My retirement gift to me...a GX85!! Now I need help, please.

I'm an unrepentant amateur film shooter who developed a craving to acquire a digital camera (GAS?). I've probably only shot 3 digital cameras in my life, and one was my smartphone. The other 2 were a Canon Powershot ELPH S400 P&S that I still have, but haven't used in years, and a 5MP Nikon I borrowed for a trip circa 2003.

Since I was in college, photography meant my Nikon FE or my Minolta SRT201. I also went thru a small time period of developing and printing my own B&W film. I've got a couple of 35mm P&S cameras and several cameras that are older than I am, including several 8mm movie cameras.

So I surprised myself by acquiring a GX85 2 lens kit this spring. It met most of my criteria - small, priced right, 2 kit lenses. It looked like something that I could use on day one and have plenty of fun growing into. I've realized that I have a lot to learn and I'm anxious to really start moving forward. Menus and buttons are not in my existing photography frame of reference.

I've downloaded the Advanced operations manual, but for some unknown reason the buttons and links are not working for me, and the manual doesn't really fit my style of learning. I've also ordered a Kindle book "The Panasonic GX80/85 Menu System Simplified" and found a website "Panasonic Lumix GX85 and GX80 settings, tips and tricks" that focuses on the menus https://www.wimarys.com/category/camera-reviews/tips-and-tricks/.

Now I'm turning to you good folks. I need whatever help, hints, suggestions, etc you think would be off value. How to set up the camera, the menus, and make the best progress towards successfully operating my new gift. I don't even know what I don't know, so I can't be specific in my asks. I'm not a newbie to photography; I'm a newbie to digital photography and this equipment.

I could also use some suggestions for a walk-around bag, preferably messenger style or sling bag.

Thanks in advance for all your help!!

UncleMo said:

I could also use some suggestions for a walk-around bag, preferably messenger style or sling bag.

Click to expand...

Good choice of camera!

And for carrying that sort of outfit, I find the Passport Sling bags, by Lowepro, really useful - with expandable space for life's other "stuff" when needed!


Enjoy!

Peter

UncleMo said:

I'm an unrepentant amateur film shooter who developed a craving to acquire a digital camera (GAS?). I've probably only shot 3 digital cameras in my life, and one was my smartphone. The other 2 were a Canon Powershot ELPH S400 P&S that I still have, but haven't used in years, and a 5MP Nikon I borrowed for a trip circa 2003.

Since I was in college, photography meant my Nikon FE or my Minolta SRT201. I also went thru a small time period of developing and printing my own B&W film. I've got a couple of 35mm P&S cameras and several cameras that are older than I am, including several 8mm movie cameras.

So I surprised myself by acquiring a GX85 2 lens kit this spring. It met most of my criteria - small, priced right, 2 kit lenses. It looked like something that I could use on day one and have plenty of fun growing into. I've realized that I have a lot to learn and I'm anxious to really start moving forward. Menus and buttons are not in my existing photography frame of reference.

I've downloaded the Advanced operations manual, but for some unknown reason the buttons and links are not working for me, and the manual doesn't really fit my style of learning. I've also ordered a Kindle book "The Panasonic GX80/85 Menu System Simplified" and found a website "Panasonic Lumix GX85 and GX80 settings, tips and tricks" that focuses on the menus https://www.wimarys.com/category/camera-reviews/tips-and-tricks/.

Now I'm turning to you good folks. I need whatever help, hints, suggestions, etc you think would be off value. How to set up the camera, the menus, and make the best progress towards successfully operating my new gift. I don't even know what I don't know, so I can't be specific in my asks. I'm not a newbie to photography; I'm a newbie to digital photography and this equipment.

I could also use some suggestions for a walk-around bag, preferably messenger style or sling bag.

Thanks in advance for all your help!!

Click to expand...

first thing, welcome!!

My first port of call would be read the the manual a few times, without the camera in front of you, so you get through it, at worst it will help you to have more focused questions XD

If David Thorpe has a guide on amazon I'd get that asap (I assume he did one for the GX80/85)

Use the natural picture profile as standard.

Change you custom buttons to help you not futz XD

Use single shot as standard and swap to burst modes if you need to.

The 14mm f/2.5 is a great little (55g) lens, the extra brightness maybe handy, or on of the f/1.7 lens the 20mm being the lightest of those.

Dont randomly change the setting either! Ask the kind people here if your not sure of an options meaning.

Peak design slings are pretty good imo waterproof too.

have fun! (I cant think of anything else just now)









I have fun with it, I'm learning (slowly), but the camera is a breeze, once you get through the initial overload you be fine!

