Panasonic G7 with 14-140mm lense still a good camera July 2022

JoviFan wrote:

Pulled the trigger on one from Amazon on deal yesterday....but having buyers remorse reading about it's age and that it's used mostly for video and no in camera stabilization.... this would be my first time trying a non-point and shoot mirrorless camera.

Wondering if I should look for a 'newer' option? or Will this be good for wildlife, birds esp, and landscape photos...?

thanks!

Still good - sure - because everything is pretty good.

But still competitive? I'd say no, though the answer depends on just how good a deal it was. Something like a G85, G95, EM5iii, or even EM5ii is going to offer quite a bit more performance for not much more money. If budget's an issue, it's worth looking at the used market.

The 14-140 is a super useful lens, but a little short for a lot of wildlife, especially small birds. You'd be better served by the Panasonic 100-300 II or the Oly 75-300 at a minimum. These teles are not the best as a general-purpose walkaround lens, so if you can manage to get both that would be ideal.

JoviFan wrote:

Pulled the trigger on one from Amazon on deal yesterday....but having buyers remorse reading about it's age and that it's used mostly for video and no in camera stabilization.... this would be my first time trying a non-point and shoot mirrorless camera.

Wondering if I should look for a 'newer' option? or Will this be good for wildlife, birds esp, and landscape photos...?

thanks!

The Panasonic lens has stabilization, so it's similar to a body with ibis using a non-stabilized lens. It will be a lot like the FZ that you have, but you'll need to get used to the shorter focal length. By comparison, it will have about half the zoom of an FZ35. That was the hardest thing for me to adapt to when I switched back in 2009.

Thanks, I thought it was a good deal at $600 with the longer lens.

I hate to spend much more just starting with a 'real' camera... so use to my Panny point and shoots.

Thanks for the positivity - was starting to have buyers remorse... could get the G85 for another $200 but it has 2 lens, I have a hard time seeing myself switching...

ok, whew - that's what I thought about the stabilization... and yea, I do like more 'zoom' for birding and I'm sure will take getting use to ... but wanted a higher quality photo.

JosephScha wrote:

Before the G9 I have now I had a G7. It took very fine pictures, I made photobooks for family with it. I shot raw because I like to develop to jpeg myself, but you don't have to do that if you are used to shooting only JPEGs.

If I hadn't bought a G9 I would still be shooting with the G7. Yes, it is a multiple years old. But it's now a real bargain. I believe completely worth it. Enjoy.

Thanks, sometimes older is better! lol

JoviFan wrote:

Thanks, I thought it was a good deal at $600 with the longer lens.

I hate to spend much more just starting with a 'real' camera... so use to my Panny point and shoots.

That seems pretty reasonable. The lens alone is $500 on sale (assuming it's a MkII), so it's hard to go too wrong. If you later decide to upgrade, the body is surely worth $100.

JoviFan wrote:

ok, whew - that's what I thought about the stabilization... and yea, I do like more 'zoom' for birding and I'm sure will take getting use to ... but wanted a higher quality photo.

I've never owned a G7, but several other Panasonics, and they all had a built-in teleconverter.  I'll bet the G7 does too.  It'll compromise your image quality a bit, but you might still might wind up with a superior image to a point and shoot.

pannumon wrote:

JoviFan wrote:

Pulled the trigger on one from Amazon on deal yesterday....but having buyers remorse reading about it's age and that it's used mostly for video and no in camera stabilization.... this would be my first time trying a non-point and shoot mirrorless camera.

Wondering if I should look for a 'newer' option? or Will this be good for wildlife, birds esp, and landscape photos...?

thanks!

G80/G80 basically shares the same form factor as G7 and is an upgrade in many ways (I have both G7, G80 and a G9). Most of the upgrades are related to in-body-image-stabilization and negating shutter shock. To maximize sharpness at longer focal lengths (200mm and more), I recommend using electronic shutter on G7.

On my G7, I have assigned the top (exp. comp) button to toggle between mechanical shutter, electronic shutter and automatic mode. The last will simply choose either of the previous, in my experience heavily prioritizing the mechanical shutter. I have also customized the dials so that another dial changes exposure compensation in A (=aperture priority) mode (I use A mode 99% of the time).

