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Re: [OM] GX85 Early Thoughts and Impressions

Subject: Re: [OM] GX85 Early Thoughts and Impressions
From: Christopher Crawford <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2019 21:26:37 -0400
I've never used theGX85, but I have two Olympus Micro Four Thirds bodies.  Some 
of what I have found with them likely applies to yours as well.

I have the Pen-F and the OM-D E-M1 mark II.

On the Pen-F, the E-shutter gives significantly sharper images than the 
mechanical shutter. Shutter shock is pretty severe with it. It is not as bad on 
the E-M1mkII, but still there.

Noise on the Olympus 20mp sensors used in my cameras is about the same as what 
I got on the fullframe 20mp Canon 5DmkII that I used to shoot with.

I think excessively complex menus are a mirrorless camera thing. Olympus is 
infamous for it, and I tried a Fuji X-H1 earlier this year that also had way 
too many options to set in menus.

EVFs are not as sharp looking as optical finders. Sucks. The Olympus cameras I 
have are not so bad though. They're usable. Manual focus is hard without 
magnification and focus peaking though.

I love the color and tonality from the Olympus M4/3 sensors. My images require 
far less extensive post-process work than those from the Canon 5DmkII did

I have used Olympus and Panasonic lenses on mine. Most of them are very good, 
but avoid the Olympus 17mm f1.8; it is super sharp in the absolute center but 
quickly becomes very soft as you move away from the dead center. Worst modern 
lens from any manufacturer I have ever used. The Panasonic 45-150mm f4-5.6 lens 
is a VERY sharp lens for very little money. $150. Only downside is it vignettes 
a lot. Eventually want to get the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro but it is very 
expensive and huge. The Panasonic is tiny, so I would probably keep carrying it 
in my bag. It is sharp even wide open.

The Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 Pro is my most-used lens. It is kind of big on the 
Pen-F but balances nicely on the larger E-M1mkII and is super sharp.

I turned off the touchscreen focus point setting because I kept accidently 
moving it.

The info overlay thing is a problem with most mirrorless cameras. Olympus and 
Fuji are like that too. You can turn a lot of it off on the Olympus cameras, 
check to see if you can on your Panasonic.


-- 
Chris Crawford
Fine Art Photography
Fort Wayne, Indiana
260-437-8990

http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My portfolio

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798
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On 8/27/19, 8:58 PM, "olympus on behalf of Ken Norton" 
<olympus-bounces+chris=chriscrawfordphoto.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of 
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

    This is certainly not a review, but early thoughts and impressions on the 
GX85.
    
    1. Small and lightweight. For a go-everywhere camera, I think the size
    and weight is just about perfect. Some small cameras are small, but
    also feel cramped. This is right on the edge of cramped. The shutter
    release is very well positioned. However, the play button is in an
    unfortunate location is gets pressed almost every time I pick up the
    camera. The rest of the buttons are almost flush-mounted and are not
    where I want them to be when operating in the dark and I can't see
    them. First-world problems.
    
    2. Image quality. The image noise is ever present--even at low ISO
    settings. However, just like the E-1, the noise appears to be
    intentionally added to provide uniform noise pattern. Either way, the
    noise is actually rather film-like...
    
    3. Speaking of film-like. The B&W images are glorious. It doesn't seem
    to matter what ISO (up to 3200 tested), the images look right.
    
    4. E-Shutter. I'm not sure it's a good thing or not. Please advise.
    But I am preferring to have the E-Shutter turned off because I'm not
    getting enough feedback to know that the camera actually took a
    picture.
    
    5. EVF. Tiny and blurry if the eye isn't centered perfectly. Tiny and
    blurry if the eye is centered perfectly.
    
    6. Battery hog. Nuf said
    
    7. AWB. The auto white balance is as close to perfect as I have ever
    seen. And I mean perfect. It may be my imagination, but it looks like
    the camera is adjusting not only the color balance, but also the
    curves.
    
    8. I really dislike the 12-32 kit lens for one reason: No manual focus ring.
    
    9. Custom settings and menus and screens. Convoluted.
    
    10. Overlay information. Seriously, folks. I want a clean look with
    just minimal overlay information--preferably outside the image area.
    50 different settings and not one of them is exactly what I'm looking
    for.
    
    11. Nose touching the monitor changes point of focus far too easily.
    Again, first world problems.
    
    12. Colors and Contrast. Both out-of-camera, and Lightroom processing,
    there is something really special going on here. No Canon need apply.
    This is another world.
    
    More to follow.
    
    AG Schnozz
    -- 
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