Exciting news! We have booked our first trip to Japan (thank you Aeroplan miles!) and to say I’m excited would be an understatement – now our trip isn’t for a while but I’m trying to think ahead. All my initial research has indicated to me that I really need to pack light. Anyone who knows me will know that I require a certain amount of stuff to feel comfortable so packing light is pretty hard for me and I love traveling with several cameras – film and digital.

One thing I’ve started researching is the micro four thirds systems – compact camera with interchangeable lenses. When I got my new point & shoot camera it was love! (Thanks to the guys at u2 Gigs who turned me onto this camera.) Now, recently I read a review about the Panasonic DMC-GF1 in Popular Photography which has turned my mind to picking up this camera – although it wasn’t a perfect review it did seem better suited for me than other examples of micro four thirds and given my experience with the ZS3 I’m hoping that a test will show I’m right.

My dream camera is a Leica – I love the compactness of the M series and it’s high res and low noise…anyway….

Here are the features of the GF1:

Features

• 12.1 Megapixel 4/3-type Live MOS sensor
• Full-time Live View (3.0-inch, 460,000-dot LCD)
• Venus Engine HD image processor
• Supersonic Dust Reduction System
• 23-area Contrast auto focus
• High-speed consecutive burst shooting
• Intelligent auto (iA) mode
  - MEGA O.I.S. (Optical image stabilizer)*
  - Auto focus tracking
  - Intelligent ISO control with motion detection
  - Face detection AF/AE
  - Face recognition
  - Intelligent scene selector
  - Intelligent exposure
  - Digital red-eye correction
  - Automatic backlight compensation

Ok, well, that’s it for now…I’ve got cameras on my brain…also, wanting to pick up a Golden Half as my travel toy companion…but that’s for another day. Cheers!