learning the GX7

After a few weeks and too little use, the GX7 still feels unusual to me. I'm hoping to change that, and also change a few settings to make it more precisely mine!

Once the basics were fleshed out (date & time, focus preference, image size/quality and such) it was time to toy with the function buttons. I've tried a few choices already but time needs to be spent before deciding which items stay or go. I've set the eye-sensor to High in the hopes that the main screen will go blank less often when my thumb passes near the viewfinder, and that custom button has returned to its original spot rather than shifting WiFi there. My custom Q-Menu is now mostly set as well. With four hard buttons and five more on the touchscreen, plus Q-Menu and 4-way pad presets, it's incredible how many settings can be accessed!

from review at cameralabs.com

I've discovered one new interactive item that I like very much - I can pop into and out of spot metering at the touch of a button! It's a touchscreen feature that you can select to change the exposure point for an image. Point to a bright object and watch the screen darken, then point elsewhere (or turn off) to return to matrix or center-weight metering. Very cool!
On is set to Fn2, reset at Fn3!

And finally - at last! - on to the Custom settings. Three positions on the mode dial can be preset to however you choose. I've owned many cameras with this feature, but have almost never put them in play - so it's time, and well past time, to make sensible use of them!

again from cameralabs

For now at least, here are my settings:

1. Aperture priority, auto ISO to 3200, AF via rear button not shutter, standard image type
2. Shutter priority, auto ISO 800-6400, AF on shutter (birds and other action setting)
3. Aperture setup similar to #1, shoots RAW plus jpeg monochrome

The third position actually has two other options that are accessed via C3+touchscreen; I'll contemplate the possibilities later on those.

So far I'm holding strong on the 2-zoom, 2-prime kit. It fits quite snugly in my Tamrac Jazz 36 bag, though any additions will put me over the top. That might not stop me from buying more, but it does provide some incentive at least!
It has two compartments plus the center section for cam+attached lens; when a prime is attached the 2nd prime goes below it, otherwise the primes stack in one of the side compartments. The side pockets hold lens hoods while the front pocket has extension tube and spare batteries with a USB charger. I need to determine which filters need to come along; if many are needed I'll have to reassess my pocket uses for a safe place. 

Fun fact: GX7 plus the four lenses rounds nicely to 1 kilogram!

resistance is difficult

I feel very good about the current µ43 kit - which is a good and a bad sign.

For some reason it's the last few pieces to my kit that have forced a reassessment and ultimately the utter derangement of said kit. Adding a single item can make others look in need of an update. Yes that sounds bizarre and counter-intuitive, but I've been there, more than once. A new piece makes old ones look old - or too large/slow/irrelevant - and suddenly the kit spontaneously combusts!

I'm sitting pretty with 17 and 30mm primes, cute little things that can fill in when the 12-60 isn't the right choice. Both f/2.8 primes are faster than the 12-60 at any point in its range, so low light makes them worth having. They also work nicely with the 45-150mm telephoto zoom: (almost) 15-30-45mm steps.

But what about the low end? Shouldn't something in the 8-12mm range be a good fit? Well.. maybe. For that matter a 24mm Wesley could give me (almost) 8-16-24-32 steps, and more steps means less gaps..

-no No NO!! This way lies madness. Take the 12-60 and NO gaps happen!
I was overjoyed in my film days to go as wide as 24mm - what has changed to make me so FL-greedy?

Primes are 'better' for image quality in general but zooms exist for a good reason. The 12-60 can focus closely with no attachments and keeps me from changing lenses in the field. And Lumix cameras can do panoramic shots, meaning that the 12-60 can be used in portrait mode for wider, stitched shots.

Yes I'd love a fisheye type, and at some point one may appear. I also really like the Sigma 60mm. I like gear, OK? Just don't get back into the rut of acquisitions that force other sensible choices to fall apart.

impatience rewarded

The twice-lost GX7 has arrived! I feel no gratitude for the USPS tracking site, which could not locate the camera even as the truck drove up to our mailbox. What a waste of good disk space.

the new all-Black team (taken with GM1 and smcA 50/1.7)

I am surprised by the fine match between the 12-60mm Lumix and 30mm gen-1 Sigma. Black with silver text and fine-ribbed rings look very similar. That's nice.

First images look very nice, as expected.
First handling impressions are great: this body is far easier to hold than the pinch-grip required by the GM1, and plenty of controls at hand. I also like the balance of the 12-60 far better now, as it felt very over-sized on the GM1. Guess that's why the 12-32 and small primes exist!My wife loves tiny though, so we'll both be happy with our GM1/GX7 team!

Now to mess with menus and button assignments, and make it truly mine!

some times I surprise myself

I had a chance to pick up a Sigma 60mm for an excellent price.. and I didn't. A tempting 14-140 Lumix f/4-5.8 also was shunned, a lesser surprise but still: well done.

