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Can the GX-85 be run solely off of USB power?

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AlexRojas

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Hi All,

Got a good deal on a used GX-85 and ordered it to use as a backup/travel camera. One of the other things I would also like to use it for is as a webcam for conference calls, since it outputs a clean HDMI feed.

From reading a few other threads here and elsewhere, it seems people are using things like: https://smile.amazon.com/DMW-DCC11-Coupler-DMW-BLG10-Battery-DMW-AC8/dp/B07336HHRS to power the camera.

But given that the camera has a USB port, can I run it off of a USB adapter plugged into a wall outlet? It's not clear from reading the manual. I tried doing a search here and found a few threads that talked about needing a voltage step up/converter but they seemed to be for people using power banks and such.

So is it possible to run the GX-85 off of USB power from an AC adapter?

And if not, is there a dummy battery/coupler thing that I can plug in a USB cable to or do I have to use a full set like https://smile.amazon.com/DMW-DCC11-Coupler-DMW-BLG10-Battery-DMW-AC8/dp/B07336HHRS?
 
No it won't work via usb direct from an AC adapter.
 
There is a dummy battery that allows you to run it via an external power source. It's often listed on eBay.

But I am curious about its use as a webcam. Tell me more.
 
I've used DC coupler, similar to the one you linked to. I power mine via a USB power bank and it runs fine.
 
EGuitarStar said:
I've used DC coupler, similar to the one you linked to. I power mine via a USB power bank and it runs fine.
Click to expand...
Sranang Boi said:
There is a dummy battery that allows you to run it via an external power source. It's often listed on eBay.
Click to expand...
I am trying to eliminate extra weight and cables, since the camera will be mounted to a desk monitor stand. Are these setups that you referenced smaller than this setup - https://smile.amazon.com/DMW-DCC11-Coupler-DMW-BLG10-Battery-DMW-AC8/dp/B07336HHRS?
 
I appear to have the exact same adapter you linked, and I can confirm that it is plugging into a pretty standard USB charger at the wall end. As long as your USB power supply has enough amps (whether another wall charger or a power bank), the camera will be powered from USB using that adapter/dummy battery.

The dummy battery goes into the camera, the USB-to-barrel cable plugs into that dummy battery (to the cable that comes through the battery door; there's a little flap for it), and the USB end plugs into any USB port that supplies enough current. The wall charger that came with mine appears to output 3A, but there might be some wiggle room there.

I have run mine for hours to use my GX85 as a webcam using the included wall charger, and I've never had the camera cut out on me. However, that was just outputting 1080p over HDMI and I haven't done exhaustive tests with internal recording or UHD. As always, make sure to test your needs thoroughly before trusting it for something that matters ;-).

EDIT: And I currently use one of those $15-20 HDMI-to-USB adapters, and it works great. I recommend getting a right angle micro HDMI cable so you put less pressure on the camera's HDMI port. I bought this one and it points downward when plugged in:

 
Last edited:
Sranang Boi said:
But I am curious about its use as a webcam. Tell me more.
Click to expand...
If you have a capture card like the Elgato Camlink or the Atomos Connect or any of the various other capture cards that are available, you can hook up the GX-85 to them and use the feed from it as a webcam in Teams, Zoom, Skype, etc.

Panasonic actually released a tool to use some of their cameras as webcams but GX-85 is unfortunately not one of the supported models: LUMIX Webcam Software (Beta) - Panasonic

I think all the other camera vendors have also released similar tools but if you have an older or unsupported camera that outputs a clean HDMI feed, this is a great way to improve your remote meetings and presentations. The cost for a capture card (the most expensive and popular capture card, the Elgato Camlink, is about $120) is about $20 more than what you would pay for any of the highly rated webcams in the market (Logitech 920S, Razer Kiyo, Logitech Brio, etc.) currently but the quality from the camera is going to blow any webcam out of the water. Plus you get way more control over the autofocus, aperture, focal length, etc., so you can control what's shown and in focus.

