Lumix DMC G2 camera (1 Viewer)

I'm thinking of dipping my toe into the murky waters of bird photography and was wondering whether this camera with the 45-200mm lens would be of any use. Not wanting award winning portrait type results but something better than the record shots that I get with my point and click camera.
Warehouse Express have an offer of under a grand for the two pieces of kit and I can just stretch to buying them.
I'd be grateful for any opinions.

Keith Dickinson said:

I'm thinking of dipping my toe into the murky waters of bird photography and was wondering whether this camera with the 45-200mm lens would be of any use. Not wanting award winning portrait type results but something better than the record shots that I get with my point and click camera.
Warehouse Express have an offer of under a grand for the two pieces of kit and I can just stretch to buying them.
I'd be grateful for any opinions.

Click to expand...

I don't know the camera as I use a FZ-35/38 and a FZ-8. But just the idea of only having 200 mm equivalent would seem to render this camera rather unsuitable for your plans. Unless you are happy taking pictures of virtually tame individuals.

Thanks for the reply Robert, I'd sort of reached your conclusion for myself from the number of views and the lack of posts in my thread. Ah well back to the drawing board.:t:

I think that Robert might have reached a wrong conclusion (or a right one) based on incorrect data. AFAIK, the camera has a 2x crop factor, so the lens would reach the equivalent of 400 mm on a film camera.

I am another person using a fz series (fz18 in my case) and that is why I did not initially answer. There is a zoom going to 300 that is promised sometimes this year; if that one actually turns out to be more than vaporware, then your plan might be a lot more realistic. The beauty of the micro 4/3 system is that adaptors should be available to use almost any lens, but the lack of image stabilization in the panasonic houses means a drawback compared to similar olympus houses; I am not sure which olympus houses have a built in viewfinder on the other hand? Using non micro-4/3 will mean large lenses, however!
Hope this helps
Niels

njlarsen said:

I think that Robert might have reached a wrong conclusion (or a right one) based on incorrect data. AFAIK, the camera has a 2x crop factor, so the lens would reach the equivalent of 400 mm on a film camera.

.....Niels

Click to expand...

My answer was based on the assumption that the 200 mm was not the real length but what it would be equivalent to. Like what we have on the FZ models. My FZ8 says 36-432 equivalent, whereas the lens is really a 6-72. So if the 200mm is the real size, it may well be quite decent for taking bird pictures.
But Niels is right, the missing image stabilizer in the camera is an issue as well. I assume there is one in the lens, however? So it will only be a (probably intentional) drawback when using other lenses.

There is IS in the lens, called Mega OIS. There is also another little trick that my GF1 (and I assume the G2) has which is to select Extra Optical Zoom (except when using RAW). This will select the 3.1 megapixels at the centre of the 12 megapixels giving more of a telephoto picture.

Obviously, the quality may not be the highest, but at least it is not a digital zoom and it might help get the effect you want.

The camera is great. The 2x factor is thre relationship of size between the sensor and a 35mm negative size. Ignore the things that make a 200 act like a 400mm. In a word the images are awesome. It is a small camera and it takes great photos. No sacrafice here at all!!
As a forum sponsor I can give you the camera with the 14-42 lens and the 45-200 lens with a 4 gig class 10 card, 2 uv filters and a case for 1079.99 shipped in the USA. Shipping to Europe would be 49.99. Feel free to contact me with any questions