wiryawan
Well-known member
Yes, this will be another review by me. This time, I am reviewing my GX8 from my perspective and hopefully this review can provide some information that aren't covered previously.
I bought the GX8 just when it becomes available here, around the end of September. I used a GX7 before that(I'm still using the GX7 right now as a secondary camera) and I was very happy with how the GX7 performs, and I always wanted a camera with the form factor of a GX7, but with a much snappier performance as well as a better grip. When the GX8 came out, I am totally stoked because much of my wishes are implemented in the GX8 and I bought it instantly.
The GX8 now acts as my main camera. Not as my everyday carry camera, not as my supplemental camera, but as my main camera, my top of the line camera. For the past 10 months, the GX8 has been to so many countries, shoot so many pictures and videos, and produced some of my best photographs.
I shoot anything, mostly travel photography, event documentary, product photography, portrait, and off-camera-flash thingy. The GX8 works well on all of those conditions.
Here are some of my findings after 10 months:
What I like
The camera is very sturdy and handles very well. It is large, but I don't need it to be small anyway. This is a camera that is intended to be a main camera, not to be a camera to complement another camera. So the fact that it's big, hefty, and sturdy, really supports that statement. They call it a "rangefinder", which sounds cool to my ears! But I prefer to call it a GH4 with no middle EVF hump.
The controls are perfect in my opinion. The buttons are all on the right place in my opinion. Only the exposure compensation dial needs a bit of a thumb reach to rotate with my right hand, but other than that, everything is just right where they should be.
The buttons layout are similar like the GX7's button layout. I am using the GX7 as well, so going back and forth between the GX8 and 7 feels effortless because the back buttons are all on the same places. The thumb will naturally reach to the same buttons for changing ISO, WB, drive, gallery, etc. The same can't be said on my LX100, which has a slightly different button layout, more similar to the GX85 I must say than the GX7 or GX8.
The front positioned shutter makes all the difference in terms of handling. It enables me to wield large lenses like the 14-140, 12-35, or 100-300 very comfortably. The GX7 has a shutter button that is placed on the side of the camera, not in the front like the GX8, therefore it's not as comfortable to use with large lenses because there isn't so much grip to hold on to.
EVF is top notch, I think this is one of the best EVF in its time. Much better than GX7's I must say.
AF is as fast as it can be. I mostly shoot single AF with small AF box in the middle, and I focus-recompose most of the time. Using the single AF, the GX8 focuses in the speed of light I must say, very fast and just so quick! On the other hand, I tried the continuous AF a little bit, it's okay, better than the GX7, but not really giving me the "wow". It's passable for sport or action at the very least, though maybe there are many better options for such photography genre. But it's more than enough for shooting moving kids and pets.
I got a chance to accidentally "test" the weather sealing of this camera many months ago. I was shooting some landscape picture and all of a sudden a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and it started raining for 15 minutes or so. I got no place to hide, and I didn't carry a camera bag. So the GX8 got poured for at least a good 15 minutes or so with the 12-35 2.8(also weather sealed). Luckily, both the camera and the lens suffer no problem until today. Granted, the rain wasn't so bad, but still rain is rain. I was very lucky, please don't try this! I definitely don't want to be in that situation again.
Another thing that I love, is the RAW to JPEG in camera. It works fantastically well. I can now just shoot all RAW, and choose the ones that I want to keep in the camera. Apply some color profile, add some iDynamic, iResolution, shadow, highlight, contrast, reduce noise, add 1/3 stop more brightness, yada yada, and wi-fi to my phone. The app on my Android is fast and glitch free, unlike Canon's app, which I happened to try recently with a borrowed G9X.
Electronic shutter has been improved from the GX7. Now with the GX8, the image doesn't show weird banding under some lighting conditions anymore. This is a huge important upgrade for me, since I want to eliminate shutter shock by switching to electronic shutter most of the time. Now I only shoot with electronic shutter, unless I want to use my flash.
What I don't like
2.5mm mic jack, no headhphone jack, shutter shock with 14-140, the expensive launch price, the big bulky form factor, yada yada yada...all the usual suspects basically. But those don't bother me that much to be honest. I can live with all those shortcomings, those are not as bad as what people previously said.