Very nice camera. I suggest the Think Tank Hubba, Hubba Hiney v. 3.0 bag or the Think Tank speed Changer v 3.0. I use the Speed Changer bad on a wide tactical belt )sold separately) as a waist pack - works great for all my cameras as does the Hubba, Hubba, Heiny bag as a shoulder bag (comes with a strap) - or could be used on a belt also. It is slightly larger then the Speed Changer. In short, both bags are recommended. Fimd these bags on Amazon. They are not expensive.

Peace.

John

UncleMo said:

Now I'm turning to you good folks. I need whatever help, hints, suggestions, etc you think would be off value. How to set up the camera, the menus, and make the best progress towards successfully operating my new gift. I don't even know what I don't know, so I can't be specific in my asks. I'm not a newbie to photography; I'm a newbie to digital photography and this equipment.

Click to expand...

If the buttons don't match the menus, do a factory reset. You can then start from the baseline manual.

I once (still) owned an SR-T100. My process was set film speed, set shutter speed for the focal length, adjust aperture to meter, adjust focus.

Set your mode to A on the PASM section & you can do just that. Bonus: the camera will set shutter speed & ISO (ASA) for you. I tend to use P or S mode, but that's just me.

Focus is MF just like the SR-T, or some variety of AF (autofocus).

The four new things are auto ISO, various metering modes, white balance & autofocus modes. With film, ISO & white balance & color type (vivid, neutral, monochrome, etc.) were set by film stock plus a tungsten filter if you swung that way.

Keep it simple at first. I'd start with P mode, evaluative metering (kind of like the SR-T's sky/ground average metering) & central area autofocus, not spot. Set your white balance yourself with the tiny icons. This will be similar to the compact digital cameras you're used to.

UncleMo said:

I could also use some suggestions for a walk-around bag, preferably messenger style or sling bag.

Click to expand...

Meh. I use an old 3-compartment Silicon Graphics giveaway insulated lunch shoulder bag my wife got at a yard sale for my M10 II & 5 lenses plus hoods, batteries, cables & a set of extension tubes. MFT is compact. The bag is a garish (or charming) Italian Imperial AKA Tarp Blue.

Enjoy. Shoot 100x the number of pictures you used to shoot with film. 20x what you shot with the compacts.

The GX85 was my first MFT camera and I got it with the kit lenses. Other than the rather poor viewfinder I like the camera. Here's a link to a decent walk-thru of the menus and settings --
I've used both lenses with extension tubes to take photographs of insects and flowers and they do a very nice job. They're both pretty good landscape lenses, especially with a polarizer.

Here are the settings I usually use:

Mode - Usually P , Sometimes A

Photo Style - Natural

Picture Setting - 4:3 L 16M

Quality - Fine

Focus Mode : AF Single

AF Mode - 1-Area

Burst Rate - M (with live view)

Metering Mode - Multi Metering

Exposure Compensation - Minus 5

ISO - 800 or 1600 (occasionally up to 2500)

White Balance - Auto (sometimes Daylight)

Enjoy your new camera, it's a pleasure to carry and use.

--
Woody
https://forestandfield.blogspot.com/

Jack Tingle said:

The four new things are auto ISO, various metering modes, white balance & autofocus modes. With film, ISO & white balance & color type (vivid, neutral, monochrome, etc.) were set by film stock plus a tungsten filter if you swung that way.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what baffled me when I switched from film to my first proper digital camera. ISO can be changed without having to change the film - what joy.

Go out, take lots of shots. If the camera was designed by people who go out and shoot with the proto-type, you should get some.

Much of your 35mm experience is still valid.

With the shots you don't like - right-click on the thumbnail, go 'Properties' (last entry in Windows 10), go 'Details'. There you find all aperture, shutter, ISO and white balance information.

Use this info to learn the settings, then the menu.

On 35mm the ASA was set by the film you bought. In Digital, you set the speed (ISO) in the camera.

On 35 mm, your brain chose aperture or shutter priority, but from the 90ies onwards you did get a built-in meter.

On Digital, the built-in meter can use P-mode, or Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority to set your ISO, shutter speed and aperture.

Your Camera Menu should have a setting where the menu display tells you what a setting does.

This should do for a start.

Off Topic - the only Panasonic camera I was asked to set up for a friend was the TZ80 pocket zoom, with function buttons that could be 'programmed' by the user. I found it vital to do this. I wrote, with picture illustrations, what I had done. My friend was happy with my settings, and also my explanations.

I also have an Olympus E-M10 II. Initially, this prevented me from following photo requests of Sandra, my business partner. The relevant settings were buried three levels deep in the menu. Only two years later did I find the quick short cuts that I could use without frustrating myself and my business partner.

If you hit road blocks as I did, set learning time aside, and persevere.

Henry

You can read my user review along with my updates with additional info in the thread:


Other than that just get out and shoot. You have no specific questions so help is fruitless at this point. Just enjoy taking photos!

