement compared to the GF2's 300 and 320 shots with the same lenses. Maximum battery life during video capture has also improved, up from 120 minutes with the company's 14-42mm lens, to 130 minutes with the same lens. The Lumix GF3's battery/card door features a covered pass-through, for use with optional DC coupler and AC adapter.

Shooting with the Panasonic GF3

by Dan Havlik

Panasonic has done an interesting thing with the new 12-megapixel LUMIX DMC-GF3. It's even smaller and more streamlined than the previous model, and some of the external buttons and controls are stripped off. Even the hot shoe is gone. Overall, the Panasonic GF3 has a more consumer look and feel than its predecessor, the GF2.

14mm. The bundled 14mm f/2.5 lens is equivalent to a 28mm, great for landscape shots without introducing too much distortion.

I find this interesting because the common perception of these compact system cameras (CSC) -- small, mirrorless cameras that use small interchangeable lenses -- is that they're aimed at advanced amateurs, enthusiasts, and prosumer photographers. That definitely seemed the case with the GF2, which was slender and compact but had a boxy design that recalled classic rangefinder models. (The original GF1 had an even more traditional "analogue" design to it.) The slightly rounded and petite Panasonic GF3 is more apt to remind you of advanced point-and-shoot models such as the Canon S95, Olympus XZ-1, or Panasonic's own LX5.

By creating a smaller, more potentially consumer-friendly interchangeable lens camera with the GF3, Panasonic is clearly hoping to draw a larger audience to its CSC models, which, while they have found a devoted niche of earlier adopters, are just starting to enter the mainstream. At the same time, the more family-friendly style of the GF3 might turn off experienced photographers who like their gear to be "serious."

The Panasonic GF3's small size, inconspicuous design, and lightning fast autofocus is great for capturing candid moments of people on the street.

The Panasonic GF3 certainly looks less imposing than the GF2; it's smaller in width and height than its predecessor but has about same thickness.

The difference is more glaring when you actually start shooting with the Panasonic GF3. I did so recently, using it with its slender 14mm f/2.5 kit lens. Despite not having any optical zoom (aside from the zoom of my feet), this combination is how to best appreciate the GF3, I think. I've never fully gotten the CSC category mostly because I never felt these cameras (both those with Micro Four Thirds and APS-C size sensors) were as portable as advertised, especially when they're attached to a telescoping zoom lens. But the GF3, which uses a Micro Four Thirds sensor, is small enough to fit in a coat pocket with the 14mm lens attached. (It converts to a decent, wide-angle 28mm lens because of the the Micro Four Thirds' 2x magnification factor.)

Out on the Street. While carrying the Panasonic GF3 around for a few days of street shooting in New York City, I felt like I was wearing "almost nothing at all," as the saying goes. The GF3 is not only lightweight, it's a rather inconspicuous-looking camera which makes it ideal for candid images. Most people will probably think it's just a casual snapshooter (unless you get the red one).

What also helps is that the GF3's autofocus speed is fast. Our lab clocked the Panasonic GF3's with the 14mm kit lens at 0.312 second for full autofocus in single area AF mode, and 0.310 second in multi-area AF mode, making it one of the fastest CSC models on the market. That's impressive, especially because these types of cameras with their creaky Contrast Detection-based autofocus systems have been notorious slowpokes. Thankfully that's changed with cameras such as the GH2, GF3, Sony NEX-C3, and the Olympus PEN E-P3. Finally the CSC category has cameras that can compete in autofocus speed with digital SLRs, even prosumer-level DSLRs.

At the same time, the Panasonic GF3 showed some of its point-and-shoot roots with a below average start-up to first shot speed, clocking in at nearly two seconds. That's almost a full second slower than the GF2. The GF3's shot-to-shot times of 0.65 second were good for a CSC but not quite as speedy as a DSLR. In its High Speed Continuous mode, the GF3 bested the GF2, recording 3.46 fps (slightly slower than the specified 3.8 fps, but still pretty fast for the category). Mode switching on the GF3 was reasonably fast and it only takes 0.2 second to display an image already shot.

Perhaps the best thing about the Panasonic GF3, though, is that I never felt I had to wait for it to focus on what I was shooting. When trying to inconspicuously photograph people on the street at what French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson once called 'the decisive moment," it's important your camera be swift, silent, and accurate. While Cartier-Bresson didn't enjoy the benefits of such quick autofocus -- he was more of a manual focus, Leica rangefinder type of guy -- you will love it on the GF3. The camera also focused quickly and effectively in low light. That's a big plus because while the GF3 has a small, pop-up flash, it's rather weak and you probably won't use it often. (And as mentioned before, there's no hot shoe on the GF3 for attaching an external flash.)

The Panasonic GF3's built-in flash pops up with a rather erratic clatter, but settles into the right position well enough. It may not be very powerful, but it's fine as a fill for portraits. It also does fairly well in close-up, low-light portraits. (I wouldn't recommend using it in a pitch-dark room though.) In our lab testing, the flash performed well in the center at up to 8.3 feet. Overall, though, the flash tested to be very center heavy, falling off rapidly toward the edges.

The GF3's 16:9 mode, is great for limiting your subject in wide-angle shots.

Size. The benefit of the Panasonic GF3's small size is that it's easy to transport, whether it's in your coat pocket while walking the streets of New York or in your carry-on bag for your trip to Acapulco. The downside is that it makes the GF3 hard to hold comfortably. This is exacerbated by the camera's tiny grip, which I could only wrap two fingers around. Holding onto the GF3 is something of a challenge for anyone with large hands and its tiny body and consumer-style interface is bound to turn off more serious photographers. Include me as someone who wishes Panasonic also made a slightly bigger and more professional version of the GF3. Call it the GF3-P?

The Panasonic GF3 is definitely a camera you wouldn't want to drop since its lightweight, polycarbonate body would certainly be damaged. Our advice is to use a wrist strap or the included neck strap to better secure the GF3 in most active shooting situations.

Though great for landscapes the 14mm lens requires something as large as a sunflower to demonstrate its macro abilities (it can focus closer, but not much). It also has nice bokeh.

As a colleague put it, once you take the Panasonic GF3 out for a spin, it's pretty much love at first click. I brought the GF3 along to shoot some of my favorite neighborhood haunts and was immediately impressed by its speed and image quality. Another big plus is the GF3's 3-inch, 460,000-dot-resolution LCD touchscreen, which is one of the best I've tried on a small camera. Since there is no optical viewfinder on the GF3, you'll be leaning entirely on the live preview of the GF3's display to compose your shots. The decision to leave off a hot shoe helps makes the GF3 smaller and lighter but it also leaves out the possibility of adding an optical or electronic viewfinder accessory.

This is not as big a sacrifice as you might think, thanks to the high quality of the GF3's LCD screen. I would have appreciated an articulating or tilting screen on the GF3. At the very least, being able to tilt the LCD up would've really helped its usage as a waist-level viewfinder. That way, you could keep the camera at your belly so as not to attract attention and compose your shots just by tilting the camera.

Also, I'm still not crazy about the touchscreen capabilities Panasonic has been putting into its cameras. This is somewhat a matter of taste and there are likely many photographers out there who might enjoy this touch functionality. I'm not sold on it yet. It all seems more trouble than it's worth, including the interesting but seemingly unnecessary Touch Shutter. I kept inadvertently taking pictures of the sidewalk or walls with Touch Shutter on and ended up turning this feature off.

Expressive mode did a good job of adding some flare to this silhouette of the George Washington Bridge.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Though it relies more on the touchscreen interface, the GF3 only lost two controls from the GF3: The Rear dial and its button (you pressed down on the dial for confirmation). To change mode and display settings, you can either toggle through the menus or use the LCD's touchscreen overlay. There's no mode dial on the GF3 but there is a physical rotary dial integrated into the navigator to scroll through menus and make adjustments. If you're used to changing important settings such as specialty modes and ISO on the fly, the GF3 can take some practice.

I like that the camera still has the dedicated red movie button on top of the camera near the shutter, which immediately starts video recording. Incidentally the GF3 has similar movie capture capabilities to the GF2 including Full HD (1,080i / 1,920 x 1,080 pixel) or 720p (1,280 x 720 pixel) video capture in AVCHD format at 17Mbps, as well as for Motion JPEG capture at 720p resolution or below. Recording rates are unchanged -- NTSC models offer either 30 frames per second for Motion JPEG, 60 frames per second for 720p AVCHD, or 60 fields per second for 1,080i AVCHD, all captured from 30 frames per second sensor data. A few of the GF2's recording modes have been deleted, however, namely the 13Mbps 1080i FH and 13Mbps 720p H modes in AVCHD, and WVGA mode in Motion JPEG.

These GF3 sample videos demonstrate AVCHD and Motion JPEG modes respectively. Motion JPEG videos should play just fine in QuickTime on most systems, but the AVCHD files will require a multi-core processor and compatible software (the GF3 includes PhotoFUNStudio for PCs; Macs can use iMovie '08 or greater).

The major difference on the GF3 relates to its audio recording. Panasonic's replaced the GF2's stereo internal microphone with a monaural mic, which is sure to irk some video buffs who want their movies in stereo. On the plus side, the maximum movie record times on a charge have been improved slightly: where the GF2 was good for 120 to 130 minutes of video capture, the GF3 gives you 130 to 150 minutes. That's per-charge, though; AVCHD video length is limited to 13 hours 3 minutes 20 seconds on NTSC models, and 29 minutes 59 seconds on PAL models to meet CE standards. Motion JPEGs are also limited to 2GB.

Then there's the dedicated Intelligent Auto button on top of the camera. While some photographers might see this as another consumer-centric feature, I liked having the button as an all-purpose settings override. I spend a lot of time tweaking settings while shooting and the IA button is a good way to bring the GF3 back to its general, all-purpose mode when a quick, candid photo op presents itself. Intelligent Auto is designed to pick the best scene mode/setting for the shooting situation and while it's not always accurate, it's good in a pinch.

Overall though, I think making so many of the adjustments menu-based was a mistake by Panasonic. (I've felt the way about Sony's NEX CSC models as well.) I've been shooting with the GF3 for about a month and still find myself fumbling with settings and button presses when I want to change something simple. Not to mention, the touchscreen control just makes everything worse.

Making adjustments. Wheeling through the various specialty settings on the Panasonic GF3 is a chore, partially because adjustments are all menu-based and partially because of how the menus are organized. The Creative Control adjustments are where you'll probably spend most of your time, if you can get to them. Since there's no Mode dial, you need to press either the Menu button at the center of the navigation cluster or the Quick Menu button below that to launch either the Menu or the Quick menu, both of which work differently.

With the Menu, you're pretty much limited to navigating using the four arrow keys or the dial; but in the Quick menu you can use a combination of the dial and the navigation keys, or opt instead to touch the icons on the screen. It's a little befuddling at first, but touching is obviously the easiest approach.

14mm lens	2x digital zoom	4x digital zoom
Again, by diving into the Menu, you can employ digital zoom in a pinch, of marginal value with the 14mm lens, but value all the same. You can zoom to 2x or 4x with the normal loss of quality from interpolation.

