"Panasonic G series" Owners Thread

lumix G5...going to get a new battery as the second hand one does seem to run dun:thinking: .... rather quickly
so its original capacity isnt in question...since as i said may not be up to original capacity
it would be helpful for advice initially on make then capacity to buy...
the ones on the G1 i am selling are panasonic 1250 mAh 9.0Wh which is probably the power rating i should use or exceed
i think my learning process is using a lot of power going back and forward through menus etc...i have only taken around 20 shots but have used the flash a similar amount of times....which i would be happy to know if flash power can be changed via a menu
i am still wading through the manual so i may discover this myself
thanks again for all encouragement
cheers
geof
 
Evening all. I've been looking at this thread but i'm still confused as to where is should go. I've owned the GX1 14 42 red X lens since it came out but i've been wanting to step up for sometime especially after seeing what"s in this thread. I really like the GX8 so do i go for that with the Olympus 12 - 40 f2.8 lens and expect it to be very sharp printing to A2? Will they look as sharp as the GX8 images in this thread or will they only enlarge sharply at A3? Or do i wait so i can afford the Nikon 810 and 1 lens and just wait until i can afford another. Or do i go for one of the Nikon c-mos cameras like the 7200 as the lens are cheaper. Choosing a camera used to be so much easier back in the 80's and 90's. Help please.

A bit of background. I used to work at Kodak producing the film and paper and unlike most i worked with have a desire to take my photography more seriously now. I loved my Om40 i bought in 86 for my 21st birthday but upgraded to the Canon T90 around 1992 which is used up until i went digital in 2006. Just wondering Is it possible to join a club and start wet processing again? I guess i mourned the passing of film, so around 7 - 10 years ago snapped up lots of ebay bargains like new Bronica Sq-AI, Etrsi, Olympus cameras OM3 OM4 OM4ti's etc and some very nice Zuiko glass 90 f2 macro, 100 F2 amoungst others. Why? Because i couldn't afford them when they were new. So the passion is there as an complete amateur if not always the time.
 
Evening all. I've been looking at this thread but i'm still confused as to where is should go. I've owned the GX1 14 42 red X lens since it came out but i've been wanting to step up for sometime especially after seeing what"s in this thread. I really like the GX8 so do i go for that with the Olympus 12 - 40 f2.8 lens and expect it to be very sharp printing to A2? Will they look as sharp as the GX8 images in this thread or will they only enlarge sharply at A3? Or do i wait so i can afford the Nikon 810 and 1 lens and just wait until i can afford another. Or do i go for one of the Nikon c-mos cameras like the 7200 as the lens are cheaper. Choosing a camera used to be so much easier back in the 80's and 90's. Help please.

A bit of background. I used to work at Kodak producing the film and paper and unlike most i worked with have a desire to take my photography more seriously now. I loved my Om40 i bought in 86 for my 21st birthday but upgraded to the Canon T90 around 1992 which is used up until i went digital in 2006. Just wondering Is it possible to join a club and start wet processing again? I guess i mourned the passing of film, so around 7 - 10 years ago snapped up lots of ebay bargains like new Bronica Sq-AI, Etrsi, Olympus cameras OM3 OM4 OM4ti's etc and some very nice Zuiko glass 90 f2 macro, 100 F2 amoungst others. Why? Because i couldn't afford them when they were new. So the passion is there as an complete amateur if not always the time.
depends on what you intend to shoot really , i.e do you need /want a camera for close ups / city walk arounds / landscapes /or wildlife and sport . these days things have moved on at a rapid pace and most of us have proven that even though our sensors are smaller than the rivals the images at the end are virtually indistinguishable so if you give a little more thought we should be able to help .
please note some of Panasonics cameras are more suited to just video while others will do both film and video adequately , also both panasonic and olympus bodies and lenses are to all intents and purposes interchangeable , with a big plus that a lot of us are finding that old legacy lenses work extremely well on MFT bodies with adaptors manual focus but stunning results
 
Evening all...