I'd been sure for quite some time that my new kit would include that 60. So why did I decline? The fact is I already have a nice little 50/1.7 Pentax-A that has not even been tried yet, and being 2/3 stop faster is no little thing. The Lumix bodies have focus peaking for such lenses so their occasional use is hardly painful. Both my zooms include 60mm (with less light grasp) so it's redundant three different ways.

And yet..  a few short hours later I bought the 30mm Sigma EX DN! (the Old One with a grip - shown here)

So why did I make this deal for a lens that must compete with the 4thirds 35mm 1:1 macro? Unlike the 60mm it's less redundant, faster than the 35/3.5 and the 12-60, and also creates a fine little 17/30/45-150 kit for days when the 12-60mm is less appropriate. I don't always need to reach 12mm after all, the 17 and 30mm lenses gather more light, and weather seals on the zoom are less useful on an unsealed body. The 12-60 is still a fine lens though and will get plenty of use!

The 35mm may still win out for image quality.. but with the adapter it becomes a lot larger than the Sigma, so it could win but still lose.

Note that the same arguments can be used for the Pentax 50 vs the Sigma 60mm! To that I suggest that the size difference is smaller between those two, and light penalty greater. 
We shall see if the 60mm eventually forces its way back into contention..

a two-horse race.. and a winner

It appears that for a similar amount of money I could pick one of two µ43 cameras: the Lumix GX7 or Olympus EM5 'classic'. Which to choose?

Neither is a poor choice in any circumstance. Their common  strengths are many: lenses, battery life, two control dials, tilting touch-screens, decent e-viewfinders and many control options. In-body IS debuts in the Lumix line with the GX7, and it's less sophisticated than the EM5 - yet it works really well* in some tests.

However, the differences can drive one nuts! Many websites have comparison pages between these two. Quite convenient to have websites to consult, but each user must decide what is most important to their shooting style:

• weather seals? choose the EM5
• more sophisticated 5-axis stabilization = EM5*
• longer and more versatile time exposures? definitely EM5!
• feature set and imaging pipeline that matches my wife's GM1 = GX7
• stabilized video with any lens= EM5; lens-IS only (but touchscreen AF) with GX7
• WiFi, NFC, tilt EVF = GX7
• focus peaking, also GX7
• best implementation of touchscreen that I've tried = any Lumix, ergo GX7
• Menu system and phraseology that gives me fewer headaches? GX7 for sure

Having tried both Lumix and Olympus in several forms I find that I'm partial to the Panasonic method of setting up a camera and taking pictures. Even with the cool live-bulb feature, I let go of my previous EM5. The ability to touch the screen for AF in videos is quite handy to me and I'd miss that; the WiFi is handy now and then but it isn't enough to sway me to GX7 by itself - same with the tilting EVF, which I don't doubt I would use but I cannot say it's a Big Deal.

Yes the ending has now been written. 
I found two very nice used bodies for the same price - and I chose the GX7.

I really wanted weather seals and would like to explore the Olympus live-bulb capabilities, but for 98% of what I do the GX7 feels like the better choice for me. I felt the same way once about the Pentax K-3ii and its Pixel Shift abilities.. but in the end the other controls for everyday shooting just weren't a great fit, and when a budget crises took it away (just like the EM5) I found I missed it less than I expected. I'd love to live in a world where I did not have to spend money to learn which camera is the Right One, but that isn't the case.

image from comparison page at
https://www.ephotozine.com/article/panasonic-lumix-gx7-vs-olympus-om-d-e-m5-comparison-review-22646

* it should be noted that one website tested both and found to its surprise that the 2-axis stabilization on the GX7 often worked better!

castaways (spousal considerations II)

With the recent appeal of the GM1, my wife and I decided the Samsung NX pair can go.
Easier said than done nowadays, as everyone knows it's an orphaned system - but it is still excellent gear capable of impressive images.  The NX300 has a 20Mpx APSc sensor with PDAF sensors within, so its hybrid CD+PD system focuses quickly. The touchscreen allows for quick selection of where to AF in stills and video. I had tried to sell my copy several times recently with no success.

Today it sold!
I shall miss the uniqueness of the NX system, and how it captured colors just a bit differently from any other system I've tried. Blues and browns were somehow stronger, and images of Duncan may never quite be the same.