Several animations play as you switch between modes; when in a hurry, I'd love the option to ditch the animations and get to the controls. By the end of my testing, I started to get the hang of the virtual mode dial but I still wasn't crazy about it. There seems little reason that it should be arranged in a circle, except to emulate a mode dial, and it makes dialing in the modes just one step more difficult.

The virtual mode dial is where you'll find Creative Control under the palette and brush icon, providing you with access to six effects. Choices are Expressive (pop-art style), Retro (soft, tarnished effect), High Key (brighter image), Sepia, High Dynamic (localized color and contrast enhancement), and Miniature Effect (linear graduated blur towards the edges of the image). Of all these, I had the most success with Expressive for pumping up drab settings with punchy color; and High Dynamic, which did a fairly good job of evening out exposure. Overall though, Panasonic's special effects are a step behind more robust art filters sets such as those offered on Olympus' latest PEN cameras.

The Film Mode function from previous Panasonic cameras has been renamed to Photo Style on the GF3. This offers a selection of six presets, plus a custom mode, each of which can be tweaked in terms of contrast, sharpness, saturation (except in Monochrome mode, where it is replaced with a color tone adjustment), and noise reduction. Presets include Standard, Vivid, Natural, Monochrome, Scenery, and Portrait.

Architecture mode helps with shooting buildings in the city by providing horizontal and vertical gridlines on the LCD to help you frame your shot while bringing out architectural detail.

There are also 17 Scene modes with most of the standard presets including everything from Portrait to Sunset to Party mode, which helps you get more natural color in indoor light. City folk will like Architecture, in which features and details in buildings and structures appear sharper. It also offers an overlay of guidelines to check the horizontal and vertical axes. If you like delving into these specialty modes, prepare to spend a lot of time jumping from menu to menu to get the effect you want.

Miniature mode helped make this image of a UPS vehicle look like a toy truck.

And that's the conundrum of the Panasonic GF3. There's a lot to like with this camera including its lighting fast autofocus and good image quality overall, but you may find yourself getting frustrated with the decidedly beginner-focus of this camera. For all its upgrades, these limitations are enough to make you miss the more manual and straightforward approach of Panasonic's earlier models in this line. If you can get used to the GF3's quirks, though, you just may love this little sharpshooter.

Image quality. Overall, I was quite impressed with the Panasonic GF3's image quality. Because I was using the the 14mm (28mm equivalent) kit lens, I shot a lot of wide angle and landscape/streetscape type images with the GF3. With the 14mm prime lens, there were slightly soft corners in my images of Ft. Tryon Park, The Cloisters, and the Hudson River, but overall sharpness was quite good. Chromatic aberration was also minimal, because the GF3 corrects for it in JPEGs, just as it does for geometric distortion. Using the Intelligent Auto feature (and sometimes Intelligent Auto Plus, which is like IA but also lets you adjust brightness and color), the camera often guessed correctly, choosing the Landscape Mode, which provided nice, wide depth of field and crisp detail in my park and river shots.

There's still a slight problem with yellows that look more greenish in the Panasonic GF3's yellows. Even the orange threads in this shot appear more brownish, thanks to the green influence (not the vibrant orange furthest left, but the second set).

Not surprisingly, close-up Macro photos of flowers weren't as tack sharp with the wide kit lens, though the f/2.5 aperture provided nice background blur. At ISO 160-400, the GF3 produced very little noise in my photos, which were uniformly crisp. Things got softer at ISO 800, but we could still make a usable 16x20-inch print.

Overall, the Panasonic GF3 did well for a small CSC model using a Micro Four Thirds-size image sensor with good performance from ISO 160 to 800. Heck, even at its highest ISO setting, the GF3 still put out a good 5x7. That's saying a lot.

The Panasonic GF3's video quality, particularly at Full HD in AVCHD mode, was quite good. For PC users, the Panasonic GF3 ships with a copy of PHOTOfunSTUDIO HD Edition, which helps with organizing and playing back AVCHD movie files, but the software is not Mac-compatible. At first we found this confounding, because digging the AVCHD files off obscure folders on your memory card leaves you with an MTS file that you can't import into iMovie. However, if you plug the card or camera into the Mac, and then open iMovie ('08 or later), it will import the files either automatically, or when you select, "Import from Camera" in the menu. If you own an older Mac or a slower PC, both of which will struggle with AVCHD files, you could set the GF3 to record video in Motion JPEG format. It won't be full HD -- just 720p -- but you'll be able to easily grab them and play them back.

Another note for Mac users: the Panasonic GF3's RAW files aren't currently supported by MacOS, so they don't import into iPhoto, and Adobe Camera RAW doesn't yet officially support the files either. Very likely, both soon will. The good news is that SilkyPix is bundled on the software disk.

Panasonic GF3 Image Quality

Most CSCs will produce a reasonable ISO 100 shot, so we like to push them and see what they can do at ISO 1,600. Recent advances in sensor technology have made ISO 1,600 look a lot more like ISO 100, but there are still cameras whose quality starts to fall apart at this setting. We also choose 1,600 because we like to be able to shoot at least at this level when indoors and at night. Don't forget that these are JPEG images, and you're likely to get better performance out of the GF3's RAW files.

Panasonic GF3 versus Olympus E-P3 at ISO 1,600

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 1,600	Olympus E-P3 at ISO 1,600
ISO 1,600 shots from the GF3 are surprisingly soft for the category, with less saturated color than we expected. The Olympus E-P3 does a little better in terms of color and sharpness, though it trades off a bit too, leaving more chroma noise and sharpening artifacts (halos around borders) that are also somewhat distracting.

Panasonic GF3 versus Panasonic GF2 at ISO 1,600

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 1,600	Panasonic GF2 at ISO 1,600
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's very little difference between the GF3 and GF2 at ISO 1,600. The GF2's image seems a little darker, but that could be down to a minor exposure difference.

Panasonic GF3 versus Panasonic G3 at ISO 1,600

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 1,600	Panasonic G3 at ISO 1,600
If you're looking for better image quality from a Panasonic, the new G3 offers quite a bit more detail and color, even at ISO 1,600. It even handles the red leaf swatch fairly well.

Panasonic GF3 versus Samsung NX100 at ISO 1,600

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 1,600	Samsung NX100 at ISO 1,600
We can see perhaps a little more detail from the Samsung NX100, but it comes with a lot more chroma noise in the shadows, and an even softer rendition of reds in the red leaf swatch. The mosaic image is rendered more distinctly from the NX100 to be sure. Overall, I prefer the GF3's more photographic appearance, but your mileage may vary.

Panasonic GF3 versus Sony NEX-C3 at ISO 1,600

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 1,600	Sony NEX-C3 at ISO 1,600
The Sony NEX-C3 also does noticeably better at ISO 1,600, perhaps thanks to its larger sensor. There's more detail and better color overall.

Today's ISO 3,200 is yesterday's ISO 1,600 (well, almost), so below are the same crops at ISO 3,200.

Panasonic GF3 versus Olympus E-P3 at ISO 3,200

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 3,200	Olympus E-P3 at ISO 3,200
The difference between the GF3 and Olympus E-P3 becomes less noticeable at ISO 3,200. The GF3 image is still softer and less vibrant than the E-P3's, but sharpening artifacts and chroma noise persist in the E-P3.

Panasonic GF3 versus Panasonic GF2 at ISO 3,200

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 3,200	Panasonic GF2 at ISO 3,200
The Panasonic GF3 handles noise suppression in the shadows noticeably better than its predecessor, the GF2. The background of the mosaic label is also smoother from the GF3, and the color slightly more saturated.

Panasonic GF3 versus Panasonic G3 at ISO 3,200

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 3,200	Panasonic G3 at ISO 3,200
Here the Panasonic G3 really shows its mettle, and Panasonic's recent advances in sensor and processing technology. There's more color, more resolution, and just better image quality overall in the G3.

Panasonic GF3 versus Samsung NX100 at ISO 3,200

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 3,200	Samsung NX100 at ISO 3,200
Something very strange happens to the Samsung NX100's images at ISO 3,200. The odd color halos and stippled effect to the images results in a smaller acceptable printed image than we can get from the GF3 files, though detail does seem stronger in these crops.

Panasonic GF3 versus Sony NEX-C3 at ISO 3,200

Panasonic GF3 at ISO 3,200	Sony NEX-C3 at ISO 3,200
The Sony NEX-C3 once again turns out more detail and color than the GF3 at ISO 3,200, even though it's clear that Sony has cranked up its noise suppression system.

Detail: Panasonic GF3 versus Olympus E-P3, Panasonic GF2, Panasonic G3, Samsung NX100, and Sony NEX-C3

Panasonic GF3 ISO 160 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Olympus E-P3 ISO 200 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Panasonic GF2 ISO 100 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Panasonic G3 ISO 160 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Samsung NX100 ISO 100 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400	Sony NEX-C3 ISO 200 ISO 3,200 ISO 6,400
Detail comparison. High-contrast details are often sharper as ISO rises, so they're worth a look as well. The Panasonic GF3 does a little better in the detail department than the GF2, but is still bested by the E-P3, the G3, and the NEX-C3. It's about even with the GF2 and NX200 at all ISO settings and it has less noise overall than the GF2; otherwise there's little difference. The red lettering is also retained better in the E-P3, G3, and NEX-C3, so it's not the best of an otherwise good field of cameras. We'd have liked to see slightly better performance in this third generation camera, especially with the new processor, but there's always RAW.

Panasonic GF3 Print Quality

Looking at crops onscreen doesn't tell the whole story, or even the most important story, so we print our Still Life and Indoor test shots to see how large we can print at each ISO setting.

ISO 160 shots are usable, if a little soft at 20x30; sharpening with unsharp mask fixes that a little, making a crisper 20x30. Printing at 16x20 eliminates the softness, making a great print straight from the camera.

ISO 200 shots are quite good at 16x20, very crisp.

ISO 400 images also print well at 16x20, with good detail.

ISO 800 images soften up, but still make a usable 16x20-inch print. Reds seem to soften more quickly (as is the case on most cameras)

ISO 1,600 images take a turn downward in quality, making only a marginally acceptable 13x19-inch print, but a decent 11x14. Colors also darken at ISO 1,600.

ISO 3,200 shots are way too fuzzy for 11x14, but are better at 8x10; all but reds, which are quite blurry.

ISO 6,400 images are darker still, but make a decent 5x7-inch print.

Overall, the Panasonic GF3 does well for a small MFT camera, with good performance from ISO 100 to 800. And even its highest ISO setting puts out a good 5x7.

In the Box

The Panasonic GF3 ships with the following items in the box

• Panasonic GF3 body
• 14mm f/2.5 kit lens (or 14-42mm zoom kit lens for $100 less)
• Body cap
• Lens caps
• Stylus
• Lithium-ion battery
• Battery charger
• USB cable
• Shoulder strap
• CD-ROM (includes PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.2 HD Edition, SILKYPIX Developer Studio 3.1 SE, Super Loilo Scope trial version, and USB driver)
• Quick Start manual
• Warranty card

Recommended Accessories

• Extra battery pack
• Protective case
• Large capacity, high-speed SDHC/SDXC memory card. 8-16GB or larger makes sense if you plan on shooting lots of HD video. Look for a speed grade of at least Class 4 for AVCHD video capture, Class 6 for Motion JPEG.

