Anyone use a Panasonic GX7?

Bobsyeruncle

Bobsyeruncle

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Thinking about one of these for my wife to take shots of the dog and grandkids.
She wants something better than her old phone.
It seems to get decent reviews and she can use my M43 lenses.
Mpb are selling mint condition ones for £199

Anyone used one of these?
Any thoughts?
 
Yup. I've had one and I thought it was a very good camera with two caveats.

Firstly the evf is relatively poor by todays standards but having said that it's perfectly useable although some people report a tearing effect when panning due to the field sequential technology it uses.

Secondly and more seriously this camera can induce shutter shock when used with susceptible lenses. This occurs within a specific shutter speed range of something like 1/80 to 1/250 and manifests as a slight blurring or a slight double image. Some lenses are affected, mainly zooms, and some lenses don't seem to be affected but which lenses may be affected and which may be immune is a difficult thing to know. I never saw shutter shock with my Olympus 17, 25 and 45mm primes but I definitely saw it with my Panasonic 14-42mm zoom and also with my Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.2. One work around is to use the electronic shutter but this brings issues such as rolling shutter effect and banding under some flickering artificial lighting. This unfortunately makes some camera and lens combinations pretty much unusable in some situations like indoor shooting under artificial lighting when you'd be smack in the affected shutter speed range and the mechanical shutter may cause shutter shock and switching to the electronic shutter may give banding.

Personally having had two shutter shock afflicted cameras, G7 and GX7, I'm extremely angry that Panasonic kept selling these cameras with this known issue and indeed went further and for some unfathomable reason also bundled shutter shock susceptible lenses with these shutter shock inducing cameras. Disgraceful is a word which spring to mind.

I do think that these are good cameras but I'd only recommend them to people who go into this fully aware of the issues they may encounter. Personally I just wouldn't even consider buying another shutter shock afflicted camera again as who's to know what lenses may be affected.

GX80's sometimes crop up at reasonable prices and are IMO a much better buy as they have a redesigned shutter mechanism which seems to have effectively cured the issue. I have one and I think it's a really good camera.
 
I've heard the shutter shock stories but haven't experienced the effect. The shot I posted here: #12,526 is at 1/250th and seems sharp enough for my needs (given that it's taken from the top deck of a moving bus). It's possible it doesn't affect all examples of the GX7 or that my expectations are lower than others.
 
I think it affects them all as it's a combination of the shock produced by the shutter design which they all have and the lens being somehow susceptible. Rather than believing that some cameras are affected and some not I'd be much more tempted to believe that people who've never seen it are either using unaffected lenses or aren't noticing.

I spotted it straight away when I first used a susceptible lens but I am an anal ocd affected geek. Other people may not be.
 
I didn't realise the Gx80 had dropped so much on the used market, I also didn't realise the GX7 had only 2-axis IBIS, I knew it was one of their first cameras to feature it but there's a big jump to the 5-axis we know today, that alone makes the Gx80 worth it. You do lose the swivel evf, not sure how often I'd use that but I guess it's nice to have the option, but you gain DFD autofocus, 4K video and no AA filter for sharper images.
 
Cagey75 said:
I didn't realise the Gx80 had dropped so much on the used market, I also didn't realise the GX7 had only 2-axis IBIS, I knew it was one of their first cameras to feature it but there's a big jump to the 5-axis we know today, that alone makes the Gx80 worth it. You do lose the swivel evf, not sure how often I'd use that but I guess it's nice to have the option, but you gain DFD autofocus, 4K video and no AA filter for sharper images.
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Cheers.
I'm veering towards the GX80 tbh.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Cheers.
I'm veering towards the GX80 tbh.
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It'll be worth it, never heard any complaints about that camera - apart from some experiencing a rainbow effect in the evf in certain light conditions. Little cracker for travel with a pancake like the 20mm 1.7 attached
 
Bit shocked to read about the shutter shock issue on those cameras.is it all sorted since those models
 
Apart from the tilting evf one other thing the GX80 lacks compared to the GX7 is a physical AF/MF/AEL switch and button arrangement but IMO although that switch and button were very nice the lack of them isn't a total killer as these things can be done another way.

With the GX9 you get the tilting screen and AF/MF/AEL switch back plus auto ISO with exposure compensation in manual exposure mode. The GX80 only allows auto ISO with exposure compensation in the semi auto modes, Aperture and Shutter, but allow allowing auto ISO doesn't allow exposure compensation in manual mode.

Anyway, the GX80 is IMO a good camera and a good buy.
 
woof woof said:
I'd be much more tempted to believe that people who've never seen it are either using unaffected lenses or aren't noticing.
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The former could be the reason in my case. My GX7's hood ornament is the 45-150 and (as I don't change lenses) if the combination isn't affected I wouldn't see the problem.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
The former could be the reason in my case. My GX7's hood ornament is the 45-150 and (as I don't change lenses) if the combination isn't affected I wouldn't see the problem.
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Yup. I think these are good cameras apart from the shutter shock issue. If anyone fancies one and is well informed then it's their decision but personally I think that it's an issue best avoided buy getting a later camera as you can't know what lenses you may buy in the future may be affected. Who'd have thought my old Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.2 would show the issue? If someone just wants to use known good combinations then all well and good.
 
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Bobsyeruncle said:
My wife wants something small and compact so that rules that out. Plus, I have M43 so she can use my lenses if required.
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The GM1 and GM5 are still the smallest M43 bodies. I have 2 GM5s and really enjoy using them.
 
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