I'd recommend staying away from the GX8 as that camera can be affected by shutter shock when used with certain lenses and the affected lenses are not just native zooms, for example I never expected shutter shock issues with my Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.2 but it was clearly a problem. Switching to the electronic shutter is a partial fix but can come at the expense of banding under flickering artificial lighting and possible rolling shutter effects with moving subjects. It is imo better to avoid the issue and go for a shutter shock free body.

You could always think about using your film era lenses, if you still have them. If you do use film era lenses on MFT one issue is that it's a x2 crop and although you'll lose any poorer quality towards the edges of the frame you'll also lose quality due to the high magnification and none of these old lenses will IMO match the image quality you'll get from a good modern native mount lens. If you want to use film era lenses on a digital camera the way forward is FF mirrorless to retain the field of view, give the lenses a less stressful time and for the ease of manual focusing. My old film era lenses perform well on my FF Sony A7.
 
Hi guys,

My heart is set on either:

1) G85
2) GX9

Purpose: For travelling, Good pictures for Instagram, Vlogging/Video for youtube etc.

Budget is £650-£850. So if one can advise a better one then pls go ahead but if not pls let me know which one I should go for out of the two.
 
depends on what you intend to shoot really , i.e do you need /want a camera for close ups / city walk arounds / landscapes /or wildlife and sport . these days things have moved on at a rapid pace and most of us have proven that even though our sensors are smaller than the rivals the images at the end are virtually indistinguishable so if you give a little more thought we should be able to help .
please note some of Panasonics cameras are more suited to just video while others will do both film and video adequately , also both panasonic and olympus bodies and lenses are to all intents and purposes interchangeable , with a big plus that a lot of us are finding that old legacy lenses work extremely well on MFT bodies with adaptors manual focus but stunning results

Thanks for the reply. Main use will be Landscape, nature, portraits and family, street, historic buildings and car photography. Also would like to better pics at air shows. Video isn't important to me but it seams many cameras now have this so a bonus to have if only used occasionally by me.
 
I'd recommend staying away from the GX8 as that camera can be affected by shutter shock when used with certain lenses and the affected lenses are not just native zooms, for example I never expected shutter shock issues with my Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.2 but it was clearly a problem. Switching to the electronic shutter is a partial fix but can come at the expense of banding under flickering artificial lighting and possible rolling shutter effects with moving subjects. It is imo better to avoid the issue and go for a shutter shock free body.

You could always think about using your film era lenses, if you still have them. If you do use film era lenses on MFT one issue is that it's a x2 crop and although you'll lose any poorer quality towards the edges of the frame you'll also lose quality due to the high magnification and none of these old lenses will IMO match the image quality you'll get from a good modern native mount lens. If you want to use film era lenses on a digital camera the way forward is FF mirrorless to retain the field of view, give the lenses a less stressful time and for the ease of manual focusing. My old film era lenses perform well on my FF Sony A7.

Thanks for the reply. Wow i'm surprised to hear that about the GX8. I take it your referring to using legacy lenses and shutter shock or have i got that wrong? Which lenses are you referring to?
 
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Evening all. I've been looking at this thread but i'm still confused as to where is should go. I've owned the GX1 14 42 red X lens since it came out but i've been wanting to step up for sometime especially after seeing what"s in this thread. I really like the GX8 so do i go for that with the Olympus 12 - 40 f2.8 lens and expect it to be very sharp printing to A2? Will they look as sharp as the GX8 images in this thread or will they only enlarge sharply at A3? Or do i wait so i can afford the Nikon 810 and 1 lens and just wait until i can afford another. Or do i go for one of the Nikon c-mos cameras like the 7200 as the lens are cheaper. Choosing a camera used to be so much easier back in the 80's and 90's. Help please.

