Panasonic G85 review - is there any need to get an Olympus E-M1 Mark II for video?

[jonpais]

1 hour ago, Inazuma said:

I've noticed that when sharpening is dialled down, the focus peaking doesn't work as well. Is there some way to record with minimal sharpening but still have more visible peaking?

an external monitor. ?

[Inazuma]

Well apart from those two annoyances I'm actually really impressed with the camera and the image. I can see me carrying on using this for some time!

[Grimor]

I notice that when using 4K Photo mode (4:3/3:2 unofficial anamorphic mode) HDMI out is dissable.

Any workaround for this?

[Dustin]

I hate to be that guy but can someone explain again the main difference in the canon and Nikon speedbooster? Is it primarily aperture and auto focus control being that Nikon will not get auto focus back?

I have a Nikon e series 28mm, 50mm 1.8 and a modern tamron 17-50 f2.8. I'm trying to decide if my minimal lens collection warrants staying Nikon or if I would be better off just getting the body and a 50 mm Panasonic equivalent native and building from there. 

[mercer]

5 hours ago, Dustin said:

I hate to be that guy but can someone explain again the main difference in the canon and Nikon speedbooster? Is it primarily aperture and auto focus control being that Nikon will not get auto focus back?

I have a Nikon e series 28mm, 50mm 1.8 and a modern tamron 17-50 f2.8. I'm trying to decide if my minimal lens collection warrants staying Nikon or if I would be better off just getting the body and a 50 mm Panasonic equivalent native and building from there. 

Okay, Metabones makes both a Canon and Nikon Speedbooster. Canon lenses need electronics to work the aperture. With modern Nikon lenses, known as Nikon G, the aperture can be controlled by a lever on the mount. So the Speedbooster only needs a ring that will turn to activate the lever. With Canon lenses there needs to be an electronic connection to work the adapter. Metabones is the only brand that makes an electronic Speedbooster for Canon. Well there may be another brand... aputure, but I don’t think it’s worth the cost... you may as well spend the little extra for Metabones or save a lot and go with the Lens Turbo.

If you are used to lenses with a decent focus ring, then you may not like most native micro 4/3 lenses, unless you go with Olympus or Voigtländer. 

[kidzrevil]

@Dustin get the nikon version its a dummy adapter. I spoke to a couple of camera repairmen that some lens + body + metabones adapters with electrical contacts have shorted out the camera bodies they repair.

[Dustin]

36 minutes ago, kidzrevil said:

@Dustin get the nikon version its a dummy adapter. I spoke to a couple of camera repairmen that some lens + body + metabones adapters with electrical contacts have shorted out the camera bodies they repair.

Thanks and @mercer. This will be my next camera. It has everything I need/want right now. I have looked up and will probably get the Lens Turbo for the short term but most important is getting back that similar 35mm dof. I can't afford to get the metabones but if I get an adapter around $100 I'll be good. Also I guess I'll have to upgrade my SD card- I've been spoiled shooting on a single 32gb san disk extreme for the past 4 years. 

 

Now if if I can only find a used G85 for $500. Might just have to suck it up but that might be splurging. Technically the GX85 meets my needs as I've never recorded audio internally always post synced but no flip out screen and a 30 minute limit is a bummer. Really just the non flip out screen. Being that I don't do this for a living and it is strictly a hobby passion, I might get the cheaper camera as I've seen those go $500 new 

[mercer]

@Dustin good deal. I would still go with the G85 if I were you. Wait a month and save the little extra. I have seen some new other G85 cameras go for less than $700. Plus the extra wait of the G85 will help a little with stabilization.

Also, make sure you get the version 2 of the Lens Turbo... supposedly it’s a lot better and they’re still pretty cheap at $150.

Also if you do consider going with native lenses, I’ve used the Olympus 17mm 1.8 and it is a damn nice lens. The manual focus clutch works well and makes it feel like a true manual focus lens. Supposedly, the 25mm is pretty good as well.

[Dustin]

5 hours ago, mercer said:

@Dustin good deal. I would still go with the G85 if I were you. Wait a month and save the little extra. I have seen some new other G85 cameras go for less than $700. Plus the extra wait of the G85 will help a little with stabilization.

Also, make sure you get the version 2 of the Lens Turbo... supposedly it’s a lot better and they’re still pretty cheap at $150.

Also if you do consider going with native lenses, I’ve used the Olympus 17mm 1.8 and it is a damn nice lens. The manual focus clutch works well and makes it feel like a true manual focus lens. Supposedly, the 25mm is pretty good as well.

Yeah I'm still paying off a student loan so I'm in saving mode but some recent Christmas gifts from work certainly put me around almost 40% there. For every good example there's a million bad ones on YouTube I must say!

[mercer]

Well, you’ll get that with most cameras. It took a long while to see a lot of good GH5 videos on Vimeo and YouTube as well. I have found that Panasonic and Sony require a little more precise exposure to get good color out of them. Where you have a little more leeway with Nikon and Canon. But if you want the IBIS, you’re only options are Panasonic or Sony... Unless you go with Olympus. If I required IBIS, I would choose the Olympus E-M10 iii over the GX85 to be honest... especially if you don’t want to spend the extra bit for the G85.

