GX7: First mirrorless ILC is a good one

I moved to this from a five year old Canon T1i. I haven't sold my Canon stuff and love Canon glass.....

A lot of what follows is probably due to 5 years of camera technology being brought upon me all at once, and may not be m43 specific. If you buy new bodies every year, you will have a different perspective.

The GX7 is so much fun to shoot. Perfect ergonomics. Its just big enough to be comfortable in my larger hands. It fits in my coat pocket with some lens and lenses can be easily carried in a pocket as well. I am taking so many more pictures because I can take this camera with me.

Portability is great. The lenses in a particular a so small compared to my DSLR stuff. I was looking at enthusiast compacts and decided to try m43 instead because the were only a touch bigger than a Fuji X30 or Pana LX 100.....glad I did. The GX7 was cheaper. I may have found one system that can do it all.

Build quality is great, a definite step up in that department also.

ISO performance is an improvement. I shoot up to 3200 without hesitation for web viewing and smaller prints (8x10 or less)

I used to be an OVF guy but after this camera, I actually prefer the tilty touchscreen to the OVF.The access to controls is very intuitive and the WYSIWYG and focus peaking are game changers. Being able to select your focus point by touchscreen is SO much better. I still strongly prefer the OVF to EVF. At least this EVF feels like looking down a tunnel at a TV and it does lag a bit. It is nice to have a VF in bright conditions when you have screen glare but I surprised myself with this camera going from a "like using VF all the time" to "use VF only when necessary".....and liking it better than the OVF experience of my DSLR. No more checking histograms and focus, this camera just nails focus and exposure every time and lets you know it is doing so WHILE you are shooting the picture.

The focus speed is a bit slower and not as good at tracking moving objects compared to my DSLR. However, this camera focuses SO much more accurately and does not hunt in low light nearly as much as my DSLR. HUGE improvement. I have a MUCH higher percentage of keepers, particularly with wider apertures and shallow DOF. Practically speaking, I find that this far outweighs the benefits of the faster but less confident and accurate phase detect AF of my DSLR, particularly indoors and in low light.

I actually really like the JPEGs from this camera and the profiles are easily customizable. I hate post-processing and appreciate the finesse and customization of this JPEG engine. Much improved over Panasonics I have owned in the past.

The flash is great. It provides even coverage and a fast flash sync speed of 1/320 is useful. I use pop up flashes for both fill and close up work and would never by a camera without a pop-up.

Last, the silent mode is a game changer for me. I only shoot family and friends but this camera is so much less obtrusive in silent mode I get so many more great candid shots because people don't realize I am taking a picture.

Welcome to the M43 family and great to know you love your new camera. GX7 is also very high on my list for the right price.

photofisher wrote:

I moved to this from a five year old Canon T1i. I haven't sold my Canon stuff and love Canon glass.....

A lot of what follows is probably due to 5 years of camera technology being brought upon me all at once, and may not be m43 specific. If you buy new bodies every year, you will have a different perspective.

The GX7 is so much fun to shoot. Perfect ergonomics. Its just big enough to be comfortable in my larger hands. It fits in my coat pocket with some lens and lenses can be easily carried in a pocket as well. I am taking so many more pictures because I can take this camera with me.

Portability is great. The lenses in a particular a so small compared to my DSLR stuff. I was looking at enthusiast compacts and decided to try m43 instead because the were only a touch bigger than a Fuji X30 or Pana LX 100.....glad I did. The GX7 was cheaper. I may have found one system that can do it all.

Build quality is great, a definite step up in that department also.

ISO performance is an improvement. I shoot up to 3200 without hesitation for web viewing and smaller prints (8x10 or less)

I used to be an OVF guy but after this camera, I actually prefer the tilty touchscreen to the OVF.The access to controls is very intuitive and the WYSIWYG and focus peaking are game changers. Being able to select your focus point by touchscreen is SO much better. I still strongly prefer the OVF to EVF. At least this EVF feels like looking down a tunnel at a TV and it does lag a bit. It is nice to have a VF in bright conditions when you have screen glare but I surprised myself with this camera going from a "like using VF all the time" to "use VF only when necessary".....and liking it better than the OVF experience of my DSLR. No more checking histograms and focus, this camera just nails focus and exposure every time and lets you know it is doing so WHILE you are shooting the picture.

