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Panasonic GF1 Exposure Options

The Panasonic GF1 offers all the exposure options you'd expect in an SLR-class camera, plus a few Panasonic-specific options. Available exposure modes include Program AE, Manual, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority modes with shutter speeds from 1/4,000 to 60 seconds available, as well as a Bulb setting for longer exposures up to four minutes. The x-sync speed for flash photography is 1/160 second. A fully automatic mode called Intelligent Auto (iA) enables Shake Detection, Motion Detection, Scene Detection, Face Detection, Subject Detection, and Light Detection to try to deliver optimum results under a wide range of conditions. (In our experience playing with the camera, iA did a surprisingly good job, under a wide range of lighting conditions.) The Panasonic GF1 also offers a number of Scene modes, a My Color Mode, and a Custom mode where up to four sets of shooting modes and settings can be stored and recalled. See the Modes and Menus page for more details.

While in Program AE mode, you can rotate the rear control dial to select different combinations of aperture and shutter speed settings than those normally chosen by the autoexposure system. This is often called Program Shift. If the automatic program would have chosen 1/125 second and f/5.6, you could instead direct the camera to use 1/60 at f/8 or 1/30 at f/11, to get greater depth of field. It's a very nice touch that's common on a lot of SLRs these days, and is a handy option for those times when you need some measure of increased control, but still want the camera to do most of the work for you.

Another feature that's also pretty common, but still very welcome is the electronic analog exposure display visible in the viewfinder data readout as well as on the rear-panel shooting display when the camera is in Manual exposure mode. This shows the amount the camera thinks an image will be over- or underexposed, based on the settings you have selected, and helps you find the best exposure for the subject.

Panasonic GF1 Face Recognition
Like the GH1 before it, the Panasonic GF1 includes Face Recognition, with a couple of changes aimed at improving usability. Face recognition isn't to be confused with face detection, a function offered by many cameras these days. The Panasonic GF1 goes a step further by trying to recognize specific individuals. Up to six faces can be registered, with up to three training shots per individual face for increased accuracy. A new feature for the Panasonic GF1 compared to the GH1 allows the user to select the sensitivity of the face recognition system. When set to Low, the camera is less likely to incorrectly identify a face, but more likely to fail to recognize a face at all. When set to high, the converse applies -- faces should be more likely to be recognized, but with an increased likelihood of incorrect identification being made.

The camera will display and write into the EXIF headers up to three people's names when it recognizes their faces. In addition to just the name, a birthday can be registered, as well as focus priority. Focus priority allows the camera to optimize focus and exposure for the highest priority face it finds in a scene with multiple faces. The included PHOTOfunSTUDIO software bundle can also be used to search for images containing specific people on your PC.

If you program in a birthday for a person, whenever the camera recognizes that person's face in an image in playback mode, it will display their age as of the date of the photo in an overlay over the image on the camera's screen. The birthday information is also written into the JPEG file's EXIF header, so it will also be accessible in Panasonic's bundled PHOTOfunSTUDIO software. (Sorry, Mac users; available only for Windows PCs.)

We didn't play with it in our lab, but at a Panasonic demo for their 2009 models earlier this year, Panasonic staff demonstrated how PHOTOfunSTUDIO can be used to improve on the camera's face recognition, by training the software on a larger number of images.

Panasonic GF1 ISO Range
ISO sensitivity ranges from 100 to 3,200, adjustable by pressing the ISO button (up arrow) on the back of the camera and then using the up/down or left/right arrow directions of the Multi-Selector to select values from those shown on the display. The ISO number can be adjusted in one-stop (default) or 1/3-stop increments, depending on the ISO increment setting selected in Record Menu 4.

An Auto ISO mode is available, and you can set the upper limit to ISO 200, 400, 800, or 1,600 in Record Menu 4. (The "Off" setting defaults to a limit of ISO 400.) Intelligent ISO mode detects subject movement, and will boost ISO to increase the shutter speed in an attempt to freeze subject motion. The maximum ISO selected by Intelligent ISO is 800 with the flash off, and 400 with the flash on.

Panasonic GF1 Noise Reduction
The Panasonic GF1 gives you five choices for noise reduction, ranging from -2 to +2, with 0 being the default. While the user manual doesn't say, we can see by examining our Still Life ISO NR series that the noise reduction controlled by this setting is applied at all ISOs, not just higher ones. A separate Long Shutter noise reduction On/Off setting is available for dark frame subtraction for long exposures.