If you already have a camera available and don't mind the one time expense of the capture card, I highly recommend doing this. Makes a huge difference in the quality of your video calls.
 
Gnafu the Great said:
I appear to have the exact same adapter you linked, and I can confirm that it is plugging into a pretty standard USB charger at the wall end. As long as your USB power supply has enough amps (whether another wall charger or a power bank), the camera will be powered from USB using that adapter/dummy battery.

The dummy battery goes into the camera, the USB-to-barrel cable plugs into that dummy battery (to the cable that comes through the battery door; there's a little flap for it), and the USB end plugs into any USB port that supplies enough current. The wall charger that came with mine appears to output 3A, but there might be some wiggle room there.

I have run mine for hours to use my GX85 as a webcam using the included wall charger, and I've never had the camera cut out on me. However, that was just outputting 1080p over HDMI and I haven't done exhaustive tests with internal recording or UHD. As always, make sure to test your needs thoroughly before trusting it for something that matters ;-).

EDIT: And I currently use one of those $15-20 HDMI-to-USB adapters, and it works great. I recommend getting a right angle micro HDMI cable so you put less pressure on the camera's HDMI port. I bought this one and it points downward when plugged in:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYLZ8SN/
Click to expand...
Awesome. Thanks much for the confirmation.

Doing some more searching on Amazon, I found this charger/adapter that might work better for my needs: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LNRH4PV

It doesn't have a whole of reviews but it's a lot more minimal and it uses USB-C, so if it works, I can eliminate another AC plug and feed this from existing USB-C charger on my desk.

And thanks for the pointer on the cable. I need something a little bit longer and it looks like neither MonoPrice or AmazonBasics have right angle cables, so I will have to look around a bit.

Also have you had any heat related issues by using it as a webcam or by using this dummy battery setup? I saw a post where someone said it would shut down for 2 minutes every 4 hours or so, which doesn't seem like it should be happening.

Any other tips or notes you may have from your usage would be much appreciated.
 
Last edited:
AlexRojas said:
Gnafu the Great said:
I appear to have the exact same adapter you linked, and I can confirm that it is plugging into a pretty standard USB charger at the wall end. As long as your USB power supply has enough amps (whether another wall charger or a power bank), the camera will be powered from USB using that adapter/dummy battery.

The dummy battery goes into the camera, the USB-to-barrel cable plugs into that dummy battery (to the cable that comes through the battery door; there's a little flap for it), and the USB end plugs into any USB port that supplies enough current. The wall charger that came with mine appears to output 3A, but there might be some wiggle room there.

I have run mine for hours to use my GX85 as a webcam using the included wall charger, and I've never had the camera cut out on me. However, that was just outputting 1080p over HDMI and I haven't done exhaustive tests with internal recording or UHD. As always, make sure to test your needs thoroughly before trusting it for something that matters ;-).

EDIT: And I currently use one of those $15-20 HDMI-to-USB adapters, and it works great. I recommend getting a right angle micro HDMI cable so you put less pressure on the camera's HDMI port. I bought this one and it points downward when plugged in:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYLZ8SN/
Click to expand...
Awesome. Thanks much for the confirmation.

Doing some more searching on Amazon, I found this charger/adapter that might work better for my needs: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LNRH4PV

It doesn't have a whole of reviews but it's a lot more minimal and it uses USB-C, so if it works, I can eliminate another AC plug and feed this from existing USB-C charger on my desk.

And thanks for the pointer on the cable. I need something a little bit longer and it looks like neither MonoPrice or AmazonBasics have right angle cables, so I will have to look around a bit.

Also have you had any heat related issues by using it as a webcam or by using this dummy battery setup? I saw a post where someone said it would shut down for 2 minutes every 4 hours or so, which doesn't seem like it should be happening.

Any other tips or notes you may have from your usage would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
I imagine that adapter will work fine. The dummy battery part is probably the same as mine, and then the USB cable has the different end (but a similar 5V-to-8-9V transformer inline).