A bit of background. I used to work at Kodak producing the film and paper and unlike most i worked with have a desire to take my photography more seriously now. I loved my Om40 i bought in 86 for my 21st birthday but upgraded to the Canon T90 around 1992 which is used up until i went digital in 2006. Just wondering Is it possible to join a club and start wet processing again? I guess i mourned the passing of film, so around 7 - 10 years ago snapped up lots of ebay bargains like new Bronica Sq-AI, Etrsi, Olympus cameras OM3 OM4 OM4ti's etc and some very nice Zuiko glass 90 f2 macro, 100 F2 amoungst others. Why? Because i couldn't afford them when they were new. So the passion is there as an complete amateur if not always the time.

i also spent a lot of years on film and trannys....if you want to do any D76 stuff you could use a film base and scan it to make it manipulative in digital processing
then you could get your hands again on timeless bodies and clear glass lenses...mine were all nikons AI and AIS...my first nikon body was a nikkormat FTn and i didnt know until i found out..obviously...the massive amount of gear trains and springs inside
it was all metal and one felt like one was holding the most precious piece of photographic machinery and firing the shutter was silky slick
good luck with that aspect
ps i mention D76 since i never got quite interested in C41 processing...having skipped that for transparency work in clubs...an experience in itself
my wife did black to white on her camera and beat me so many times i avoided doing print competitions except lab printed colour from 6X4 bronic SQ and 6X7 fuji rangefinder fuji pro transparency film...it was all so absorbing
cheers
geof..foto mad from1964 (21) to now
 
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Thanks for the reply. Main use will be Landscape, nature, portraits and family, street, historic buildings and car photography. Also would like to better pics at air shows. Video isn't important to me but it seams many cameras now have this so a bonus to have if only used occasionally by me.

WOW your going for the whole hog , if using panasonic bodies I would therefore reccomend a g80 or g9 depending on budget the only olympus that qualifies is the OMD1-MK11 you could chance a used mk 1 but there a few years old now , lenses wise any olympus or panasonic will work very nicely and despite the mornings on here from other members I find that with the appropriate convertors legacy glass works extremely well on MFT bodies although you have to double the focal length i.e a 50mm f1.4 becomes a 100mm f1.4 which is quite fast and nice , I have been for a wander around Chester today with a omd 10.mk 2 with a nikon 50mm 1.4 legacy lens ,will publish some later .
my camera choice is based on experience and your choice of photos i.e you need a fast shutter and focus speed for nature /car/and especially air shows and remember that my main lens the Panasonic/leica 100-400 doubles up as a close focus lens and a ultra fast 800mm equiv lens to
 
WOW your going for the whole hog , if using panasonic bodies I would therefore reccomend a g80 or g9 depending on budget the only olympus that qualifies is the OMD1-MK11 you could chance a used mk 1 but there a few years old now , lenses wise any olympus or panasonic will work very nicely and despite the mornings on here from other members I find that with the appropriate convertors legacy glass works extremely well on MFT bodies although you have to double the focal length i.e a 50mm f1.4 becomes a 100mm f1.4 which is quite fast and nice , I have been for a wander around Chester today with a omd 10.mk 2 with a nikon 50mm 1.4 legacy lens ,will publish some later .
my camera choice is based on experience and your choice of photos i.e you need a fast shutter and focus speed for nature /car/and especially air shows and remember that my main lens the Panasonic/leica 100-400 doubles up as a close focus lens and a ultra fast 800mm equiv lens to

Ha, it seams that way, well it's good to be prepared. Thanks again, and please do publish your photos. The cars are just when they're parked up so no need for fast shutter speeds, the aircraft could be tricky though. That's why i need to invest in a good zoom lens. I might be wrong but when looking at the G9 it's £1500 body only which to my mind is so close to new Nikon D810 territory. There is the dilemma. I've not looked as i don't know what to buy, i would need to read more threads but the glass for the D810 would be the bit that put the mockers on it being so expensive. Would a C-mos Nikon be a better bet than the G9?

