From GX85 to E-P5

I have had a soft spot for Panasonic cameras ever since I started working with digital cameras. Though my first cameras were from Olympus and Nikon, my first more 'serious' camera was the wonderful FZ15. Over the course of the years (and while making acquaintance with a number of cameras from different brands), I thoroughly enjoyed the LX1, LX3 LX5 and LX7. The L1 was gorgeous and the FZ1000 blew me away. I bought the latter for an African Safari trip but then found myself not using it much after since I love sharp primes. Sold most of my stock of cameras and bought into the already defunct Samsung NX system with its gorgeous prime lenses. Affordable and beautiful. Just this year I decided to leave Samsung and get on board with a different system that is still alive and going.

My memory of fondness for Panasonic came back and I discovered the beautiful and affordable GX85. Totally fell in love with its specs, the dual stabilization and TouchPad option while using the viewfinder being highlights. Bought myself a gorgeous leather half case with it.

And after using the camera for a couple of months realized that something about it left me cold. I couldn't recapture the 'crush' I had on the Fz1000 or even the old LX1.  I liked the picture quality but I just could not connect with it. Literally liked almost everything about it but loved almost nothing.

I put a bid on a near mint GM-1 just for fun and was surprised to ended up winning it and instant love. Sold my GX85 to a friend, bought the 14-140ii, the 20mm 1.7 and the Oly 17mm 1.8 (which I find remarkable and magic. The rendering and feel it produces is outstanding).

The GM-1 turned into to my main camera. I was missing the dual IS but the 14-140 ii has  super effective OIS in my opinion, more than enough to cover the 10x range happily.

My longterm plan is to buy the G9 eventually, but it is still quite expensive and I won'tbbe doing much traveling during the pandemic.

However, a family emergency (that luckily resolved into good news) had me travel to Germany for 4 weeks and one week in I found myself getting onto German ebay, thinking I'll buy another used body, have fun with it for the remaking time here and then sell it again even with a loss (looking at it like a rental).

Long introduction to a simple heading and conclusion. In comes an excellent condition Olympus E-P5 with 4000ish clicks and 12 months warranty from a German photo store for €189. So should any of the dials fail I'm covered.

Instant love.  The E-P5 doesn't have dual IS with my lenses, no viewfinder, no 4K, a non intuitive UI (at least for me), no automatic focus peaking when using the clutch on my 17mm 1.8 (hard to understand how Lumix bodies have that function and the Olympus body associated with that lens doesn't). And the GX85 has various other functions the E-P5 doesn't have. But the E-P5 has something the Gx85 doesn't have for me. And it's charisma.

There's something about it that makes me want to pick it up, even just to look at it. The weather has been snowy and wet here and I cannot tell if I like the IQ better or not compared to what I got from the GX85. But the camera feels like a sports car in hand, something like a Porsche. It may not be able to go off trails like the GX85 AWD or get the same gas mileage maybe, but it's a camera you want to take on a windey road  in the countryside with the top down and enjoy the ride just for the ride.

This one will definitely stay with me, even when I make the step toward a G9 in the near future.

The E-P5 seems a classic, a collectors item, a beautiful piece of work that feels so good in the hand, especially after all function buttons have been programmed for my personal preferences.

That makes me smile, good for you, when you find such a thing dont let it go! Sound like you've found home.

Thanks for writing it up, reviews and reviewer often cant make such a connection as they handle so many products, so very valuable words!

Coincidentally, I've recently bought myself a GM1, and just last month, the E-P5.

To be honest, while the GM1 may be a gem of manufacturing, it lacks features that I love about the GX800 (Lumix GF9 elsewhere??), particularly a tilting screen.

But even so I'm finding that either of those makes a good companion to the E-P5 - allowing almost any of my lenses to be used to their full potential on one or the other!

Although spoiling the P5's stylish appearance, its EVF (the VF-4) transforms the camera.... particularly helpful for a left-eyed user like me!

For more about that, see....

https://www.mirrorlessons.com/2013/07/24/olympus-electronic-viewfinder-vf-4-review/

Peter

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Later edit, to add....

Re getting the best from lenses: one exception - when mounting various primes on the E-P5, to benefit from its IBIS, a tendency for purple-fringing .... but you can't have everything?

I'm in the opposite place. I have been shooting with an E-M1.1 and E-P5 for four years. I really like the E-P5 and use it primarily when I want to go smaller. I have had two Peak Design sling bags setup the same way for the whole time. Larger bag with the E-M1.1 with 12-40 and 40-150 pro zooms. Smaller bag with the E-P5 and a collection of primes, 17mm, 25mm, 45mm. About two years ago I added the 14-150mm zoom that I use on either.

Two weeks ago I bought the E-M5.3 with the intention of "replacing" both. I am likely to keep the E-M1.1 because I have the grip and AC adapter and a long tethering cable. That gives me some capabilities that the E-M5.3 does not have. It will also serve as a backup camera.

The question is what to do with the E-P5 and VF-4 viewfinder. I did a side by side comparison of the E-P5 with VF-4 and the E-M5.3 and I must say that the VF-4 is really nice.

I just checked and the E-P5 only has a 7095 shutter count. It is a silver model in excellent condition. I will most likely going to sell it because it would be a shame to have it just sitting around and I'm not likely to grab it instead of the E-M5.3.

I purchased it from the Olympus reconditioned store. I got the top plate replaced under warranty due to the rear dial skipping right after I got it and have had no issues with it since. The good news is that I got a great deal on it. I only paid $194. I should be able to get back most of what I paid for it.