Panasonic G3 - 2011 to 2013

After a little over two years using the SX10, in August 2011 I bought a Panasonic G3 micro four thirds camera. This was my main camera for two years and after that I used it in combination with other cameras for another two years until the summer of 2015. This set of posts covers 2011 to 2013 when the G3 was my main camera.

I gained a wider range of subjects by visiting more of the local nature reserves.

When deciding what to buy next I had considered moving to Panasonic bridge cameras. I had been interested in the FZ50 and by 2011 the next camera in the series, the FZ100, had been available for a year and was well regarded in the Panasonic Compact Camera Talk forum at dpreview, where I had been lurking occasionally after finding out about the FZ50. Despite the FZ100 seeming like a good fit to my needs I decided to go for a larger sensor camera because with its larger sensor and interchangeable lenses I thought it should give me better image quality than another, albeit more up to date, small sensor camera with a single lens covering a very large zoom range. So I bought a G3, a Panasonic 14-42mm kit lens and 45-200 kit lens, and a Metz 58 AF-2 flash as the Canon 430exii flash would not work on the G3.

For reasons explained in the post G3 - No macro lens, I did not buy a macro lens, but instead continued to use close-up lenses, the same Canon 500D, Raynox 150 and Raynox 250 as with the S3 and SX10, but now on the 45-200 on the G3.

Two weeks after I bought the G3 the Panasonic FZ150 was announced. Had it been announced just a little earlier I might have gone for that instead of the G3, but it was too late by then.

The G3 was a very small, light camera, and the 45-200 was quite heavy in comparison. It also tended to extend when pointed somewhat downwards, especially when it had a close-up lens attached. After a year with the 45-200 I bought a 45-175. This is small, light and sharp, and does not extend when changing focal length. This was an advantage when using close-up lenses. With a close-up lens on a telezoom camera lens that extends and contracts as you change focal length you have to keep moving the camera in the opposite direction so as to keep the working distance constant. This becomes more of a problem as the magnification increases. This problem did not arise with the 45-175. 

In fact when I bought an even more powerful close-up lens, the Raynox MSN-202, I found it almost impossible to use on the 45-200 because of the extending lens issue, but I found it fairly easy to use on the 45-175. I think this extending lens issue was my main motivation for buying the 45-175, although as it happens I have never used the MSN-202 much. All the same the 45-175 turned out to be a favourite lens; I found it a delight to use with my most used close-up lenses - Canon 500D, Raynox 150 and Raynox 250, and with no close-up lens. On the few occasions when I did use something more powerful, such as the MSN-202 or two Raynoxes stacked, the 45-175 worked well on the G3, as it has on subsequent Panasonic micro four thirds cameras that I have used. Since starting to use the 45-175 I have never used the 45-200.