The Panasonic Lumix DMC – GF1 digital camera scores excellent for its simple design, multiple features and outstanding performance. Producing high definition, quality pictures, and the camera has a comfortable design that can easily be used by a novice. The lenses can be interchanged; however, the EVF is an expensive feature that cannot be used with hot-shoe flash at the same time.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC – GF1 is one of the best interchangeable lens cameras out there. There is just one minor flaw and that is unavailability of the optical viewfinder, which makes it difficult to capture the action that is most often needed in professional photography.

A test was conducted by experts who switched between 20mm and 14-45mm lenses, but they were not able to get the viewfinder option which is usually found connected with the LCD, placed neatly in the hot shoe which moves out when the hot shoe flash is used. Always make sure that you check the lens specs before purchasing the camera as Panasonic uses optical image stabilization, whereas its rival contender Olympus depends on sensor shift. This is where Panasonic falls behind Olympus because it lacks optical image stabilization and also lacks support for efficient movie capture as it doesn’t have the continuous autofocus option.

If you choose to ignore these minor flaws, the camera in itself is a near perfect piece released by Panasonic. It has multiple features and could take some time for an average user to figure out its variety of options. You can dig through the menu to understand options such as burst shooting, self timer, autofocus options, flash options etc. Do read through the icons as the camera has multiple icons on its display for all the functions chosen.

This GF1 version of Panasonic is a refined form of its predecessor the Panasonic GH1. It has seven frame bracketing options and also uses different sensors to capture different ration pictures, and at the same time safeguarding the true resolution of the picture instead of having it all cropped away like the GH1.

The navigation buttons in the camera can be used to control the white balance, the face detection mode and also the ISO sensitive. Along with that you also have functions such as the aspect ratio, intelligent exposure options, film mode and many other display controls. The Q.Menu on the camera is used for setting up flash options, color modes, stabilizer option, LCD brightness and other control actions of digital photography. You can also change the icon displays to display around the edges rather than to show up on the fullscreen display.

You can also capture video in the form of AVCHD, Motion JPEG MOV files at the quality rate of 60fps or 720p or any other desired resolution rates (there are three bit rate choices).  The camera has a battery life of 300 shots, and weighs around 15.2 ounces with its dimensions being 4.9 x 3.3 x 1.8.  The average price (along with interchangeable lens of 14-140mm and f4.0 – 5.8 lens) of this camera is $ 1499.95 which is very expensive indeed. But a loyal customer of Panasonic would definitely pick this camera up for its efficient photography options despite of the price.