Panasonic GF3 Conclusion

For all its benefits, including its fast autofocus system and small, highly portable design, the 12MP Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GF3 is a camera that's liable to divide users. On the one hand, this Compact System Camera (CSC) fulfills the promise of Micro Four Thirds sensor technology by offering photographers a high-quality picture-taking device that's tiny enough to fit in a coat pocket. With its impressively sharp, 14mm f/2.5 lens attached, the Panasonic GF3 is the perfect camera for street photography. It's fast and produces consistently good images that will make satisfying prints, even for photos captured at high ISO levels. And while it uses a Micro Four Thirds sensor and accepts interchangeable lenses, the GF3 looks like a casual snapshooter, allowing you to inconspicuously capture candid images without alerting shy subjects.

Some photographers who loved the GF3's more serious-looking predecessors, the GF1 and GF2, might not enjoy the new camera's more consumer style, however. It's also a devilish camera to adjust quickly, with many of its key functions buried in several different menu systems. The touchscreen capability doesn't help much. We found it to be more trouble than it was worth, often causing the camera to inadvertently snap a photo when it bumped against our leg or stomach. (Yes, we accidentally shot a lot of pictures of the ground with this model.)

But while the Panasonic GF3 is not without its quirks, there's a lot to like in this blazing fast little sharpshooter. The GF3's quick autofocus means the camera's more often ready to catch the action. Meanwhile, the gorgeous 3-inch LCD screen provides a crisp live preview and sharp playback of images. Love or hate the stripped down design of this camera, there's no denying the Panasonic GF3 is one of the better CSC models on the market, making it a Dave's Pick.

Optics

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 Optics

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 is available body-only, bundled with a Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 ASPH pancake lens, or bundled with the Lumix G 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH MEGA O.I.S. zoom lens. The results on this page are from the 14mm pancake lens.

14mm Pancake Lens Test Results

Prime Lens
Very good performance with the 14mm f/2.5 kit lens.

The above shots were taken with the Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 ASPH Micro Four Thirds pancake lens. The 35mm equivalent focal length is about 28mm, a result of the GF3's 2x "crop factor." Results were excellent at f/8, with very good sharpness and contrast across much of the frame, and low levels of chromatic aberration and coma distortion in the corners. We can't really comment on corner sharpness because of the proximity of the trees in this shot, though, so we've added a Multi Target shot at f/8 below.

Since this is wide-angle lens with no optical zoom, we've also included shots with 2x and 4x digital zoom. They show pretty good results for digital zoom (particularly at 2x), though there's no getting away from the loss of detail associated with interpolation. The digital zoom shots also show that exposure can be different (underexposed in this case) compared to just cropping a full resolution shot after the fact, so that's something to be aware of.

Macro
A much larger than average minimum area, with very good detail. Flash had trouble though.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3's macro performance will depend entirely on the lens in use. However, with the 14mm kit lens, the Panasonic GF3 captured a much larger than average minimum area measuring 5.78 x 4.33 inches (147 x 110 millimeters). Detail was very good across much of the frame at f/5.6, though there's some moderate blurring in the corners which is not unusual. (Most lenses have some softening in the corners at macro distances.) The popup flash had trouble throttling down at such a close distance, resulting in a strongly overexposed image with uneven coverage. (Thus, external lighting may be the best bet for macro shots with this lens.)

Geometric Distortion
Low geometric distortion with the 14mm kit lens in JPEGs, much higher than average distortion in uncorrected RAW files.

In-Camera JPEG: Barrel distortion at 14mm is 0.4 percent

Uncorrected RAW: Barrel distortion at 14mm is 2.3%

When shooting JPEGs, the Panasonic GF3's 14mm kit lens produced just over 0.4 percent barrel distortion, which is much less than average especially for a wide-angle lens, and hardly noticeable in its images. This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide-angle).

To see how much correction is taking place in the camera, we converted a RAW file from the above shot with dcraw, which does not correct for distortion. As you can see, the actual barrel distortion is very high at about 2.3%. We expect this for smaller interchangeable lenses though, so it's nothing to be concerned about unless you are using a RAW converter which does not understand the embedded "opcodes" to perform distortion corrections automatically. Most RAW converters these days (including Adobe Camera Raw and SilkyPix) are capable of applying distortion correction automatically, as specified by the manufacturer. There is however going to be some loss of resolution as a result of such correction, because pixels in the corners of the frame are being "stretched" to correct for the distortion. Obviously, a lens that doesn't require such correction, and is also sharp in the corners to begin with would be preferable, but relaxing constraints on distortion brings other benefits in the lens design, such as a very compact design.

Chromatic Aberration and Corner Sharpness
Low to moderate levels of chromatic aberration from the 14mm kit lens in JPEGs. Uncorrected RAW files show much higher amounts. Corners were soft wide-open, but sharpen-up when the lens is stopped-down.

Chromatic Aberration. Chromatic aberration in the corners with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3's 14mm kit lens is low to moderate in terms of pixel count in JPEGs, being somewhat exacerbated by the blurring, but coloration is fairly dull and bluish. The camera's processor does a pretty good job of reducing CA in JPEGs (see below for uncorrected RAW). As usual, color fringing gradually reduces in brightness and width as it approaches the center of the image, where it is almost non-existent.

Corner Softness. The Panasonic GF3's 14mm kit lens produced mild to moderate blurring in the corners wide-open at f/2.5, with the bottom right corner being the softest, though softness doesn't extend very far into the frame. Some corner shading ("vignetting") is also noticeable from the difference in brightness of the center versus corner crops above, especially wide-open. When stopped-down to f/8, corners become sharper, though still slightly soft, while the center remains very sharp. Vignetting also reduces when the lens is stopped-down, as expected.

Chromatic Aberration Correction. As mentioned above, the Panasonic GF3 applies chromatic aberration correction to its JPEGs, as uncorrected RAW files show much more distinct green and magenta coloration. RAW files converted with the bundled SilkyPix software are automatically corrected for CA and geometric distortion, so we used dcraw for the uncorrected conversions above right.

Shading Compensation
The Panasonic GF3 features optional Shading Compensation to reduce vignetting in JPEG images.

Shading Compensation: (14mm @ f/2.5)	Off	On

As you can see, the Panasonic GF3's Shading Compensation feature reduces corner shading quite effectively with the 14mm kit lens. Shading Compensation is off by default, not available when shooting video, and is not available with all lenses. Mouse over the links above to compare thumbnails, and click on the links to load the full resolution images.

Overall, a very good performance for a wide-angle pancake kit lens, and better performance than the typical zoom kit lens.

Panasonic GF3 LCD Viewfinder

Viewfinder Test Results

Accuracy
Excellent coverage accuracy from the LCD monitor.

The Panasonic GF3's LCD monitor proved quite accurate when used as a viewfinder, showing about 100% coverage with our low-distortion Olympus 50mm f/2 reference lens. Excellent results here.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Panasonic GF3 Image Quality

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Acceptable color and hue accuracy over most of the spectrum, with moderate oversaturation of some colors. Typical Panasonic shifts in orange through yellow.

In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Click for a larger image.

Saturation. The Panasonic GF3's default Standard Photo Style pushes blues, purples, reds, and dark greens a fair amount, while slightly undersaturating aqua and cyan. Bright yellows are undersaturated a little more. Default saturation was 114.4% (14.4% oversaturated) in our test. That's a bit higher than the GF2's 110.2%, but still a fairly typical result for mean saturation these days. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. Here, the Panasonic GF3 did fairly well, producing natural-looking Caucasian skin tones with a noticeable push towards pink, giving a healthy appearance. Darker skin tones had a small nudge toward orange. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Panasonic GF3 pushed cyan toward blue, red toward orange, orange toward yellow and yellow toward green. The yellow through orange shifts were especially apparent in the yarn of our Still Life test image. Manual white balance was off a bit as well, pushed toward purple and magenta. The camera's average "delta-C" color error of 7.32 for JPEGs is one of the highest for an SLR-class camera in recent memory (lower scores are better). The good news is the orange-yellow shifts are significantly mitigated by shooting in RAW format and using a good-quality RAW converter. The bundled SilkyPix software as well as Adobe Camera RAW do much better with hue accuracy than JPEGs produced in-camera. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Color Modes
The Panasonic GF3 offers six preset color modes or "Photo Styles" as the company calls them. You can adjust contrast, saturation (color tone for Monochrome), sharpness, and noise reduction for any of the modes, and then save the settings as a single custom option. There are also six Creative Control filter effects available (Expressive, Retro, High Key, Sepia, High Dynamic, and Miniature Effect), however we didn't test those in the lab.

Preset "Photo Styles"
Standard	Monochrome	Natural
Portrait	Scenery	Vivid

Mouse over the links above to see the effect of the Photo Style presets on our Still Life target. You can click on a link to load the full resolution image.

Saturation Adjustment
The Panasonic GF3 lets you adjust the image saturation, contrast, and sharpness in five steps each. As can be seen below, the saturation adjustment was very subtle, and worked mainly on reds. We usually argue in favor of more subtle adjustments for saturation on the cameras we test, but the Panasonic GF3 goes a bit too far in that direction; we'd like to see a wider range here (more steps), but still with the fine steps the GF3 currently offers.

Saturation Adjustment Examples
-2	0	+2

The table above shows results with the default as well as the two "extreme" saturation settings. Click on any thumbnail above, then click again to see the full-sized image.

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Slightly warm with Auto and very warm with the Incandescent white balance setting. Good color balance with the Manual setting, but a little too cool with 2,600 Kelvin. Average positive exposure compensation required.

Indoors, under normal incandescent lighting, color balance was just slightly warm with the Auto white balance setting, though the Panasonic GF3 did much better than most cameras in this regard. (While slightly warm results with the Auto setting were quite acceptable, many users in fact may prefer a slightly warm look in situations like this, to better represent the mood of the original lighting.) Results with the Incandescent setting where much too warm for our tastes, with a strong orange-yellow cast. The Manual setting produced the most accurate results, while the 2,600 Kelvin setting which should match our lights was slightly cool. The Panasonic GF3 required +0.3 EV exposure compensation here, which is about average for this shot. (Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.)

Outdoors, daylight
Slightly cool colors overall, with a tendency toward high contrast under harsh lighting. About average exposure accuracy.

Outdoors, the Panasonic GF3 performed pretty well, with good though slightly cool color in the Far-field shot. Skin-tones were fairly realistic in our Outdoor Portrait shot, with a healthy-looking pink tint. Exposure accuracy was about average, as the camera required +0.7 EV compensation for our Outdoor Portrait shot to keep facial tones reasonably bright. That's average for this shot, but it led to some blown highlights. The default exposure was a little dim for the Far-field shot, but there were very few blown highlights, though some shadows are very dark. Default contrast is on the high side, but that's how most consumers prefer their photos.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
Very high resolution, 1,900 ~ 2,000 lines of strong detail.

