If you’re a Nikon or a Canon user and considering shooting infrared or already are shooting infrared and just looking to upgrade from an older model you’d never normally even consider going to an outside brand camera. Well, you really should! At least open it up as an option as there are some great advantages.

As you can see from the picture above the Lumix G cameras are considerably smaller than a standard DSLR. This is possible due to the fact that these little cameras don’t have a mirror box to divert the light into the viewfinder like on a standard DSLR. Instead, they use the imaging sensor for all tasks, previewing the image, auto focusing, metering and capturing the images. This really works to your advantage for infrared photography because the camera actually “sees” the infrared light at all point of image capture process and is able to work with IR just as well as visible light. That’s right, no more focus issues, you can use any Lumix G series lens and still get accurate IR focus. This is a huge advantage over older DSLR cameras!

Another great benefit is the ability to see a live preview in infrared, even in the viewfinder! This is possible because the viewfinder is not optical and doesn’t show you a view through the lens like in a normal DSLR. Instead, the viewfinder is electronic and contains a monitor (think video camera) that displays the infrared version of the scene in real time.  Some models in this series don’t have a viewfinder to conserve size but still do make the viewfinder available as an attachment (think hotshoe flash).

Plus they are tiny! Perfect for you camera bag without the extra size and weight of a DSLR. No more excuses for leaving your IR camera behind.