Static one with the GX1and 12 - 42 Aspherical red x lens a couple years ago.
P1050481_zpsaunknypu.jpg
 
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your choice at the end of the day mark nikon will be heavier and the lenses are a LOT heavier and a lot more expensive . to get the best from ANY FULL FRAME you will have to invest heavily in glass . ,personally reading your musings I dont think your ready yet to make any choices , asking questions on here will just give conflicting answers to . find a decent camera shop take a sd card and a c/f card and try out a few combos to see what feels right take some sample shots then make your mind up .p.s know that view well my oldest lad lives in weymouth top right of piccy just under the hills
 
i also spent a lot of years on film and trannys....if you want to do any D76 stuff you could use a film base and scan it to make it manipulative in digital processing
then you could get your hands again on timeless bodies and clear glass lenses...mine were all nikons AI and AIS...my first nikon body was a nikkormat FTn and i didnt know until i found out..obviously...the massive amount of gear trains and springs inside
it was all metal and one felt like one was holding the most precious piece of photographic machinery and firing the shutter was silky slick
good luck with that aspect
ps i mention D76 since i never got quite interested in C41 processing...having skipped that for transparency work in clubs...an experience in itself
my wife did black to white on her camera and beat me so many times i avoided doing print competitions except lab printed colour from 6X4 bronic SQ and 6X7 fuji rangefinder fuji pro transparency film...it was all so absorbing
cheers
geof..foto mad from1964 (21) to now

Hi Geof, I still love film just not the prices to get them developed E6 or C41 it gets too expensive. Think i sent of 4 films 2 years ago mix of both with prints, there was no change out of £100 with something like 4, 12 x 8 prints and that was on top of the price of the E6 and C41 36 exposure rolls.
Just to clarify in case of any misunderstanding and lack of clarity on my behalf, i used to work at Kodak manufacturing the paper and film for the professional market. My department used to slit the paper and film into customer widths and lengths some rolls over a meter wide.Of the same corridor there was a perforating machine that punched the holes in 35mm film when Annersly were overloaded. If a parent roll fell of the back of the huge machine it would steam roller you dead. Rather belatedly i would love to join a wet processing club if one still exists, i've looked but it appears nothing doing nowadays.
 
must be a dying trade...our camera club used to do it on some nights but just as a filler between competitions and how to use modelling lighting etc
but that went in 2000....
best of luck anyway...
cheers
geof
 
your choice at the end of the day mark nikon will be heavier and the lenses are a LOT heavier and a lot more expensive . to get the best from ANY FULL FRAME you will have to invest heavily in glass . ,personally reading your musings I dont think your ready yet to make any choices , asking questions on here will just give conflicting answers to . find a decent camera shop take a sd card and a c/f card and try out a few combos to see what feels right take some sample shots then make your mind up .p.s know that view well my oldest lad lives in weymouth top right of piccy just under the hills

Yes it's a beautiful spot we were there only 2 weeks ago with another modern classic and thanks for the advice it's much appreciated. I had a look at the Oly 4/3rds thread as you mentioned earlier the OMD1-MK11 might be suitable, still more to look at but has certainly helped and given food for thought. Reading between the lines Olympus might be bringing out a replacement sooner rather than later and would wait to see what develops. I've made one decision though and that is the buy the Olympus 12 - 40mm f2.8 pro lens, anyone got a mint one for sale?. It should give me an immediate improvement in picture quality over the 14-42 HD kit lens on my GX1 and afford me time to see what direction i'll go. Thanks Mark.
 
a couple of findings from today , the longest session to date with the g80 and 100-400 leica .

first off battery life I took mixed with quiet a lot of reviewing 879 raw files and the battery still had life in it .

next virtually every shot I took using various types of a/f modes i.e single point , selected points and all points af a extremely high percentage were perfectly in focus , I was shooting cars racing on grass so very fast moving at no time did it miss any shots . in fact I think the single point a/f is probably the best on this camera . I honestly cant believe in fact how well it behaved
 
Thanks for the reply. Wow i'm surprised to hear that about the GX8. I take it your referring to using legacy lenses and shutter shock or have i got that wrong? Which lenses are you referring to?

