Panasonic GF2

[Woofage]

A certain chain of high street photo shops has the twin-lens kit at £400 (presentably because it's just been replaced by the GF3). Would this be a good buy? I also quite like the look of the Sony equivalents (nex 5 and nex c3) but they're a bit more money...

[geraldc]

I'd say go for it. You get Adobe Lightroom and a 5 yr guarantee of Panasonic too. Lightroom is good for playing about with raw files and is about £200 quid, so it's not something to sniff at.

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Where+to+buy/Lumix+G+2011+Summer+Promotion+Dealer+Locator/7682780/index.html#anker_7682782

I've been playing with a G2, and the GF2 is pretty much the same camera.  Just no viewfinder and fewer dials.  The touchscreen focus is great, and shifting focus in movie mode just by touching what you want to focus on is great.  You can get converters for about £20 to run pretty much any manual lens you want on it.

[mike]

go for it, my GF1 is brilliant.  Is one of the lenses the 17mm 'pancake'?  if it is, it's really, really good!

[Woofage]

go for it, my GF1 is brilliant.  Is one of the lenses the 17mm 'pancake'?  if it is, it's really, really good!

Yes, it's an 18mm (which is either 1 more or else your memory is as bad as mine )

[harrumph]

Is one of the lenses the 17mm 'pancake'?

No, it's the 14mm f/2.5 pancake. And I think you are thinking of the 20mm f/1.7 lens, which by all reports is indeed very good. The 17mm Micro Four Thirds lens is an Olympus, and is not the equal of the 20mm Panasonic, if the generality of reports is to be believed.

[Woofage]

My mistake, it is the 14mm f2.5 lens

[mike]

yes, you're both right, I'm wrong

Its the 20 that we've got, it's an ace lens.   I've got the 'other' kit lens which I ought to sell as I never use it, it's the 45-200.  If anyone wants..

[scott]

There is a 17mm M4/3 lens, but it's made by Olympus.

And yes, the 20mm is a great lens. Mine stays on one camera almost all the time, while the other camera is mostly for the 100-300 zoom and occasionally for a Nikkor 55mm macro on an adapter.