Beginner Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5 - too old? Something better?

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Hi. Asking advice regarding buying a camera for my 12yr old daughter who’s taken an interest in photography and getting a camera to start and play with... she saw a well looked after G3 for sale complete, for £129. It was in London Camera Exchange and that one took her fancy the most. Me, thinking this is a 9yr old camera, looked around for an alternative around that price but only came across a G5 with only 850 shutter count. I know this was out around the same time but it takes more pics per second, better resolution etc but is around £210. Will this be still a waste of time or should I get something with wi-fi transfer and better/newer sensor etc?
Thanks in advance
 
I think you're fussing too much about details. Anything she gets, she's either going to give up on or move on from. Just do it!
 
hello :D

£129 for a G3 seems a bit much unless there's a lens with it? Ditto the G5. Googling should find you both cheaper, I succeeded :D unless of course there are lenses with the cameras you're looking at.

I don't know how good the G5 is but I did have a G1 which maybe wouldn't be a million miles from the G3 for image quality and if that's the case I'd say that the performance can be easily bettered these days.

Personally I'd go for a Panasonic GX80 which are around the £200 mark but that's without a lens. A lens could cost you anything from £50 and up depending on what you want. Another one to look at is the Sony A6000.

And again personally I'd keep away from some of the Panasonic MFT bodies as when paired with some lenses they suffered from a thing called shutter shock which leads to a slight blurring or even a slight double image at certain shutter speeds. I'd avoid this issue by going for a GX80 or G8 or a later camera as these had a different shutter mechanism which seemed to effectively cure the problem with any lens.

I hope that helps. Soz. Don't know about wifi and things like that :D
 
Thanks for the reply. Yes both were with the standard lens 14mm-42mm. The max I can pay for a camera for her is around £200 to be honest as being 12yrs old it may be just a phase! Is the G5 too old then do you think. It’s described as ‘mint’!
 
Of the two I'd go for the G5.

Going for an older camera my worry would be more about the plastics going sticky than anything else but going for something newer (like the GX80 or g8) is probably going to cost at least another £100 or so, so really the G5 could be your best option at that price.

I was very happy with my G1 at ISO 100-400, pleased enough to ISO 800 and 1600 was useable with care so I'd expect a G5 to be better and that could be enough to see if she wants to stick with it, which I hope she does :D
 
The Gx series are very good cameras and more than adequate for a 12 year old to learn on. You should be able to pick up a good example with a lens for much less than £200. Some examples from a G2...

Panasonic G2 8GB 11 P1210471.jpg

Panasonic G2_one 1200015.jpg

Panasonic G2_one 1200056.JPG
 
I would go for a camera with in body stabilisation, nothing more likely to put a youngster off than blurred photos
Maybe something like an Olympus EM10 ii or Panasonic GX80
These are doing good prices at the moment with a further 20% off at checkout https://www.camerajungle.co.uk/products/72057/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gx80-body
There was something known as shutter shock that some of these older Panasonic cameras suffered from, maybe look into that too.
So no, in my opinion I wouldn't buy either of those that you mentioned
 
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I would go for a camera with in body stabilisation, nothing more likely to put a youngster off than blurred photos
Maybe something like an Olympus EM10 ii or Panasonic GX80
These are doing good prices at the moment with a further 20% off at checkout https://www.camerajungle.co.uk/products/72057/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gx80-body
There was something known as shutter shock that some of these older Panasonic cameras suffered from, maybe look into that too.
So no, in my opinion I wouldn't buy either of those that you mentioned

Thanks tijuana taxi - thats a good point regarding the shutter shock. I looked into this quickly. The other cameras are still a fair bit over my budget to be honest and really looking for my best option for around the £200 mark. Link to camerajungle site was helpful thank you.
I see the image stabalisation is all in the lens then for the G5... Surely this stabalisation isn't going to be any worse than a cheaper camera... or do you think it might be?
 
The Gx series are very good cameras and more than adequate for a 12 year old to learn on. You should be able to pick up a good example with a lens for much less than £200. Some examples from a G2...
Thanks Andrew - those images would surely be adequate for my daughter :) I'm sure she'd be happy with that - thanks for the reassurance.
 
hello :D

£129 for a G3 seems a bit much unless there's a lens with it? Ditto the G5. Googling should find you both cheaper, I succeeded :D unless of course there are lenses with the cameras you're looking at.

I don't know how good the G5 is but I did have a G1 which maybe wouldn't be a million miles from the G3 for image quality and if that's the case I'd say that the performance can be easily bettered these days.

Personally I'd go for a Panasonic GX80 which are around the £200 mark but that's without a lens. A lens could cost you anything from £50 and up depending on what you want. Another one to look at is the Sony A6000.

And again personally I'd keep away from some of the Panasonic MFT bodies as when paired with some lenses they suffered from a thing called shutter shock which leads to a slight blurring or even a slight double image at certain shutter speeds. I'd avoid this issue by going for a GX80 or G8 or a later camera as these had a different shutter mechanism which seemed to effectively cure the problem with any lens.

I hope that helps. Soz. Don't know about wifi and things like that :D
Taking on board what tijuana taxi said I do think i'll probably still go for the G5 as it comes with a good case and barely used. Appreciate all your help. :)
 
Lens stabilisation is fine, but when its in camera any lens stabilised or not benefits from it.
Also means if you want that feature you always have to buy stabilised lenses.
Some excellent and not overly expensive ones do not have it
I have found it a real plus and was my main reason for moving to mft from Fuji
 
Aside from the known faults of some cameras, for someone new to this, old cameras can be very useful. My older camera is a Oly E420 and must be thought of as very old, but it is highly functional. Even though it does not have up to date features, its abilities will probably provide most of the functionality that I will need up to the point that I understand what it is that I want...
I have recently added a Panasonic GF5 to my collection (M43, because I had a suitable lens from my IR converted camera). Although it's an advanced P&S, its range of functions (if not directly accessible by external buttons) is quite amazing. It must be tempting to buy your daughter a cheap camera and let her "dip her toe in". Even one without stabilisation will teach her about shutter blur. Plenty of camera courses still recommend manual controls to "learn" the craft... If it takes off with her... she will get to the point where she can tell you what she wants.
 
Thanks Dave, some good points :) Having received the G5 now I think it will be a great start for her. Theres a lot for her to work out (or learn to use properly) but in the mean time she can just point and shoot and then tinker with things as she goes on. The camera is literally mint so quite happy.
 
came across a G5 with only 850 shutter count.

... just a thought, I may be wrong, but ..... I think the G5 might have an electronic shutter as well as a mechanical shutter, and only mechanical clicks are counted. :thinking:
 
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