Disappointment with Panasonic gx7

robmarshall77 wrote:

Hi everyone

I'm new to the forum and this is my first post.

I have a Panasonic gx7 which I purchased used at a very reasonable price. I also bought the 14-45mm short zoom with IS (which I heard was one of their better kit lenses). I was quite excited, thinking I'd got a real bargain and recently went on a trip to Edinburgh where I took a few jpegs. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed with the results.

What focus mode are you using?  The in-focus areas are not where you think they should be in these shots.  You should use S-AF with single point focus, not multi-point, so you have control over where the camera actually does focus.  Also, turn off Face Detect for anything scenic with no people in it.

The photos are really only snapshots (composition pretty awful etc) but they look pretty soft and flat to me. I think my hands are steady and I don't think the exposure is too off but somehow I expected more. The shots are straight out of the camera.

Flat is relative. What metering settings are you using?  You can also adjust the shooting profile; there are a bunch in camera (Standard, Nature, Vivid, etc.).  Remember, also, post processing is your friend....this isn't an iPhone.

In short, what do people think is the way to get better results out of this camera? Should I better lenses and only shooting raw? Am I encountering the dreaded shutter shock I've read about? Is something like Canon eos700d going to give me better image quality? One particular type of shooting I'm interested in is photographing swing dancing events (my big hobby) so low light capability and reasonably good focus tracking are important to me.

You need to get faster lenses if you are going to be shooting in lower light.  Also, don't stop down beyond f8...you get into diffraction territory once you do that.  Also, most of the M43 lenses are pretty close to their sharpest either wide open or stopped down one, maybe two stops.

If you are in shutter shock territory (1/80-1/200ish) use the E-shutter, unless you are shooting motion, in which case you can't.

If you want good focus tracking, the GX7 is not the camera for it.   It does have excellent S-AF capabilities, even in low light, so if you are willing to use it that way, then you will probably do fine.  Otherwise, a more conventional DSLR with PDAF will make much more sense for your target uses.

Hope this helps,

-J

Thanks a lot for your comments.

In reply to your points, I think the metering mode was centre-weighted (I think I read somewhere that this may be better than evaluative metering for general shooting).

The focus mode was definitely single shot with single area enabled. I'm not sure what you mean by the area in focus in these shots is not where I expected it to be. There are no close subjects in these shots and no shallow depth of field and with these apertures I expected everything to be pretty sharp.

I take your point about tracking auto-focus. A Dslr may be a better way to go here but I haven't tried this out as I needed didn't have a proper flashgun with me. Also, do you think raw will allow me get more punch out of the camera and lens?

Once again, thanks for the quick response.

Thanks a lot Gerry.

Obviously I need to get out and do more shooting. I've read good things about this camera. I've just received the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 and with my new flashgun (Nissin i40) I'm excited about trying to capture some dance shots tomorrow night. I'm sure I have a lot to learn and won't give up on the gx7 just yet!

#1 and #3 are difficult shots to get right, with a lot of DR. I believe #1 has focus on the graves, but and that is to far back to get everything in focus; try to us a DoF table, helping you were to focus and to get the most part of the image sharp.

Composition wise, all three can improve a lot, especially #2 and #3 look like random shots with no clear subject.

The camera is capable to produce crisp images. What also might help is to shoot raw instead of jpg. Especially for #1 and #3, you have a lot more room to bring out the shadows or recover some highlights.

Of course, the 14-45mm is a nice lens - on of the better kit lenses, but investing in a better lens might also help. But... I would practice first, a lot, like one of the previous posters replied as well.

For shooting dance events in low light, it might not be the best choice. You may need a faster lens.

Just some examples to show the gx7 can take crisp images (shot raw and post in Lightroom).

Thanks pocoloco and previous posters.

I notice pocoloco you have Olympus em1 in your gear list. How does this compare to gx7 as a camera. People seemed to compare the two on similar playing field but em1 is much pricier here in the UK as a used body.

Also, I like the colours in your architectural shots. What picture profile did you use and did you do a lot of alteration in post processing to get the look you were looking for?

robmarshall77 wrote:

Thanks a lot for your comments.

In reply to your points, I think the metering mode was centre-weighted (I think I read somewhere that this may be better than evaluative metering for general shooting).

The focus mode was definitely single shot with single area enabled. I'm not sure what you mean by the area in focus in these shots is not where I expected it to be. There are no close subjects in these shots and no shallow depth of field and with these apertures I expected everything to be pretty sharp.

I take your point about tracking auto-focus. A Dslr may be a better way to go here but I haven't tried this out as I needed didn't have a proper flashgun with me. Also, do you think raw will allow me get more punch out of the camera and lens?

