Gave The GX7 MkII Another Go...

Henry Richardson wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Henry Richardson wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Those that want the compact shape and size of the GX9 RF-style body might have to continue to suffer compact field sequential evf units to get it.

Is there some reason an EVF similar to the PEN-F cannot be used in one?

Don’t know - the Pen F never made it past the side hinged evf in my list of likes/not-liked.

Some don’t mind the GX7/GX85/GX9 evf, some prefer the GX8 evf. Some don’t need an external EV dial - others quite like it.

I wasn't asking about the PEN-F. I was asking about the PEN-F EVF since you and others keep complaining about the GX7, GX7II, and GX7III EVF. It isn't like the GX7/PEN-F body shape requires the same old GX7 EVF. The PEN-F shows that.

Sorry.  I thought I was one that kept defending the smaller field sequential evf units found in the GM5, GX7, GX85 and GX9.  Not a word of complaint from this guy. I don’t need a “better” evf if the Pen-F has one.

I think my comment was basically on the hopelessness of keeping every prospective camera user 100% happy.

My ideal camera is:

1) as small as a GM5 but I don’t mind larger for the times when I need the extra horsepower.

2) has a very useful and effective small fixed field sequential evf the G9 evf is nice but it just does the same job as far as I am concerned - helps framing and focusing.

3) has a fixed lcd (preferably) to keep it compact - but if it is larger like the GX9 - a tilt screen  is best.

4) has EV controlled from within the camera body electronically - I don’t need what to me is a useless mechanical EV dial wasting space and making other controls more awkward to use.  Others of course are free to like a mechanical EV dial even if I personally just think it a waste of time and trouble that interferes with the human ergonomics of my use of what otherwise is a very well set up camera body - but sometimes we have to accept that it is there for some mysterious purpose that evades us  ....

Mark Thornton wrote:

Neither the GX8 nor the Pen-F have a built in flash and in both cases the EVF appears larger than the one in the GX9 (GX7, GX85). Perhaps there just isn't room for those EVF in the GX9 body without taking something else out.

Mark

Exactly .... Mark

I am sure that compact size keeps the body sizes compact and cheaper keeps the price more reasonable.

Much is made of the GM series not selling well enough so that it was never updated.

Same goes for the GX8 and Pen-F with their “Rolls-Royce” evf units.  Didn’t sell well enough at the price their manufacturers would have liked and it took far too long to clear stocks.

Holding made stocks in warehouses costs money and large enough stocks of a slowly selling model will also hold up any decision to make a follow up model.

Despite constant sniping the field sequential type evf works well enough for me personally and presumably a good number of other users or the use of it would have been discontinued well before now.

I did make another post where I noted that when the G9 was released the reviews stated it as “the best in the business” and yet some still snipe away at peripheral distortion - are some folks never satisfied?

Ever bigger, ever brighter, no distortion whatsoever? I just use mine to frame and check focus - I can admire “the view” via the image that gets created or buy a pair of binoculars (which are easier and clearer to use than any camera evf).

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Sorry. I thought I was one that kept defending the smaller field sequential evf units found in the GM5, GX7, GX85 and GX9. Not a word of complaint from this guy. I don’t need a “better” evf if the Pen-F has one.

I think my comment was basically on the hopelessness of keeping every prospective camera user 100% happy.

Okay, I see. I thought you were including yourself in this sentence:

Those that want the compact shape and size of the GX9 RF-style body might have to continue to suffer compact field sequential evf units to get it.

I have played many times with the GX7, GX7II, and GX7III at stores in Japan. I have often thought about getting one, but I tend to not buy more stuff if I don't really have much need for it.  While there are somethings I like about the GX7III better than my PEN-F there are other things I like less about it.  A draw and since I already have and like my PEN-F then no reason to buy more gear just to have more gear.   I already have the PEN-F, 3 OM-D bodies, and an old G3. I have posted here before that I found the EVF in the GX7 series to be okay for me. Sure, some EVFs are better, but I thought they were perfectly usable. Even the rather small field sequential EVF in my Panasonic TX1 (ZS100/TZ100) is usable to me even though some people moan and groan about it all the time.