I use that short cable along with a longer female-to-male full size HDMI cable to reach my adapter. It should be fine as long as you don't go, well, too long. So you've got the nice right-angle hanging off the camera and a longer, thicker extension cable from there.

I haven't had any overheating, and the camera doesn't feel particularly hot. That said, I pretty much always have the back dispay tilted all the way facing upward so the back of the camera is more "open" to airflow. Also, I haven't done any longer internal recording. That could generate more heat, and maybe then you'd start to run into problems during really long sessions. It's also possible that I haven't hit that four hour mark; maybe it would conk out. The GX85 seems to handle heat really well for such a small camera, though.

Lastly, here's a nice video that talks about the particular cheap capture device I have:


There are some bad ones out there, but that particular style seems decent and can be had under several brand names for well under $30.
 
Gnafu the Great said:
AlexRojas said:
Gnafu the Great said:
I appear to have the exact same adapter you linked, and I can confirm that it is plugging into a pretty standard USB charger at the wall end. As long as your USB power supply has enough amps (whether another wall charger or a power bank), the camera will be powered from USB using that adapter/dummy battery.

The dummy battery goes into the camera, the USB-to-barrel cable plugs into that dummy battery (to the cable that comes through the battery door; there's a little flap for it), and the USB end plugs into any USB port that supplies enough current. The wall charger that came with mine appears to output 3A, but there might be some wiggle room there.

I have run mine for hours to use my GX85 as a webcam using the included wall charger, and I've never had the camera cut out on me. However, that was just outputting 1080p over HDMI and I haven't done exhaustive tests with internal recording or UHD. As always, make sure to test your needs thoroughly before trusting it for something that matters ;-).

EDIT: And I currently use one of those $15-20 HDMI-to-USB adapters, and it works great. I recommend getting a right angle micro HDMI cable so you put less pressure on the camera's HDMI port. I bought this one and it points downward when plugged in:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYLZ8SN/
Click to expand...
Awesome. Thanks much for the confirmation.

Doing some more searching on Amazon, I found this charger/adapter that might work better for my needs: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LNRH4PV

It doesn't have a whole of reviews but it's a lot more minimal and it uses USB-C, so if it works, I can eliminate another AC plug and feed this from existing USB-C charger on my desk.

And thanks for the pointer on the cable. I need something a little bit longer and it looks like neither MonoPrice or AmazonBasics have right angle cables, so I will have to look around a bit.

Also have you had any heat related issues by using it as a webcam or by using this dummy battery setup? I saw a post where someone said it would shut down for 2 minutes every 4 hours or so, which doesn't seem like it should be happening.

Any other tips or notes you may have from your usage would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
I imagine that adapter will work fine. The dummy battery part is probably the same as mine, and then the USB cable has the different end (but a similar 5V-to-8-9V transformer inline).

I use that short cable along with a longer female-to-male full size HDMI cable to reach my adapter. It should be fine as long as you don't go, well, too long. So you've got the nice right-angle hanging off the camera and a longer, thicker extension cable from there.

I haven't had any overheating, and the camera doesn't feel particularly hot. That said, I pretty much always have the back dispay tilted all the way facing upward so the back of the camera is more "open" to airflow. Also, I haven't done any longer internal recording. That could generate more heat, and maybe then you'd start to run into problems during really long sessions. It's also possible that I haven't hit that four hour mark; maybe it would conk out. The GX85 seems to handle heat really well for such a small camera, though.

Lastly, here's a nice video that talks about the particular cheap capture device I have:


There are some bad ones out there, but that particular style seems decent and can be had under several brand names for well under $30.
Click to expand...
Ha...the Can'tLink! I've seen that video and have actually ordered a couple of them from different vendors. I am hoping one of them works well, or well enough that I can keep one and return the other (and the CamLink that's also on the way).
 