So the New Kit XVII has surfaced:

• Lumix / micro43 body (GM1 for now)
• Lumix 12-60 sealed power-IS lens (24-120mme)
• Lumix 45-150 tiny telephoto zoom (90-300mme)
• Olympus 17mm/2.8 pancake prime

clockwise: usb charger, Oly 17, Zuiko 35 macro adapted,
45-150 on GM1 and Lumix 12-60

At some point a few more small lenses will drop in; hopefully the Sigma 60/2.8 and a fisheye type of some sort. The higher-end primes are quite amazing, but my wife isn't the only one here who prefers their gear to be small. Besides, I am not a big user of 50mme so I don't need one of the many 24/25mm lenses. I have fast Pentax primes at 100 and 200mme so indulging in µ43 telephoto primes with few additional features feels unreasonable.

I'd like a weather-sealed body to go with that 12-60 but the GX7 is a good choice for now. Images should match the GM1 but with advanced controls & features like a viewfinder, better grip and tip screen. No rush on a second body though -- going by my track record that means "within a month", sadly. Not sad to own: sad that I'm so predictable! 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh yes: the emergency-backup kit remains for now. These lenses can be adapted to micro cameras, but AF is dreadfully slow that way. Still, using in MF isn't all that bad, and it's nice to have a 1:1 macro now and then.. not to mention 400mme for distant critters!
Olympus e500 dSLR (4Thirds)
Zuiko 14-42 zoom gen.2 (28-84mme)
Zuiko 35mm f/3.5 1:1 macro (70mme)
Zuiko 18-180 superzoom (36-360mme)
Sigma 55-200 zoom (110-400mme)

Given the resale value of ten-year-old digital cameras, and that the E500 uses a Kodak CCD sensor, it's hard to find a reason to give it up. CCD sensors have a different 'look' from CMOS; not many can state what that difference is, but many prefer CCD when the ISO setting can be kept at its base setting. Why not have the option? I also plan for it to be my slide-duplication setup, as 8Mpx will be plenty of data without totally jamming up a few hard drives.

spousal considerations

I was reluctantly attempting to sell the GM1 to get us through the last weeks before our refinancing - but my wife knocked over the box of sale items and inquired about the amazing little camera. When she saw its possibilities, she pronounced it superior to the NX300 I bought for her last year. With her bizarre health circumstances light weight is a major factor - and lighter lenses + GM1 = winner.

So we're back to selling off the fast-depreciating NX gear. It's great stuff but Samsung declared them orphans a year or two ago, so only those truly addicted to the system will seek backup bodies for future use. Perhaps I can find those users, but most likely I will barter them off to a used site for a second Lumix body. Thankfully I did not pay much for the NX setup so I cannot lose a large amount!

So this also streamlines the second-body question.

I think my best choice now becomes a nicely-used GX7, since the GM1 uses the same imaging components inside a smaller body. That way we can take 'identical' images, which is what my wife wants us to do while she learns the basics of imaging. For several different reasons I'd prefer a GX85 or GX8 - but a used GX7 will be easier to trade for at most used shops.
In theory.

Many GX7 users who updated to a higher level have complained that the feature set is better but the interface is not quite as good.  The GX8 has weather seals that I'd love to have, the GX85 has a new shutter that removes fear of 'shutter shock', a condition that causes far more worry than blurred photos.

No matter: for now the GX7 will do just fine.
Hopefully in silver..

another gathering

I believe this will be my third copy of the Olympus 17mm f/2.8 that is coming soon. It always seemed so tiny - yet its specs are now matched by the 12-32mm Lumix zoom!  That's pretty amazing. In any case it completes my prime setup (for now): 17, 35 macro, 50 and 100. This time the 17/2.8 will come in black, which is handy for differentiating it from the zoom.

Also returned from the past is the Lumix 45-150mm compact zoom. Another non-speedy zoom, it reviews very well and maintains the µ43 penchant for keeping the overall kit small. I had planned to keep the Sigma 55-200 working as my telephoto of choice despite issues with slow focusing, but my lone bid at auction brings me this telezoom at a silly-good price. In fact the $90 in filters that comes with the lens is about the price I paid for the lens and filters! Several of the 45-150s have been offered for under $100 - at that price any user of µ43 cameras should own one. This lens looks cool in silver, but those were not going for the right price - so black will do nicely.

Now that I have a Panasonic camera in hand, it reduces my interest somewhat in an Olympus body for weather sealing. The Lumix line of sealed bodies is thin and expensive right now though (gx8 or g85) so I'm suspecting that an em5 Classic would be the better choice for the rest of 2017, after which a weather-resistant successor to the gx85 might come along. No proof of such things, yet that sounds like a reasonable next step (gx85+ seals+20Mpix sensor?). While the EM1 would allow my 4Thirds lens to come out and play more, I'm thinking that small is what I seek most with the micro setup - so the 45-150mm will pair up really well with the 12-60. The system offers no budget-type sealed telezooms right now, which is a bummer. Well OK the II-series 45-200 is now out, but at $449 I'll just say no.