Panasonic G100
Is this the perfect camera for bloggers?
Being touted by Panasonic as “the ultimate vlogging camera”, it’s quite clear what kind of person the company is aiming its new G100 at.
Although the camera follows on from the Panasonic G95 / G90, it’s quite a departure from that model, using a smaller body and with more video-centric specifications to appeal to budding YouTubers.
Thanks to that small body, though, it could also be considered by stills photographers as the ideal travel camera. Pair this up with some of the smaller Micro Four Thirds lenses on the market, and you’ve got a neat little portable bundle.
Still, it’s those video specs which are the headline grabbers here. Most notable is the addition of an Nokia Ozo Audio-equipped microphone system, making it the first mirrorless camera to include such a set up.
What that means is that you get three microphones picking up sound depending on the direction it’s coming from – and that includes from the rear of the camera if you’re walking and talking to make a vlog. Panasonic is so confident of this sound set up that it claims an external microphone simply isn’t necessary.
Of course, you’ve also got 4K video recording (albeit with a crop) as well as a fully articulating screen. The G100 is in fact the world’s smallest camera with an articulating screen, another nod to just how miniature it is. The sensor is a 20.3MP Four Thirds device, making it smaller than those found in APS-C or fullframe cameras, but still larger than the one-inch sensor found in the recently announced Sony ZV-1 vlogging camera.
We’ve managed to spend a few days with the G100 ahead of its global release and have been shooting a variety of stills and video.
Features
Panasonic has long been a strong player in the video market, and while its focus might have been on the more ‘serious’ videographer in the past, the G100 has its sights firmly on the vlogging space.
This means it’s got a generous helping of video-centric specs that are designed to appeal to YouTubers. Naturally, there’s 4K/30p video recording, albeit with a crop, but there’s also a range of other frame rates and resolutions.
There’s also social mediafriendly specs, like a video selfie mode, a social media frame marker
(to help you make sure you’re framing up correctly for the social media network of your choice), and a dedicated button for transferring your videos and shots directly to your smartphone ready for uploading.
The big news, though, comes in the shape of the new audio system – Ozo Audio by Nokia. While we’ve seen this appear in smartphones, this is a first for cameras, and it helps the G100’s three internal microphones pick up clear sound no matter where it’s coming from.
Vloggers may also find the fact that there’s a rear microphone for picking up sound as you’re walking and talking a particular bonus. Panasonic is so confident that this microphone system will do a good job that it says you shouldn’t need to invest in an external one, though that’s slightly contradicted by the inclusion of a 3.5mm mic input.
Other specs include a 20.3MP MOS sensor, five-axis hybrid image stabilisation, a fullyarticulating touch-sensitive screen, an electronic viewfinder and a single SD-card slot.
Design and handling
One of the advantages of the Micro Four Thirds system is that its cameras can be much smaller than its APS-C or full-frame equivalents. Panasonic has taken that to the extreme with the G100, producing something incredibly small and light, in a bid to lure vloggers who want something ultra-portable to capture their everyday lives.
Although this is a follow-on from the Panasonic G95/G90, the outward appearance is quite different, with the much smaller body being the most notable difference. It also means you lose the chunky handgrip, but the small grip that’s left still gives you a good purchase on the camera, so it feels like a worthy sacrifice.
There’s also a reduction in the number of direct access buttons and dials on the G100, but you’re still left with a decent array which will allow you to quickly jump to the setting you need. The mode dial has stayed, along with a dial for adjusting aperture and shutter speed, but you’ll no longer find a secondary dial, or another for adjusting the drive mode.
Performance
We’ve been able to carry out a few real world tests with the G100 to get an understanding of how well the Ozo Audio internal microphone system works.
It’s a bold claim when a manufacturer says you don’t need to purchase an additional microphone, but early indications suggest that they might not be wrong.
We’ve used the G100 in a number of different audio conditions to see how well the microphones cope with blocking out background noise. In relatively quiet conditions we wouldn’t expect any problems, and naturally the camera does well there. With some background noise present – such as crowds and other people talking – it does an excellent job of prioritising the sound of the speaker to give clear sound.
Particularly useful is the rear microphone, intended to pick up sound when creating walking videos with you narrating from behind the camera. There was one occasion where the microphone didn’t automatically switch from the front to the rear microphone when turning the camera around – that’s something we’d like to test further to see if this was just a one-off incident, or something that happens more frequently.
For vloggers and YouTubers, the G100 is an excellent choice. With a good range of video options, including a world-first when it comes to audio, it’s one of the most versatile and well-specced cameras in its price and weight category. Its small size, shape and weight also makes it a good option for travel photographers looking for something small and discreet. With an excellent array of Micro Four Thirds lenses available, particularly small and travelfriendly optics, this is a fun option to suit a wide audience.
Any Davies