AlexRojas said:
Ha...the Can'tLink! I've seen that video and have actually ordered a couple of them from different vendors. I am hoping one of them works well, or well enough that I can keep one and return the other (and the CamLink that's also on the way).
Click to expand...
One thing that really impressed me was the low latency compared to some of the more expensive options. That seems to make it better suited for webcam use. The quality is a little lower, but the 1080p is definitely 1080p (just with JPEG compression).

I believe he notes in that video that it does add a slight color cast (green?). What I did was set a custom white balance in-camera based on the color coming into the computer (rather than what the camera thought was the correct color). I'll detail my method below because it probably varies from one adapter to another (and the lens can make a difference; this is with an adapted vintage lens on a focal reducer), but my current custom white balance is 4300K, A:4, M:2 when using daylight (5000K) LED bulbs to light my face.

I used Shotcut (shotcut.org) to open the video device and check its color using the built-in waveforms and vectorscope. In Shotcut:
  • Go to File>Open Other>Audio/Video Device
  • Select "USB Video" from the Video Input drop-down
  • Select OK
  • Change Shotcut to the "Color" layout
    • View>Layout>Color
You can then hold up a color card (or in my case, I just held up some white sheets of paper to get a rough correct white, and then I tried to get my skin tone pretty close to the "skin tone line" on the vectorscope).

I hope that makes sense, but I'll also try to clarify if it would be helpful. I should also probably type up a blog post about it sometime...
 
In case of GX85, the USB power port can only charge the battery in-camera. During charging time, the camera must be switched off.

Therefore, the only way to provide a long continuous power to GX85 is through the DC coupler through:
  • AC power with an AC adapter; or
  • A voltage step up case, USB cable and external USB power bank.
The following thread should have a very in-depth discussion on using USB power bank on Panny cameras:

How long do G-85 batteries last for video?

I normally shoot stills, but two weekends a year I shoot nearly continuous video to record the performers at the small renaissance faires I'm associated with. Each performer gets a 1/2 hour block, and in the weekend, I try to capture each show at least once. In the past I've used JVC and Kodak...
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com
 
Thanks for that. Much appreciated.
 
Gnafu the Great said:
AlexRojas said:
Ha...the Can'tLink! I've seen that video and have actually ordered a couple of them from different vendors. I am hoping one of them works well, or well enough that I can keep one and return the other (and the CamLink that's also on the way).
Click to expand...
One thing that really impressed me was the low latency compared to some of the more expensive options. That seems to make it better suited for webcam use. The quality is a little lower, but the 1080p is definitely 1080p (just with JPEG compression).

I believe he notes in that video that it does add a slight color cast (green?). What I did was set a custom white balance in-camera based on the color coming into the computer (rather than what the camera thought was the correct color). I'll detail my method below because it probably varies from one adapter to another (and the lens can make a difference; this is with an adapted vintage lens on a focal reducer), but my current custom white balance is 4300K, A:4, M:2 when using daylight (5000K) LED bulbs to light my face.

I used Shotcut (shotcut.org) to open the video device and check its color using the built-in waveforms and vectorscope. In Shotcut:
  • Go to File>Open Other>Audio/Video Device
  • Select "USB Video" from the Video Input drop-down
  • Select OK
  • Change Shotcut to the "Color" layout
    • View>Layout>Color
You can then hold up a color card (or in my case, I just held up some white sheets of paper to get a rough correct white, and then I tried to get my skin tone pretty close to the "skin tone line" on the vectorscope).

I hope that makes sense, but I'll also try to clarify if it would be helpful. I should also probably type up a blog post about it sometime...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tips!

And yea, I think a blog post would be very helpful, especially for people who might not be familiar with these forums and are just doing simple Google searches.
 
AlexRojas said:
Sranang Boi said:
But I am curious about its use as a webcam. Tell me more.
Click to expand...
If you have a capture card like the Elgato Camlink or the Atomos Connect or any of the various other capture cards that are available, you can hook up the GX-85 to them and use the feed from it as a webcam in Teams, Zoom, Skype, etc.

