A week's experience on G85

Background: Had GX7 and GX85 as our main cameras, mainly for travelling. Wife loves GX85, I was left the older GX7 which started to meet its limitation (had to work harder for IQ close to GX85, 1~1.5 step lower usable ISO, non 4K, no zebra, primitive IBIS, 1~1+ stop less effective stabilization vs DUAL IS ...), wished to find a better camera for my self.

Had decided to skip GX9 because of the incremental upgrade from GX85. The unsatisfactory 4K video AF, WR and mic port etc drew my attention to the larger size Gs. Originally had eyed on G95, but due to the recent local political unrest of my home town has affected retail market. Watched very attractive discount specially on the G85 and without another thought jump onto it. 

Handled the G85 for a week, trust I could draw an early view on this camera.

1) Cost: Bought it for US$430 body only in gray market. Around US$80~100 saving from a few months before.

2) Size and weight: Around 80g heavier than GX85. Not sure would it become a burden for my type of travelling.

However, immediately I have to rearrange all of my camera bags. Usually I shall carry the camera of mine and my wife inside my camera bag before arrival on destination. I could pack the nude GX7 and GX85 face to face inside a partition. Now G85 alone will need the same space. I might have to ask my wife to carry her camera from now on.

3) IQ: A SOOC jpg shooter. Likely very similar to GX85.

4) Ergonomic: Much better than the soap designed GX85. Unexpectedly it had injected a new life on 45-200 (mk-I). Might be because of the larger hand grip, a better shutter (more about it later)?

I have started a thread on this: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63019518

5) EVF: A day and night improvement on G85 over GX7/GX85. I can say I enjoy the larger evf of G85 a lot. Nevertheless evfs of GX7/85 are still very usable. Besides a larger G85 evf, my early experience suggested that the OLED evf/LCD of G85 can make my life happier. Due to the non OLED display unit used by GX7/85, they are not polarized sunglasses friendly. Also any deeper color glasses in front of the evf might affect the perception of lighting condition in the evf that might cause wrong exposure setting. Therefore I used to put on a pair of very light color clipped on style non polarized sunglasses over my spectacle, inconvenience and not the best to protect my eyes. Lately I switched my clear, progressive focal length spectacle to a pair of Transition progressive focal length glasses. On my last trip to the Holy Land, the auto darkening glasses caused me some misjudgment on exposure setting. No big deal, just more PP works.

Thank to the OLED evf/LCD of G85, my early feeling is that they are polarized glasses friendly (no more dark stripes in either portrait or landscape orientation), and did not felt the darkening of my Transition glasses had affected my exposure setting... During my test drive on a sunny day, my changing color glasses seemed to have no affect on my exposure setting.

6) Shutter: G85 offers EFCS shutter upto 1/2000" that is not found in GX85.

AFAIK GX85 uses the latest generation of electromagnetic m-shutter as its younger siblings, when firing the m-shutter on G85, I felt it is just another level: softer, quieter, and acts faster. The m-shutter of GX85 seems to take a much longer period of firing.

Unlike GX85, Auto Shutter generally won't really switch between m-shutter or e-shutter a lot, e.g. mounted with 14-140. I still found soft image from 14-140 because trace of shutter shock. On G85, had noticed the camera switched between m-shutter and e-shutter more frequently according to the focal length and shutter speed in used. It looks like the Auto Shutter of GX85 does not really work. During my first batch of testing, not found any shutter shock yet.

7) DUAL IS and DUAL IS2: 14-140 f/3.5-5.6 is the only DUAL IS 2 compatible lens I have. So far not found noticeable difference on the effectiveness of the 2 stabilization system.

8) Customization: GX85 has 9 fn keys (4 hard and 5 soft) is already plenty for me. G85 has 11 fn keys (6 hard and 5 soft) and after a week's setting, still can't fully utilize them in 100% meaningful way, e.g. no other more urgent feature needs to put on fn 11. Of course, more is always better.

Note: Assign Exposure Compensation to a fn key is the only way to call up the "Exposure Bracketing" and "Flash Adjust" by the up/down & Left/Right cursor keys on G85. Unlike GX85, push the back dial will enter similar operation.

Weakness on G85: Since G85 controls Burst by the Drive Mode dial (on top left) and AFS/AFC by AF mode lever, these 2 options cannot be stored in C mode, whereas GX85 can. Hence for a C mode which should need AFC or Burst, I must select those options on the Drive Mode Dial or AFS/AFC lever after C been called up. Quite inconvenience for the style of operation I am used to.

