An adventure into the Panasonic GX85/80 begins - and a look at the Leica Nocticron for Micro Four Thirds

[jase]

Is there any was to have AF and MF at the same time other than switching to MF mode and set the AE/AF lock button to "AF-ON"? Something like S-AF/MF on olympus cams?

i would like to use spot AF but this not possible with the above mentioned lock button setup..

 

[John Matthews]

13 minutes ago, jase said:

Is there any was to have AF and MF at the same time other than switching to MF mode and set the AE/AF lock button to "AF-ON"? Something like S-AF/MF on olympus cams?

i would like to use spot AF but this not possible with the above mentioned lock button setup..

 

Yes... kinda... Set it to MF and you'll notice a AF button on the screen that is touch sensitive- it will pull your focus. What I like about this implementation is that you'll probably not notice any noise or shake in the footage.

[sgreszcz]

5 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Yes... kinda... Set it to MF and you'll notice a AF button on the screen that is touch sensitive- it will pull your focus. What I like about this implementation is that you'll probably not notice any noise or shake in the footage.

You can also set up AF-s to the rear AF-s button and use that when in manual mode. Set the manual zoom-in box to the smallest size and you can move that around with your thumb too. Press the rear AF-s button to focus.  

Not as accurate as the smaller AF-s focus box on the Olympus but works for me. Just wish that you could Punch-in zoom in for manual focus while recording.

On 6 July 2016 at 5:49 PM, Buckster said:

I was very doubtful ref my commitment to M4/3s after the G6 - useability great - but photo quality

But .. GX80 from initial tests seems much better photo wise vs my G6 - photo ouput seems very similar in IQ to my Nex 5n - and that is a VERY good thing - the sensor to me seems much much improved

I always liked the Olympus JPEG output much better than what I got out of my Panasonic cameras. Also the fact that Olympus gives you a (non intuitive) raw processor to get the same Olympus look from raw files is also great.

Panasonic Jpegs were not as good in my opinion and the raw files need work in Lightroom which by default makes them quite dull...

The gx80 JPEG processing is much better though. I like the look, although raw files are still is a bit dull in Lightroom.

 

[DevonChris]

9 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I've heard some reports recently concerning IBIS. Normally, when you use a tripod, you turn IBIS off. But, has anyone tried to use IBIS on a tripod? I've been told it doesn't matter with the GX80 and it doesn't get "confused." By accident, I did this once and found no ill effects on the image.

On my GX8 I continually forget to turn off OIS/IBIS when on a tripod and have never had a problem.

Quote

Just wish that you could Punch-in zoom in for manual focus while recording.

Are you sure that you can't do that on the GX80? I do this regularly on my GX8.

[fuzzynormal]

10 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I've heard some reports recently concerning IBIS. Normally, when you use a tripod, you turn IBIS off. But, has anyone tried to use IBIS on a tripod? I've been told it doesn't matter with the GX80 and it doesn't get "confused." By accident, I did this once and found no ill effects on the image.

I can testify to this. The ibis is not as "aggressive" as the Olympus. Meaning, the floating seasor doesn't compensate-shift as suddenly.  

The Pany tends to "feather" the sensor adjustments.

In my hands, this means the Oly works slightly better stabilizing while handheld, but on the flip side, it'll behave weird at the end of a tripod pan/tilt as the stabilizer tries to figure out why the body is static all of a sudden. 

[TwoScoops]

2 hours ago, sgreszcz said:

 

Panasonic Jpegs were not as good in my opinion and the raw files need work in Lightroom which by default makes them quite dull...

 

 

JPG with the GH4 are horrible. The RAW are really good, though. Comparable to my 7D2 at least.

[John Matthews]

3 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

I can testify to this. The ibis is not as "aggressive" as the Olympus. Meaning, the floating seasor doesn't compensate-shift as suddenly.  

The Pany tends to "feather" the sensor adjustments.

In my hands, this means the Oly works slightly better stabilizing while handheld, but on the flip side, it'll behave weird at the end of a tripod pan/tilt as the stabilizer tries to figure out why the body is static all of a sudden. 

The reason I asked this was due to a Panasonic rep saying users never really need to turn off IBIS; so, I guess it's true!  

[PannySVHS]

Dpreview tested 1080p resolution to be softer than Oly EM5 II and much softer than the other Panny cams.

