Panasonic GM1 Performance

Generally good to excellent speed for a Compact System Camera.

Startup time was faster-than-average and switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was pretty quick. Buffer clearing times were good with a fast UHS-I card.

The Panasonic GM1's autofocus was very fast in our tests, especially for a camera that uses contrast detection only. The GM1 produced full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) of 0.187 second using 1-area (center) AF with the 12-32mm kit lens. That's faster than most CSCs, and faster than consumer DSLRs as well. 23-area AF was very slightly slower at 0.212 second, but that's still fast. Enabling the flash increased lag to 0.342 second, but that's still pretty fast. When manually focused, the GM1's lag time dropped to 0.101 second. The GM1's prefocused shutter lag time of 0.087 second which while quick, was a bit slower than average.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Single-shot cycle times were very good. We measured 0.49 second for large/fine JPEGs, 0.50 second for RAW files and 0.56 second for RAW+L/F JPEGs.

Continuous High Speed "H" mode was slower-than-average these days, at about 4.5 frames per second for L/F JPEGs, and about 4 fps for RAW or RAW+JPEG files. Please note that Live View is not available during a burst in H mode.

With the all electronic shutter option enabled, though, burst rate increased to 9.9fps for L/F JPEGs, 10.3fps for RAW and 10.3fps for RAW+JPEG files, which is excellent. In Super HS mode, we managed 40 frames-per-second, though resolution is only 4 megapixels in that mode. Using the electronic shutter can lead to distortion in moving subjects and other side-effects, though, so keep that in mind.

Full resolution buffer depths were generous for Large/Fine JPEGs, at over 20 frames, but when shooting RAW files buffer size dropped to 8 frames, and 7 for RAW+L/F JPEGs. Buffer depths dropped with the Electronic Shutter mode's faster burst speeds, to 10 L/F JPEGs, 7 RAWs and 7 RAW+JPEG frames. Buffer depth in Super HS mode was a very generous 39 frames.

Buffer clearing was fairly quick for full-res images, ranging from 2 to 7 seconds depending on the file type and mode, though clearing 39 4MP frames took 10 seconds.

The flash recycled after full discharge in an average of 3.2 seconds, which is fair.

Download speeds were reasonably fast, quick enough that you probably won't feel the need for a separate card reader, even with large memory cards. (Note that this test was performed with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/sec UHS-I SDHC card: Slower cards would likely show slower transfer times.)

Bottom line, the Panasonic GM1's performance is pretty good overall for a CSC. Startup is fast, mode switching is fast, and autofocus is fast. Full resolution burst speed with the mechanical second curtain shutter is mediocre, but very fast with full electronic shutter. Buffer depths are decent with JPEGs, though somewhat shallow with RAW files.

Below average battery life for a Compact System Camera.

The Panasonic GM1 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and charger. The CIPA-rated 230 shots per charge with the 12-32mm kit lens is well below average for a Compact System Camera (thanks to its small size), and much lower than a typical DSLR when using an optical viewfinder. We strongly recommend getting a second battery for your GM1 if you plan any extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))