Woody S said:

The GX85 was my first MFT camera and I got it with the kit lenses. Other than the rather poor viewfinder I like the camera. Here's a link to a decent walk-thru of the menus and settings --

I've used both lenses with extension tubes to take photographs of insects and flowers and they do a very nice job. They're both pretty good landscape lenses, especially with a polarizer.

Here are the settings I usually use:

Mode - Usually P , Sometimes A

Photo Style - Natural

Picture Setting - 4:3 L 16M

Quality - Fine

Focus Mode : AF Single

AF Mode - 1-Area

Burst Rate - M (with live view)

Metering Mode - Multi Metering

Exposure Compensation - Minus 5

Click to expand...

Wow, I guess you might have to do a lot of heavy shadow lifting and noise reduction in post?

Do you actually want to say NR setting in photo style in used to -5?

As per my experience on GX85, at 105% zebra setting it might lead to around -2/3ev exposure headroom to ETTR. Under even lighting condition it could also mean more underexposure if following 0ev metering exposure.

If you do -5(ev?) in EC as a general default setting, your shot could get some serious under expose output. First to my mind would be very flat, dark and noisy. A lot of pp might need.

This could be tested easily to set zebra at 105% and take test shots at EC +1/3ev up gradually and look at their SOOC histogram...

I am using zebra +1/3ev ~ +2/3ev (for GX85 only) as my exposure guide for close to ETTR shooting for SOOC JPG shooting with minimum PP.

Woody Meristem said:

ISO - 800 or 1600 (occasionally up to 2500)

White Balance - Auto (sometimes Daylight)

Enjoy your new camera, it's a pleasure to carry and use.

--
Woody
https://forestandfield.blogspot.com/

Click to expand...

--
Albert
** Please forgive my typo error.
** Please feel free to download the original image I posted here and edit it as you like **

I suppose there could be a lot of good advices on GX85 already.

IMHO one major different of mirrorless (GX85 is one of it) from the other cameras (film camera without immediate response, non Live View mode of dslr for their take-review-adjust style of indirect response) is the real time Live View shooting. The Live View simulated image in according to the parameters in used making see-to-adjust possible. To me it is another game changer to the century old craft.

Therefore unlike the film slr shooting, please try to:

• Take the Live View simulated image seriously;
• adjust the lighting condition (Live View allows us to set lighting condition down to every tiny section of the frame) by Exposure Compensation (under P/A/S mode),

Only take the shot while the lightness condition of LV image looking good to your eye. If you can master this, you shall be able to nail the exposure (to your taste) 99% of the time.

I take little reference onto the "0ev metering" of the in-camera exposure meter. This can lead to quite substantial under exposure because of Panasonic's tendency on highlight protection. Optimal amount of light is an essence, which will play a more important role for the smaller size of the sensor. IMHO under exposure is not a good idea since it will result more flat output and excessive noise than it should be etc... Unless I am looking forward for heavy post processing, I shall avoid it as much as possible.

You might wish to know the touch LCD operation of Panasonic is very well made. The Touch AFs are also very convenience and flexible to use. However, Touch PAD AF (use evf) and Touch AF (use LCD) might sometimes move the focus point by mistake. Fortunately the Touch LCD, Touch PAD AF and Touch AF are 3 independent options which can be switch on/off separately. We can set one suit us.

Please note that DISP is the short cut key of Panasonic camera to return the focus point to the center. It is very useful for a quick reposition of the focus point.

Since the battery life of GX85 is not very good (likely around 3~3.5 hours of combined time of powering up of the camera), I shall suggest to switch off all unnecessary features (e.g. Quick AF) and put in a sensible energy saving plan (e.g. short sleeping time, switch off the camera while not immediate shooting etc). For 300+ shots a day I might need 2 battery under normal temperature. So but spare batteries...

GX85 does not ship with an external charger, if you find USB battery recharging does not suit you, you might consider to look for any external chargers for the BLE-9 or BLD-10 battery. They are the same (except capacity) indeed. Or you might wish to buy a cheapy USB external charger. I use the following versions:


Mini dual slot version


Model uses swappable charging plate

Since GX85 is relatively small, any camera bag which is designed originally for an entry-mid range DSLR + 1 lens could be more than enough for 1 GX85 + 2~3 lenses. Put in additional padded partitioning would do.

I use a lot of different formal camera bags and also have camera insert / DIY solution to convert usual bags into camera bag. The following is my most used solution (a ultra light weight shoulder bag & a DIY system) which is good for 2 GX bodies & 4 lenses or 1 body (GX or G) & 3 lenses plus a flash gun.



Wishing the above might help.

--
Albert
** Please forgive my typo error.
** Please feel free to download the original image I posted here and edit it as you like **

Most useful feature to get to grips when moving from film to mirrorless digital is blinkies/zebra stripes clipping warning, in my opinion.

A 'standard' exposure compensation setting makes little sense.

I've settled in to aperture priority auto with centre weighted metering for the vast majority of my pictures, adjusting exposure with the exposure compensation input as required by my subject.

