The GX85 is an underrated gem. With all this X100V craze this is a great alternative. Get a Panasonic 14mm f2.5 or Olympus 17mm f1.8 and you're good to go. I use the GX85/14mm 2.5II as my point and shoot. Then I have the Oly 45mm f1.8 and Pana 35-100 f4-5.6 and I'm covered.
An awesome ramble, sir! I have "full frame" friends that give me grief with my micro four thirds system but their cameras always seems to be home on the shelf while I am capturing an event with my GX85.
I have almost the identical kit, including the bag. It’s really comprehensive. I find that I rarely use the 40-150, but it makes me comfortable to have that reach. Amazing having those lenses and camera body in one small bag!
I’ve had the GX80(85) now for 4yrs great little camera the only real weakness from a photography point of view is low light, the GH5 despite the Dxomark rating is noticeably better there. The Leica 15mm & Lumix G 25mm both f1.7 would be my go to primes. The Leica 12-60 is also a great travel option love the character of that lens, but the 12-32mm is hard to beat in terms of size to optical performance.
Yes, got a OM D M5 MK2 , for travel I pair it with a cheap oly 14-42 pancake for street photography and also take a oly 14-140 for countryside work, my thinking was need a backup in case of lens breakage or theft , need a discrete small lens for street stuff, but also may need zoom for landscape stuff, tossing up whether to get a 8mm fish eye but you really need to downsize the lens selection and weight , size at the end of the day....
I actually have 2 @ GX85 bodies and all the lenses you describe and then sum. For my trip to Europe in October, I am torn between bringing these GX85s or a pair of EM10 Mii and Miv. Slightly bigger and I love both body styles.
Awesome video. That kit looks perfect. Its amazing how small some of those lenses are. Its obvious you have spent a lot of time refining your gear selections to know exactly what works and what can get left out. Enjoy the trip
This is why I kinda like my RX100M6. It's one tiny camera that gives me a huge amount of versatility. Optically it's not perfect (corners are pretty soft) but in one little device, I have 24-200mm (9-72), an EVF, flash, good 1080p and 4k video, and it's 20mp. It covers what my iPhone can't and it still fits in a pocket.
Covering what the iPhone(or Samsung/Xiaomi etc now) can't is the keyword. I recently got an S24 Ultra and I'm blown away. Day, night upto 10x or so zoom is excellent. The portrait mode is near perfect, there's even a live ND mode like the Olympus OM1 has - goes from 1 to 10 stops. It's ridiculous. I'm slowly selling my excess/expensive M43 gear including the EM1 mk2, and keeping only the 12-32mm kit lens, 60mm macro and the 100-300mm. Thinking of just keeping a cheap, used GX85 as the sole M43 camera as it's much smaller than the EM1 mk2.
Great compact kit. I love your reasoning. My compact kit is the OM-5 with the following lenses: 12-45/4.0, 40-150/4.9 and the 20/1.4. Have a great trip to the UP.
I was about to comment that Sony users must be having heart palpitations seeing you waving it around with no cap on the body. JUST as you said you need to put one on lmfao We went up to Petoskey, Harbor springs for the day yesterday to check out the area and some houses. Before we left I grabbed the PEN-F i just got on trade with the 17 1.8 and threw it in my center console. Did not get much time to shoot, but it was great to just grab that little thing and carry it around. I learned real fast liking your gear is important when I briefly switched to Sony. I'm glad I'm back with m 4/3
When I built my wedding kit I built it around pro zooms and small primes. I went with the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 over the Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 just for the extra 5mm for portraits. When it came to a longer lens I went with the Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 over the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 because of size weight and money. The Olympus 75mm f1.8 I have that lens when I can only take one backpack if its a downtown wedding and I'm taking the train to a hotel. If I'm driving them two backpacks even then its a lot of gear. I bring three cameras to most weddings that's when I have two backpacks. For my small primes 14mm f2.5, 17mm f2.8 25mm f1.7 45mm f1.8 75mm f1.8 and then I have 60mm f2.8 macro and I bring 12-50mm macro kit zoom lens.
I've also been looking at a different audio system. It's between the DJI set or an Instamic. Great job on the Livestream. Enjoyed the back and forth about gear. Looking forward to the upcoming videos about the new setup. Agree that compactness is a factor, especially when taking photos with family.
I use the lowenpro slingshot 100AW slingbag, normally a bit overloaded. I love that I can have it on my back normally, with a PD clip for the camera on my strap, and then swing it around to access the other lenses and such (or when I am in an unsafe place so I can protect it more). Probably, larger then what you want.
I live and work in Manhattan and I carry my GX85, 15mm, 45mm Oly and 12-35 pancake in my work laptop bag on the weekdays. I carry my oly E-m5 II and one of my pro lenses on the weekends.
I also have GX85 and many identical lenses so your idea of The 3L Kit suppose to work for me as well. I just need the bag and 15mm f1.7 to complete my kit.
I agree with almost everything you speak about, but have you considered the Panasonic 45-175mm f4.0-5.6 Lumix G X Vario power zoom lens. It 's sharp, gives slightly more reach, internally zooms, and is great for video.