The biggest problem for me is there is no exact exposure preview in non manual modes. So I shoot a lot using aperture priority, and I want the preview on the LCD and the viewfinder to "lock" when I half press my shutter. There are many instances where I half press the shutter and recompose. The preview before I took the shot looks overly underexposed, while the captured image after I press the shutter looks almost okay. This is annoying! :-x I want the half-shutter-press to lock both the actual exposure and the preview exposure! This should have been able to be fixed on the firmware. My LX100 can do this, my already-sold E-PL6 can do this, why my GX7 and GX8 can't do this?? Right now my work around for such problem is to use the AE button before I even half press the shutter, so that I can lock both the actual exposure and the preview exposure. It's an unnecessary extra step that is required to work-around this preview exposure problem.
What I think are "meh"
IQ isn't hugely improved. The images are sharper, definitely. The 20MP actually makes noticeable detail improvement. But low light capabilities, dynamic range, and overall color are almost the same like the GX7.
Dual IS works well on stills with Dual IS compatible lenses. But it doesn't work in video unfortunately. The e-stabilizer on 1080p works okay, but it does have some tendencies to tilt and lean very slowly to the left or right sometimes when I record 1080p footages. It's a bit annoying, but with the stability that I gain from it, I can forgive that shortcoming.
Swivel screen is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing when I shoot general stuffs, both for stills and video, because I can get high and low angle shots easily, both portrait and landscape orientation. A curse when I shoot street photography, because with the screen swiveled out, people can easily see that I am doing something with the camera and I become less stealthty.
Conclusion
With all those shortcomings, I still love the GX8. Combined with the GX7, both formed a strong combination that are able to deliver anything that I require for both stills and videos. A solid 5 star, despite of some shortcomings, due to the much improved shooting experience of the GX8 compared to the older GX7.
Here are some sample images. If you want to see more images from my GX8, check out my instagram @bejophotography.
Hope this review helps !!
Concert photography
Flower with off camera flash
Moon photography
Landscape Photography
Cityscape Photography
Candid Street Photography
Off Camera Flash Product Photography
More Street Photography
--
Best wishes,
Gary
ig: bejophotography
blog: http://bejo-photography,blogspot.com and http://bejophotographyblog.blogspot.com
I bought the GX8 just when it becomes available here, around the end of September. I used a GX7 before that(I'm still using the GX7 right now as a secondary camera) and I was very happy with how the GX7 performs, and I always wanted a camera with the form factor of a GX7, but with a much snappier performance as well as a better grip. When the GX8 came out, I am totally stoked because much of my wishes are implemented in the GX8 and I bought it instantly.
The GX8 now acts as my main camera. Not as my everyday carry camera, not as my supplemental camera, but as my main camera, my top of the line camera. For the past 10 months, the GX8 has been to so many countries, shoot so many pictures and videos, and produced some of my best photographs.
I shoot anything, mostly travel photography, event documentary, product photography, portrait, and off-camera-flash thingy. The GX8 works well on all of those conditions.
Here are some of my findings after 10 months:
What I like
The camera is very sturdy and handles very well. It is large, but I don't need it to be small anyway. This is a camera that is intended to be a main camera, not to be a camera to complement another camera. So the fact that it's big, hefty, and sturdy, really supports that statement. They call it a "rangefinder", which sounds cool to my ears! But I prefer to call it a GH4 with no middle EVF hump.
The controls are perfect in my opinion. The buttons are all on the right place in my opinion. Only the exposure compensation dial needs a bit of a thumb reach to rotate with my right hand, but other than that, everything is just right where they should be.
The buttons layout are similar like the GX7's button layout. I am using the GX7 as well, so going back and forth between the GX8 and 7 feels effortless because the back buttons are all on the same places. The thumb will naturally reach to the same buttons for changing ISO, WB, drive, gallery, etc. The same can't be said on my LX100, which has a slightly different button layout, more similar to the GX85 I must say than the GX7 or GX8.
The front positioned shutter makes all the difference in terms of handling. It enables me to wield large lenses like the 14-140, 12-35, or 100-300 very comfortably. The GX7 has a shutter button that is placed on the side of the camera, not in the front like the GX8, therefore it's not as comfortable to use with large lenses because there isn't so much grip to hold on to.
