Vintage Digital Review: Panasonic Lumix DMC GX7.

In a previous post I joked that Panasonic released the S9… I got a 2009 Lumix DMC-GF1 and 20mm f/1.7.

That went well.

I bought the GF1 for a specific task. Candid behind the scenes chorus and street photography. It did better than I expected.

So much so that I started thinking of something that surprised me. This GF1 is really close to what I have been trying to achieve for a few years now. A true fit in the palm of my hand compact daily carry that does not break the bank.

What I expected was results that were good for a MFT camera. What I got was good results with no qualifier. The only weak spot, noise at high ISOs, was addressed by Lightroom with their AI Denoise feature. And I do not have to use it often.

I have detailed my pursuit of a full frame daily solution in this space. What I ended up with was the smallest solution… for a full frame camera. The Sony A7C and 40mm f/2.5 G. Great camera and lens. But not as small as I had wanted it to be. So what started as candid solution quickly turned into my daily carry solution.

What moved me to expand on my MFT kit was a portable portrait solution.

I have a bus of a full frame portrait lens but I wanted something more portable. Had thought of getting one of two old favorites for Sony full frame, the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 or Rokinon/Samyang 75mm f/1.8, or even maybe the SIGMA 56mm f/1.4 for Sony APS-C. But instead, I decided to lean into this MFT thing and get a lens for this instead. Great lenses all, but once again made for larger camera/lens combo than I was looking for. More on the lens I selected soon.

But there were portrait first world issues with the GF1. While fine for wide to normal use the GF1 was just a few features from being a proper tele lens solution for me.

• EVF.
  • With portrait lenses framing becomes more of a concern.
• IBIS.
  • Longer lenses bring about more pronounced shake.
• …that is about it.

I could have bought an optional EVF. I have done so with Olympus cameras in the past, the E-PL5 and E-P5. But I do not like add on EVFs. Especially when they cost almost as much as the camera body it is for. And that would not address bullet number two, IBIS. So what I decided to do was go Panasonic MFT camera shopping. A friend of mine has a GX8 that I like. But while affordable it cost more than I wanted to spend, did not have a built in flash, and it was a bit larger than I would have liked. I like Panasonic’s GX line. Mainly for the rangfinder-ish ergonomics. So I landed on the GX7.

• Hundreds less than GX8.
• Has a built in flash like the GF1.

• Has IBIS.
• Tilt touch screen.
• Like the GX8 it looks the business to me.
• Has the best manual focus aid set up I have ever used.
• Is properly small.
• Has the tilt up EVF like the GX8 that I really like.

It has been a few days since it has arrived and I really like it. At a work event this week I even used it side by side with my “real” kit and it easily held its own.

I took it along while I ran a roll of film through a legend of a film camera and pivoted to it without hesitation when the film was done.

This is not the first time I looked at the GX7 as I had compared it to the A7C before.

So I was quick to come back to it when an EVF and IBIS was back on the table. Next up I will update the thoughts section from the GF1 for the GX7.

Thoughts.

Once again I did not spend a lot of time poring over specs. I really did not spend much time on reviews. So as last time a lot of these items below were pleasant surprises.

Speed.

Not sluggish. Starts up quickly. Focuses quickly. Shutter responds quickly. Impressive for a 2013 camera.

Controls.

Well done. Everything you need is on the right side of the camera so easily one hand operatable. Q. Menu to quickly access most adjustments and a dedicated video record button for instance.

Tilt and touch screen are definite nice to haves. And even though it has two dials, one up on the GF1, they kept the back dial push to access exposure compensation feature. Nice.

Feel and build.

I like it. I have spent more on cameras that do not feel as good in hand and look as good.

Overall I would put its build on par with the the similarly priced no EVF having Olympus E-P5 I once had.

High praise. I really liked the build of that camera.

Face detect AF?

I did not expect that. Sure, I could have read the specs. But it also works well. I also really like how quickly you can switch between AF modes. And the nice to have but not often used touch to focus/shutter is appreciated.

Size.

Looking at the Camera Size website comparison picture above did not really relay the real world size difference between these cameras. Sat side by side the GX7 is small. Barely larger than the GF1 and much lighter than the A7C. When fitted with the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 it makes for a very pleasing pairing. Noticeably smaller than the similar E-P5/17mm f/1.8 Olympus MFT pairing above… with an EVF.

Battery life.

Not as long lasting as the smaller but larger battery having GF1, but so far it easily survives a day of use without issue. May pick up back up batteries eventually.

AI Denoise.

I am happy to report that LR AI Denoise works with the RAW files. This bodes well for cleaning up high ISO pics if need be. It is a great tool for older digital camera RAW files.

IQ and subject isolation.

Great IQ. And once again f/1.7 lenses pay real dividends with some pleasing subject isolation. See samples below.

Manual focus aid.

I do not know what Panasonic calls it but the manual focus aid is about the best I have seen on a mirror less camera. The center of the viewfinder zooms in for critical focus but the regular scene is shown on the rest of the screen which makes it easy to know what is going on. I hope I explained that well. Very well done and preferable over standard focus peaking and the whole screen zoom to focus. The former can lack accuracy sometimes and the latter can be disorienting when trying to frame the scene.

Wrap up.

The GF1 was for a narrow purpose. Be small and capable. I intended the GX7 to be a companion camera for portrait use and daily use. It meets that goal.

Sample images.

To echo the wrap up of my GF1 post.

Well done Panasonic from 2013.

Similar to the GF1 I expected good and got much better. I have also realized something else. In my prior MFT attempts I chose the e wrong team. I really like Olympus. They have the style thing on lock and also had some great features. But if…

I had gone with the smaller, lighter, and less expensive Lumix 20mm f/1.7 over the Olympus 17mm f/1.8 or even Panasonic’s own larger but less expensive 25mm f/1.7…

• The Olympus 17mm is a pleasure to behold, but I rarely made use of the AF/MF clutch and much prefer the 40mm full frame equivalent Lumix 20mm.
• The close focus, small size, and excellent IQ of the 20mm is an unbeatable format for this system.

I had gone with the Lumix 14-42mm power zoom over the Olympus 14-42mm power zoom or Panasonic’s 14mm f/2.5 pancake prime…

• Between the zooms I prefer the Lumix’s toggle switch over the zoom ring and the Lumix feels better in hand.
• The flexibility of the zoom is an easy compromise for the slower aperture.

I had gone with the EVF having Lumix GX7 instead of the Olympus E-P5…

• If the E-P5 had an EVF I may have never left Olympus MFT. It was my favorite Olympus camera performance and form factor wise but requiring an add on EVF was a deal breaker.

I had gone with the… wait. Will talk about the next lens in another post…

I might have hung around MFT town a bit longer of perhaps never fully would have left. There is nothing wrong with any of them. But I prefer all of this kit I had not tried before over the others.

Bottom line I really like those Panasonic cameras. As a distraction and novelty I went back to MFT for a “That’ll do series” during the dark times. It was fun. But it did not stick. I sold them and moved on. These Lumix bits will be hanging around for a bit longer.

Happy capturing.

-ELW