Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 16 MP Micro System DSLR - Black - Camera / 2 Lens Kit with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm/F3.5-5.6 and 45-200mm f/4-5.6 G Zoom Lenses

Panasonic DMC-G3

Panasonic

Panasonic DMC-G3 Video #1

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 -Black- w/14-42mm and 45-200mm

Adorama

Panasonic DMC-G3 

Top Rated Gear: Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 16 MP Micro System DSLR - Black - Camera / 2 Lens Kit with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm/F3.5-5.6 and 45-200mm f/4-5.6 G Zoom Lenses

Now discontinued, but still available with a bit of looking, the G3 is a fine picture taker with a decent if not stellar EVF and is available for dirt cheap. I bought this one as a second body. Small, low cost, low profile... What's not to like?

An Under-the-Radar Gem

I cannot find anything I would change on this model!

Crisp, clear optics!!

I am a retired photography teacher and do a little bit of everything as to pictures.
The camera does a great job in automatic mode.
The camera is very versatile when in PASM mode. Allows you liberty to do your own setup.
I love the touch screen for pin-point focus of subject.
Nice movie mode when you want it.
Still not excellent in low light but much better.

Great for a beginner or enthusiast.

I bought the kit for the G3 body but the 14-42 lens was only $30 extra above body alone.  I have Olympus EPL-1 and 8 Oly/Panny lenses and wanted eye level VF for animal, bird, and sports action pictures. I use it chiefly with my Panasonic 45-200 zoom (lens is as large as 55-200 for Nikon DSLR) and G3 body balances well with it, much better than with EPL-1.  However, the G3 - although small - is bigger than Oly bodies.  The kit 14-42 and all the Panasonic zooms are relatively large compared with Oly zooms.  I therefore prefer the EPL-1 and Oly lenses for landscape, portrait, general, and street use.  With the 14-45 kit lens, color cast is slightly magenta/bluish but acceptable. If you want DSLR type operational features in much smaller size, G3 is fine, half the price of an OMD-E5, and also smaller than the just-announced G5 body.

Meets My Expectations

This camera is my first foray into the mirrorless world. My DSLR is a Pentax K-5 that, while relatively small, can still be quite a handful. I wanted a smaller camera at a reasonable price with a reasonable selection of good lenses and a view finder. This led me first to the micro 4/3 cameras and then to the Panasonic G3 and GH2. Since I don't care about video, the G3 seemed the right camera at the right price. So far I haven't been disappointed.

A most amazing little camera

The touch screen is intuitive--don't let this put you off.  The size and weight advantages over a DSLR are huge and airlines are ready to rip you off if you have a large camera bag and a carry-on.  The ability to shoot movies with the built-in viewfinder gives the G3 a major advantage over most DSLRs and the mirror system. The Panny lenses have a nice quality feel and seem better than consumer grade Nikon-Canon glass.  After years of bulky and heavy Canon and Nikon digital SLRs, I am glad I made the switch--its the size and weight that was the deal maker.  My only gripe is the poor battery life--buy a generic for under $20, they are just as good as the overpriced branded unit.  I live in the UK and regularly buy from Adorama--5 Star store. I rated the G3 5 stars, not because it is near-perfect but because it is a great all-rounder and for the money just cannot be beaten. I am now a converted touch-screen fan.

Why buy a 4/3rds without viewfinder?

I use this product for my photography competition

It's a good product.

This camera is so versatile, easy to use at any level and is sophisticated for the professional as well.  It does it all and the HD videl is surprisingly excellent.  A great value...Top performance at a good price.

A GREAT AND VERSATILE CAMERA

The 4/3'rd cameras have really come a long way.  I can really say this is a great little camera.  I had purchased a Nikon D5100 at the same time and put the two through a side-by-side test.  In really pictures, the Lumix G3 came out exactly the same (and even better at times) than the Nikon D5100.  In low light, the Lumix G3 (without flash) had a better image and less noise.  With flash (sorry G3) the Nikon was better.  However, since the G3 did such a good job on low light, the flash was not needed as often.

The big kicker here is DSLR quality picutres in a package that can still fit in your coat pocket.  The touch screen thing makes it so easy to find a follow for pictures as well as for video.  The only bad on the G3 is that there is not an imput for a microphone (if you are into video).  However, the G3 gives high quality for the price.  