In camera JPEGs, our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 2,000 lines per picture height horizontally, and about 1,900 lines in the vertical direction. (Some might argue for higher numbers, but aliasing artifacts begin to appear around there.) Complete extinction of the pattern didn't occur until about 2,800 to 2,900 lines horizontally and vertically. We weren't able to extract significantly more high-contrast resolution by processing the Panasonic GF3's RW2 files using Adobe Camera RAW 6.4. ACR also showed a lot more color moiré than the camera JPEG.

Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Very good sharpness overall, though some visible edge-enhancement artifacts on high-contrast subjects. Some noise suppression visible in the shadows even at base ISO.

Sharpness. The Panasonic GF3 captures sharp, fairly detailed images overall, though edge enhancement artifacts are visible on high-contrast subjects such as the "halos" along the thicker branches in the crop above left. The sharpening isn't nearly as evident on lower-contrast elements, such as the pine needles and smaller branches. Given its target market, the default sharpening applied is appropriate, as we think most consumers would be pleased. And of course, you can always tweak the sharpness setting to your liking. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

JPEG	RAW

Detail. The crop above right shows the effect of noise suppression in the form of smudging of individual strands together in the darker areas of the model's hair, as well as in areas with low local contrast. This is quite common, though, and we've certainly seen stronger noise reduction from other models. There are also some bluish color blotches (particularly visible near the left edge of the JPEG crop right), that we believe may be the result of insufficient anti-aliasing filtering, and the demosaicing problems that produces. (We also saw these with previous G series cameras, but only in the very fine, reddish detail of the mannequin's hair. This is something that we've also seen with a number of other cameras in the past, including several SLRs, so it's not unusual. Processing RAW files in a good RAW converter usually minimizes or eliminates the issue, as can be seen in the ACR converted RAW crop at right.) Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

Intelligent Resolution
The Panasonic GF3 offers four levels of "Intelligent Resolution", which essentially sharpens fine detail and outlines, while reducing noise in areas with little or no detail (such as a cloudless sky). To see how well it works, compare the crops below at each setting.

Off (Default)	Low	Standard	High	Extended

In the table above, mousing over a link at the bottom will load the corresponding crop in the area above, and clicking on the link will load the full resolution image.

As you can see, fine detail contained in and around the lettering on the bottle has progressively stronger local sharpening applied as the setting is increased, while noise in flatter areas that would normally be emphasized with standard, global sharpening is actually reduced. Sharpening halos are however more visible at higher settings. According to Panasonic, the Extended setting is designed to produce more natural results when making large prints.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above, the Panasonic GF3 produces sharp in-camera JPEGs. As is almost always the case, though, quite a bit more detail can be obtained from carefully processing RAW files than can be seen in the in-camera JPEGs, with fewer artifacts to boot. The Panasonic GF3's JPEGs are pretty good in terms of detail straight from the camera, but it's often surprising how much more detail is visible after processing in a good RAW converter. Take a look below, to see what we mean:

Camera JPEG (i-Resolution Off)	Camera JPEG (i-Resolution Standard)	RAW via SilkyPix	RAW via Adobe Camera Raw

In the table above, mousing over a link at the bottom will load the corresponding crop in the area above, and clicking on the link will load the full resolution image.

The first crop on the left is from an in-camera Fine JPEG at default settings, with Intelligent Resolution set to Off. The second is also an in-camera JPEG, but with Intelligent Resolution set to "Standard". The third crop is a RAW conversion done with SilkyPix 3.1 SE (the RAW converter Panasonic bundles with their RAW-capable cameras). We found its default settings produced images softer than the camera JPEGs, so we turned noise reduction and sharpening as low as they go within the editor, and used its output unsharp masking feature set to 250%, a radius of 0.3 pixels, and a threshold of 0 to sharpen the image. Adobe Camera Raw 6.4 was used for the ACR conversion at right. Default settings were used for conversion, though no sharpening was applied in ACR. The image was then sharpened in Photoshop using USM of 250% with a radius of 0.3 pixel.

As you can see, Intelligent Resolution gives some more pop to fine detail in JPEGs, but doesn't really show any more detail. It also generates additional sharpening artifacts. SilkyPix seems to have trouble with the pine needles, flattening them out, even with noise reduction turned all the way down. It's likely doing some NR under the hood which can't be disabled. The results we got using SilkyPix were a bit disappointing, but we must confess we didn't experiment with different settings for very long, so you may be able to do better. The ACR conversion extracted the most detail, but also shows more noise, especially in areas with little detail such as the sky. You can always turn up the luminance noise reduction (default of zero was used here), or process the files in your favorite noise reduction program or plugin, though. Bottom line: as is usually the case, the Panasonic DMC-GF3 rewards RAW shooters with better detail (and better color) when used with a good RAW converter.

ISO & Noise Performance
Very good detail vs noise trade-off up to ISO 400, stronger noise and noise reduction at higher ISOs.

Default Noise Reduction
ISO 160	ISO 200	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 1,600	ISO 3,200
	ISO 6,400

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3's images are pretty clean at ISOs 160 and 200, with only minor luminance and chrominance noise visible in the shadows, but as mentioned previously, there is already some smudging visible from slightly over-zealous default noise reduction. The effects of noise reduction become stronger as ISO increases, and a moderate amount of detail is already lost at ISO 400, where there is more visible chroma noise as well. The effects of noise reduction are more evident at ISO 800 where there's additional blurring, though stronger chroma noise reduction has kicked-in, removing most color noise including the blue botches we mentioned above. At ISO 1,600 we see additional detail loss, stronger luminance noise, as well as some purple and yellow blotches that span larger areas. At ISO 3,200, fine detail takes a bigger hit, and the purple/yellow blotches are more noticeable as are sharpening artifacts around noisier pixels. Noise gets very ugly at ISO 6,400: there's very little fine detail left, strong color blotches, and the camera's noise reduction coupled with sharpening artifacts produce a prominent peppering effect. The Panasonic GF3's JPEG high ISO performance appears to be marginally better than its predecessor, the GF2, but doesn't rise to the level of the G3.

We're of course pixel-peeping to an extraordinary extent here, since 1:1 images on an LCD screen have little to do with how those same images will appear when printed. See the Print Quality section below for our evaluation of maximum print sizes at each ISO setting.

A note about focus for this shot: We shoot this image at f/4, usually using one of three very sharp reference lenses (70mm Sigma f/2.8 macro for most cameras, 60mm f/2.8 Nikkor macro for Nikon bodies without a drive motor, and Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 for Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds bodies). To insure that the hair detail we use for making critical judgements about camera noise processing and detail rendering is in sharp focus at the relatively wide aperture we're shooting at, the focus target at the center of the scene is on a movable stand. This lets us compensate for front- or back-focus by different camera bodies, even those that lack micro-focus adjustments. This does mean, though, that the focus target itself may appear soft or slightly out of focus for bodies that front- or back-focused with the reference lens. We know this; if you click to view the full-size image for one of these shots and notice that the focus target is fuzzy, you don't need to email and tell us. :-) The focus target position will have been adjusted to insure that the rest of the scene is focused properly.

Extremes: Sunlit and low light tests
Somewhat high default contrast and limited dynamic range. Very good low-light performance.

Sunlight. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 struggled a bit with the deliberately harsh lighting of this test. Contrast was a little high at its default setting, and dynamic range limited, with quite a few blown-out highlights in the mannequin's shirt and flowers and deep, somewhat noisy shadows. Although skin tones around the eyes are a bit dark at +0.7 EV exposure, we preferred it to the +1.0 EV exposure overall, because there were fewer clipped highlights. It's really the photographer's choice here as to which direction to go in. For those Panasonic GF3 owners that are going to want to just print an image with little or no tweaking, the +1.0 image would probably produce a better-looking face uncorrected. The bottom line though, is that the Panasonic GF3 had difficulty with the wide dynamic range of this shot, at least with its default settings.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

Contrast Adjustment
The camera's contrast adjustment was at least some help in handling the harsh lighting.

Minimum Contrast
Contrast set to lowest, +0.7 EV	Contrast set to lowest, Auto Exposure

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3's lowest contrast setting did a good job bringing out detail in the shadows and darker midtones, but it did little did little to preserve clipped highlight detail in the Outdoor Portrait shot. (The Far-field shot had few highlights clipped to begin with.) Overall, the camera's limited dynamic range makes it perform a bit below average in this situation.

Contrast Adjustment Examples
-2	0	+2

The table above shows results with the default as well as the two "extreme" contrast settings. Click on any thumbnail above, then click again to see the full-sized image. The control for contrast was not quite as subtle as saturation was in its effect, though it appeared to leave the strongest highlights at about the same values, then applied a proportional boost to tones as it moved down the tone curve. To make the most of it in a shot like this, you'll want to expose for the highlights and apply a good amount of contrast reduction (probably the maximum).

The Panasonic GF3's contrast adjustment doesn't help with strong highlights here, and we'd really like to see more steps, covering a slightly greater range. Even with the lowest contrast setting, the dynamic range isn't terribly impressive.

Outdoor Portrait Intelligent Dynamic Range
	iD-Range Setting: Off (Default) Low Standard High

Panasonic's Intelligent Dynamic Range
The above shots are examples of Panasonic's Intelligent Dynamic Range (or iD-Range) at work, with no exposure compensation. iD-Range appears to be a more advanced version of iExposure found on older models, capable of boosting shadows and preserving highlights, whereas iExposure worked mostly on shadows.

There are three levels of iD-Range available on the Panasonic GF3: Low, Standard and High, plus Off. It's automatically invoked in iAuto modes and manually selectable in PASM mods. For our Outdoor Portrait shot, all three settings were an improvement over the Off setting, lightening shadows and delivering a better exposure overall, while doing a very good job at holding on to highlight detail. (The histogram does a good job at showing how shadows are boosted while highlights are attenuated.) However, noise is more visible in the shadows. This is no surprise when boosting shadows, but the GF3's Micro Four Thirds sensor shows more noise in its shadows than recent APS-C sensors. Bottom line, though, iD-Range seems to provide a useful extension to the practical dynamic range of the Panasonic GF3. (It's not likely increasing the technically defined dynamic range of the sensor any, but it can make for much more usable/printable images when working under tough lighting conditions.)

Far-field Intelligent Dynamic Range
iD-Range Setting:	Off	Low	Standard	High

As you can see, iD-Range brightened the shadows in our Far-field shot, though highlights remained about the same as they weren't clipped to begin with. The Standard and High settings produced results very similar to each other.

Face Detection
Aperture Priority, 0 EV, f/8	Face Detection AF, 0 EV, f/8
iAuto, 0 EV, f/2.2	iAuto Plus, 0 EV, f/2.2

Face Detection
Like most Point & Shoot cameras these days (and most DSLRs in Live View mode), the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 has the ability to detect faces, and adjust exposure and focus accordingly. The GF3 does it automatically in Intelligent Auto (iAuto) and iAuto Plus modes, when a Portrait scene mode is selected, or when Face Detection AF mode is enabled. As you can see from the examples above, it worked fairly well in iAuto modes where Portrait mode was automatically selected, as those images are exposed much better for the face. The camera's Portrait also selected a much larger aperture (f/2.2), which helps isolate the subject from the background for a more pleasing effect, and skin-tones are rendered smoother and pinker as well. Just enabling face detection in Aperture Priority mode (top right) helped a bit, but the camera didn't have much to work with as it had to use the mode and aperture selected (f/8).

