Bread and Butter Workhorse Lens: Pan 12-35 f/2.8

wiryawan wrote:

curiosifly wrote:

Nice pictures, Gary. Since I just read your review about LX100, and I happen to have LX100 and am thinking of getting my first ILC camera. how do you think GX8 or 85 plus this lens comparing to LX100? Image quality, low light capability, focus speed and accuracy? I am always hesitating because I feel the two might be too close to each other? Thanks.

Hi Curiosifly

Thanks for the kind comment on the pictures!

Surprisingly, the image quality will be very similar between the GX8 or the GX7 + 12-35mm f/2.8 and the LX100 if you don't pixel peep. And a few times already I had a hard time trying to identify which camera did I use for a few of my pictures without looking to the EXIF. Keep in mind that I mostly shoot RAW, so I can't really comment on using the JPEGs.

Low light up to ISO 800-1600 in LX100 is similar to the GX8 and GX7, but once you start to go higher, the LX100 will appear slightly noisier.

For focus speed, I do really think that the GX8 or even the GX7 wins hands down. Not that the LX100 is sluggish or unusable, but it's just a fraction slower than the GX8 and GX7, which in my opinion is still fast enough for most needs.

Where the advantage lies for the ILC like the GX8 or GX85 in my opinion is in terms of overall snappiness and responsiveness of the camera. It took almost a second for the LX100 to go into the gallery after you shoot. It also took more than a second when you power up the LX100 to wait for the lens to extend and be ready to shoot. It's just not fast enough when you want to instantly shoot after you power it on. The GX8 and the GX7 can shoot instantaneously after you power it on. Literally push the power slider and press the shutter button, and it will boot the camera, focus the image, and capture a focused image, all in just a fraction of a second.

Also the 12-35mm f/2.8 doesn't use electric motor, you can just zoom by rotating the ring, which can give you 12mm to 35mm instantaneously, as opposed to the motorized electric zoom on the LX100, which is overall slow. You can set the camera to remember your last zoom setting, but I find myself wanting to zoom more often than staying in one focal length. This could be a point to consider

Sorry, I haven't tried the GX85 enough to get an idea of how it will perform and how the image quality will be, but theoretically it should produce image as sharp as the GX8, as clean as the GX7(yes, the GX7 is slightly cleaner than the GX8, but not as sharp), and focus speed as fast as the GX8, while keeping the size as big as the GX7.

I hope my explanation helps, Curiosifly

Hi Gary

Thank you very much! Good point. That slow power zoom of LX100 + the lens always retracts when viewing photo is a pain for me indeed. I have missed my shots many times because of that.

Good to know that AF is faster. LX100 is good already for me most of the time. A little better might be enough for me. But based on your opinion, I may consider some other lens if I do get a GX8 or 85 since I already have LX100 cover this focal range. The 14-140 ii is very attempting. Best lens that shows advantage of MFT system in my opinion. People say it's susceptible to shutter shock. Does it bother you on GX8?