#gx85

PROS:

Much like the GX7, it’s a small and light system. This one kicks it up a notch from that camera with a thinner grip and less of a protrusion for the EVF (while sacrificing the tilting action from the GX7). 

The shutter is much quitter. The GX7 was one of the loudest cameras I owned, which always felt odd since it focused so silently and it was so small. 

It was cheap. I thought the GX7 was cheap when I got it, but this ended up being a little cheaper when I got it from eBay. The only “issue” is that I also got duplicates of the two lenses I picked up with the GX7. 

The autofocus seems a bit better than the GX7, and it focuses surprisingly well in low-light. 

The IBIS is pretty damn good. It seems comparable to my Ricoh GR and slightly better than my A7C, although it’s stabilizing a much smaller sensor than those two cameras. 

CONS:

While it’s better than the GX7 in a lot of ways, it’s also worse in a few. The shutter is quieter but it maxes out at 1/4000 compared to 1/8000. It also has a worse flash sync speed, which I guess isn’t a huge deal now since I have the GR with its leaf shutter in case I want to do some strobist stuff. 

Battery life isn’t great. It takes the same batteries as the GX7 so I already had a few, but you definitely need three or four if you want a whole day of shooting. Looking at DPReview it’s actually rated for only 290 shots compared to the GX7’s 320. 

The sensor is pretty much the same sans the AA filter. High ISO performance isn’t the best and it also can struggle with blown highlights. 

It still has that issue that the GX7 has where dialing in focal lengths for IBIS doesn’t have enough options. I have a manual focus 25mm and for whatever reason that’s not an option to input on here. 

(All sample photos edited in Lightroom Classic, some with additional adjustments from DxO PureRAW 2.)

Panasonic Lumix 25mm f/1.7.  f/1.7, 1/320, ISO 800 [Edited in Lightroom Classic.]

Panasonic Lumix 45-150mm f/4-5.6 at 45mm. f/8, 1/1600, ISO 640. [Edited in Lightroom Classic and DXO PureRAW 2]

Panasonic Lumix 45-150mm f/4-5.6 at 65mm. f/8, 1/2000, ISO 400 [Edited in Lightroom Classic.]

Panasonic Lumix 25mm f/1.7. f/2, 1/250, ISO 320. [Edited in Lightroom Classic and DXO PureRAW 2.]

Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7. f/2, 1/50, ISO 640. [Edited in Lightroom Classic.]

Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-32 f/3.5-5.6. [Edited in Lightroom Classic and DXO PureRAW 2.]