Panasonic GF1 White Balance Options
White balance modes on the Panasonic GF1 include Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Halogen, and Flash. No Fluorescent preset is provided. Kelvin temperature settings are also available, ranging from 2,500K to 10,000K, as are two Custom white balance settings, for setting white balance from a white or grey card. The effect of changes in white balance settings is shown in real-time, on the LCD monitor or EVF.

In most of the white balance modes, you can fine-tune the color by pressing the down arrow. You're then presented with a x/y axis graph with which you can adjust between Amber and Blue levels and Green and Magenta levels by using the four arrow buttons.

In Kelvin white balance mode, the up/down directions on the Multi Selector or rotating the rear dial adjusts the Kelvin temperature with numerical readout, while a scale shows the color temperature relative to existing presets.

Custom white balance is set by selecting one of the two Custom White Balance settings, pointing the camera at a neutral white or grey card under the lighting you'll be shooting in, filling a frame in the center of the display with the reference target, and then pressing the Menu/Set button.

You can also bracket white balance exposures. The bracket setting is performed using the fine-tuning adjustment values, and three images are taken when the shutter button is pressed once. An Amber to Blue axis sequence can be selected, or a Green to Magenta axis sequence.

Panasonic GF1 Metering Options
The Panasonic GF1 offers three metering modes, selected via the Metering Mode option in the Quick Menu or Record Menu 1: Multi-pattern, Center-Weighted, and Spot. The default Multi-segment metering mode takes readings throughout the image to determine exposure, using an array of 144 zones covering the bulk of the frame. Center-Weighted gives precedence to the center of the image while reading the whole frame. Spot metering, useful for high-contrast subjects, bases the exposure reading on the very center of the image, letting you set the exposure based on a small portion of your subject. You can lock an exposure reading by pressing the AF/AE Lock button on the back panel. Halfway pressing the Shutter button also locks exposure (and focus in AFS mode).

Panasonic GF1 Exposure Compensation & Bracketing
The Panasonic GF1's Exposure Compensation adjustment increases or reduces the overall exposure from -3 to +3 exposure values (EV) in one-third stop increments, and like White Balance, the effect of Exposure Compensation is simulated on the preview. An Auto Bracketing feature captures multiple shots with different exposures. See the Drive Mode section on Auto Bracketing below for more details.

Panasonic GF1 iExposure
The Panasonic GF1 offers three levels of what the company calls "iExposure" or Intelligent Exposure: Low, Standard, and High, as well as an Off setting. iExposure attempts to automatically adjust contrast and exposure to improve apparent dynamic range in difficult lighting situations. It may raise ISO to achieve this.

Panasonic GF1 Drive Modes
The Panasonic GF1 offers a variety of shooting modes via the Drive Mode lever under the Mode Dial on of the camera's top panel. Drive options include Single Shot, Burst, Auto Bracket, and Self-timer. The Burst Mode has rate options for "H" (3 frames-per-second) or "L" (2 frames-per-second). Auto Bracket lets you take a sequence of 3, 5, or 7 shots with either 1/3 EV or 2/3 EV exposure variation steps. The sequence can be selected from "0/-/+" (default/underexposed/overexposed) or " -/0/+" (underexposed/default/overexposed). The Self-timer mode offers 10 seconds, 10 seconds with 3 pictures taken at 2 second intervals, or 2 seconds. All Drive Mode options are set in Record Menu 4.

Panasonic GF1 Film Modes

The Panasonic GF1 drops the Film Mode button found on the GH1 and G1, but the functionality is still available from Record Menu 1 and via the Quick menu. The Film Mode option lets you choose from nine preset "Film Modes," which have different characteristics such as contrast, saturation, sharpness, and noise reduction. You can also define two of your own.

Here's how Panasonic describes the available Film Modes (the descriptive verbiage below is theirs):

Multi Film is like a Film Mode bracketing feature, that lets you define up to three types of Film Modes to be used in a bracketing sequence. The shutter button must be pressed for each type of film desired in a bracketing sequence, or you can put the Panasonic GF1 into Continuous Drive mode and hold the shutter button down; the camera will stop capturing after three shots.

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-GF1 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!

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