Panasonic G1 vs Canon 5D. Which Do I Love More?

obakesan left a comment asking me why I seem to be taking a progression from the Panasonic G1 to the Canon 5D. I think this question would make a nice blog post.

Let me say this up front. I like both cameras for different reasons.

The G1, despite its small size, is quite a capable camera. The major attraction for me, is the short lens to sensor register. This means lenses that normally can not be used on the Canon can be used on the G1. I have a boatload of Canon FD, Minolta MD, and Konica KR, as well as the c-mount lenses that I really want them get used. One can now buy pretty much any lens adapter for the G1, from the obscure DKL to the Canon EF mount, for pretty reasonable prices. The c-mount lenses especially, are the reason enough to buy the G1. I adore some of the very old cine lenses. Some of them have characteristics that are just can not be duplicated in modern lenses. There is a reason why the prices of cine lenses have skyrocketed.

Another feature that attracted me to the G1 is its Electronic View Finder. I know some will look down on it and prefer instead an optical view finder. I was skeptical of its quality as well before I tried it. It turned out to be one of the G1's best features. It is amazingly easy to get accurate focus using EV to manually focus a lens. For critical focus, like a f1.2 lens, this camera will produce more keepers than a camera with an Optical View Finder.

That's about it. I do not care much about small size. I am quite happy lagging a 1Ds each day and commute to work on my bicycle. So why did I put roughly 16,000 frames on the G1 in the last ten months (and mostly in the first 5 months after getting it)? The lenses. You can see that pictures from auto focus lenses account for less than 0.5% on the G1. Virtually all pictures were taken with manual focus lenses. After I tried the lenses I wanted, the interest started to move back to the 1D III and 5D, but since the 1D III didn't stay with me for long, the 5D has become my primary camera.

Due to the G1's 2X multiplying effect, finding a lens as wide as 28mm equivalent is a huge challenge. One would need a 14mm lens. For this reason, the 5D is an attractive choice.

Since the first frame I shot with the 5D, it constantly surprises me with high quality images. The light AA filter produced images with very high accutance. Even a cheap lens can produce very descent images. The short comings of the G1 are the strengths of the 5D: Wide angle, low noise, fast focusing in low light. I won't hesitate to use ISO 1600 on the 5D, but unless I have to, I would not use even ISO 400 on the G1. The G1's ISO reminds me of the Canon 1Ds that I had. Good quality at base ISO.

With the 5D, I can slap on a fast 24mm, 28mm, 35mm or even a 50mm lens and shoot in the dark winter evenings. This is increasingly so as the winter days get dark very early here in Toronto. The only wide angle lens I have for the G1 is its slow kit lens with a maximum aperture of f5.6 at the long end. Even with image stabilization, one can not get usable images when the light dims.

I still use the G1 regularly, but not as much I used to. This probably will not change until Spring rolls around.