Panasonic G85 from an Olympus user

Michael Meissner wrote:

I was doing a quick picture of our cat sitting under the Christmas tree, and I grabbed the G85 with the kit lens (Panasonic 12-60mm) lens attached. I had the lens hood mounted normally, and I noticed that was a shadow where the lens hood blocked the flash.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, reversing the lens hood for indoor shots fixed the problem, but would have thought the engineers would have made the flash high enough that the kit lens hood would not interfere.

Don't worry, this is normal, and many would claim this as an user error.

The further the flash is from the lens/sensor, the more shadows the flash will cause to the recorded image. In general, it's better to have a small point-like flash (built-in flash) close to the lens/sensor. External flashes produce half-shadow (penumbra), that looks less distracting, even if the distance to the lens/sensor is larger.

I'm pretty sure that if you use 12mm and the smallest focusing distance, the lens itself will block the flashlight, just like the lens hood. It's very difficult to get completely rid of this problem. The engineers of course are trying to find the best compromise for this. Bouncing the flash is a good option, but usually that means external flash (you can do it with some rangefinder-style Panasonic cameras, though)

Michael Meissner wrote:

I was doing a quick picture of our cat sitting under the Christmas tree, and I grabbed the G85 with the kit lens (Panasonic 12-60mm) lens attached. I had the lens hood mounted normally, and I noticed that was a shadow where the lens hood blocked the flash.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, reversing the lens hood for indoor shots fixed the problem, but would have thought the engineers would have made the flash high enough that the kit lens hood would not interfere.

Of course, until the 14-150mm mark II and 12-40mm came out, Olympus 'solved' the problem by not providing lens hoods. However, generally the cameras with the FL-LM1 or FL-LM2 had the flash high enough that the standard lens hood for the lens did not seem to block the light.

My pet peeve as well. I just reverse the hood but should not have to as you say.

I find that I remove the lens hood on the 2nd picture shot with flash 

rashid7 wrote:

i discard all my lens hoods, except on my longest tele. They are only an inconvenience, and w/ small gear it is easy to shade front lens element w/ my hand! The protection isn't worth the hassle!

Could not agreee more. Great advise.

danieljcox wrote:

rashid7 wrote:

i discard all my lens hoods, except on my longest tele. They are only an inconvenience, and w/ small gear it is easy to shade front lens element w/ my hand! The protection isn't worth the hassle!

Could not agreee more. Great advise.

Sorry, could not disagree more, bad advice! The lens hood not only protects from lens flare but also - and foremost - form dirt, rain and shocks. And they come free with Panny lenses...

I just purchased a GX8 to compliment the cadre of Olympus camera bodies I have. Why not try something a bit different that uses the same lenses I already have. So far, so good, day three.

I went out today with the m.Zuiko 12-40 attached, and the pair makes a fine combo.

I do look forward to learning more about how this Lumix camera handles, though so far it seems to be doing just fine.  Even the menu is intuitive.  

I'm now in Hawaii and using the camera more, so I thought I would update my thoughts on the camera.

One minor annoyance is that the little plastic guard on the triangles connecting to the strap lugs keeps falling out.  Perhaps if I only attached the strap and never took it off, it would be fine, but it does seem to be mis-designed.

On the  E-M1, the plastic part is around the strap lug, while the bare part of the triangle is where you attach the strap, while on the G85, the plastic part is where you put the strap.  After it has fallen off a few times, I'm not re-attaching the plastic part.

That being said, I hate the triangles in general.  I wish Olympus/Panasonic would go back to making the strap attachment part of the body at the top, so the lug doesn't protrude when you hold the camera, and it is more secure.  Olympus did this for some of the older DSLRs (E-510/E-520/E-620), and I wish they would go back.