MrALLCAPS wrote:

Mark Thornton wrote:

Neither the GX8 nor the Pen-F have a built in flash and in both cases the EVF appears larger than the one in the GX9 (GX7, GX85). Perhaps there just isn't room for those EVF in the GX9 body without taking something else out.

Mark

If it were up to me, I'd get rid of the flash on the GX7, in order to get a larger EVF.

I think that this was the general idea of the GX8 and it failed as a product just as the Pen-F seems to have done.  I know and realise that many users of these cameras are just as in love with them as are owners of the also discontinued GM5 - but you can’t please enough of the people all the time.

Fujifilm includes a decent little clip on flash, that serves the same purpose and folds down when not in use.

Like the useful little clip on flash supplied with the GM5 where it came down to the built-in flash or evf choice.  Which I don’t often use (the flash), but it is handy to have the little flicker for backlighting situations.  Unlike a clip on evf which needs to almost continually clipped in place a clip on flash is truly an optional accessory.

Just as a piece of “useless” information: The GM5 clip on flash doesn’t work on the GX7 & G9 but strangely works on the G85, GX9 and surprisingly S1/S1R.  It needs the four dot contacts and does not work on the three dot contacts. I am not commenting on whether this makes the flash particularly useful on these other camera bodies

Henry Richardson wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

Sorry. I thought I was one that kept defending the smaller field sequential evf units found in the GM5, GX7, GX85 and GX9. Not a word of complaint from this guy. I don’t need a “better” evf if the Pen-F has one.

I think my comment was basically on the hopelessness of keeping every prospective camera user 100% happy.

Okay, I see. I thought you were including yourself in this sentence:

I can understand why Henry, and there is no offence, but I thought that I had to explain myself

Those that want the compact shape and size of the GX9 RF-style body might have to continue to suffer compact field sequential evf units to get it.

I have played many times with the GX7, GX7II, and GX7III at stores in Japan. I have often thought about getting one, but I tend to not buy more stuff if I don't really have much need for it. While there are somethings I like about the GX7III better than my PEN-F there are other things I like less about it.

The GX9 would have been even better had it been specified closer to the G9 even if retaining the FS evf.  As it is it is a cut back in G9 performance.  Perhaps it was a cost cutting exercise in order to keep their RF-style series at a lower price point than their faux-dslr series. It is certainly a very obviously smaller camera body than the G9.

Both the GX8 and Pen-F must have been slow going in sales.  Both had more premium evf and both had side hinged lcd units.  Maybe the higher price necessitated by the evf killed their popular appeal.  I think it more like the side hinged lcd is not nearly as popular as the noisy crowd that seems to demand it on all camera bodies would have us think.

I quite deliberately avoided buying either the GX8 or Pen-F because of the side hinged lcd.

The G9 is the first side hinged camera body I have had in many a long day and I have never been impressed with the fiddly use of this type of lcd.  I only mentally survive with the lcd on the G9 (great camera otherwise) by “pretending” that it is a fixed lcd.  That keeps my blood pressure within bounds.  I have a short fuse when it comes to user ergonomics.

A draw and since I already have and like my PEN-F then no reason to buy more gear just to have more gear. I already have the PEN-F, 3 OM-D bodies, and an old G3. I have posted here before that I found the EVF in the GX7 series to be okay for me. Sure, some EVFs are better, but I thought they were perfectly usable. Even the rather small field sequential EVF in my Panasonic TX1 (ZS100/TZ100) is usable to me even though some people moan and groan about it all the time.

Strangely the GM5 has an even smaller FS evf than the GX7 but gets much less negativity - I find it completely useful for my purpose.  Presumably because I accept the lack of some “user conveniences” in return for such a small, rugged and very capable camera that is much more than the basic tool that some seem to imagine that it is.  It is a fully controllable camera device and in what is necessary to make images it is in no way deficient.

However I would not recommend that the GM5 evf be used as magnified screen centre patch though - magnified full-screen is in fact quite workable.