To add, both of those cameras, the GX85 and the E-M10iii are small, so if you’re used to the size of the D5300, you may dislike the size of those two cameras and be more comfortable with the G85.

[Dustin]

1 hour ago, mercer said:

Well, you’ll get that with most cameras. It took a long while to see a lot of good GH5 videos on Vimeo and YouTube as well. I have found that Panasonic and Sony require a little more precise exposure to get good color out of them. Where you have a little more leeway with Nikon and Canon. But if you want the IBIS, you’re only options are Panasonic or Sony... Unless you go with Olympus. If I required IBIS, I would choose the Olympus E-M10 iii over the GX85 to be honest... especially if you don’t want to spend the extra bit for the G85.

To add, both of those cameras, the GX85 and the E-M10iii are small, so if you’re used to the size of the D5300, you may dislike the size of those two cameras and be more comfortable with the G85.

I wasn't aware of this camera...let me look it up!

 

Edit: just looked it up and I still think I'd rather give the G85 a go. Im just a cheapie when it comes to cameras as again this is strictly a hobby and I'm not making a living doing this. My manfrotto mini tripod stick thing comes today so I'll give that a go on the d5300 and see if it doesn't at least help the shake when shooting handheld. But none the less there are plenty of capable cameras out there so it seems!

[Ricardo Constantino]

@Dustin just FYI if you go with the Nikon Speedbooster/Lens Turbo/Adapter be aware that you have to manually choose the focal length for IBIS to work since you don't have any electronic communication with the body.

[Dustin]

24 minutes ago, Ricardo Constantino said:

@Dustin just FYI if you go with the Nikon Speedbooster/Lens Turbo/Adapter be aware that you have to manually choose the focal length for IBIS to work since you don't have any electronic communication with the body.

Right that makes sense. I probably won't  make a decision til at least after the holiday anyways but it's something to keep in mind. Being that my main lens for video/photo the tamron 17-50 lives on my Nikon d5300 and I'll be keeping that I'm also not sure if I'd just want to be swapping that from mounts from time to time. 

[anonim]

 

[Vintage Jimothy]

Is it just me, or is it weird how people just seemed to have mostly stopped talking about this camera over the past several months? I only got my G85 back in April personally and yet these days I'm seeing people typically refer back to the G7 more often than the G85!

[webrunner5]

10 minutes ago, Vintage Jimothy said:

Is it just me, or is it weird how people just seemed to have mostly stopped talking about this camera over the past several months? I only got my G85 back in April personally and yet these days I'm seeing people typically refer back to the G7 more often than the G85!

When was the last time someone mentioned a GH4 on this site? I find that interesting also. I guess they all became useless.

[Vintage Jimothy]

2 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

When was the last time someone mentioned a GH4 on this site? I find that interesting also. I guess they all became useless.

I mean, I get that cameras are succeeded by newer models all the time. That doesn't surprise me. It's inevitable and with Panasonic announcing their new L-mount alliance and upcoming FF cameras, that shift obviously has an impact on the company's M43 cameras.

What I find perplexing is that an even older model than the G85 seems to still be referenced more often lately (the G7). Is it because of the cheaper price tag? 

[jonpais]

@Vintage Jimothy Is there a dealer where you live? The G85 has outstanding ergonomics and reliability, it’s economical, it has a nice 4K image, IBIS and flippy screen.

While I haven’t used the G7, it still has many adherents and sells new for just $500. The lack of IBIS would be a dealbreaker for me though.

[webrunner5]

12 minutes ago, Vintage Jimothy said:

What I find perplexing is that an even older model than the G85 seems to still be referenced more often lately (the G7). Is it because of the cheaper price tag? 

I had a G7 myself. Great camera for the money. And I would guess, yes that is the reason it is more popular. It was for me. Sure the IBIS is great to have but with the difference you can have the G7 and a half decent lens. But sure the G85 is on paper a better camera, especially for video.

But then a BMPCC is even better for video, and now we don't hear crap about it either. Not going to get this look out of a G85.

 

[Vintage Jimothy]

1 minute ago, jonpais said:

@Vintage Jimothy Is there a dealer where you live? The G85 has outstanding ergonomics and reliability, it’s economical, it has a nice 4K image, IBIS and flippy screen.

While I haven’t used the G7, it still has many adherents and sells new for just $500. The lack of IBIS would be a dealbreaker for me though.

I live in Okinawa, Japan. We had to order the camera via Amazon over to my sister back in the States and have her ship it over to us. The first try of Amazon mailing the camera straight to us didn't work at all and took up almost two months of our time. We finally got it over here on the second go-around after about another month.

Admittedly, the G85 is my first personal camera, so I'm still in the process of saving up money for various pieces of equipment (i.e. lenses, cage, monitor/external recorder, gimbal). I always rented out equipment back at my old film school to save money, but I love my G85. I'm still planning on looking at other cameras in the future, but for the moment I really dig my G85.

4 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

I had a G7 myself. Great camera for the money. And I would guess, yes that is the reason iti s more popular. It was for me. Sure the IBIS is great to have but with the difference you can have the G7 and a half decent lens. But sure the G85 is on paper a better camera, especially for video.

Yeah, that was my thought process too. When I first started looking at camera options a year ago, I was initially pretty set on the G7. Then I ended up going for the G85 and I'm glad I did. It's a lovely and reliable camera.