O 12-100 on a GX8 - not the best combination?

I have been using Olympus Pro lenses on a Panasonic bodies for some years now, notably the 2.8/12-40 and the 2.8/40-150. My experience was, that the 40-150 on the GX7 showed faster and more precise AF than the same lens on a EM5.2. This was most obvious for stage photography and portraits.

So this summer I got a GX8 cheaply and bought a O12-100 as a travel combination. I used it mainly in cities and for landscapes. I have taken about 8k shots this summer.

• Sharpness: according to the reviews I had been reading, I expected the 12-100 to be very sharp at 12-25mm and about as good as the cheap O 4-5.6/40-150R at the long end. And yes, the lens lives up to these expectations, it even is sharper than the mentioned tele zoom near infinity.
• F4: I always considered a F4 lens very slow, but I know, that I use my other lenses mostly at F4 so I never thought, this would be a problem. But I realized, F4 can be a bit restricting. There is no problem in good light, but even in shadows on a sunny day with moving subjects you have to crank up ISO to get fast enough shutter speeds for longer FLs.
• AF is a problem I never expected.
  • AFS: fast and precise, as hoped for.
  • AFC: Suppose I had 2 faces in the frame and got the green square as confirmation on one of them. When I took a series of 4 pictures with AFC I often got the following results: 1 with the green framed face, 1 with the background, 1 with the other face in focus and 1 again with the first face right. Sometimes the series even started with 1 frame completely oof, even though there was a confirmation for a face.
• OIS: with this lens on the GX8 only OIS is working. I often thought IS is overrated, but with the slow aperture I was happy to have it. I got sharp pictures at 1/10s at 100mm indoors. And at one time under an overcast sky outdoors I found that none of my pictures was critically sharp at near 100mm only to find out, that I inadvertantly had switched off OIS.
• Size: the big lens handles nicely on the GX8. One thing I noticed is, that you can't take pictures of persons without them noticing it. OTOH you are often taken for a "pro" with this big lens and camera.
• Weight. I found I don't like to carry this combo in my shoulder bag, it cuts into my shoulder after some time. So I carried the camera in hand more or less all day.

The most important: did my photography improve with this lens that is technically very good and covers all FLs from 12-100, compared to my earlier combination of the Ricoh GR (14mm fixed FL in m43 terms) plus 4-5.6/40-150R on the GX7?

No. Sometimes I even suspect, my results are worse than before: with a zoom lens like this, I am tempted to walk around less and just use the zoom ring. I take more snaps from a distance with a longer FL and think less about composition.

Perhaps this lens is not really for me. The combination of a Ricoh GR3 with a P 2.8/35-100 might have been better, but would have cost nearly twice as much (1.800 vs. 1.000)

Peter

Samples:

Edinburgh Festival Fringe - an actress "flying" for her play Cicada 3301

Edinburgh

Since only the 12-100's OIS is available when used on a Panasonic body, I often use mine on my GX8, and use my G9 with its superior IBIS (compared to GX8) for a non-stabilized lens or a Panasonic lens with Dual IS.

I find the 12-100 works great on the GX8.  I love the lens.  I don't often shoot AFC, though, and I guess that's the only area where you are questioning this combo.

And if you find the 12-100 range to provide too much flexibility for your preferred shooting style, it may not be for you.

For sharpest gx8 shots stick to electronic shutter.

Adrian Harris wrote:

For sharpest gx8 shots stick to electronic shutter.

I always use the e-shutter except in artificial light, when banding has to be expected.

Am I right, that the GX8 e-shutter records in 12 bit color depth?

Peter

eques wrote:

Adrian Harris wrote:

For sharpest gx8 shots stick to electronic shutter.

I always use the e-shutter except in artificial light, when banding has to be expected.

Am I right, that the GX8 e-shutter records in 12 bit color depth?

Yes!

rz350 wrote:

I have this combo. I bought it for travel. I have found the GX8 and 12-100 to be an excellent combination and far lighter and more versatile than my Nikon equivalents.

Yes, of course, it is. That's why I don't have a Nikon.

