Worth upgrading gx7?

What about the GX-8? in my humble opinion the GX-8 is worthy upgrade to the GX-7. I have both cameras and love them. I value your opinion.

stemcell wrote:

What about the GX-8? in my humble opinion the GX-8 is worthy upgrade to the GX-7. I have both cameras and love them. I value your opinion.

That was my initial thought before posting on here.

I have looked into some of the older models like GX8 and G85. Near me there seems to be bad pricing on these used models and very little available and the ones that are are over 1 hour drive each way.

I can get the GX-9 for $100-200 more than what people are asking for their used gx-8.

Same with the g85 vs g95, about $125 difference.

Right now the GX9 and G95 are $999 CAD new w/ lens. G9 is about $1200 (body only), and had seen one on sale for 1119.

I have contacted a couple sellers but they are not budging on price. I would rather pay $100-200 more and not have to deal with the hassle. If their was a bigger cost savings I would probably look into it more, although I do have alerts still up on marketplace.

I find the pricing on the older Oly models to be a bit better on the used marketplace. But i would need to do some more research on the differences between each series to see how much of an upgrade they are compared to the GX7 as most of the oly's are 2 generations behind

cba_melbourne wrote:

h00pla wrote:

tehdehzeh wrote:

What are you missing now that makes you want to upgrade?

I think in terms of baby photos, you would probably benefit more from a longer, fastish prime, like an Oly 45/1.8 or Pana 42.5/1.7.

edit: Probably the Pana, because the Oly has pretty long minimum focus distance (50cm)

Not sure if I feel I am necessarily missing anything. I would prefer something with better autofocus, low light and fps

If you are not acutely missing anything, and the GX7 still works fine, then logic says you do not need a new camera right now

Better spend your budget on a lens. For baby pics, consider the Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 recommended above. It has OIS, which is a big plus over the Olympus 45/1.8 because your GX7 does not have in-camera stabilization. Also it has a much shorter minimum focus distance of only 31cm (the Olympus is 50cm).

The GX7 is Panasonic’s first camera with IBIS. It’s good for about 1-2 stops.

h00pla wrote:

tehdehzeh wrote:

What are you missing now that makes you want to upgrade?

I think in terms of baby photos, you would probably benefit more from a longer, fastish prime, like an Oly 45/1.8 or Pana 42.5/1.7.

edit: Probably the Pana, because the Oly has pretty long minimum focus distance (50cm)

Not sure if I feel I am necessarily missing anything. I would prefer something with better autofocus, low light and fps

I think my main issue is I do not have much invested in the MFT ecosystem. So I am not sure if I would be better off looking into upgrading lenses since I do not have any major gripes with the gx7 or if I should be looking into the APSC ecosystem before investing in a better lense kit or look into a GX9 or G9.

Not sure I would get into a FF at this point. Most of my travelling I prefer to pack light and its mainly hiking/camping in remote areas, although a mirrorless FF isn't much more compared to a G9 from my understanding

These days I was also thinking of changing to FF. I think it is basically up to two things:

• Do you have the money for the body AND the lenses?
• Do you want to use longer (>85mm) focal lengths?

The first one is obvious: the cheap FF bodies (Canon RP, and these days the Nikon Z5) costs not much more than m43 with similar feature set, however, the lenses are still significantly more expensive. However, I could live just with a 35mm and a 85mm forever, and use my dad's 50mm legacy lens occasionally. And for example the 35mm and 85mm f1.8 lenses for canon RF are not too big.

But if you need longer focal lengths, then it's a different story. longer than 85mm lenses are mostly big and heavy for full frame, so you should suffer a significant weight penalty here compared to an m43 setup.

Good luck with your decision!

h00pla wrote:

Tom Caldwell wrote:

I have the GX7, GX85 and GX9. The GX85 was hardly worth the “upgrade” - it is better but does not necessarily outshine the GX7 if it is regarded as good enough. The GX9 is noticeably something better than the GX7 but at the coalface here is not enough wrong with continuing with the GX7 if happy with it.

I use the three cameras in tandem and use different lenses on them. I do not consciously favour any of them. If the GX7 has the lens I want fitted on it then it is the one that I use.

The GX7 was an outstanding camera when first released and it is no less outstanding just because it is getting older. Look upon the GX85 and GX9 as refinements and not as serious game changers that obsolete the GX7.

The G9 is quite a different style of camera - physically larger, faux-dslr with side hinged lcd. Arguably designed for a different style of use and user experience. Unless you just want a camera that is presently leading edge where the G9 has a little more edge than the GX9.

But I prefer the more compact build of the GX7/GX9 over the bulk of the G9.

Thank you for the response.

Are there any lenses you would highly recommend?

I agree with Tom. I also have GX7, GX85 and GX9. I strongly favor the GX9 for it’s greater resolution, but GX7 images have yielded crisp 16”x21” prints, so I regard it as still a very capable camera.

As for lenses, I use a 35-100/2.8 and 45/1.8 for portraits. If you want a truly exceptional tele prime, Olympus’ 75/1.8 is razor-sharp and would serve well for headshots, but it’s a bit long for full-length or 3/4 portraits. OTOH, portraits rarely require ultimate sharpness unless you’re making huge prints.

shinndigg wrote:

Don't overlook the EM 10 MKIII or MKIV.

I like my EM10. Lovely camera. BUT: In the OP's shoes I'd stick with Panasonic because of the unfamiliar logic of the Olympus menu structure.

WIth a new baby, I'd want to be ready for everything, I wouldn't want to miss out on good shots only because I haven't figured out where to set what and wondering why isn't this coming out as intended. That is frustrating to say the least. The last thing I'd want is devoting time to a camera learning curve instead of to my baby. Apart from the fact that I may not be getting enough sleep as it is...

h00pla wrote:

Hello Everyone,

Long time lurker. I love my Panasonic gx7 but I am contemplating looking for an upgrade,

I do not have heavy investment in lenses but I do have the stock lense it came with, the H-H020A and an olympus 40-150 f4.0-5.6. I mainly use it for travelling but I do have a newborn so I am thinking I will start doing more portaits. Mainly for photos with the occasional video. Size /weight is not a huge issue although I would prefer something smaller

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you

I have GM5, G7 (both with the 16MP sensor) and GX8 (the first Panasonic flagship body with the 20MP sensor.

GX8 IQ is a little better but you need to pixel peep to see the improvements.

IMO, your best upgrade now would be the Panasonic 42.5 f1.7, which is a fast and very sharp portrait lens in a very compact body.

Your 20mm f1.7 is a very nice lens, with a beautiful rendering and an useful angle of view.

An affordable entry level zoom would also extend your photographic envelope,  allowing fast framing, and more suitable for videos .

I would suggest the 12-60mm f3.5-5.6, which can be found at bargain prices in white box (dequited, as it comes as kit lens with many Panasonic cameras.

If your budget affords it, there is also the 14-140 f3.5-5.6, which is very handy in most situations and for videos.

You don't need to upgrade your body for baby photography, your framing and instinctive photographic skills are your main trumps.

Stick with the GX7; beautiful microcontrast for portraits. Wait for a 14-bit mft sensor cam to upgrade