The ONLY thing that I didn't like about the G3 is that the shutter sound makes the camera seem cheap.  However, the images speak for themselves.

What can I say? Get one!

I've used the camera for a variety of things, some macro, some casual event, a little landscape.  Does everything reasonably well with additional lenses.  There's quite a lot of configurability but some modes tie config together and some don't.  More granularity would be nice.  A+M focus is nice but even if you are running AFS with shutter decoupled, you need to run Fn 1 as an AF drive and enable AF Lock you be able to use MF without half pressing the shutter.  That's annoying.

Great little camera.

This is my wife's camera and our second micro-four thirds camera.  My other camera is a GH2.  I decided to get this for my wife so I could leverage my investment in lenses.  We mostly use the 20mm F/1.7 pancake lens on the G3.  It's a great camera to take along on family day trips.  Light-weight, portable, versatile little camera.  I've used this camera with a four-thirds adapter and an Olympus 50mm f/2.0 macro.  Great combination for portraits although manual focus works better for the Olympus four-thirds lens.  I've used this camera with a PocketWizard to activate off camera flash.  I prefer the look of the photos taken at 800 ISO and below but with a little help from Adobe Lightroom, higher ISOa are possible up to 1600.  I could be mistaken but I actually think that using 1600 ISO on the G3 gives slightly better results than 1600 ISO on the GH2.  I like having the built in viewfinder and the articulated screen.  It's a great camera for a great price.  Wish it had a little more direct control via dials and buttons to access some settings, but the Quick Menu works well and some of the buttons can be configured.

Small but mighty good

Bought this and am selling my Sony A300 (which was too big and heavy and got left behind too often).  Now I have no excuse not to take a camera with me.  The kit lens is good enough and combined with the 'extra zoom' (with slight loss of max pixels) has enough range 80-90% of the time.  I bought the 45-200mm lens for the shots that NEED a telephoto.  Even this lens does not make the camera too heavy.

A camera that won't get left behind.

I bought this, purely as an adjunct to my large 1D Mk III and a number of quality lenses. I sometimes need a lightweight and compact camera when space dictates.  I am now getting excited at the amazing range of legacy lens options available for Micro 4-3 and have bought a number of adapters for lenses I have kept for years.

I would much rather Panasonic market this camera with the older 14-45 zoom lens.

Lightweight and extremely portable.

At this price you have all the bells and whistles (e.g. Touch Screen, Swivel LCD screen, Viewfinder...etc) in a small package.

Bought it for its viewfinder, which is about the best in its class (of course the up and coming Sony NEX-7 may prove this otherwise) and I use it to compose 90% of the time. Didn't think the touchscreen would get much use but the 'touch and shoot' funtion is more useful than I could imagine.

Autofocus is fast, at least in decent light, not sure whether it is the fastest as the Olympus PEN E-P3 just seem a bit more snappy to me in comparison.

Ignoring the style (some hate the mini-DSLR style, it just seems it's trying too hard to punch above its weight), the performance is very good and it is certainly very easy to use, except I don't always agree with the Auto ISO setting, where it doesn't always strike a good enough balance between shutter speed and ISO (when in Aperture Priority mode) - there are even times when both the ISO and shutter speed were automatically set far too low for the lighting condition, resulting in some very slightly underexposed shots. Some may argue that the camera allows for a lot of manual fine-tuning, this I agree and the degree of fine tuning available is appreciated, but Aperture-Priority mode is my go-to mode when I need a quick snap without having to worry about the other parameters.

I also sold the kit zoom lens very shortly after I got the camera, simply because it doesn't do the camera justice. It is fine as a lens but I am sure you'll see a night and day's difference when you attach some better glass on it, sharpness and contrast in particular (e.g. The Panasonic's own 20mm F1.7 comes to mind). I also noticed that the standard kit zoom lens contributes to the poor Auto ISO performance.

All in all, if you are after a competent Micro Four Third body and haven't been lured by the PEN E-P3 styling, you already have/are willing to acquire a better lens, get this and you won't regret (The Auto ISO setting knocks a mark off though).