Panasonic GX7 review mk2

[wonglp]

Some High ISO shots to share, manage to get a cooperative subject to stay there. Personally, ISO3200 for GX7 is what I can accept, which is about similar to the Olympus EM5/EP5 sensors.

All taken with Olympus mZD 75mm F1.8 lens @ F1.8

ISO3200, 1/30s


Same shot, face 100% crop, acceptable?


ISO6400, 1/60s


ISO12800, 1/125s
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[titus1984]

how do you find the colour as compared to ep5? i heard there has been a huge improvement compared to the older panny m43 cameras and it is close to oly now...

 

[ed9119]

i find the Panasonic auto white balance pretty spot on and the custom WB very simple to set on the menu

 

[NazgulKing]

How's the AFC on the camera?

 

[wonglp]

how do you find the colour as compared to ep5? i heard there has been a huge improvement compared to the older panny m43 cameras and it is close to oly now...

There's certainly improvement (the last time I tried panasonic was G3) with standard mode, it's still a tad less warm than standard mode of Olympus jpegs. Still down to preference of individual. Here's 2 shots ooc jpegs, one in standard one in vivid, auto WB. Both shot with Olympus 75/1.8 wide open.

Standard color mode.


Vivid color mode
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[wonglp]

How's the AFC on the camera?

Hmm, still not par to DSLR. I did a test, a pretty demanding one, kid running towards me and using Olympus 75/1.8 with very shallow DOF, I think would be difficult for many cameras too? To be fair, tested similar situation with pre-production EM1 (which has pdaf+cdaf), it was similar as below. AFS is very fast and spot on though (first shot is the proof haha).



Would have been nice to have last few shots in focus...

 

[Anson]

May I ask how is the IS of the two camera compare? Thanks.

 

[wonglp]

May I ask how is the IS of the two camera compare? Thanks.

If comparing GX7 to version without 5 axis (e.g Pen EPL5/6), similar. So it's good I feel, especially with long tele Olympus lens like 75/1.8, I can handhold about 1/30s with this lens easily (abt 2+ stops), and probably 50% hit rate at 1/15s (3+ stops), certainly better if I use wider lenses. If 5 axis of EP5/EM5 or EM1, i feel it's better as I can handhold 1s with about 50% hit rate on 12mm lens, which is abt 4+ stops. Nothing too scientific tests done, just some quick experiments.

 

[wonglp]

There's a mode which I like alot on this camera, which is HDR. This takes 3 shots consecutively and blend them together to form a "high dynamic range", -2,0,+2 EV shots. Its not too overcooked, just nice I feel. With vivid mode, the jpeg colors are very nice.

Pano stitched 2x3 multi-row, each shot was HDR, merged in hugin.Used with Panasonic 12-35/2.8.

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Some HDR modes in camera don't allow >1sec shots, on GX7, the limitation it seems is max at 60sec, and that would be based on +2EV shot, otherwise shot will be underexposed it seems. So @ 0EV, it should be < 15sec in order to have well exposed shot.

A few more, mostly with some slight tweaks that doesn't take more than a minute. (contrast/highlights/shadows/WB)

With Panasonic 7-14, F7.1, ISO125, 1/13s

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With Panasonic 7-14, 5 shots single row stitched.

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[wonglp]

This one is HDR ooc jpeg, I think the output is excellent. A little tweaking will bring out the colors and shadows details more.

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[wonglp]

The Panasonic Image App can do remote control for all the modes, and that includes Bulb Mode too! So it's not necessary to buy any bulb release cable :thumbsup:

Though 1 thing that annoys me is that the bulb ends at 128s, I wish that it can be longer as I often do longer exposures.

 

[NazgulKing]

Hmm, still not par to DSLR. I did a test, a pretty demanding one, kid running towards me and using Olympus 75/1.8 with very shallow DOF, I think would be difficult for many cameras too? To be fair, tested similar situation with pre-production EM1 (which has pdaf+cdaf), it was similar as below. AFS is very fast and spot on though (first shot is the proof haha).

Would have been nice to have last few shots in focus...

Well, I suppose if I really wanted speed, I'd invest in a D600 or a 5DIII or something of the like... Thanks for the test!

