Just before Christmas I came across a lightning deal on Amazon.co.uk on the Panasonic GX1 for £250. This is a funny old one – you are probably asking yourself why I need another camera (in retrospect, so was I). Well, I was curious about the GX1, having owned the E-P3 (a roughly contemporary camera) and there happened to be a panasonic cashback offer on it that took the net price down to £200.
I managed to give the camera little real use. However, that was more down to being busy and getting the GH3 than anything else. I really liked the GX1 output in decent light. Being a Panasonic sensor it did suffer from noise, even at base ISO, but in good light it was really very nice.
Aside from the image quality, it is screwed together really well and all of the buttons are solid and responsive, more so than the E-M5. The screen is nice (being a 4/3s ratio) despite its relatively low resolution (but to be frank anything above 400k pixels looks OK to me).
Ergonomically it was very good indeed. The raised grip was far superior to the E-P3 grip (even if it wasn’t quite up there with the G5 or GH3).
Fastforward to February and I was wondering why I bought it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely camera and object, but it was residing in a drawer. I began to to think actively about eBay.
In any event, I was aimlessly looking for information about the GX1 when I came across a blog with some information about converting a GX1 to use as an infrared camera.
The Lightweight Photographer: Infrared Revelation
Now I had heard of infrared photography, never really pid it much attention, but what I found on Flickr blew my mind. It struck me that the GH3 and a converted GX1 would make a nice complimentary kit for landscape photography (one for visible light, one for IR). I don’t want to embed other people’s images here so here are links to some fantastic images on Flickr
Pinner Memorial Park in Infrared
So now, rather than being sold, my GX1 will be repurposed for IR photography. Personally I cannot wait to get it back and take it to the park!
Taken with my GX1 and 14-42mm X, 20mm and 45mm lenses
sgoldswoblog 
I too have a GX1 gathering dust, how much does it cost to have one converted for IR and how do I get this done?
It is fairly expensive. The conversions costs £250+VAT (approx £312). But I want fully functional autofocus and a no fuss shooting experience.
I’m getting mine done by ACS (http://www.advancedcameraservices.co.uk/html/ir2.html#). I can report back once I’ve had it done.
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