Dynamic Range
A key parameter in a digital camera is its Dynamic Range, the range of brightness that can be faithfully recorded. At the upper end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is dictated by the point at which the RGB data "saturates" at values of 255, 255, 255. At the lower end of the tonal scale, dynamic range is determined by the point at which there ceases to be any useful difference between adjacent tonal steps. Note the use of the qualifier "useful" in there: While it's tempting to evaluate dynamic range as the maximum number of tonal steps that can be discerned at all, that measure of dynamic range has very little relevance to real-world photography. What we care about as photographers is how much detail we can pull out of the shadows before image noise becomes too objectionable. This, of course, is a very subjective matter, and will vary with the application and even the subject matter in question. (Noise will be much more visible in subjects with large areas of flat tints and subtle shading than it would in subjects with strong, highly contrasting surface texture.)

What makes most sense then, is to specify useful dynamic range in terms of the point at which image noise reaches some agreed-upon threshold. To this end, Imatest computes a number of different dynamic range measurements, based on a variety of image noise thresholds. The noise thresholds are specified in terms of f-stops of equivalent luminance variation in the final image file, and dynamic range is computed for noise thresholds of 1.0 (low image quality), 0.5 (medium image quality), 0.25 (medium-high image quality) and 0.1 (high image quality). For most photographers and most applications, the noise thresholds of 0.5 and 0.25 f-stops are probably the most relevant to the production of acceptable-quality finished images, but many noise-sensitive shooters will insist on the 0.1 f-stop limit for their most critical work. A full discussion of all the data Imatest produces is really beyond the scope of this review: Visit the Imatest website for details of what the program measures, how it performs its computations, and how to interpret its output.

JPEG. The graph at right (click for a larger version) was generated using Imatest's dynamic range analysis for an in-camera Panasonic GF3 JPEG file with a nominally-exposed density step target (Stouffer 4110). At default settings and base ISO of 160, the results show 9.41 f-stops of total dynamic range, with 7.09 f-stops at the "High" quality level. From the graph at top left, we can see gradation tapers-off fairly smoothly in the highlights, but ends rather abruptly at the shadow end. Still, these are pretty good numbers for a Micro Four Thirds sensor, but they fall short compared to more recent APS-C sensors. Note, though, that this measurement has a margin of error of about 1/3 f-stop, so differences of less than 0.33 can be ignored when comparing results to other models.

RAW. The graph at right is from the same Stouffer 4110 stepchart image captured as a RAW (.RW2) file, processed with Adobe Camera Raw using the Auto setting. (Slightly better results are likely possible with manually tweaking, but we weren't able to do much better.) As can be seen, the score at the highest quality level was only slightly better than the in-camera JPEG, at 7.14 vs 7.09 f-stops, while total dynamic range increased about one f-stop, at 10.4 versus 9.41 f-stops. Again, these results aren't bad for a Micro Four Thirds sensor, but they lag current APS-C sensors, especially at the High Quality threshold. It's worth noting here is that ACR's default noise reduction settings reduced overall noise somewhat (see the plot in the lower left-hand corner) relative to the levels in the in-camera JPEG, which would tend to boost the dynamic range numbers for the higher quality thresholds.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16fc No NR
ISO 160	1.3 s f2.8	2.5 s f2.8	5 s f2.8	10 s f2.8	20 s f2.8	20 s f2.8
ISO 200	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	8 s f2.8	15 s f2.8	15 s f2.8
ISO 400	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	8 s f2.8	8 s f2.8
ISO 800	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	4 s f2.8	4 s f2.8
ISO 1600	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	2 s f2.8	2 s f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	1 s f2.8	1 s f2.8
ISO 6400	1/30 s f2.8	1/15 s f2.8	1/8 s f2.8	1/4 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8	0.5 s f2.8

Low Light. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 performed fairly well in our low light test, capturing bright images down to the lowest light level we test at, at all ISO settings. This darkest level equates to about 1/16 the brightness of average city street lighting at night, so the Panasonic GF3 should be able to take well-exposed photos in almost any environment in which you can see well enough to walk around in. The GF3's metering system struggled a bit at lower levels, as do many cameras, so these shots were taken in manual exposure mode. Automatic color balance was pretty good (just slightly cool), something that's not a given at such low light levels. Using default noise reduction setting, noise was low to moderate up to ISO 800. At ISOs 1,600 and above, noise was a little high at lower light levels compared to cameras with APS-C sensors, but not bad for a MFT model. We did not detect any issues with banding or hot pixels.

The camera's autofocus system was able to focus on the subject down to between 1/16 and 1/8 foot-candle light level unassisted with an f/2.8 lens, which is pretty good for a camera with contrast-detect autofocus. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 does have a focus-assist light option which allows it to autofocus in total darkness, as long as the subject is within range and has sufficient contrast.

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Thanks to their phase-detect AF systems, digital SLRs tend to do much better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn't expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects. The GF3 uses contrast-detect autofocus, as is found in most point & shoot cameras, so its low-light focusing ability is less than that of some SLRs with phase-detect systems. That said, though, the larger, more sensitive pixels of the GF3's sensor do better under dim lighting than do the tiny pixels of most point & shoots, (A useful trick is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don't have a tripod handy.)

Output Quality

Print Quality

Great 16x20-inch prints at ISO 160; ISO 1,600 looks better at 11x14; ISO 6,400 makes a good 5x7.

ISO 160 shots are usable, if a little soft at 20x30; sharpening with unsharp mask fixes that a little, making a crisper 20x30. Printing at 16x20 eliminates the softness, making a great print.

ISO 200 shots are quite good at 16x20, very crisp.

ISO 400 images also print well at 16x20, with good detail.

ISO 800 images soften up, but still make a usable 16x20-inch print. Reds seem to soften more quickly (as is the case on most cameras)

ISO 1,600 images take a turn downward in quality, making only a marginally acceptable 13x19-inch print, but a decent 11x14. Colors also darken at ISO 1,600.

ISO 3,200 shots are way too fuzzy for 11x14, but are better at 8x10; all but reds, which are quite blurry.

ISO 6,400 images are darker still, but make a decent 5x7-inch print.

Overall, the Panasonic GF3 does well for a small MFT camera, with good performance from ISO 100 to 800. And even its highest ISO setting puts out a good 5x7.

Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon Pro9000 Mark II studio printer, and on the Canon Pixma MP610 here in the office. (See the Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II review for details on that model.)

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Panasonic GF3 Performance

Video

Panasonic GF3 Video Recording

Panasonic pioneered advanced video capability in compact SLD (Single Lens Direct-view) cameras, in that their DMC-GH1 was at the time the only interchangeable-lens camera with truly effective "live" autofocus during video recording. That capability has been shared by subsequent Panasonic models (and is now becoming more common in competitors), but full capability still does depend on the exceptional AF speed of their special "video-capable" lenses, all of which carry the "HD " video support marking. There are now three HD-badged lenses: the 14-140mm zoom that shipped with the GH1, as well as two recently-announced power zoom models, the PZ 14-42mm and 45-175mm, both of which feature fly-by-wire rocker-style zoom and focus controls.

With slower-focusing lenses, the new Panasonic DMC-GF3 may not be able to track motion as well, and the motors in some lenses may be audible in the sound track, but the Panasonic GF3 generally does a better job of focus tracking during video than many of its competitors. (And of course, you're always free to focus manually, if you'd like to guide the viewer's attention more directly.)

Video capability. The Panasonic GF3's video options cater nicely to consumer use, with a few features that may even attract advanced amateurs, but pros will want to look elsewhere.

While it doesn't provide full PASM exposure control, it does offer at least some control over shutter speed. The Panasonic GF3 offers interlaced 1080i (aka Full HD) video recording, as well as a selection of lower-resolution modes. Unlike most of its competition, it also provides both a microphone levels adjustment function, and an on-screen levels display. There's also a wind cut function that aims to remove untoward noise from captured video, and a selection of Photo Style and Creative Control modes plus the ability to manually controls contrast, shaprness, saturation, and noise reduction. The most significant limitations for video enthusiasts will be the lack of aperture control, and the ability to connect an external microphone to the camera.

While it may not provide the level of exposure control demanded by pros and high-end video enthusiasts, we believe the Panasonic GF3 offers quite a compelling package of video features for the average consumer, a group more likely to desire features such as the continuous autofocus capability, especially given the relatively smooth focus tracking ability.

Panasonic GF3 Basic Video Specs

• Interlaced 60 fields-per-second Full HD / 1080i (1,920 x 1,080) or progressive scan 60 frames-per-second 720p (1,280 x 720) high-def recording, but derived from 30 fps sensor output (50 fields / frames per second in Europe, derived from 25 fps sensor output)
• 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 at 30 fps SD recording
• Option of either AVCHD (720p or higher) or Motion JPEG (720p or lower) recording formats
• Autofocus is possible during recording, with variable results depending on the lens used (best results with 'HD'-branded lenses)
• Programmed-only exposure (that is, no true aperture-priority or shutter-priority, nor manual control)
• Flicker Reduction does let you choose shutter speeds of 1/50, 1/60, 1/100, 1/120 second, providing (very) limited shutter control. (As the name suggests, this is intended primarily for avoiding video flicker from fluorescent lights.)
• EV adjustment is available in all movie recording modes, but can't be adjusted during recording.
• Monaural audio recording via built-in microphone.
  
  

Panasonic GF3 Video: Image Size, Frame Rate, and Encoding

The Panasonic GF3 records a variety of resolutions and frame rates, using either the more space-efficient AVCHD or the more broadly compatible Motion JPEG file formats. The capture rate for AVCHD movies is always 60 fields per second at 1080i or 60 frames per second at 720p in the US and 50 fields / frames per second in Europe, but note that, regardless of the capture rate, the sensor is capturing at 30 or 25 fps respectively, and the additional frames are created by interlacing or doubling the frames coming from the sensor. In Motion JPEG mode, a rate of 30 frames per second is always used, matching the sensor rate. No spec is provided for the sampling rate of the audio track during movie recording, though video players report 16-bit PCM audio at 16 kHz for Motion JPEG, and 48 kHz AC-3 Dolby Digital at 192 kbps for AVCHD.

The table below shows the specs for various video recording options.

As noted above, the Panasonic GF3 offers two video recording formats, either the HD-only AVCHD format or the less space-efficient but more computer-friendly Motion JPEG. The Motion JPEG file format is much less efficient in its use of memory card space, but is more easily read by older computers. AVCHD is the best choice if your primary output is going to be directly to a HD television, but Motion JPEG will be easier for many computers to read, particularly if they're more than a couple of years old. (As you can see from the table above, though, Motion JPEG files take up quite a bit more space for a given pixel resolution.)

