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A friend of mine had recommended and asked me to test and review Panasonic Lumix G7. Actually I was not too keen in Mirror less Cameras due to my previous experience with a Mirrorless Camera from another brand as I was not too happy with the results.

Finally one fine evening I received a pack with Panasonic Lumix G7 Mirrorless Camera and a few additional Lumix lenses to test it. I was quite happy and satisfied after taking few shots and loved it.

I was happy with the results; The camera is lightweight, handy and easy to use. The best part is that the lenses are fast and changeable. A wide range of Panasonic and Leica lenses are available separately to buy as per your requirements.

As compared to heavy DSLR’s you can avail all the options and more functions in this small camera and you get same quality as a DSLR. The G7 is very useful and has some amazing inbuilt additional features which I liked:

• Time-lapse & Stop Motion capture
• Wifi
• Inbuilt picture filters
• Long Exposure Noise control
• 4K video, Bulb Mode
• Zebra pattern

(Traditional DSLR’s need to use external intervalometers, WiFi adaptors for time lapse and Wireless transfer)

A mirrorless camera is a good choice as you can get away from not having to take prior approvals from Mall Management and similar places. Wish a DSLR, surely one would be stopped by security and would be asked for approvals, however, more likely than not, you can get away with a Mirrorless Camera and Compact lenses such as the G7 with its kit lens or several other compact lenses from Panasonic.

The camera is light weight and most inexpensive lightweight Tripods would be able to support it for long exposures without getting attention from using larger and heavier gear while travelling.

Food Photography:

I used the camera for some of my professional assignments of ‘food photography’ with the client’s (Ustad Hotel, Dubai )permissions and was very happy with the results. I shot few food photographs with Panasonic Lumix G7. As I was planning to shoot some of the shots in natural light and didn’t take my professional lighting kits. We were a little late on preparing the food in the evening as the sunlight went down and I didn’t want to use the camera’s inbuilt flash, so I thought of mounting and testing my Canon 580 EX II with the G7.

Amazingly it worked fine and the below images are shot using Panasonic Lumix G7 with 30mm Prime Lens and Canon 580 EX II Flash as the fill light source. You can download and check the unedited camera files from the below link. The focus control is amazing so that you can select the focus by points and lines horizontally or vertically (Face/Eye Detection / Tracking / 49-Area / Custom Multi / 1-Area / Pinpoint/ (Full area touch is available) in the live view touch screen or the focus point can be even selected by touching the specific part to achieve great depth of field control without using a computer or external Tethered shooting applications.

Shooting Milky Way & Star trails:

We (3 of my friends) planned of shooting Milky Way and star trails at Jebil Jais on the weekend and I planned of using only G7 to test the results in long exposures and High ISO’s. I was confident in shooting Milky Way with this camera because the lens, which I was going use, was the 15mm/F1.7 Leica Lens. Using this lens, O was able to capture more light in 20-25 seconds at low ISO values. We tried some long exposures, time lapses & Light paintings etc. The results are good as expected and the Milky Way was not very clear because of the light pollution in that area.

Recommendation: 8/10

I recommend G7 for every photographer, as it is lightweight, easy to use, interchangeable lenses function with a wide variety of lenses and picture quality.

Noted Issues:

• Only 16 MP
• Panasonic application for processing RAW files, need to be improved
• Dynamic Range need to be improved

Recommendations:

• I wish if they upgrade from 16 MP to higher pixel ratio in near future so that it can be used in professional assignments without carrying heavy equipment’s
• Light weight & compact good for travel photography