 

[keithwee]

The Panasonic Image App can do remote control for all the modes, and that includes Bulb Mode too! So it's not necessary to buy any bulb release cable :thumbsup:

Though 1 thing that annoys me is that the bulb ends at 128s, I wish that it can be longer as I often do longer exposures.

I just realized that when shooting with the GX7 last night too, kinda irritated as even from the EM5 era, we could go up till 30 mins.
Is 2 mins the maximum allowed for bulb or is there a setting I couldn't find for a longer exposure?

thanks!

 

[wonglp]

I just realized that when shooting with the GX7 last night too, kinda irritated as even from the EM5 era, we could go up till 30 mins.
Is 2 mins the maximum allowed for bulb or is there a setting I couldn't find for a longer exposure?

thanks!

looks like it, i checked on the manual downloaded online. pretty strange as I remember my panasonic LX7 was able to several minutes shots even without going bulb...
another way round is possibly to use multiple exposure

 

[keithwee]

Thanks , ya the LX7 could go up till 16mins.
Maybe this is something that can be improved in future firmware updates I hope.

 

[wonglp]

Currently in Suzhou for work, saw a brilliant sunset (in fact both days - Sunday and monday), and that's quite rare!

Some ooc jpeg colors, vivid mode. Some straighten/cropping done, taken within car ride to Suzhou.
With Olympus 75/1.8, 1/2000s,F7.1, -2/3EV. Vivid mode


With Olympus 75/1.8, 1/800s, F7.1, -2/3EV. Vivid mode


With Olympus 75/1.8, 1/250s, F7.1, -2/3EV. Vivid mode


And one in Suzhou. None of the days was able to go out to shoot. hopefully other days to come. Using Panorama mode. Olympus 75/1.8, F4, 1/500
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[keithwee]

Currently in Suzhou for work, saw a brilliant sunset (in fact both days - Sunday and monday), and that's quite rare!

Some ooc jpeg colors, vivid mode. Some straighten/cropping done, taken within car ride to Suzhou.
With Olympus 75/1.8, 1/2000s,F7.1, -2/3EV. Vivid mode

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like this one a lot, how the lines and the clouds obscures the sun. And you using the 75/1.8 is seriously poisonous haha.​

 

[NazgulKing]

Currently in Suzhou for work, saw a brilliant sunset (in fact both days - Sunday and monday), and that's quite rare!

Some ooc jpeg colors, vivid mode. Some straighten/cropping done, taken within car ride to Suzhou.
With Olympus 75/1.8, 1/2000s,F7.1, -2/3EV. Vivid mode


With Olympus 75/1.8, 1/800s, F7.1, -2/3EV. Vivid mode


With Olympus 75/1.8, 1/250s, F7.1, -2/3EV. Vivid mode


And one in Suzhou. None of the days was able to go out to shoot. hopefully other days to come. Using Panorama mode. Olympus 75/1.8, F4, 1/500
​

Hmm.. the grain in the shadows isn't splotchy like those in the Olympus EM5.

 

[wonglp]

like this one a lot, how the lines and the clouds obscures the sun. And you using the 75/1.8 is seriously poisonous haha.

Thanks! It's really rare to get such blazing sunset in Shanghai!

Hmm.. the grain in the shadows isn't splotchy like those in the Olympus EM5.

I realize that too and this is ISO200 shot, the ISO125 should be even cleaner at an expense of DR perhaps. Do like what I see from landscape perspective, and it does seems hot pixels is lesser as well than EM5. Although I do find the APSC (Pentax K30) is still better/cleaner, which is not really unexpected either.

 

[NazgulKing]

TI realize that too and this is ISO200 shot, the ISO125 should be even cleaner at an expense of DR perhaps. Do like what I see from landscape perspective, and it does seems hot pixels is lesser as well than EM5. Although I do find the APSC (Pentax K30) is still better/cleaner, which is not really unexpected either.

Yeah, that to me was the biggest turn off for the Em-5. People raved about it, but the splotchy shadows were quite a nuisance especially in high contrast scenes.

APS-C and FF grain tends to be more film-like. :bsmilie:

(Personally, Grain styling to me is more important than all the high ISO gibberish. At the very minimum, at least the image has some sense of style with the grain, but if it adopts some splotchy murky crap, it's not much of an image).