EVF is top notch, I think this is one of the best EVF in its time. Much better than GX7's I must say.
AF is as fast as it can be. I mostly shoot single AF with small AF box in the middle, and I focus-recompose most of the time. Using the single AF, the GX8 focuses in the speed of light I must say, very fast and just so quick! On the other hand, I tried the continuous AF a little bit, it's okay, better than the GX7, but not really giving me the "wow". It's passable for sport or action at the very least, though maybe there are many better options for such photography genre. But it's more than enough for shooting moving kids and pets.
I got a chance to accidentally "test" the weather sealing of this camera many months ago. I was shooting some landscape picture and all of a sudden a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and it started raining for 15 minutes or so. I got no place to hide, and I didn't carry a camera bag. So the GX8 got poured for at least a good 15 minutes or so with the 12-35 2.8(also weather sealed). Luckily, both the camera and the lens suffer no problem until today. Granted, the rain wasn't so bad, but still rain is rain. I was very lucky, please don't try this! I definitely don't want to be in that situation again.
Another thing that I love, is the RAW to JPEG in camera. It works fantastically well. I can now just shoot all RAW, and choose the ones that I want to keep in the camera. Apply some color profile, add some iDynamic, iResolution, shadow, highlight, contrast, reduce noise, add 1/3 stop more brightness, yada yada, and wi-fi to my phone. The app on my Android is fast and glitch free, unlike Canon's app, which I happened to try recently with a borrowed G9X.
Electronic shutter has been improved from the GX7. Now with the GX8, the image doesn't show weird banding under some lighting conditions anymore. This is a huge important upgrade for me, since I want to eliminate shutter shock by switching to electronic shutter most of the time. Now I only shoot with electronic shutter, unless I want to use my flash.
What I don't like
2.5mm mic jack, no headhphone jack, shutter shock with 14-140, the expensive launch price, the big bulky form factor, yada yada yada...all the usual suspects basically. But those don't bother me that much to be honest. I can live with all those shortcomings, those are not as bad as what people previously said.
The biggest problem for me is there is no exact exposure preview in non manual modes. So I shoot a lot using aperture priority, and I want the preview on the LCD and the viewfinder to "lock" when I half press my shutter. There are many instances where I half press the shutter and recompose. The preview before I took the shot looks overly underexposed, while the captured image after I press the shutter looks almost okay. This is annoying! :-x I want the half-shutter-press to lock both the actual exposure and the preview exposure! This should have been able to be fixed on the firmware. My LX100 can do this, my already-sold E-PL6 can do this, why my GX7 and GX8 can't do this?? Right now my work around for such problem is to use the AE button before I even half press the shutter, so that I can lock both the actual exposure and the preview exposure. It's an unnecessary extra step that is required to work-around this preview exposure problem.
What I think are "meh"
IQ isn't hugely improved. The images are sharper, definitely. The 20MP actually makes noticeable detail improvement. But low light capabilities, dynamic range, and overall color are almost the same like the GX7.
Dual IS works well on stills with Dual IS compatible lenses. But it doesn't work in video unfortunately. The e-stabilizer on 1080p works okay, but it does have some tendencies to tilt and lean very slowly to the left or right sometimes when I record 1080p footages. It's a bit annoying, but with the stability that I gain from it, I can forgive that shortcoming.
Swivel screen is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing when I shoot general stuffs, both for stills and video, because I can get high and low angle shots easily, both portrait and landscape orientation. A curse when I shoot street photography, because with the screen swiveled out, people can easily see that I am doing something with the camera and I become less stealthty.
Conclusion
With all those shortcomings, I still love the GX8. Combined with the GX7, both formed a strong combination that are able to deliver anything that I require for both stills and videos. A solid 5 star, despite of some shortcomings, due to the much improved shooting experience of the GX8 compared to the older GX7.
Here are some sample images. If you want to see more images from my GX8, check out my instagram @bejophotography.
Hope this review helps
!!Concert photography
Flower with off camera flash
Moon photography
Landscape Photography
Cityscape Photography
Candid Street Photography
Off Camera Flash Product Photography
More Street Photography
--
Best wishes,
Gary
ig: bejophotography
blog: http://bejo-photography,blogspot.com and http://bejophotographyblog.blogspot.com