Focus is fast and accurate. The lens is awesome. The camera body has a few flaws in that I inadvertently press a button that changes AWB or bracketing, etc. And there seems to be no way to lock out those buttons. The camera is configurable in an incredible number of ways, but those buttons are placed in such places that i am always accidentally pushing them and changing settings.

Yes, that happened to me as well. And not only with camera buttons, also with the lens, as explaint in my OP. And I am still sad because I missed 2 very nice shots, when I hurried to take the camera out of the bag and started shooting without noticing at first that the lens was set to MF. After 2 OOF pictures the situation had changed.

I have played with wildlife photography, but this camera is not quite there in that it will not lock onto a moving subject like my Nikon D500.

Yes, we agree: AFC is not quite there.

Peter

I bought this lens when I was using GX85 and no Oly body. Since then, I use this lens almost exclusively with Oly bodies because of WR and OS & IBIS working together.

When I first bought this lens, I found it useful as a travel lens but somewhat limited, especially the f/4 max aperture. There is a learning curve to get to really use it well. The zoom range does encourage snapping and less on proper framing. But then it can also be said about any lens to some extent. After almost 2 years of using it, I have kind of grown to know it quite well. F/4 does not bother me much anymore; I have not used my Oly 12-40 for months now. Even though I now use it with Oly bodies, I never felt uncomfortable using it with GX85. It was in fact this combo that finally convinced me to convert completely to m4/3 from APSc.

I am still amazed by the optical performance; I have little craving for fixed lenses except when I truly needed faster aperture.

I'm not saying you should do this but you could keep your GX8, sell your 12-100, get the P 35-100 and just that with your older GR...

And, if necessary, get a newer GR (3) at a later time.

IQ wise it won't improve technically but if the combo fits your style more than you'll end up with better shots.

peppermonkey wrote:

I'm not saying you should do this but you could keep your GX8, sell your 12-100, get the P 35-100 and just that with your older GR...

And, if necessary, get a newer GR (3) at a later time.

IQ wise it won't improve technically but if the combo fits your style more than you'll end up with better shots.

Last year I used the GR as WA and switched between O 4-5.6/40-150 and O 60mm on the GX7. But at the end of my holiday the GR died with the "sticky aperture syndrom" after 3 years and about 40k shutter actuations. Before this I twice had problems with the lens getting stuck, while my M43 gear never had any problems except the thumb wheel on the GX7. My bad luck with the GR and the fact, that the GR3, while addressing some complaints with the original version, is still not WR, but more expensive made me look for another solution.

This and my excellent experiences with the older Olympus Pro lenses made me buy the 12-100.

Peter

eques wrote:

peppermonkey wrote:

I'm not saying you should do this but you could keep your GX8, sell your 12-100, get the P 35-100 and just that with your older GR...

And, if necessary, get a newer GR (3) at a later time.

IQ wise it won't improve technically but if the combo fits your style more than you'll end up with better shots.

Last year I used the GR as WA and switched between O 4-5.6/40-150 and O 60mm on the GX7. But at the end of my holiday the GR died with the "sticky aperture syndrom" after 3 years and about 40k shutter actuations. Before this I twice had problems with the lens getting stuck, while my M43 gear never had any problems except the thumb wheel on the GX7. My bad luck with the GR and the fact, that the GR3, while addressing some complaints with the original version, is still not WR, but more expensive made me look for another solution.

This and my excellent experiences with the older Olympus Pro lenses made me buy the 12-100.

Peter

There is certainly nothing wrong with the 12-100 as it's an exceptional lens (so I hear), but if the size doesn't suit you...well, it doesn't suit you.

As for the GR...well, I can't say much. I recently got a GR as well (original) which needed some TLC (which is why I was able to get it for cheap). After it was fixed, it's been working great, albeit, hasn't been a year yet.

In your case, if GR3 is not in the cards, you could try the Panasonic GM1 or GM5 and match it with either your 12-35 albeit, the lens may look a bit large on that camera. The Panasonic 12-32 would pair better with those cameras but obviously, as it's a kit lens, the IQ wouldn't be as good.

Actually, since you have the 12-35 already, you could just match the 12-35 and 35-100 with your GX8 which you also already have. They will work great on that camera even though you could probably get a smaller camera (say a GX9). This way you'll have the WA and WR features ticked off.