Digital Photographer - UK (2020-06)

Panasonic

LUMIX G100

Isthistheultimatesolutionforvloggersandsocialmedia

creatives?TechreviewerJonDevofindsout

There’saninherentriskofdumbing

thingsdownwhencreatingacamera

forsocialmediacreatives,but

Panasonichasavoidedthatpitfallwiththe

LUMIXG100.Itmaybetargetingvloggers

withabevyofvideo-centricfeatures,butthe

G100isalsoahighlycapablestillscamera.

Its20.3-megapixelsensorrendersdetails

superbly,thankstotheomissionofalow-pass

filter.TheG100’sJPEGsarepunchyandrich

incontrastingoodlight,andRAWfilesprovide

greaterlatitudeforeditingpost-shoot.

TheG100usesatriedandtrustedpairing

ofAFandmetering.Itfeaturesthesame

49-areacontrast-detectionAFand1,728-zone

multi-patternmeteringsystemsdeployedin

theLUMIXG7,G85,G9andGH4.It’snotthe

fastestormostadvancedsystemaround,but

itworkswellenoughforgeneralpurposesand

isratedtoachievefocusinginaslittleasEV

-4.Wefounditworkeddecentlyenoughinlow

light,andtheG100deploysanAFassistlamp

whenneeded.

WetestedtheG100withits12-32mmf/3.5-

5.6kitlens.Despitenotbeingparticularly

bright,itfeaturesOISsowewereableto

comfortablycapturehandheldshotsaslowas

1/10sec.Butincircumstanceswhereyouwant

tokeeptheshutterspeedhigher,theG100

Price:

£679/$698(12-32mmlenskit)

featuresamaxISOsensitivityofISO25,600.

TheG100wasstillabletodeliverusable

imagesatISO 3200 – atleast,usablefor

socialmedia.Thesamecan’tbesaidforvideo

athigherISOsettingsorinlow-lightscenarios,

though,andyou’llneeddecentlightwhen

capturingvideoswiththeG100,otherwiseyou

willseeanoticeabledipinvisualquality.

WhentheLCDscreenisflippedforwards

tofacetheuser,thecameraautomatically

switchesintoVideoSelfiemode.This

increasesthedepthoffield,keepingyourface

aswellasthebackgroundinfocus.We’re

pleasedtoreportthattheG100’sintelligent

face-recognitionandtrackingalgorithms

canidentifyandlockontofacesconsistently.

AlthoughtheG100recognisesfacesfairly

quickly,ithuntsalittleduringfilming,which

willannoythemoreeagle-eyedcreators.

Thecamerautilisesthissametechto

implementitsultimateUSP:anOZOAudio

microphonearraybyNokia.Asthefirst

consumercameraofitskindtoofferOZO

Audio,theG100usesthreemicrophonesand

face-trackingtofollowwhoever’sspeaking

oncamera.Theideaisthatasauserspeaks

tothecamera,theG100willoptimisethe

directionoftheaudio-recordingsignalto

matchthepositionofthepresenter.

x5

©Jon

Devo

©

Panasonic

bit.ly/DP-230

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