Panasonic G85 - 2 questions

Dad of 2 wrote:

I currently have a Panasonic G7 which has been a fantastic camera but I am thinking of upgrading to a G85, mainly for the unlimited video recording capability. I have two questions about the G85 - would appreciate any comments on these:

1) How good is the weather sealing on the G85? Is it OK in a light/med rain?

I have used it to record video (with the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 lens) on the boat ride at Niagara Falls where you go into the falls for about 10 minutes.

I have taken it on whale watches twice where I did get splashed and and it worked afterwards when I cleaned it up with distilled water. That being said, on one of the whale watches, I had a Panasonic 100-300mm mark II lens on the G85, and the lens stopped working for a time after getting splashed (eventually I was able to get it to work again).

The experience with the lens has somewhat soured me on Panasonic's weather sealing. Additionally, while Olympus claims sealing to IPX1 levels, Panasonic does not claim anything in terms of sealing. Granted IPX1 is a pretty weak claim, but I've been told that Olympus tests their recent cameras to higher levels. I've used Olympus splash proof DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, and lenses since 2004 in various amounts of rain, I've had no complaints.

Panasonic has numerous warnings in their manuals about what they mean by splash proof:

Splash Proof is a term used to describe an extra level of protection this camera offers against exposure to a minimal amount of moisture, water or dust. Splash Proof does not guarantee that damage will not occur if this camera is subjected to direct contact with water.

So it is up to you. It is likely that the G85 is good for light/medium rain with an appropriate splash proof lens. Ocean spray is a different matter and should be avoided in any camera and you need to clean it up to remove salt. But with my experience I would trust my Olympus gear over Panasonic. However, Olympus does not offer unlimited video recording.

2) How good is the video autofocus? Not expecting miracles but curious what G85 users would say about effectiveness of autofocus during video.

It sucks IMHO. I gave up trying to use continuous focusing with the camera, and now just use S-AF and use the rear display to change the focus point and re-focus. You can see some 'breathing' where every so often the camera will slightly change focus, and then go back to the original focus point.

Note, I only shoot 1080p.  Evidently the focusing is not as good when you shoot 4K.

Note, in the 3 years since they were released, the G9/GH5/GH5s cameras have gotten three firmware releases that address auto focusing (at least one being major). The G85 has not gotten these improvements.

That being said, I use the G85 because I need to record 1.5 hour shows in one shot to be later edited and cut down to separate acts. No Olympus camera will record 30 minutes or more. At one point, I was thinking of getting the G9, but it too is limited to 30 minutes of recording time.