9) Highlight protection tendency: Very similar to GX7 and GX85. Tested with zebra at 105%, use either center metering or multi metering, compared shots taken at the point before zebra appears, then a few shots of +1/3ev each. Examine the histogram in-camera playback as well as on Faststone, it suggested that G85 has a room of 1/3ev (need further testing for the 2/3ev) before actual highlight will be overblown (on SOOC jpg). Hence, watch the zebra, +1/3ev (or +2/3ev, not 100% sure yet) after zebra appears could guarantee a 100% ETTR. It could avoid excessive noise due to underexposure and a more vibrant SOOC output.

10) 4K Video CAF: On GX85, when on 1080 video the CAF is very usable. 4K would see severe focus hunting even on not fast speed panning. G85 has much better performance (AF Sensitivity = -1 under C.Setup Menu). So far it is very usable.

11) AF: AFS of G85 is similar to that of GX85. Fast and accurate. Had no chance to shoot birds yet but early testing suggest AFC is not much better than GX85.

12) Low Light AF: I personally felt that GX85 can do better (faster AF, more snappy AF acquisition) on using the same lens despite Imaging Recourse had put the LLAF of GX85 at -5.6ev whereas G85 at -6ev).

13) Battery: The 1,200 mAh BLC12 of G85 can support a much longer power-on time than the 1,025 mAh BLD10 of GX85. For a 3+ hours test session I still had 1 bar remaining whereas GX85 needs >1.5 batteries.

So far it is still very positive, except not sure about the increased size and weight...

Thanks for posting this review. I use a GX85 and have often considered whether or not I should try the G85 or G95. This comparison is very useful.

alcelc wrote:

You've provided a lot of useful information.

Note: Assign Exposure Compensation to a fn key is the only way to call up the "Exposure Bracketing" and "Flash Adjust" by the up/down & Left/Right cursor keys on G85. Unlike GX85, push the back dial will enter similar operation.

A useful feature is 'Exposure Bracketing' will bracket ISO when using manual mode with Auto ISO. It compensates to some extent for the very basic Auto ISO implementation on the G80.

Weakness on G85: Since G85 controls Burst by the Drive Mode dial (on top left) and AFS/AFC by AF mode lever, these 2 options cannot be stored in C mode, whereas GX85 can. Hence for a C mode which should need AFC or Burst, I must select those options on the Drive Mode Dial or AFS/AFC lever after C been called up. Quite inconvenience for the style of operation I am used to.

I also found this a bit inconvenient compared to Olympus cameras, which can store these settings in the custom menu.

9) Highlight protection tendency: Very similar to GX7 and GX85. Tested with zebra at 105%, use either center metering or multi metering, compared shots taken at the point before zebra appears, then a few shots of +1/3ev each. Examine the histogram in-camera playback as well as on Faststone, it suggested that G85 has a room of 1/3ev (need further testing for the 2/3ev) before actual highlight will be overblown (on SOOC jpg). Hence, watch the zebra, +1/3ev (or +2/3ev, not 100% sure yet) after zebra appears could guarantee a 100% ETTR. It could avoid excessive noise due to underexposure and a more vibrant SOOC output.

Not sure if this is useful for you but ISO 100 produces a +2/3ev brighter image so can act like an automatic ETTR function.

12) Low Light AF: I personally felt that GX85 can do better (faster AF, more snappy AF acquisition) on using the same lens despite Imaging Recourse had put the LLAF of GX85 at -5.6ev whereas G85 at -6ev).

AFC and AFF on the G80 doesn't work in what Panasonic calls 'low light situations' and the camera defaults to S-AF. In my experience 'low light situations' can also mean a variable aperture lens zoomed to the F5.6 end of the zoom, under indoor tungsten light. Useful to be aware of it.

I think the G80 is still a good camera for the price.

Had learnt a lot from good members here, and if possible I hope I can contribute back.

Although G85 is not new anymore, similar to GX85 can expect the deeper discount might draw the spotlight again like What GX85 did last couple of months. Wish this might provide some information for potential users to consider.

G85 supports Auto ISO in M, but no EC. Basically not useful to me at all.

AEW as suggested is of course one of the solutions.