G7 is significantly lighter than G80/G85. It lacks some of the bracketing options of G80/G85, but enabling exposure bracketing is much easier on G7. In some regard, G7 is preferable option over it's successors.

G7 can be used as a webcam with a 10€ (or 100€) capture card, though the colors may need some tweaking due to improper definitions of color space (I add +7 to red on OBS studio).

G7 can be controlled via a smartphone, once you get hang on how to connect the cameras, it's pretty easy but still annoying. Also GNNS (GPS) coordinates can be recorded via a smartphone (again, it's not the best solution but it works). My G9 has more advanced GNNS smartphone integration (it uses Bluetooth), but the G7 method is more reliable.

G7 is a capable camera. I recommend getting a 25mm f/1.7, 20mm f/1.7 or some old manual focus 50mm f/1.8 + 10€ adapter for low-light (indoor) photography and portraits.

that's great information!! thank you - will esp check into the 'shutter settings'

Michael Houston wrote:

JoviFan wrote:

ok, whew - that's what I thought about the stabilization... and yea, I do like more 'zoom' for birding and I'm sure will take getting use to ... but wanted a higher quality photo.

I've never owned a G7, but several other Panasonics, and they all had a built-in teleconverter. I'll bet the G7 does too. It'll compromise your image quality a bit, but you might still might wind up with a superior image to a point and shoot.

oh right, by changing the MP setting you get 'more zoom'... I think that's what you mean!?

not bad, but the G85 is much better!

Image quality on m4/3 cameras is effectively the same so you are comparing features and haptics.

I upgraded from a G7 to a G9. The G9 is a wonder in terms of features but the haptics of the G7 were better for me because the front dial around the shutter is a lot easier to reach than the placement of the front dial on the G9. The G9 forces a grip change to reach the dial. This is obviously hand size/shape dependent and you won't know until you try the camera. If I had to revert to the G7 I don't think my photos would look worse.

G7 gallery https://whisperingcat.co.uk/galleries/italy2017/index.html

G9 gallery https://whisperingcat.co.uk/galleries/Scottish%20Highlands%20road%20trip%202022/index.html

(note, the long exposure shots are from A7r2 - but they don't look any better)

JoviFan wrote:

Michael Houston wrote:

JoviFan wrote:

ok, whew - that's what I thought about the stabilization... and yea, I do like more 'zoom' for birding and I'm sure will take getting use to ... but wanted a higher quality photo.

I've never owned a G7, but several other Panasonics, and they all had a built-in teleconverter. I'll bet the G7 does too. It'll compromise your image quality a bit, but you might still might wind up with a superior image to a point and shoot.

oh right, by changing the MP setting you get 'more zoom'... I think that's what you mean!?

Kinda. On my cameras, at full resolution (16MP) the jpeg that is outputted (is that a word?) is around 7 or 8MP. (Jpegs are compressed by their very nature.) My cameras (and the G7 I'm sure) have a function called "Digital Zoom" that is either 2X or 4X. At 2X (the one I use the most) it takes your lens and effectively doubles the focal length. So in your case, instead of a 14-140, it'd be a 28-280 (and in full frame equivalent, 56-560). That will probably be enough for casual birding. If it's not enough, you can engage the 4X and double all of these numbers again.

What the digital zoom does, through some kind of digital trickery, is it uses only the center portion of the sensor, but enlarges it so that it appears to be full size. And through more digital trickery, I still get a 7 or 8MP jpeg. You don't have to change the MP setting, just engage the digital zoom through the menu. You can even assign it to a Function button if you want to use it often.

Although this approach can't help but compromise image quality as you're using less pixels for the image, frankly (as others have implied) unless you're a hard-core pixel peeper you won't be able to tell a whole heck of a lot of difference. I sure can't. And I think you'll still have a better image than you would with a point-and-shoot, and have a whole lot more versatility to boot. Although I think we all like adding lenses to our bag o' tricks, I think you have a pretty good starter rig there that'll hold you for quite some time.

Have fun!