Would like that not to be the case and prefer dpreview having done a mistake:)

http://***URL removed***/reviews/image-comparison/fullscreen?attr29_0=panasonic_dmcgx85&attr29_1=panasonic_dmclx100&attr72_0=1080&attr72_1=1080&normalization=full&widget=369&x=0.5043620501635768&y=-0.180752453653217

[fuzzynormal]

15 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

Dpreview tested 1080p resolution to be softer than Oly EM5 II and much softer than the other Panny cams.

Would like that not to be the case and prefer dpreview having done a mistake:)

Yeah, but I think maybe the fact that the gx85 doesn't moire as much as the EM5II makes it appear a bit "sharper" in whole. 

Anyway, 4K in the gx85 vs. no 4K in the em5II is a pretty big deal for me at the moment. 

As I've mentioned before, I truly love the ergos and features of the EM5II, and I'm not dismissing it as a great tool, but if 4K is needed, (or desired) well...

[PannySVHS]

12 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Yeah, but I think maybe the fact that the gx85 doesn't moire as much as the EM5II makes it appear a bit "sharper" in whole. 

 

Parts of the test scene seem in favor for the Olympus, others for the GX85. Moire is absent, which is great of course.

The other Panny cams have higher 1080p resolution than GX85 though. So maybe better 1080 60p on a G7 then.

[Michael Coffee]

On 7/7/2016 at 11:44 PM, fuzzynormal said:

Add into it the tendency to evangelize and thus rationalize one's camera purchase... which is a pretty big inclination among enthusiast (and even pros) and you get opinions that are clouded with so much subjective attitude they're sort of worthless.

Bottom line, if it works for you, have at it.

I am more like "the grass is greener over the other side of the fence" too often

 

[Buckster]

why would the 4k output be fine on the GX80/85 but soft (comparatively) on 1080p ? less in camera sharpening ? 

[DPC]

Not sure that DPR test shows anything useful. Try 4K / GX80 vs 4K / Sony A7R II and look at the detail in the hair (or absence of it). I think video offers too many settings variables (both in camera and post) for this kind of test to be of value.

[jase]

Kudos to @Inazuma for suggesting the wb adjustment with A3G3 and to @John Matthews for using cloudy and tungsten preset - really works nice for run&gun since it is easy and good!

all still ooc since i am not home yet.

[Michael Coffee]

Hey Jase - what lens and cam are those photos.. GX85 with the kit 12-32?

[fsociety]

I hadn't seen that video stills comparison tool before, very interesting to compare the video quality between cameras. The GX80/85 does seem to be quite soft compared to A6300 at 4K. The 6K to 4K oversampling of the A6300 does really produce some extremely detailed video. For me the GX80/85 is still sharp enough for my needs but if I was someone who makes a lot of architecture or landscape videos the A6300 is a very powerful tool.

 

EDIT: 

I did some more research. The video still of the GX80/85 on the left was taken with the Olympus 45mm at f/5.6 and the video still of the A6300 on the right was taken with the Sony 55mm at f/5.6. I looked up the sharpness fieldmap of both those lenses on DXO at that aperture and there's definitely a difference in sharpness between these lenses at f/5.6. Could this explain the difference in sharpness in 4K from the video stills? Maybe, but I think the A6300 would still be a bit sharper is they both used the same lens (because of the 6K to 4K oversampling) but the difference wouldn't be as noticeable as the example above.

 

[jase]

1 minute ago, Michael Coffee said:

Hey Jase - what lens and cam are those photos.. GX85 with the kit 12-32?

This time it is the Panasonic 20mm paired with the obvious tiffen ultra contrast filter.

[John Matthews]

5 hours ago, jase said:

 

Kudos to @Inazuma for suggesting the wb adjustment with A3G3 and to @John Matthews for using cloudy and tungsten preset - really works nice for run&gun since it is easy and good!

 

Thanks for the credit, but I haven't been using "cloudy" WB. I use Sunny instead.  I've also been doing more tests with the A3G3.

[jase]

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

Thanks for the credit, but I haven't been using "cloudy" WB. I use Sunny instead.  I've also been doing more tests with the A3G3.

Ouch, my bad.. Still liking cloudy though, gives a tad more warmth

[John Matthews]

1 minute ago, jase said:

Ouch, my bad.. Still liking cloudy though, gives a tad more warmth

Hey, if you like, you like it- that should trump everything else. I might try it too, just to see what it gives, but I think the most important is to simply be consistent within a project.