In AVCHD mode, two resolutions are available, but both offer the same bit rate of 17 Mbps (megabits per second), so essentially you're trading compression level versus resolution. No lower compression levels are offered, but that's not necessarily a negative. In our experience with cameras recording in the AVCHD format, we've generally found that the video artifacts associated with quality settings below 17 Mbps generally weren't worth the savings in file size anyway. Note that Panasonic doesn't include a switchable video output mode in North American cameras, but those intended for sale in other markets may allow a choice of either NTSC or PAL video encoding. For NTSC mode, AVCHD files generated by the GF3 are always recorded at a rate of either 60 fields-per-second interlaced for 1080i, or 60 frames per second progressive-scan for 720p, but the source data provided by the sensor is read off at a rate of 30 frames per second. If a PAL mode is available, then when set to this, the 60 fields / frames per second rates are replaced with 50 fields / frames per second rates, deriving from 25 frames per second sensor data.

Motion JPEG offers a choice of three file sizes, as detailed in the table above, all recorded at 30 frames/second, with the sensor capturing data at that same rate. Due to its higher data rates, Panasonic cautions in the manual that Motion JPEG recording requires at least a Class 6 SD memory card, while AVCHD Lite needs a speed rating of only Class 4.

The Panasonic GF3's 30 fps sensor output is faster than some cameras that are limited to the 24 frames/second "cinema" standard, but it doesn't match the level of smoothness and motion-capture ability offered by models sporting 60 frames/second sensor output. In both frame rate and resolution, it ranks roughly in the middle of the pack of current interchangeable-lens video-capable cameras. (Although some people prefer or need the 24 fps standard, either for its more "film-like" look, or because they're pros who need to mix their videos in with other clips shot on film.)

Panasonic GF3 Sample Videos

Here are some examples of video from the Panasonic DMC-GF3, showing typical results under daylight and night conditions.

Panasonic GF3 Video Samples
1,920 x 1,080, 60 fields/sec, AVCHD View on Vimeo | Download Original (14 seconds, 27.7 MB)
1,280 x 720, 60 frames/sec, AVCHD View on Vimeo | Download Original (12 seconds, 22.9 MB)	1,280 x 720, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (11 seconds, 44.7 MB)
640 x 480, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (12 seconds, 15.0 MB)	320 x 240, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (12 seconds, 6.3 MB)
1,920 x 1,080, 60 fields/sec, AVCHD View on Vimeo | Download Original (11 seconds, 21.8 MB)
1,280 x 720, 60 frames/sec, AVCHD View on Vimeo | Download Original (11 seconds, 15.7 MB)	1,280 x 720, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (12 seconds, 29.2 MB)
640 x 480, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (13 seconds, 15.3 MB)	320 x 240, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (12 seconds, 6.5 MB)

Panasonic GF3 Video-Mode Focusing

As with the G2 and GH/GF-series cameras before it, consumers will doubtless find the Panasonic GF3's live autofocus during recording an important feature. Pros and advanced amateurs can "pull focus" (adjust the focus manually) while filming video, and indeed may well prefer to do so, considering focus to be another means of expressing their artistic vision. Doing it well is very much a learned skill, though, and something few people ever learn to do really well. Without live AF, consumers for the most part are reduced to only shooting subjects at a constant distance from the camera, or to having to settle for a lot of poorly-focused video. A lot of video-capable SLRs are certainly being sold to consumers these days, and having some video capability is certainly better than none, but for most consumers to make full use of a video camera, it really needs to be able to focus on the fly.

As I noted in our review of the Panasonic GH1, the Panasonic engineers really had video recording in mind from the very beginning of Micro Four Thirds development. As a result, Panasonic SLD cameras have offered uncommonly capable video-mode focusing, and the GF3 is no exception. For the most responsive video focus-tracking, you'll need a special video-specific lens, badged with "HD" video support branding. Three such lenses are now available: the Lumix G Vario HD 14-140mm f/4.0-5.8 Asph. Mega O.I.S. zoom lens that shipped with the GH1, as well as two recently-announced power zoom models, the Lumix G X Vario PZ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph. Power O.I.S., and the Lumix G X Vario PZ 45-175mm f/4.0-5.6 Asph. Power O.I.S. The latter two lenses also feature a control design aimed at video use, with fly-by-wire rocker-style zoom and focus controls, rather than the more traditional ring-style controls with a direct mechanical connection.

Although we've not yet tested production versions of the power zoom lenses, we tried out the 14-140mm model when we reviewed the GH1, and found that with it, that camera did a surprisingly good job tracking moving subjects. While it didn't do a 100% perfect job of tracking the action, it stayed pretty darn close most of the time, managing about as well as a typical consumer camcorder, and well within the limits of what we'd find acceptable for casual video snapshots and family memory-recording. You could see the focus system hunting a bit here and there, but it wasn't nearly as pronounced as we've seen in some competing models, and for the most part wasn't very noticeable when the movie was playing. Overall, we felt it to be a very practical video AF system for consumer movie recording, and since the GF3 clocks data off the sensor at the same rate, but has a newer Venus Engine FHD processor with one additional core compared to the Venus Engine HD used in the GH1, we'd expect equal or better performance here. (But with that said, we didn't have an "HD"-badged lens at the same time as our GF3 camera body, and so this is somewhat speculative. With either the 14-42mm or 14mm kit lenses, focus operation is still pretty quiet, but nowhere near as fast.)

We continue to find that we appreciate Panasonic's touch-select movable focus point in the GF3 as much or more for video recording than we did when shooting still images. We've honestly never been particularly big fans of touch-screen interfaces on cameras, but the way Panasonic implemented theirs on the is very fluid and natural, and really makes a lot of sense. We especially liked that we could use the touch-select focus to change the point of focus in the frame while video recording was in progress, at least with the AF control set to the 23-point option: We could start with the camera focused on a foreground object on one side of the frame, and then have it transition smoothly to focusing on a background object on the other side of the frame, simply by touching the other side of the LCD screen. The advantage of this is that our finger caused no noise on the audio track, other than the operation of the focus motor itself. This is a nice contrast to systems where shifting the focus would require either manual manipulation of the lens or pressing buttons on the camera's user interface, either of which would produce clearly audible noise on the audio track. The newer Power Zoom lenses promise to make things even better, with a gentle push on two rocker control making shake- and (handling) noise-free adjustments to either focus or zoom position even easier, and allowing variable speed on both controls.

Panasonic GF3 Video Exposure Control

While the Panasonic GF3 lets you record movies directly from any of its still-image exposure modes, including aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and full manual exposure modes, the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings for video recording are always automatically controlled. Thus, while the controls might suggest full PASM (programmed, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and full manual exposure) exposure control for videos, no direct control over lens aperture is available, and nor is full control over shutter speed, although at least a little control is available in this area. An option on the third page of the Motion Picture menu enables or disables Flicker Reduction, which lets you choose shutter speeds of 1/50, 1/60, 1/100, and 1/120 second for movie recording. These are intended to help in controlling video flicker caused by fluorescent lighting, but can also be used to gain at least a measure of direct control over shutter speed.

In addition to the conventional exposure modes, the Panasonic GF3 offers many of its still-image scene modes for video recording as well. Video-capable scene modes include Portrait, Architecture, Food, Party, Soft Skin, Sports, Objects, Sunset, Scenery, Flower, and Low Light. Scene modes that are restricted to still photo use only include Night Portrait, Baby 1, Baby 2, Night Scenery, Pet, Peripheral Defocus, and Illuminations.

The Creative Control function is available for both stills and movies, and offers sub-options of Expressive, Retro, High Key, Sepia, High Dynamic, and Miniature Effect. This last option causes a significant reduction in capture frame rate, and rather than playing back with this same, rather jerky frame rate, videos recorded with the Miniature Effect function active will instead play back at a greatly accelerated speed. Photo Styles also apply to both stills and videos, and options here include Standard, Vivid, Natural, Monochrome, Scenery, Portrait, and a Custom option which lets you adjust Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, and Noise Reduction levels to your liking.

Panasonic GF3 Movie-Mode Image Stabilization

Panasonic's image stabilization technology is lens-based, so IS effectiveness and impact on the audio track will depend on the lens you're using. We felt that the 14-42mm kit lens's IS worked well, and had relatively little impact on the audio, but we could definitely hear it working in quiet passages: When recording in quiet settings, you'll probably want to turn it off, but it's still quieter than typical body-based IS systems. With the 14mm prime kit lens (and indeed, most available prime lenses), there's no image stabilization function.

Panasonic GF3 Video: Audio recording

Like most competing SLR/SLD cameras with video recording capability, especially those aimed at consumers, the Panasonic GF3 can record audio only via its internal microphone, with no provision for external audio recording. To sidestep this limitation, many amateur videographers simply use a separate, inexpensive digital audio recorder to record a separate soundtrack, which they then synchronize with the audio from the camera in their editing software. Software synchronization of audio tracks gives essentially perfect alignment of the video and externally-recorded video with relatively little effort.

The GF3 is relatively rare, though, in being able to provide not only for manual audio level control, but also an on-screen monaural levels display that lets you see if you need to adjust the levels to correctly capture your subject. It's perhaps not the finest-grained control, as the microphone level is controlled in four arbitrary steps, but nonetheless this is more than is offered by most competing cameras, especially if one excludes SLRs aimed at professional use. The on-screen levels display offers an eight-step indication, meanwhile.

Panasonic doesn't publish specs for the GF3's audio recording capability, but video players report 16-bit PCM audio at 16 kHz for Motion JPEG, and 48 kHz AC-3 Dolby Digital at 192 kbps for AVCHD. Audio recorded with the camera's internal mic seemed plenty clear, but we do no tests to measure frequency response or sensitivity. We did notice that there was audible hiss in audio tracks recorded with the in-camera mic in very quiet environments. On a positive note, though, we didn't hear any audible "breathing" from the auto-gain system adjusting sensitivity as sound levels got louder or softer.

Panasonic GF3 Movie Recording User Interface

The Panasonic GF3 makes movie recording very easy, as you can initiate it at any time, regardless of the mode-dial setting: Simply press the prominent Movie Record button with the red dot at its center on the GF3's top panel, and the camera will start recording video. Video resolution and file format are available via the rear-panel LCD, and you can change these settings at any time via the Quick menu or Motion Picture menu, using either the touch interface or physical buttons. The result is a camera that feels like it was intended to shoot video from the start, rather than one with movie recording grafted on as an afterthought. The quick access to video recording makes it much more likely that you'll use the Panasonic GF3 to record little "video snapshots," rather than it being a big production to switch in and out of video mode.

We've generally favored use of the shutter button to start and end video recording, but found ourselves really liking the convenience of the GF3's dedicated record button. Having it on the rear panel, right behind the shutter button also made it very quick to access with our thumb, so our index finger could remain on the shutter button at all times, ready to capture a spontaneous still image. The touch screen was also nicely integrated into the video recording interface; we found it especially handy for moving the focus point, and used the Quick Menu quite a bit for changing the video recording mode and/or resolution.

One thing to be aware of in recording movies is that the aspect ratio can change immediately that capture starts, if the video and still-capture mode options are set differently. This can be a little disconcerting the first few times it happens. The solution is to either just learn to expect it, or to check ahead of time to see that you're using the same aspect ratio for both still and video capture. There is an option in page four of the Custom menu that determines whether the GF3 should default to showing the aspect ratio set for still or movie capture on its LCD, so if you predominantly shoot one or other media type, you can at least ensure you're surprised as seldom as possible.