Like a Nikon FE, only much more intuitive.

David Thorpe is the author of the book I referred to and I downloaded from Amazon today.

I like your bird images. If I get one that's worth paying I'll put up an image of my bird, an African Grey parrot! He's become one of my favorite modeled.

I've been using Std for most of my photos, but I'm intrigued by the L Mono seeing as I have always been a fan of B&W images in my film days.

Which brings up another question. I've been sitting RAW + JPEG. Does that mean that I'll have one JPEG file in the format I chose and one RAW file with which I can do anything I want to add many times as I want to?

Thank you for all your suggestions and comments. It seems that in some areas I came into this with more knowledge than I realized, and in other areas I have to go 180° from what I've always done to be on the right track! I'm definitely glad that I decided to give myself a new toy to celebrate my retirement.

This is shaping up to be a great adventure and a lot of fun! And once I get a little experience and knowledge it'll be even more fun.

I'm sure I'll have more questions and hope you will continue to offer suggestions.

The FE was my go-to film camera and I typically used A priority, so that's what I've been using so far. Luckily, I came into this with a pretty good understanding of some of the options.

I spent a lot of time when I was sitting film trying to minimize the number of shots I took at any one time. Now I'll have to try and unlearn that habit and remember I'm not limited in that respect any more. I also have to remember that I can see my results immediately and reddit if I want to! I've been peeking just to make sure I got something, but not look too much at the result until later. Old habits did hard!

Thanks for all your suggestions.

I found that adding a grip greatly improves handling of the GX85 without adding bulk. There are options from Panasonic and JCC (fits GX9, GX85 and GX7), just see which one matches your needs.

UncleMo said:

The FE was my go-to film camera and I typically used A priority, so that's what I've been using so far. Luckily, I came into this with a pretty good understanding of some of the options.

I spent a lot of time when I was sitting film trying to minimize the number of shots I took at any one time. Now I'll have to try and unlearn that habit and remember I'm not limited in that respect any more. I also have to remember that I can see my results immediately and reddit if I want to!

Click to expand...

To be exact, we can see the output before capturing, so we can set the best setting for every shot... It is the beauty of see- to-adjust of Live View, a very different style of shooting experience.

UncleMo said:

I've been peeking just to make sure I got something, but not look too much at the result until later. Old habits did hard!

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Click to expand...

UncleMo said:

David Thorpe is the author of the book I referred to and I downloaded from Amazon today.

I like your bird images. If I get one that's worth paying I'll put up an image of my bird, an African Grey parrot! He's become one of my favorite modeled.

I've been using Std for most of my photos, but I'm intrigued by the L Mono seeing as I have always been a fan of B&W images in my film days.

Which brings up another question. I've been sitting RAW + JPEG. Does that mean that I'll have one JPEG file in the format I chose and one RAW file with which I can do anything I want to add many times as I want to?

Click to expand...

Yes. One JPEG according to your in camera choices and one raw for you to play around later if you feel like it. I have my camera set to RAW + JPEG as well.

David Thorpe has a youtube channel full of goodness. Sadly he passed away recently.

UncleMo said:

David Thorpe is the author of the book I referred to and I downloaded from Amazon today.

Click to expand...

Probably the best guide to have, thats a great start!

UncleMo said:

I like your bird images. If I get one that's worth paying I'll put up an image of my bird, an African Grey parrot! He's become one of my favorite modeled.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I just point and shoot, sometime I get lucky I hope to see this African Grey parrot!

UncleMo said:

I've been using Std for most of my photos, but I'm intrigued by the L Mono seeing as I have always been a fan of B&W images in my film days.

Click to expand...

Std is (imo) a little yellow, mainly with people I find I see it more.

Natural has more natural colours but lower contrast and saturation.

Same, I love b&w. Use mono, not mono L, I've noticed I tend to under expose with mono L, which messes with me playing with the RAW file later, mono on the other hand I find keeps me exposing the RAW file where I want it.

On a side note, the 'tracking' AF mode, it uses colour and shape to help it define and stick to its target, so it wont work in b&w modes.

UncleMo said:

Which brings up another question. I've been sitting RAW + JPEG. Does that mean that I'll have one JPEG file in the format I chose and one RAW file with which I can do anything I want to add many times as I want to?

Click to expand...

Yes! imo the best way to shoot, RAW files are like negatives to me, always shot and saved, the jpeg and its colour (or b&w) profile is like your film stock, ready to go 'looks' each has settings and can be tweaked to taste!




edited in PS




I think this was a cropped jpeg SOOC

Best thing is now you dont have to consider whether a shot is worth one of your 24 or 36 shots, most average sized SD cards will hold hundreds if not thousands of images, so now you can get all those weird shall I shan't I shots XD

NO! Exposure Compensation - minus .6