Panasonic DMC-G1 Operation
At first the Panasonic G1's user interface seems a little befuddling, because some common functions didn't have external buttons visibly labeled. Exposure compensation is a prime example; there's no button labeled with a +/- symbol on the camera's body. To adjust the exposure, you can either push on the front control dial and then turn it, or press the Q.Menu button and scroll among the options there. Unless you've previously been in the Q.Menu and scrolled to another option, the exposure compensation control is the first one you'll see after pressing the Q.Menu button. The adjustment scale is laid out horizontally, but you must hit the up/down buttons to adjust the exposure setting. This seems counterintuitive; the horizontal scale suggests the use of the left/right arrows or the front control dial, but instead these scroll through the various options on the Q.Menu.
While we found the G1's user interface a little counterintuitive, a good many first-time users will just leave the camera in Intelligent Auto mode, making the point moot.
Once we became accustomed to the Panasonic G1's controls, we found that the user interface worked well. Because it would leave the Q.Menu cursor (option selection) on the function you last used, it tended to drop us back to where we wanted to go more times than not. Pushing the front dial to access the exposure compensation control was very fast and quickly became second nature. The My Menu's keeping of our last five menu selections close at hand saved our delving into the extensive menu system for most choices while we were shooting. At the end of the day, we found the Panasonic G1 a very pleasant and responsive camera to shoot with.
The four navigation buttons access oft-used commands, including ISO, white balance, AF mode, and a special function button can be assigned to any of several options. Pressing the Preview button gives you a Depth-of-field preview by stopping down the lens to the current aperture, and pressing the Display button immediately after puts the G1 into Shutter speed preview mode.
Panasonic DMC-G1 Record Mode Display
The illustrations below (courtesy of Panasonic) show what information is displayed on the G1's LCD monitor (or electronic viewfinder) in Record Mode when used to preview. In most cases, the displays are identical, though there are a few items that are only displayed on the LCD monitor, as noted in the table footnotes below. (Click here to open a copy of the table describing the callouts in a separate window, if you want to keep it handy while you scroll through the illustrations below.)
LCD Monitor Style (Initial Display)
Monitor Style (Recording Display)
Viewfinder Style (Initial Display)
Viewfinder Style (Recording Display)
Panasonic DMC-G1 Record Settings Display
The illustration below (courtesy of Panasonic) shows the setting information available via the G1's Quick Menu:
The following table documents the information for all display illustrations above:
1
|
Flash Mode
|
20
|
Recording Mode
|
2
|
Film Mode
|
21
|
Metering Mode
|
3
|
O.I.S. / Jitter Alert
|
22
|
AF Mode
|
4
|
Drive Mode (Single 1, Burst, Auto Bracket, Self-timer)
|
23
|
Flash Output Adjustment
|
5
|
Digital Zoom
|
24
|
2nd Curtain Synchro
|
6
|
Picture Size
|
25
|
Extra Optical Zoom
|
7
|
Quality
|
26
|
Histogram
|
8
|
LCD Mode 2
|
27
|
AF Tracking Operation
|
9
|
Intelligent Exposure
|
28
|
White Balance Bracket
|
10
|
Battery Indication
|
29
|
White Balance Fine Adjustment
|
11
|
Card Access
|
30
|
My Color Mode
|
12
|
Recording State (flashes red)
|
31
|
Current Date and Time 2,4
|
Focus (green)
|
Travel Destination Setting 2,4
|
||
13
|
AF Area
|
32
|
Custom Settings
|
14
|
Number of Recordable Images 3
|
33
|
Program Shift
|
15
|
White Balance
|
34
|
AE Lock
|
16
|
ISO Sensitivity
|
35
|
AF Lock
|
17
|
Exposure Compensation Value
|
36
|
Age 2,5
|
Manual Exposure Assistance
|
37
|
Self-timer 6
|
|
18
|
Shutter Speed
|
38
|
Spot Metering Target
|
19
|
Aperture Value
|
||
Notes:
|
Panasonic G1 Playback Mode Displays
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