A much larger issue is that we discovered there to be a combination of significant lag and anticipation (for lack of a better word) when starting/stopping movie recording. When starting a recording, we found that the recording didn't start until about a second after pressing the Movie Record button. While we haven't tracked this "movie shutter lag" with other cameras, we've seen varying amounts of delay in the video-capable SLR/SLD cameras we've tested in this regard. Somewhat more disconcerting, though was that, as we've seen in some past Panasonic models, the GF3 stopped recording early, with the end of the recorded video coming about a half-second before the point at which we'd pressed the Movie Record button to stop it. This was rather odd in our experience, and led to us chopping off a number of video clips short, ending them before we intended to.

Setting adjustments in movie mode are made via the Motion Picture Menu, which for convenience shares a few items with the main Record Menu. A full list of options can be found below:

Panasonic G3 Motion Picture Menu 1:

Panasonic G3 Motion Picture Menu 2:

Panasonic G3 Motion Picture Menu 3:

Rolling Shutter Artifacts ("Jello Effect")

Panasonic GF3: Rolling Shutter Artifacts
1,920 x 1,080, 60 fields/sec, AVCHD View on Vimeo | Download Original (4 seconds, 9.2 MB)
1,280 x 720, 60 frames/sec, AVCHD View on Vimeo | Download Original (5 seconds, 10.0 MB)	1,280 x 720, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (5 seconds, 20.7 MB)
640 x 480, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (4 seconds, 6.4 MB)	320 x 240, 30 frames/sec, MJPEG View on Vimeo | Download Original (4 seconds, 2.5 MB)

Essentially every video capable digital SLR/SLD currently on the market exhibits motion-related distortions called rolling shutter artifacts. These are caused because the image data is captured and then read off the chip sequentially by rows, rather being captured all at once. In the case of the Panasonic, this means that image data for the last row of a given frame is captured and read out anywhere from 1/25th to 1/30th second after the data for the top row was captured. The effect on moving objects is similar to that of a focal plane shutter in an SLR, but more pronounced, because the video frame is read out much more slowly than the slit of a focal plane shutter moves across the sensor.

For a camera that scans video frames vertically (as all do that we're aware of), rolling shutter artifacts will be most noticeable for subjects that are moving rapidly side to side, or when the camera itself is being panned horizontally. Verticals in the scene will appear tilted to the right or left, depending on the direction of camera motion. As an example, consider the case of a camera being panned from left to right, with a flagpole or other vertical object in the middle of the scene when recording for a particular frame begins: If the top of the object was centered horizontally when the first line of the video frame is acquired, by the time the last line of the frame has been captured, the bottom of the object will have shifted to somewhere left of center: As a result, the vertical object would appear to be leaning to the right.

Computer Requirements for Viewing HD Video

A typical computer these days has little trouble dealing with still images, but high-definition video can be another matter. Depending on the file format involved, it can take a pretty beefy computer to handle HD-resolution video playback without stuttering or dropping frames. The Panasonic GF3 supports both AVCHD and Motion JPEG recording formats. The AVCHD format is much more space-efficient on the memory card, and displays well on HD television sets, but is one of the more compute-intensive formats, and its 1,920 x 1,080 (1080i) resolution means there's a lot of data in each frame to deal with at full resolution. The net result is that you'll want a relatively recent and powerful computer to play full-res high-def video files from the GF3 on your computer. At lower resolutions, and for Motion JPEG video, the requirements will be more modest. You can, of course, view your movies on an HDTV via the Type-C Mini HDMI output.

Flash

Panasonic GF3 Flash

The Panasonic GF3's built-in flash has a Guide Number (GN) rating of 6.3 meters (20.7 feet) at ISO 160. That's a actually a little weaker than the GF2's 6m (19.7 ft.) rating at ISO 100, as translated to ISO 100, the GF3's Guide Number would only be about 5m. That's a lot weaker than most digital SLRs, which are typically rated at 12 or 13 meters, but still better than no flash when your subject is close or you need some fill-flash.

The Panasonic GF3's flash is released manually by pushing the Flash Open button on the camera's rear panel. Raising the flash enables it, though it can be defeated using a menu selection. It never pops up automatically like some models, which can be good or bad, depending on your point of view. A novice would probably appreciate an auto-pop-up flash, but someone with experience might think it a nuisance.

When open, the flash doesn't extend very high, so at wide angle longer Micro Four Thirds lenses could cast a shadow when the lens hood is attached, especially now that it's aligned with the lens. Red-eye could also be more common. The Panasonic GF3's flash is disabled by pressing down until it clicks shut.

The Panasonic GF3's built-in flash has seven modes: Auto, Auto with Red-Eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced On with Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync, Slow Sync with Red-Eye Reduction, and Forced Off. Flash modes are changed via the Record menu, and available settings vary depending on exposure mode. A Digital Red-Eye Reduction feature is offered, which when enabled, will attempt to remove red-eye after the photo is taken, via post-processing. A second curtain synchronization mode is not offered. X-Sync (the maximum shutter speed with the flash enabled) is 1/160 second, a bit below average these days, and there is no mention of a higher-speed FP (focal plane) mode. There's also no wireless flash support in the Panasonic GF3.

The Panasonic GF3 does not allow you to adjust flash and ambient exposure independently of each other, as there is no separate flash exposure compensation feature. Flash exposure bracketing is not supported, and there is no manual flash mode where output level can be set as a percentage of full power.

Flash Test Results

Coverage and Range
Modest flash power with uneven coverage using the 14mm kit lens. Higher than average positive exposure compensation required.

Coverage. Flash coverage is very uneven and dark at 14mm, leaving the corners of our flash target image quite dark, though some of the fall-off is from the lens itself. We measured about 0.8 f-stop of fall-off in the corners from the lens, but the above shows much more than that.

Exposure. Indoors under incandescent background lighting, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3's flash performed modestly in our standard test, as a higher than average positive exposure compensation of +1.0 EV still resulted in dim results. (Note that the GF3's flash output cannot be adjusted separately from the ambient exposure.) The camera's slow-sync flash mode required no compensation, though the longer shutter time results in a much warmer cast from the ambient background lighting.

Flash Range
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft
1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160
12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft	16 ft
1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160	1/60 sec f2.5 ISO 160

ISO 160 Range. We normally shoot this series at ISO 100, but the Panasonic GF3's minimum ISO is 160. Flash exposure started out bright at 6 feet (at least in the center), and remained fairly bright out to about 8 feet, but brightness fell off gradually from there as distance increased.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
8.3 feet ISO 160

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range Test. Panasonic rates the GF3's flash with a Guide Number (GN) of 6.3 meters at ISO 160. That works out to about 8.3 feet at an aperture of f/2.5, the maximum aperture of the 14mm kit lens. In the shot above, the Panasonic GF3 produced a good exposure (at least in the center) with the 14mm kit lens. The center of the flash target was well exposed, indicating the flash's GN rating is fairly accurate. Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.

High ISO Noise Reduction

Panasonic GF3 Noise Reduction

The Panasonic GF3's 5 noise-reduction settings provide quite a bit of flexibility in choosing how you want to make the trade-off between subject detail and noise levels. The Panasonic GF3 applies NR to its JPEGs at all ISOs, so we've included crops at all ISOs in the tables below. The combination of shooting with NR turned down to the lowest setting (-2) and using a good noise-filtering program after the fact can produce very clean images with lots of fine detail in them.

The crops below show the effects of three (-2, 0 and +2) of the Panasonic GF3's five levels of noise reduction available, under the studio HMI lighting we use to simulate daylight. See for yourself how the noise reduction works under daylight-balanced lighting. Click on any of the crops below to see the corresponding full-sized image.

Noise Reduction Comparison Daylight-balanced illumination
	NR = -2	NR = 0	NR = +2
I S O 1 6 0
	NR = -2	NR = 0	NR = +2
I S O 2 0 0
	NR = -2	NR = 0	NR = +2
I S O 4 0 0
	NR = -2	NR = 0	NR = +2
I S O 8 0 0
	NR = -2	NR = 0	NR = +2
I S O 1 6 0 0
	NR = -2	NR = 0	NR = +2
I S O 3 2 0 0
	NR = -2	NR = 0	NR = +2
I S O 6 4 0 0

To our eyes, the default (0) level of noise reduction strikes a good balance between noise and subtle subject detail up to about ISO 800, although the red fabric swatch presents a real challenge, as it does for virtually all cameras we test. Cranking the noise reduction setting up to +2 produces very smooth-looking images, while still maintaining reasonable detail in areas of high local contrast (as seen in the circular scale), but a lot of detail is lost in areas of subtle contrast (the red fabric swatch is a particularly challenging subject, and the detail loss there is worse than you'd find in most real-world examples). At the other end of the scale, the -2 noise reduction setting leaves more noise in the image, but also leaves more subject detail: Use this setting if you have good third-party noise reduction software; with appropriate processing, the result could be quite good, especially if you turn in-camera sharpening down and sharpen after noise filtering. You should be able to do even better working from the RAW files.

RAW Files

Panasonic GF3 High ISO RAW Image Quality

We look at RAW files converted with dcraw, an excellent freeware raw converter. dcraw usually offers timely support for the latest cameras, but more importantly, it does not apply any noise-reduction, sharpening or other corrections such as geometric distortion correction to the output files as some other converters do. There will always be differences between RAW converters, in terms of the sort of demosaicing algorithms they use (the processes by which they convert the separate Red, Green, and Blue data sets to an array of full-color RGB pixels), but dcraw seems to use a fairly generic algorithm that delivers good sharpness with relatively few artifacts, and can be counted on to not apply any noise reduction if you don't want it to.

See for yourself how the Panasonic GF3's high ISO RAW files compare to those from other recent, Micro Four Thirds cameras. Click on any of the crops below to see the corresponding full-sized image.

High ISO RAW Comparison Panasonic GF3 vs GF2, G3, and Olympus E-PL2, RAW files converted with dcraw, no NR, no sharpening Simulated Daylight
	Panasonic GF3	Panasonic GF2	Panasonic G3	Olympus E-PL2
I S O 8 0 0
	Panasonic GF3	Panasonic GF2	Panasonic G3	Olympus E-PL2
I S O 1 6 0 0
	Panasonic GF3	Panasonic GF2	Panasonic G3	Olympus E-PL2
I S O 3 2 0 0
	Panasonic GF3	Panasonic GF2	Panasonic G3	Olympus E-PL2
I S O 6 4 0 0

Apart from differences in saturation and white balance (which could be due to the RAW converter), it appears that the Panasonic GF3's RAW files are very similar to the GF2's in terms of noise and detail, though the GF3 seems to do a bit better in the red channel. What's interesting here is the G3's RAW files don't appear to be much cleaner despite being a newer generation and its better JPEG performance, however its extra resolution (16 megapixels vs 12 for the GF2/GF3) does really make a difference. The Olympus E-PL2 appears to be producing the cleanest files of this group.

Below are crops compared to a couple of compact APS-C models.