The focus speed is a bit slower

However, have you tried the Single smallest focus point under S-AF? T1i/500D is a 2009 model and in the old days its AF never faster than G1. After years of development, the improved AF ability of GX7 should be even better now.

and not as good at tracking moving objects compared to my DSLR. However, this camera focuses SO much more accurately and does not hunt in low light nearly as much as my DSLR. HUGE improvement. I have a MUCH higher percentage of keepers, particularly with wider apertures and shallow DOF. Practically speaking, I find that this far outweighs the benefits of the faster but less confident and accurate phase detect AF of my DSLR, particularly indoors and in low light.

I actually really like the JPEGs from this camera and the profiles are easily customizable. I hate post-processing and appreciate the finesse and customization of this JPEG engine. Much improved over Panasonics I have owned in the past.

The flash is great. It provides even coverage and a fast flash sync speed of 1/320 is useful. I use pop up flashes for both fill and close up work and would never by a camera without a pop-up.

Last, the silent mode is a game changer for me. I only shoot family and friends but this camera is so much less obtrusive in silent mode I get so many more great candid shots because people don't realize I am taking a picture.

In fact the silent mode also reduces SS, if any.

alcelc wrote:

I used to be an OVF guy but after this camera, I actually prefer the tilty touchscreen to the OVF.The access to controls is very intuitive and the WYSIWYG and focus peaking are game changers. Being able to select your focus point by touchscreen is SO much better. I still strongly prefer the OVF to EVF. At least this EVF feels like looking down a tunnel at a TV and it does lag a bit. It is nice to have a VF in bright conditions when you have screen glare but I surprised myself with this camera going from a "like using VF all the time" to "use VF only when necessary".....and liking it better than the OVF experience of my DSLR. No more checking histograms and focus, this camera just nails focus and exposure every time and lets you know it is doing so WHILE you are shooting the picture.

The focus speed is a bit slower

However, have you tried the Single smallest focus point under S-AF? T1i/500D is a 2009 model and in the old days its AF never faster than G1. After years of development, the improved AF ability of GX7 should be even better now.

Good point, I have been using the pinpoint AF. I just compared my Canon with an 85 1.8 lens attached compared to the GX7 with 45 1.8 attached with my kids running around the house. The Canon is still faster focusing, especially with moving subjects, when it doesn't hunt. But it hunts more (perhaps 40-50% of the time compared to 20% of the time or so with the Panasonic) and I know from experience that my Canon gives me a lot of slightly out of focus shots, regardless of lens. The net effect favors the Panasonic in terms of numbers of keepers for sure. When the Panasonic focuses it is in focus 99% of the time......maybe only 90% of the time with the Canon in good light and falling to around 50% in poor light at wider apertures.) The Canon doesn't miss by much.....just enough to think you have the shot when reviewing on your camera screen but when you download it latter you notice it being slightly out of focus. It was one of the most maddening things about the camera, the GX7 has eliminated this frustration from my life.

photofisher wrote:

alcelc wrote:

I used to be an OVF guy but after this camera, I actually prefer the tilty touchscreen to the OVF.The access to controls is very intuitive and the WYSIWYG and focus peaking are game changers. Being able to select your focus point by touchscreen is SO much better. I still strongly prefer the OVF to EVF. At least this EVF feels like looking down a tunnel at a TV and it does lag a bit. It is nice to have a VF in bright conditions when you have screen glare but I surprised myself with this camera going from a "like using VF all the time" to "use VF only when necessary".....and liking it better than the OVF experience of my DSLR. No more checking histograms and focus, this camera just nails focus and exposure every time and lets you know it is doing so WHILE you are shooting the picture.

The focus speed is a bit slower

However, have you tried the Single smallest focus point under S-AF? T1i/500D is a 2009 model and in the old days its AF never faster than G1. After years of development, the improved AF ability of GX7 should be even better now.

Good point, I have been using the pinpoint AF. I just compared my Canon with an 85 1.8 lens attached compared to the GX7 with 45 1.8 attached with my kids running around the house. The Canon is still faster focusing, especially with moving subjects, when it doesn't hunt. But it hunts more (perhaps 40-50% of the time compared to 20% of the time or so with the Panasonic) and I know from experience that my Canon gives me a lot of slightly out of focus shots, regardless of lens. The net effect favors the Panasonic in terms of numbers of keepers for sure. When the Panasonic focuses it is in focus 99% of the time......maybe only 90% of the time with the Canon in good light and falling to around 50% in poor light at wider apertures.) The Canon doesn't miss by much.....just enough to think you have the shot when reviewing on your camera screen but when you download it latter you notice it being slightly out of focus. It was one of the most maddening things about the camera, the GX7 has eliminated this frustration from my life.

Agreed. Moving objects is still M43's achilles heel.