To me I rather prefer to use Manual ISO in M. After SS and f/stop been set, activate Dial Operation Switch (the "DOS", fn1 next to the shutter) that I have set ISO to the front dial (it also controls EC if under no DOS), use Front Dial to adjust ISO in 1/3 step according to Preview. It is no difference from "A/S, Auto ISO & EC" except for an extra fn key of DOF involved.

Might be I am the old school guy used to the traditional M operation long ago. 😊

Thank you for your contribution to enrich this thread. It is an invaluable piece of information for any potential owner of this model.

Thank you again.

Pete_W wrote:

Thanks for posting this review. I use a GX85 and have often considered whether or not I should try the G85 or G95. This comparison is very useful.

Same with me. I decided not to purchase this camera or G95 that has a bad big crop factor on 4K video. I do mainly video, and after weeks of searching and reading tests and comparisons, my conclusion is that I will keep the GX80. Hardly any differences compared with the G85 (ok, audio, but not important for me). Besides that, the smaller form factor and weight of the GX85 are really a big bonus! So also better for "street work".

My next Lumix camera is not there yet. It should have significant differences, like no crop on 4K en 4K 60p and, of course, it would have a small form factor. A sort of small G9. But I am not optimistic that such a camera will come (soon). Otherwise, the GX80 will do just fine the next years. Maybe I will buy a spare one for that ridiculously  few hundred euros...

Yes, Fuljifilm could have such a camera: the soon to be announced X-PRO3, but I will stick to Panasonic lenses!

eivissa1 wrote:

Besides that, the smaller form factor and weight of the GX85 are really a big bonus! So also better for "street work".

My next Lumix camera is not there yet. It should have significant differences,

Yes, form factor is really important for me too. The GX85 is a perfect size for my use, and the tilting screen is something I don't want to lose either. I am also waiting for the next RF-style Lumix.

Pete_W wrote:

eivissa1 wrote:

Besides that, the smaller form factor and weight of the GX85 are really a big bonus! So also better for "street work".

My next Lumix camera is not there yet. It should have significant differences,

Yes, form factor is really important for me too. The GX85 is a perfect size for my use, and the tilting screen is something I don't want to lose either. I am also waiting for the next RF-style Lumix.

If GX10 can has mic port, same video CAF as G85 (G95 is also very good according to me trail in showroom), it could be my perfect travelling camera.

After a week's shooting with G85, I am still not very sure could the size and weight fit into my travelling need...

My right hand is used to hold the lens, and take the weight of the combo. With 12-35 f/2.8 on it, after half hour or so I started to feel the weight and my arm was tired. Never happen on GX85 or GX7 with the same lens... I really wish I have make the right move because before everything, size and weight is top on my requirement.

eivissa1 wrote:

Pete_W wrote:

Thanks for posting this review. I use a GX85 and have often considered whether or not I should try the G85 or G95. This comparison is very useful.

Same with me. I decided not to purchase this camera or G95 that has a bad big crop factor on 4K video. I do mainly video, and after weeks of searching and reading tests and comparisons, my conclusion is that I will keep the GX80. Hardly any differences compared with the G85 (ok, audio, but not important for me). Besides that, the smaller form factor and weight of the GX85 are really a big bonus! So also better for "street work".

I am not very happy with the 4K video CAF of GX85. Most of the time I have to use Touch AF to set focus because the focus hunting (in/out) quite serious, seemed never want to stay on a focus despite I was close to completely station/no zoom.

I had some good result on G95 under quite low lighting condition, and G85 is also quite promising. I might not too worry with its CAF on 4K video any longer.

And 100% agreed that the size and weight of GX7/85 IMHO are closed to perfect for travelling, particularly have to carry the gear to walk for hours. Size and weight is the major reason I keep on using M43. In fact if Panny can produce a camera close to the size and weight of GX1, I could be in heaven. After tasted the RF GX1, said goodbye to dslr form factor Gs for quite a long time. GX7/85 are already on the upper limit of size and weight of M43 I am happy to carry.

Still not sure moving onto G85 is a good move yet despite my wife convinced me that I am not 70 yet, should still be able to handle that extra 80+ gram for 1~2 weeks...

My next Lumix camera is not there yet. It should have significant differences, like no crop on 4K en 4K 60p and, of course, it would have a small form factor. A sort of small G9. But I am not optimistic that such a camera will come (soon). Otherwise, the GX80 will do just fine the next years. Maybe I will buy a spare one for that ridiculously few hundred euros...

Yes, Fuljifilm could have such a camera: the soon to be announced X-PRO3, but I will stick to Panasonic lenses!