I think all the other camera vendors have also released similar tools but if you have an older or unsupported camera that outputs a clean HDMI feed, this is a great way to improve your remote meetings and presentations. The cost for a capture card (the most expensive and popular capture card, the Elgato Camlink, is about $120) is about $20 more than what you would pay for any of the highly rated webcams in the market (Logitech 920S, Razer Kiyo, Logitech Brio, etc.) currently but the quality from the camera is going to blow any webcam out of the water. Plus you get way more control over the autofocus, aperture, focal length, etc., so you can control what's shown and in focus.
Click to expand...
$10-$20 capture cards "from China" work as well, unless you need 4k. Mine has light blue "HD video capture" printed. The USB-cable detached from the first one (pretty easy to fix), but I ordered three more (one is in my office, one I keep home and I have one spare one), Some of them are rated 720p and others 1080p, but I think they are the same, except the price.

Free OBS Studio software is good for adjusting the the tones etc.

After getting the capture card and installing OBS, the next thing is to invest in lights. Cheap LED bulbs are OK for webcam use. It's important to use the same color temperature for all light sources, preferably 4000K or higher. Diffusing or reflecting the light is useful as well.

There are several threads about the topic here in DPreview.com forums.
 
Thanks for those tips.
 
pannumon said:
After getting the capture card and installing OBS, the next thing is to invest in lights. Cheap LED bulbs are OK for webcam use. It's important to use the same color temperature for all light sources, preferably 4000K or higher. Diffusing or reflecting the light is useful as well.

There are several threads about the topic here in DPreview.com forums.
Click to expand...
I absolutely agree with this. I got a floorstanding lamp with three sockets and some 40-60W equivalent 5000K bulbs that had a high CRI value (that's important for better color accuracy), and I put some combination of 40W and 60W bulbs pointing at different parts of my face/body from the side and one reflecting off a white wall to fill in the other side of my face.

In my opinion, the most important things for good video quality:
  1. Good audio
  2. Good lighting
  3. Manual exposure and white balance
  4. Camera, lens, etc.
EDIT: I'm attaching a couple shots (one of Shotcut, and one that's a still frame from the camera feed) to show the look I have.

Shotcut in the Color layout
Shotcut in the Color layout

GX85 into cheap HDMI-to-USB adapter with LED lighting
GX85 into cheap HDMI-to-USB adapter with LED lighting

EDIT 2: I should also note I did tape some white printer paper in front of the bulbs that point right at me because the softer light looks a lot better (like pannumon said about diffusion). Also, I think these shots were taken using the 12-32mm kit lens around 17mm f/4, but I currently use a Sigma 24mm f/2.8 at f/4.5 on a focal reducer for a rough equivalent of 17mm f/3.2 or so. Little bit softer background than these shots, and a bit more light (ISO 800 works for me).
 
Last edited:
Has anyone tested this setup on a Zoom or Teams call?

I have a HDMI capture device and had a similar setup but ran into Audio Sync issues which I could not rectify. The audio appears to go through before the video. Would love to know how you overcame the issue.

I have a GX80/GX85 and would appreciate if I can get it working without the audio sync issue, I was using a separate microphone.

--
My Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eguitarstar/
 
Last edited:
If you are using a separate mic it is not the camera. You would need something like a software of hardware audio mixer with an inbuilt delay line. You can then delay the audio stream till it matches the video stream.
 
Sranang Boi said:
If you are using a separate mic it is not the camera. You would need something like a software of hardware audio mixer with an inbuilt delay line. You can then delay the audio stream till it matches the video stream.
Click to expand...
Actually it seems that this is very easy to do with OBS.

Simple instructions how to do it on a 'random' web page Google search suggested:

support.loola.tv

Fixing Audio & Video sync in OBS | Loola TV Help Center

How to solve audio lag issues while streaming from OBS
support.loola.tv support.loola.tv
 
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