My Thoughts on Panasonic Lumix GX7

Hello everyone! As some of you already know, I own a Panasonic GX7 and I shoot with it extensively for both casual and some serious photography needs. It is my main camera since August 2014 and it is still until today and I plan to use it as long as I can until it breaks or needs to be replaced.

In this post, I want to talk a little bit about my opinions on the GX7, my shooting experience, some little details that I find interesting and worth mentioning especially from my point of view. This should be treated as my personal opinion and your mileage may vary.

My Panasonic GX7 with the 14-140mm lens, the perfect combination for daytime photography.

To start

I took one full month researching about the GX7 before I finally settled on it and replaced my Canon kit with the GX7. There are many reasons why I think GX7 is the right camera for me.

First, it has a very compact form that resembles a rangefinder camera but with a viewfinder that actually works and is just awesome. Thus, it is very inconspicuous, unobtrusive, easy to carry, and more comfortable for long session of picture taking and video recording. It weights around 500g with battery and kit lens attached, and it has a tiltable LCD screen that allows me to shoot from the hip easily when doing street photography. The GH3 or Olympus OM-D E-M1 would have better grip and is more rigid but then the big size really hinders me from getting it(though it isn't big at all to be honest, it's just me being picky hahaha!).

Second, the still pictures, while not perfect, is adequate for my need. I don't need full frame picture quality, I don't worship the high-megapixel-big-sensor-is-the-only-way-to-go religion, I need something small and compact with plenty enough dynamic range, adequate signal to noise ratio performance, good color, and enough headroom in the shadow and highlight aspects in the RAW files. Sensor size and big megapixel are just two aspects that is not really a top priority on my list although they are surely nice to have when given by default.

Talking about shadow and highlight, I was also looking for a camera that has better dynamic range than my EOS M and EOS 650D so that I don't have to do HDR bracketing too often for landscape shots. For Canon shooters, the only way to increase dynamic range is either by buying a 5D Mark III or switch to Nikon/Pentax/Sony. Upgrading to 7D or 70D only gives you the same dynamic range and noise performance since the sensor is not too different (even the sensor on the 7D it is exactly the same as with the ones in 60D, 600D, 650D, EOS M, and so on). My GX7 delivers better dynamic range although it is still not in the range of Nikon or Sony; but it is not too far and is enough for me. Keep in mind that dynamic range is important for me since I also shoot landscapes and city scapes and I don't want to get white/grey sky on what supposed to be a clear sunny-bright-blue-sky day.

Third, I also shoot some video and the GX7 is an excellent little video recording device. It is not perfect since it doesn't have mic input and headphone jack, but it gives good video output in both AVCHD and MP4. My previous Canon also does good job on video but the output quality is still not as good as the GX7; they also lack important features such as focus peaking, fast autofocus during video, and high bitrate options. Most of the time, I record audio separately for my video so I don't really mind the absence of mic input and headphone jack.

Fourth, surprise, there is a built in image stabilization in the body, so you can attach any kinds of lenses that doesn't have optical stabilization and the GX7 will stabilize it! This is really a surprise for me because it actually works! It is not the best stabilization ever, but it just works and it helps at least to get one stop of exposure with it, so it is just nice! There is no other Lumix camera to date that has built in body stabilization, even for some cameras after the GX7 was announced.

Also, there is Silent Mode operation, where all the sounds will turn off and the camera switches to electronic shutter. This is an ABSOLUTE BLESSING FROM HEAVEN for us street shooters and events documenter! I can now be really inconspicuous when doing candid, street photography, and shooting events. I can also now shoot birds and the birds won't hear a clicking sound from the camera so they stay longer on the same spot. My goodness, I wish every camera has this option!!

With the added Olympus flash for some product photography.

Some cons that you need to know

Well, I won't go into technical details, this is not a review and you can find so many people that already wrote so much technical stuff about the GX7. But I do want to address some of the negative issues that I encountered with the GX7 that I think you should know before you buy this camera.

First, I confirm that there is a shutter shock issue. Shutter shock will cause your pictures to appear blurry on some mid shutter speed range. It is noticeable, but it actually isn't as bad as what people say on the forums. The way to completely fix this shutter shock issue is by either shooting very fast or very slow, or also by switching on the electronic shutter option. Be mindful that if you turn on the electronic shutter(or silent mode), you need to watch some light sources as computer screen, projector screen, light bulbs, and other light sources because they can cause banding if you are not careful. Also be careful with "rolling shutter" effect when shooting moving objects when you are in this mode, moving objects will appear stretched when you shoot with electronic shutter.

Second, the battery life of this camera can only go for a few hours on a serious shooting day. Be sure to carry extra batteries with you since you will definitely need it! This is a shame since my E-PL6 can go even longer than the GX7 when shooting on the same conditions.

Third, there are some delays happening when you switch from the LCD screen to the viewfinder. It is only less than a second but I find it very annoying especially when you switch between screen and finder quickly and frequently.

Fourth, while the grip is very dense and comfortable, the placement of the shutter button is a bit uncomfortable for my taste; I would like to have it on the front part of the grip so I can comfortably grab the camera without my index finger keeps getting sore from gripping the camera and get stuck on a weird angle by the sharp edge of the PASM dial.

Last but not least, the color in the GX7 is different from the E-PL6 and it is actually very good. But after owning the E-PL6, I tend to prefer the color from it and I always try to match the pictures I took with GX7 to look like the E-PL6 by reducing the green/yellow hue and adding just a hint of purple hue into the color balance. Well, this is actually only a minor thing and the difference is only noticeable when you shoot indoor or under low light. It's still worth mentioning if you are switching from Olympus, since Olympus white balance is the best for low light and indoor usage. If you never shoot Olympus before, then the color won't even become a problem at all.

The whole Micro Four Thirds kit. The GX7 accommodates all those lenses very well thanks to IBIS!

That are some of my thoughts about the GX7. Once again, this is based on my personal review so please treat this post accordingly. If you are now seriously considering the GX7 as your camera, definitely read some of the cons and pros that I wrote above, filter the aspects above that you find important for you, and do some further research on the camera on other sites as well. Even with the cons that I listed, I still find that GX7 is the perfect camera for me!

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the post. Cheers and God bless :)

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