Build and Handling
Panasonic Lumix DMC-CM1 Review – Build and Handling
When the camera is switched off, the CM1 measures 135.4 x 68 x 15.2mm, making it slimmer in comparison to its nearest hybrid device competition, Samsung’s Galaxy K Zoom and the Galaxy Camera 2. Compared with other flagship Android devices, the CM1 is shorter and slimmer in width, although at 204g it is a touch heavier, but by no means as hefty as the 283g Galaxy Camera 2.
Panasonic has used a leather-print plastic on the face of the camera, which looks great but feels a touch cheap and does nothing to improve the gripping area. A more rubberised/textured surface would have worked better. Alternatively, the company could have used a small raised strip of rubber, placed where fingers naturally fall when shooting. There’s one other small issue that troubled me about the CM1: it has no tripod thread. I can’t actually think of a camera that doesn’t have a tripod thread, so given that Panasonic is calling this device a camera, it’s an obvious omission.
Additionally, there are a couple of physical weak points where it feels as if some corner-cutting may have taken place in order to keep down the camera weight and the cost of production, such as the Micro USB port covering, as well as the nano sim card slot mechanism and its covering. All feel vulnerable to repeated use, and my SIM managed to catch on to the inside of my sample, damaging the tray in which the card sits. As a word of warning, I would recommend caution when inserting and removing a sim card.