High ISO RAW Image Quality Panasonic GF3 vs Fuji X100 and Sony NEX-5 RAW files converted with dcraw, no NR, no sharpening Simulated Daylight
	Panasonic GF3	Fuji X100	Sony NEX-5
I S O 8 0 0
	Panasonic GF3	Fuji X100	Sony NEX-5
I S 0 1 6 0 0
	Panasonic GF3	Fuji X100	Sony NEX-5
I S O 3 2 0 0
	Panasonic GF3	Fuji X100	Sony NEX-5
I S 0 6 4 0 0

Here, the Fuji X100 comes out on top in terms of noise performance, while the Sony NEX-5 bests the Panasonic GF3 in both resolution and noise, but that's no surprise.

Press Release

PANASONIC UNVEILS THE LUMIX GF3, THE COMPANY’S SMALLEST
AND LIGHTEST DIGITAL INTERCHANGELABLE LENS SYSTEM CAMERA WITH A BUILT-IN FLASH*

The LUMIX GF3 Body Weighs Just 7.83oz and Produces High-Quality Photos,
Full-HD Video Recording Capabilities and Smart Touch-Screen Controls

SECAUCUS, NJ (June 13, 2011) – Panasonic today announces its latest compact system camera (CSC), the mirror-free Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GF3 is the company’s smallest and lightest digital interchangeable lens camera with a built-in flash*1, with its body size comparable to that of a smartphone and weighing just 7.83oz (body only), less than a standard 8oz cup of coffee. The Panasonic’s LUMIX GF3 realizes all the features desired from a traditional DSLR interchangeable lens camera, only it accomplishes them in an ultra-compact body that is lightweight and simple to master.

This remarkable reduction in size and weight is thanks to advancements in new mirror-free camera technology, and large DSLR format sensors that are more compatible with a new class of compact Micro Four Thirds (MFT) System lenses. This new class of Compact System Cameras offers a weight and compactness not seen in traditional DSLRs, yielding greater portability and creative control. The DMC-GF3’s image quality comes from a large DSLR-sized 12.1-megapixel sensor and newly advanced image processing technologies.

The LUMIX GF3 digital camera is based on the Micro Four Thirds standard of lenses, which includes Panasonic’s 3D lens, thus the LUMIX GF3 not only provides outstanding still photos, full-High Definition 1080/60i video, but is also capable of shooting 3D still photos.

The Panasonic LUMIX GF3 produces high-quality photos with true-to-life details, thanks to excellent resolution, image rendering and color reproduction; high-grade lens options; and extremely precise Auto Focus (AF). Plus, the LUMIX GF3 creates the right balance between resolution and noise reduction, thus producing life-like images with accurate auto exposure and white balance, creating rich colors. Taking a page from the renowned LUMIX GH2‘s image quality, the LUMIX GF3 boasts full sized DSLR like Image quality thanks the same Venus Engine FHD image processor. The Venus Engine FHD image processor makes impressive low noise images from its 12.1-megapixel Live MOS sensor. Notably, images shot in low-lit situations at high ISO sensitivity setting, are stunningly clear with extremely sharp resolution. The image processor also excels in energy consumption by extending the battery life, despite its smaller size.

Thanks to a new mount, the LUMIX GF3 is approximately 16.7% smaller and 16.2% lighter than its predecessor, the LUMIX GF2. Despite its small size and unlike many CSC cameras in this class, the LUMIX GF3 still maintains a built-in flash and features a new pop-up mechanism that helps prevent the vignetting effect due to short distances between the flash unit and the interchangeable lens. With a newly-designed aluminum body that incorporates an ergonomic grip, and a well-designed control dial combined with a 3-inch touch enabled screen, the LUMIX GF3 is extremely intuitive and easy to use.

“The Panasonic GF3 compact system camera is extremely small and its newly-designed rounded body is quite attractive, which we expect to be popular among those users wanting to step-up from a point-and-shoot, yet who view traditional DSLRs as bulky and overly complex,” said Darin Pepple, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “While the size and weight of the GF3 has been greatly reduced, Panasonic does not compromise what is at the core of every LUMIX, which is exceptional photo and video quality with an easy-to-use interface.”

All models in Panasonic’s LUMIX G Series of digital cameras feature Contrast AF for their focus system, as opposed to phase-difference AF systems, used in traditional DSLRs, which is susceptible to a mechanical margin of focus errors at wide apertures. With a Contrast AF system, focusing is controlled by the image sensor so that mechanical margin of error is reduced to achieve precise focusing, thus boosting higher number of in focus shots, especially when shooting in low light with wide open lens aperture. As a result, when the LUMIX GF3 is used with Panasonic’s new wide aperture interchangeable lens, the LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm / F1.4 ASPH, also announced today, the performance of the Contrast AF system is optimally maximized.

The Panasonic LUMIX GF3 features a high-speed and extremely precise Contrast AF system that locks in approximately 0.18 seconds. Taking further advantage of Contrast AF, the LUMIX GF3 incorporates full-area focusing which makes it possible to set focus on any point in the field- of-view. The LUMIX GF3 also features Light Speed AF, an extremely fast AF which measures at approximately 0.1 seconds*2, which is achieved by reducing the detection time for focusing by doubling the sensors drive speed from 60 fps to 120 fps. With the combination of touch-control shooting, focusing on close up macro or still life objects is evermore quick and accurate thanks to the newly adopted Pinpoint AF that unlike a DSLR, offers near pixel level touch control focusing.

Manual control over focus is available in the DMC-GF3 and now features a quick 4x magnification feature. By simply touching the subject, that subject is then enlarged in a small window, allowing you to keep the rest of the image in view as a framing reference. Beyond 4x, that small window fills the monitor so even more control over focus fine-tuning can be achieved. This handy feature is available from both the MF (Manual Focus) Assist and AF + MF focus modes.

At the heart of the LUMIX GF3’s simplified functionality is a large 3.0-inch touch enabled LCD (460k- dot) that allows for intuitive touch control of menus and most shooting, focusing, playback and effects controls. Menus can be customized using simple drag-and-drop actions similar to those on some touch-enabled smartphones. This allows for a custom user interface, giving Quick Menu access to functions that can be tailored to any user’s expertise level. Users can also release the shutter using the touch-screen. Once locked onto a subject, the LUMIX GF3 tracks the subject with the AF Tracking feature and another touch allows the user to select the size of the AF area. In addition, Pinpoint AF function allows even more precise focus setting by further enlarging the focusing area. With increased customization, users can set the touch shutter and touch AF ON/OFF based on their preference. Touch-control also makes playback of photos and videos easy to flip through like pages in a book.

For those who miss the tactile feel of a traditional DSLR mode dial, the DMC-GF3 offers an innovative mode thumb wheel that quickly cycles though all available modes with visual feedback provided on the large 3’’ touch-enabled LCD.

The LUMIX GF3 records 1920 x 1080 full-HD video in the AVCHD format, which features almost twice the recording time in HD quality than the conventional Motion JPEG. A dedicated video record button on the top lets users instantly start recording video, without having to hassle with any menu settings. The LUMIX GF3 allows for Touch AF in video recording, enabling professional-like features, such as rack focusing. For instance, by touching the subject on the screen, the focus is shifted to the subject.

Contributing to its ease-of-use, the LUMIX GF3 features Panasonic’s acclaimed iA*3 (Intelligent Auto) mode – and the new advanced iA Plus mode – are automatically engaged once the iA button is pressed, helping to make shooting video and photos with the LUMIX GF3 extremely simple – even to users new to compact system cameras. Panasonic’s iA features include MEGA O.I.S. (included in several lenses), Intelligent ISO Control, and Intelligent Scene Selector, Face Detection, AF Tracking, Intelligent D-range Control and Intelligent Resolution. With the new iA Plus mode, the LUMIX GF3 easily enables commonly desired manual enhancements not available from standard camera auto modes such as peripheral defocusing around faces, exposure compensation, and color balance adjustments which are visually adjusted by moving an on screen slider with the user’s finger or the thumb wheel.

The LUMIX GF3, like all CSCs in the Panasonic LUMIX G Series, is equipped with a highly-efficient Dust Reduction System. In some system cameras, if dust or other foreign matter gets inside the digital camera while the lenses are being changed, it’s possible that the debris could cling to the image sensor and show up as a spot in your photos. However, the Panasonic Dust Reduction System helps to eliminate this problem by placing a supersonic wave filter in front of the Live MOS sensor that vibrates vertically approximately 50,000 times per second - thus repelling dust and other particles from the LUMIX GF3’s sensor.

Two modes - Photo Style and Creative Control - let users at any skill level get creative with their photos. With Creative Control, the user can choose the most-frequently-used color modes (Expressive, Retro, High Key, Sepia, High Dynamic and newly added Miniature Effect*4 mode) with easy access. In Miniature Effect mode, the peripherals are defocused while saturation and contrast is emphasized so the photos look like a diorama. The Photo Style mode revitalizes the conventional film mode with settings in Standard, Vivid, Natural, Monochrome, Scenery, Portrait presets while enabling finer adjustment of contrast, sharpness, saturation and noise reduction.

The LUMIX GF3, like all the CSCs in the LUMIX G Series of digital cameras, is compatible with other Micro Four Thirds lenses and the full sized Four Thirds System standard via an optional mount adaptor. Other accessories available to the LUMIX G Series include external flashes, PL and ND filters, leather cases, straps, and more. The Panasonic LUMIX GF3 will be available in black, white, red and brown bodies for a suggested retail prices of $699.99 with the 14mm lens kit system starting in July 2011, and $599.99 with the 14-42mm lens kit system starting in late August 2011; and. For more information on Panasonic LUMIX G Series compact system cameras, please visit www.panasonic.com/lumix.

*1 For an interchangeable lens system camera with a built-in flash as of June 13, 2011
*2 Approximately 0.1 sec with LUMIX G VARIO HD 14-140mm / F4.0-5.8 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S., approx. 0.18 sec with LUMIX G 14mm / F2.5 ASPH. and with LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S.
*3 Some functions in iA mode may be unavailable depending on the lens that is mounted
*4 Sound will not be recorded with [MINIATURE EFFECT] in Creative Control Mode and approximately 1/10 of the time period is recorded. (If you record for 10 minutes, the resulting motion picture recording will be approximately 1 minute long).

Design and specifications are subject to change without notice.
* Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds and Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds Logo marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Olympus Imaging Corporation, in Japan, the United States, the European Union and other countries.
* The "AVCHD" is a high definition (HD) digital video recording / playback format jointly established by Panasonic Corporation and Sony Corporation.
* All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective corporations.
* This unit is compatible with both SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Cards. You can only use SDHC Memory Cards on devices that are compatible with them.

About Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company
Based in Secaucus, N.J., Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company, is a Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC) and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations.  Panasonic is pledged to practice prudent, sustainable use of the earth's natural resources and protect our environment through the company’s Eco Ideas programs. Company information for journalists is available at www.panasonic.com/pressroom.

# # #

Pricing and availability

Having started shipping in July 2011, the Lumix GF3
with the 14mm f/2.5 kit lens retails for about US$700. In late August 2011
the 14-42mm zoom kit will ship for about US$600. Available colors will include
black, white, red, pink, and brown.