It's not just the GX8, shutter shock is an issue with several cameras (it affects the g7 and GX7 I had too and others) but it's effectively fixed with the newer Panasonic bodies which have a new shutter mechanism. I have the shutter shock free GX80 and GX9.

Some native MFT lenses are definitely affected but AFAIK there's no definitive list of affected native lenses which is a problem in itself as we're effectively left to Google our way to user feedback or left to pot luck. We'd be much better informed if we knew what combination of body and lens are affected and which aren't.

Of the legacy lenses I tried only the Minolta 50mm f1.2 seemed to be consistently and reliably and demonstrably affected.

BTW, shutter shock only occurs in a certain range of shutter speeds (something like 1/80-1/250) when using the mechanical shutter. The problem I had is that I sometimes take pictures indoors under artificial lighting and of course my shutter speed is going to be smack in the shutter shock affected range no matter what ISO I set and switching to the electronic shutter isn't an option as I risk banding so in that scenario a shutter shock affected body and lens is effectively useless.

Good cameras though these affected cameras are apart from the shutter shock issue I wouldn't recommend them to anyone unless they are aware of the possible issues and can therefore make an informed decision.
 
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I'm struggling to get the photos processed and posted due to lack of time thanks to work, but I used the high res mode of my G9 on moving water for the first time on Saturday shooting sunrise on the coast. It appears to have dealt with the moving water really well with no obvious artefacts as far as I can see. My shutter speed was around 1/3s but the end result looks more like a 1 second exposure. I'll try and get an example photo posted in the next day or two, work permitting. The detail in the raw file is fantastic!

Cheers,

Simon.
 
I'm struggling to get the photos processed and posted due to lack of time thanks to work, but I used the high res mode of my G9 on moving water for the first time on Saturday shooting sunrise on the coast. It appears to have dealt with the moving water really well with no obvious artefacts as far as I can see. My shutter speed was around 1/3s but the end result looks more like a 1 second exposure. I'll try and get an example photo posted in the next day or two, work permitting. The detail in the raw file is fantastic!

Cheers,

Simon.

Here's the image I was referring to. Go to Flickr for a bigger version.

Trow Point by Simon Harrison, on Flickr

Cheers,

Simon.
 
I used to have one of those, it's a lens I miss, the quality was great. Performance seems quite good with the viltrox adaptor.

The Viltrox is cheaper now than ever, I've seen them going for under £100 UK, that is tempting, even to just mess about with a few cheap EF primes to try it out. That 200 would be a cracker for casual wildlife and portraits. it becomes a 280mm F2 equiv on the speed booster
 
Bought the 35-100 2.8 now in replacement of the 100-300! Also wondering about an older body as well, as backup to the G80. Any thoughts on the Panasonic GH3? Seems good price used, and has, as far as I can, same sensor but better build and more "pro" esquire. Any owners of the GH3 today? In all honesty, 4K video is not massively important to me!
 
That looks really good Simon, detail looks great and I like how the water is looking.

Nicely done, not seen anyone use that mode for longer exposures nice job.

Thanks guys. I was really pleased with how the high res mode handled the water. As I said, the shutter speed was only 1/3s, so I'll have to try something closer to the maximum 1s speed that the high res mode can currently handle.

Cheers,

Simon.
 
Thanks guys. I was really pleased with how the high res mode handled the water. As I said, the shutter speed was only 1/3s, so I'll have to try something closer to the maximum 1s speed that the high res mode can currently handle.

Cheers,

Simon.

