Is Panasonic gear's reliability and durability levels comparable to Canon/Nikon gear?

CaMeRa QuEsT wrote:

In the fence here for a G7 kit and perhaps a 42.5 f/1.7.

I feel there is a big question mark hanging over Panasonic regarding reliability and durability. How has been your experience with your Panasonic gear in these regards?

It depends on the model.

Bodies:

I own the G7's successor, the G85, and it seems to be a very well-built camera.

However, some of the earlier G-series cameras struck me as being "plasticky" and poorly-built.

My GM5 is a solid little camera, but it needed $315 worth of repairs because my sweaty fingers caused water damage to the rear scroll wheel and on-off switch. I was disappointed by this damage occuring in a situation which I considered to be normal use.

Lenses:

The kit lens used on the GM5 and other small Panasonic cameras, the 12-32, is very good optically but so cheaply constructed the metal barrel comes off. This happened to me, and many other people have reported the same issue.

My Panasonic 35-100 (small version) is also optically excellent, but also has a problem in that it is designed to be collapsible - which is great - but tends to collapse when I'm zooming out because the "hard stop" is too weak. (It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't tried the lens).

On the other hand, my other Panasonic lenses have no issues. These are the 7-14, 12-35, and 25/1.4. I also owned a 25/1.7 which, although mediocre in terms of image quality, didn't have any problems in terms of build quality.

I also own an Olympus E-P3, which I consider to have given good service, but even that camera had the mode dial fall off while I was hiking. My Olympus lenses have all performed reliably, but there have been several reports of the professional-quality 12-40 f/2.8 snapping at the lens mount. This has been reported many times in DPreview forums and, of the two people with this lens who I know personally, one has had the lens break at the mount.

In short, I'd recommend that before buying any body or lens you Google them and check out user reviews on Amazon, etc, to see if there are any issues with them. You should especially take the time to read negative reviews, as a very large percentage of positive reviews are written before the gear has been subjected to a reasonable amount of use.

S