my 1st exp w/Pan Lecia m43 - I'm a believer!

I rented the GX8 and PL 100-400 from lensrentals for a 4 day trial. I had never used M43 equipment before and want to evaluate before making transition from Canon EOS APC-S /Sigma 150-600 C for bird photography. Unfortunately I could not get “real world” nature shots and only did more “Test shot”images, eg Books, Clocks, Brick Walls, Stuffed Animals, etc.

I was totally impressed esp. with the lens.

The sharpness seemed superior to my other equipment at all focal lengths and apertures. The contrast was excellent. All shots I took were handheld(although I was bracing camera against my body). I was amazed at the stabilization; eg, shots at 200mm were sharp at 1/20, etc. My estimation was I was getting 4+ stops of stabilization at all lengths. As I posted last week, at first I had trouble with the stiffness of the zooming mechanism. After jiggling around with the zoom lock and more practice, it became less of an obstacle.

As far as the camera, I look at two issues, IQ and ease of use. I was impressed with the lack of noise I saw at ISO 1600. I shot RAW only. The images didn't seem to need as much noise reduction or sharpening as on my EOS's. I wonder if something was different in my LR settings(there should not be, I default to have no adjustments made automatically) or in how the RAW files are written. If anyone wants to weigh in on that, please do.

Of course, I found the setup and menu system to be nonsensical compared to my Canons. Of course I've been using Canon for years and know it by rote. Still, Canon's organization and grouping of settings is much more logical. Panasonic has very few “sub headings”. I liked the ability to customize function buttons , Q menu etc.

One thing I simply don't get.:

The GX8 has 2 main “control dials”. Yet, they ONLY can control Aperture or Shutter speed. If you shoot manual, that's great. But if you shoot Ap .or shutter priority, you have redundant dials. Why don't they just let you switch one dial to ISO, or anything else you want?? Fuji and Sony let you. Yes, I know, they have that button which lets you switch the functions. But it's one button too many and a bit cumbersome.

The only EVF I ever used was on a Sony a6000, and I find the GX8 is far superior. The rear screen not as great as Canon, but OK. I like the ability to aim using the EVF and use my finger to touch focus on the rear screen. That will come in handy in the “real world”.

Due to the seasonality of my bird shooting and of my finances I will probably wait until late fall to purchase this combination. I am also hoping that maybe a GX8II??? will be released which will have the shutter and stabilization of the GX85

lescrane said:

lescrane wrote:...

The GX8 has 2 main “control dials”. Yet, they ONLY can control Aperture or Shutter speed. If you shoot manual, that's great. But if you shoot Ap .or shutter priority, you have redundant dials. Why don't they just let you switch one dial to ISO, or anything else you want?? Fuji and Sony let you. Yes, I know, they have that button which lets you switch the functions. But it's one button too many and a bit cumbersome....

Click to expand...

I think you have something mixed up here. On a GX7, in A or S mode, the rear dial defaults to controlling exposure compensation. You can change this if you want, and change what directions causes things to go up or down. My old G3 had a single dial, which when clicked would switch from aperture or shutter to exp. comp. when in those modes.

Further on the GX7 clicking the rear dial can open up additional uses, for instance in manual focus mode it cycles through the magnification options.

I'm sure the GX8 isn't a step back in this regard.

jeff

I started using m43 last year after using a Nikon D3300 and I do like those M43! Panasonic is my favorite so far. I tried the Olympus em10 but the IQ (jpeg) wasn't as good/natural as the Panasonic GX7. I couldn't get rid of that over sharpening effect and the colors were always off regardless of how many times I played with the white balance settings.

I'm glad you liked the GX8. The GX85 interests me but I'll wait for price drops. I just wish it also had 20MP. The em5 II interests me as well thanks to the pixel shift technology.

Results are super sharp and clear right? Compared to Canon anyways they truly are sharper.

greenjp said:

I think you have something mixed up here. On a GX7, in A or S mode, the rear dial defaults to controlling exposure compensation. You can change this if you want, and change what directions causes things to go up or down. My old G3 had a single dial, which when clicked would switch from aperture or shutter to exp. comp. when in those modes.

Further on the GX7 clicking the rear dial can open up additional uses, for instance in manual focus mode it cycles through the magnification options.

I'm sure the GX8 isn't a step back in this regard.

Click to expand...

Sadly, since the GX8 has a dedicated exposure comp dial, you cannot assign exposure comp to either the front or rear main command dials. In A mode they both control aperture, and in S mode they both control shutter speed. You can set it up so that the button in the middle of the rear dial will, if pressed, temporarily change both dials to other functions, e.g., white balance and ISO.

I stand corrected! Thanks for the info. One thing about Panasonic cameras (for the most part apparently) is that they allow you to customize like crazy, to the point of having multiple, redundant ways to do the same functions. Surprised the GX8 doesn't allow more customizing of the dials.

Well, if i'd ever thought the GX8 was a possibility, it certainly isn't now. A very big plus on the G7 is the ability to mimic the old FZ50 - settin rear dial to aperture and front to compensation when in AP mode - perfick ;-)

i guess panasonic thought they were doing everyone a favor by putting in a dedicated exp. comp. dial. true, most users of cameras in this range use exp. comp all the time, but why force it to one dial instead of just "defaulting it"??? did they think it looks good to have the chrome dial w/the +1,-1, etc embossed? As far as only dedicatingthe main dials to f stop, ss, you figure there's no "cost" to making it customizable, it's just a s/w change, so why lock out functions? would it "confuse" users"?

I think many of us, when switching systems want to get close to what we had for controls, or better. We all have different sized hands and shooting styles. Strange choices made here.

Still, I would not let this stop me from purchasing, just trade offs. I do want to check out the gx85 first and see how it feels. I was assuming that a bigger body would be better for the PL100-400, but wouldn't mind saving some $$ and getting the "kit lens" included.

greenjp said:

I stand corrected! Thanks for the info. One thing about Panasonic cameras (for the most part apparently) is that they allow you to customize like crazy, to the point of having multiple, redundant ways to do the same functions. Surprised the GX8 doesn't allow more customizing of the dials.

Click to expand...

My guess is that if the dedicated EV dial is set, for example, to -1.3, that is a firm setting that can't be overridden by another dial. OR, Panasonic thought it would be too confusing to have that dedicated dial displaying -1.3 if some other dial might override that to some different EV setting. For the way I use a camera, I'd prefer that there not be a dedicated EV dial. Except for this limitation of EV to the dedicated EV dial, the GX8 probably has the same dial customization as other models.

Now, if Panasonic ever set up their firmware to meet the requests of those who want to shoot in Manual mode, with Auto ISO, and be able to adjust EV, then the dedicated EV dial would be great.