It would be interesting to see how it works out, you'd want a perfectly still day for it though r you'll get blurring in trees
 
If I already had the 200 2.8 I'd buy it no question! You effectively get a 280mm F2 FF equivilant! [because of the focal and aperture reducing properties of the speed booster] Such a lens would be huge money, and also just huge! :D

It pulls the aperture as well!? So theoretically I could can a Canon 2x converter to make it a 800mm F4!? I didn't realise... and is that a decent price, about £100? Or any other places that you've seen sell it cheaper?
 
Also wondering about an older body as well, as backup to the G80. Any thoughts on the Panasonic GH3? Seems good price used, and has, as far as I can, same sensor but better build and more "pro" esquire. Any owners of the GH3 today? In all honesty, 4K video is not massively important to me!
I used to own the GH3, and have a G80 now. My recollection is that the G80 has improved focusing, a better viewfinder and IBIS. The GH3 is also rather larger, which may or may not be an issue. It's still a great camera, though.
 
It pulls the aperture as well!? So theoretically I could can a Canon 2x converter to make it a 800mm F4!? I didn't realise... and is that a decent price, about £100? Or any other places that you've seen sell it cheaper?

Yes, you won't get 800 equiv though, because it also reduced the original focal length remember. You'd get more like a 560 F4 equiv. Not sure how great AF would be with a TC on top, you'd have to look into that. Many have used the Viltrox on the GH4 and 5, I'm not sure about the GH3, it'll work, and probably just as well but I can't say for certain

It was closer to £200 not too long ago, the drop in price is what re-awakened my interest. There was a shortage of them months ago, there must have been a bunch of new batches, that'll push the prices down as they're easier get hold of. If you get it, first thing to do is update the FW, thinkit's at V3.o or higher now. I wouldn't even hesitate for £100, especially owning that lens. I might get one to just try out a few small primes first.
 
Yes, you won't get 800 equiv though, because it also reduced the original focal length remember. You'd get more like a 560 F4 equiv. Not sure how great AF would be with a TC on top, you'd have to look into that. Many have used the Viltrox on the GH4 and 5, I'm not sure about the GH3, it'll work, and probably just as well but I can't say for certain

It was closer to £200 not too long ago, the drop in price is what re-awakened my interest. There was a shortage of them months ago, there must have been a bunch of new batches, that'll push the prices down as they're easier get hold of. If you get it, first thing to do is update the FW, thinkit's at V3.o or higher now. I wouldn't even hesitate for £100, especially owning that lens. I might get one to just try out a few small primes first.
I see!! Hmmm interesting! I have a G80 anyway so should be okay! So this one reduces the aperture effectively.. but the metabones one doesn't? Anyone on here use these adapters or know much about them, in the real world? I'd be more keen on one that doesn't reduce focal length I think.. such as this one? https://www.parkcameras.com/p/M2454...tt95dzzTccQuMx7QxYjAbtY7SYk-JSrRoCwQIQAvD_BwE
 
I see!! Hmmm interesting! I have a G80 anyway so should be okay! So this one reduces the aperture effectively.. but the metabones one doesn't? Anyone on here use these adapters or know much about them, in the real world? I'd be more keen on one that doesn't reduce focal length I think.. such as this one? https://www.parkcameras.com/p/M2454...tt95dzzTccQuMx7QxYjAbtY7SYk-JSrRoCwQIQAvD_BwE

Viltrox do have one that doesn't focal reduce, aperture stays the same, it's the EF-M1, pretty much the same but no glass element: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Viltrox-...344180?hash=item441f720cb4:g:6w4AAOSwWiNaq3Kh

I assumed you wanted the aperture drop as it was the focal reducing one I initially mentioned
 
Viltrox do have one that doesn't focal reduce, aperture stays the same, it's the EF-M1, pretty much the same but no glass element: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Viltrox-...344180?hash=item441f720cb4:g:6w4AAOSwWiNaq3Kh

I assumed you wanted the aperture drop as it was the focal reducing one I initially mentioned


Surely the included glass element would have a negative effect on image quality? To some extent? That was my reasoning for wanting one that has no "glass"?
 
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