Once again, thanks for the quick response.

I have a GX7 and it is a very good camera, so good that I feel no real compunction to upgrade to a GX85 which obviously is a more advanced camera in many ways.

Short of something wrong with the camera/lens I think it has to be camera settings and/or technique.

I very rarely use flash even for darker subject matter.  Frankly the use of flash requires its own set of skills and not using it often means that I don't acquire them.  But of course dancing in less than optimal light is going to push your ISO quite high to get fast enough shutter speeds so the correct use of flash might come in very useful.  A better way is to invest in a really fast lens - but "bang" goes your bargain investment

I tend to use pinpoint focus to make sure that the camera does focus on the precise point that I wish it to select.  Furthermore you can use the optional point and touch focus and capture.  I don't do this often but it can be a very useful tool in some situations.

Also vary your EV according to subject matter - this may introduce some "life" where the normal slightly negative setting is sometimes too sombre.

robmarshall77 wrote:

Thanks pocoloco and previous posters.

I notice pocoloco you have Olympus em1 in your gear list. How does this compare to gx7 as a camera. People seemed to compare the two on similar playing field but em1 is much pricier here in the UK as a used body.

I have both.  They are both good cameras and I rate them as "equivalent".  Each has its particular advantages but I tend to use the GX7 more as I find it a more pleasant camera to use with Its control layout better tuned to how my brain works..

The E-M1 has a better evf (for some) but it can suffer from sunburn.  Some simply don't like the smaller evf on the GX7 but it has not been a problem to me.

Swapping cameras is not going to make your problems go away, practice might.

robmarshall77 wrote:

Hi everyone

I'm new to the forum and this is my first post.

I have a Panasonic gx7 which I purchased used at a very reasonable price. I also bought the 14-45mm short zoom with IS (which I heard was one of their better kit lenses). I was quite excited, thinking I'd got a real bargain and recently went on a trip to Edinburgh where I took a few jpegs. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed with the results.

The photos are really only snapshots (composition pretty awful etc) but they look pretty soft and flat to me. I think my hands are steady and I don't think the exposure is too off but somehow I expected more. The shots are straight out of the camera.

In short, what do people think is the way to get better results out of this camera? Should I better lenses and only shooting raw? Am I encountering the dreaded shutter shock I've read about? Is something like Canon eos700d going to give me better image quality?

I've shot with the 14-45 for a number of years and it's a good lens.  I also find my GX7 to produce results that are better than my Nikon D300 and that Nikon was certainly good enough for pro work (as are most cameras, really).  So, assuming your lens and camera are up to the standards for those products, then they should be fine.  What image format were you photographing in?  JPEG FINE?  They look ok to me.  If they appear flat to you, then perhaps you should make some adjustment to your camera's picture settings to bring them closer to your tastes?  Myself, I only shoot in raw and don't have any complaints.

One particular type of shooting I'm interested in is photographing swing dancing events (my big hobby) so low light capability and reasonably good focus tracking are important to me.

I think you would probably be better off with a DSLR.  Swing dancing is exactly the kind of thing that m43 is not particularly well suited for.  DSLRs tend to have better continuous AF tracking systems than mirrorless cameras, generally speaking.  They'll also perform better in low light, again, generally speaking.

pocoloco wrote:

#1 and #3 are difficult shots to get right, with a lot of DR. I believe #1 has focus on the graves, but and that is to far back to get everything in focus; try to us a DoF table, helping you were to focus and to get the most part of the image sharp.

Composition wise, all three can improve a lot, especially #2 and #3 look like random shots with no clear subject.

The camera is capable to produce crisp images. What also might help is to shoot raw instead of jpg. Especially for #1 and #3, you have a lot more room to bring out the shadows or recover some highlights.

Of course, the 14-45mm is a nice lens - on of the better kit lenses, but investing in a better lens might also help. But... I would practice first, a lot, like one of the previous posters replied as well.

For shooting dance events in low light, it might not be the best choice. You may need a faster lens.

Just some examples to show the gx7 can take crisp images (shot raw and post in Lightroom).

To the OP:

I agree your shots look flat. There could be a few different reasons, but the two main reasons I see is :

1. lack of composition (no clear subject in the picture and lack of pleasing leading line/pattern (either geometry or color), and too busy background).

2. postprocessing.

Try to find a scene similar to what pocoloco posted above and take the same picture. If it does not look as pleasing, try to work out the reason (composition, exposre and postprocess). Once you figure out the process to take similar pictures, you would have a better idea about whether you need a different camera.

Thanks very much, guys. These are all very useful comments. Let's see if I can produce something better with more practice.