Event Coverage

First looks: The Lumix DMC-G7 DSLM camera

By Marcus Wong - 27 May 2015

First looks: The Lumix DMC-G7

The DMC-G7 is Panasonic’s latest Digital Single Lens Mirrorless (DSLM), and it boasts a 16-megapixel Digital Live MOS sensor that’s paired with a Venus Engine image processor that utilizes a quad-core CPU for high speed signal processing. It can go up to a maximum ISO rating of 25,600, and is able to handle continuous shooting at rates up to 8 fps (single autofocus) and 6 fps (continuous autofocus), while offering 4K video recording capabilities in 3,840 x 2,160 pixels resolution at 30p (60Hz), 25p (50Hz), or 24p in MP4 format.

At the heart of it all is the Venus Engine image processor.

The DMC-G7’s Contrast AF system features Panasonic’s DFD (Depth from Defocus) technology, and offers a variety of AF functions like Face/Eye Detection AF, Pinpoint AF, One-shot AF and Advanced Low Light AF to best match your shooting conditions.

As a quick recap, DFD technology calculates the distance to the subject by evaluating two images with different bokeh levels, then comparing the result to a database of the characteristics of the lens to determine the actual distance to the subject. This allows the DMC-G7 to achieve focus in approximately 0.07 seconds, and is dramatically faster than the DMC-G6 before it.

Panasonic's DFD plays a big part in the autofocus speed of the DMC-G7.

Low Light AF allows the camera to focus in conditions as bad as -4EV without the use of an AF assist lamp, and Starlight AF allows you to shoot stars in the sky with AF that uses contrast values within splits of each AF zone to get proper focus. The AF Tracking algorithm has also been improved to pick up the color, size and motion vector of your target, allowing the camera to get a better lock, resulting in AF tracking performance of about 200% or better.

Other than AF performance, the DMC-G7 also boasts a newly developed high-speed, high-precision dual OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) displays for the LVF, giving it 1.4x magnification and 100% field of view with an eyepoint of approximately 17.5mm. The LVF boasts a resolution of 2,360K dots, and has a 10,000:1 contrast ratio for superior color reproduction. Alternatively, images in the LVF can also be viewed in monochrome if you wish to concentrate on contrast.

The DMC-G7's rear monitor is bright with good colors.

At the rear, is a free-angle monitor with 1040k-dot resolution with an approximate 100% field of view that features a static-type touch control system. Maximum luminance is said to be up to 50% brighter than on the DMC-G6, and should ensure higher visibility with improved color reproduction.

The new drive mode dial gives you quick access to the 4K photo modes.

Finally, the DMC-G7 comes with a new drive mode dial in addition to the front/rear dials – a first amongst Lumix G cameras. This is to enable quick activation of the 4K photo modes. 4K Burst Shooting, 4K Burst S/S (Start/Stop) and 4K Pre-burst:-

  • 4K Burst Shooting allows shooting at 30fps for up to 29 minutes and 59 seconds (the recording limit for 4K videos on the camera), and basically gets frames of 4K video at 30fps which are pulled out as single still images.
  • 4K Burst S/S does the same, but starts and stops with a single press of the shutter which saves you from holding the shutter button down for the entire duration.
  • Finally, 4K Pre-burst takes a total of 60 images right before and after the shutter release which helps for instances when you’re not sure when the exact moment of capture will happen.

All the functions in 4K Photo mode give you images in 8-megapixel resolution with a choice between one of these aspect ratios: 3840 x 2160 (16:9), 3328 x 2496 (4:3), 3504 x 2336 (3:2), and 2880 x 2880 (1:1).

The DMC-G7 comes with a pop-up flash.

We had a brief hands-on with the camera, and think that it feels quite solidly built, the control dials have a nicely textured feel to them, and the overall layout of the controls puts everything within easy reach. We do like the bright EVF  - it feels like the colors in there make it one of the better EVFs we’ve seen lately. Auto-focusing speed is quick and snappy, and there’s a nice, deep grip on the camera. There's good balance with the provided kit lens, though it may be a little unbalanced with larger lenses, but it makes for a compact and light package overall. 

The exact release date and pricing for the Lumix DMC-G7 has yet to be announced, but we’re told it should be available here in about two or three months. A quick look at the U.S pricing  has it at about US$800 (with kit lens), so we can probably expect it to retail here just over S$1,000.

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