Photography News 13

Camera review

ON TEST

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM5

Small can be beautiful, but as far as cameras are concerned, smallness is also amajor benefit if youwant to travel light without compromising quality

SPECS

Words by Will Cheung

PRICE £769 with 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 lens CONTACT www.panasonic.co.uk SENSOR 16 megapixels, CMOS with Venus engine, Micro Four Thirds 17x13mm ISORANGE 100-25,600 AUTOFOCUSMODES 23 AF points, single, continuous, manual. Modes include multi- area, single point, face detection and live view SHOOTING SPEEDS 5.8fps continuous DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 98.5x59.5x36.1mm WEIGHT 211g

A huge advantage of a smaller format is that the cameras and lenses can be made much smaller too, therefore meaning savings in weight and bulk for the photographer. Case in point, Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds format cameras, of which the Lumix GM5 is the latest. The GM5 sells at £769 with the supplied 12- 32mm f/3.5-5.6 standard zoom – with a 2x crop factor this lens equates to 24-64mm in the 35mm format. An update of the GM1, the GM5’s main gain is an electronic viewfinder as well as £250 on the price tag. For an interchangeable lens CSC, the GM5 is really petite. It’s sitting on my desk next to a Nikon D750, and the Panasonic looks like it has been blasted by a shrink ray. With the small size, control layout could have been compromised, but Panasonic has done well here and using the camera is pleasant enough. Three controls populate the top-plate – focus mode, on/off switch and exposure mode dial. Each is positive to use and recessed enough into the body to avoid accidentally changing a setting. The back panel is dominated by the fixed, touch-sensitive LCD monitor. There are times when a touch-sensitive panel can be really useful but equally it is handy to be able to switch off this aspect of handling too. On the GM5 you can and there are other options too if you only want partial touch functionality. There are two physical function buttons and with these you have no fewer than 46 customisable options. There are also five virtual function buttons on the monitor and 42 functions are available for each of these. The monitor provides a bright, contrasty viewing image and there is the option of auto switchover between the monitor and the EVF. The EVF is nothing more than ok. It’s nice to have a viewfinder but the image is quite small and you get the feeling of looking through a short tunnel, but the resolution is high enough for critical viewing. Turn the camera on and it’s very likely you will get reminded to extend the lens to its shooting position. After a while you get used to extending the lens first but I certainly forgot for most of the

first day I had the camera. It’s not a problem unless you are after a quick shot in which case you are best advised to have the lens extended ready. At least start-up time is very quick. In terms of performance the GM5 did very well. Exposures were consistently accurate across a variety of lighting conditions and I didn’t often need to override what the camera decided to give. Shoot into a bright light and you do need to lend a hand to ensure the subject or the shadows are correctly exposed but that is nothing for the GM5 to be ashamed of. Focusing is slick and quick. I tried multi and single zone focusing and also tried touchscreen AF too. Essentially the GM5 did very well and rarely tripped up. Touchscreen focusing, especially with single-zone focusing, is ideal for sneaking street pictures regardless of where you place the subject within the image frame. In multi-zone AF mode, using the touchscreen makes a number of AF zones (four to six) active, so opting for single zone is probably best. The size of the single AF zone can be varied too. The GM5’s image quality is what you would expect from a Micro Four Thirds camera. At ISOs up to 800, digital noise is low and image quality high with fine detail nicely resolved, excellent sharpness and accurate colours. Go beyond ISO 1600 and quality suffers and if you shoot at ISO 6400 and above images look rather smudgy and noisy. Stick to sub ISO 800 if you can.

The verdict The Panasonic Lumix GM5 might be tiny but it packs a considerable punch and represents good value for money. I’m not a massive compact camera fan and I always prefer an interchangeable lens model although that prejudice is changing with the premium large sensor compacts you get nowadays. The GM5 is not a truly pocketable camera (unless you go around wearing a jacket with deep pockets) but its svelteness means it’s easy to stow in a handbag/manbag/briefcase or laptop bag. It has the potential as a take-everywhere camera for me. The GM5 is not too extravagantly priced either and the growing range of Micro Four Thirds lenses from marque and independent brands like Sigma and Tamron only broadens its appeal.

Tiny size – portable, it has an EVF, image quality PROS

Exposureswere consistently accurate across a variety of lighting conditions and I didn’t oftenneed to overridewhat the camera gave

CONS Tiny size – handling, EVF is small, not great at high ISOs

Photography News | Issue 13