I love this camera so much that I'm tempted to buy a second one! I had a G9 that I sold (it's a fantastic camera, but it didn't enchant me or give me any pleasure in photographing). I also sold the Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8 (I don't know how to explain it, but I didn't like the lens...). My kit: Lumix gx80; panasonic 12-32mm kit lens (it's the lens that works best in autofocus for video, especially in 1080p, and yes, is good for general porpose and landscaps); panasonic 20mm f/1.7 (my favorite focal length and a spectacular lens - yes, it's a bit slow and for video work it requires some gymnastics); olympus 45mm f/1.8 (I love it for shallow depth of field - excellent for portraits); Panasonic 45-175mm PZ (you don't hear much about this lens, but in my opinion it has fantastic image quality and the "power zoom" isn't that bad... I actually like it). I'm seriously thinking about the panasonic leica 25mm f/1.4... I wish Panasonic would bring a GX85 II to the market... Best regards.
Isn't the GX9 more or less the GX85 Mark ii ? Same body almost. The only negative for me so far is that it's noticeably heavier (around 100g). Pros (again, for me, a fairly basic user) are more pixels, dedicated exposure compensation dial (stiff, but useable); AFS / AFC / MF switch; tilting viewfinder (although I would have much preferred if it was simply bigger...)
Love the kit! I have the GX85 as well as the 20mm 1.7 and I love it so much. The moment I got this set up and started shooting with it I started side eyeing my fuji gear real hard. I never had fun with my fuji cameras, but with this one it's so fun. And the image quality has nothing to envy from other cameras. I'm curious about Olympus cameras now though, because I keep reading that their color science is better than Panasonic. Ppl also say that the GX85 is already profiting from Pana's improved color science. I would be curious about what you think having shot both? (Btw I'm mainly speaking about JPEGs as I would love to spend less time in LR). ✌🏻 ETA: I personally am even able to carry the GX85w/20mm1.7 in the MTW Fanny Sling 2 L, even with all my other essentials im it as well. The size of that setup is amazing and it IS smaller than an X100V, which I had and sold without regret...
My experience is quite limited, but anyway: was shooting LX100 for about two years, and as soon as my skills improved a bit, i had to shoot only raw cause the JPEGs were horrible, especially magenta skintones and softness (read the review by Robin Wong). I recently got an e-m10 mark ii and so far i didn't try to shoot raw yet, cause the JPEGs are that good! Shooting with natural profile they look great without editing. I read that Panasonic cameras with interchangeable lenses have better JPEGs, but this is my experience. I also noticed that can recover shadows wayyy better even from JPEGs compared to LX100 raws. Opposite for highlightings which look ugly if you tone them down with Lightroom (but it's probably fine if you shoot RAW)
Hi Eric, I recently purchased a used GX85. I'm finding that the focus peaking is very poor. Is that a characteristic of the GX85 or just my camera? Having said that when I do back button focus my shots are always sharp. However my favorite walk around camera is a G85. It feels more comfortable to me.
I’ve actually been thinking about going back on my decision to sell all my MFT stuff and instead sell my Leica SL typ 601 with its 2 lenses and just keep my Olympus E-M1 III with its lenses to go along with my Leica M10 and Leica M10 Monochrom. The M cameras are my main cameras but keeping my MFT kit which already has all the lenses I want would probably be best than keeping the SL instead and then worry about getting similar lenses that I had with my MFT kit that would end up costing me more money later on. The M cameras aren’t weather sealed so I’ll also have a weather sealed camera with weather sealed lenses (minus my Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 and Olympus 17mm f/1.8) And my Lowepro camera bag is literally setup for my MFT camera and my lenses so I’ll save myself even more money and headache trying to figure out a travel kit if I was to keep the Leica SL. So I’m more likely gonna end up selling my Leica SL typ 601 instead since the only Leica’s I enjoy shooting the most are my 2 M cameras. Ps. You made me miss my GX85 so bad 😂
I wish that Panasonic releases a new GX9 model with a full metal body, water resistant, a new auto focus system and a better evf . Now with the possibility of DxO PureRAW there is no more problems with high ISO noise in micro 43.
What I wonder is why the compactness matters to me soo much. Is it because of the modern cell phone that's changed my philosophy? Is it the fact that I shot w/ a Ricoh GR or X100F for years and realized I didn't have to lug everything around? When I first started photography I didn't mind lugging a big MF camera attached to a tripod. I didn't mind lugging the big dslr around and putting it up to my face in the street. Now, I can't carry anything bigger than an A7C in terms of weight. I realized that no matter the image quality coming out of a camera, if I don't want to pick it up and carry it everywhere, it's a paper weight.
I agree. I think, at least for me, you realize they all make decent enough images but lugging around a big camera is an annoyance and detracts from the experience
Where's that 20mm 1.4 gone bro? 🤣 looks like someone left the party for the 15mm 1.7. I think the PL suits you better anyway. You like the colours popping. Good mix of lenses for the trip.
Om5 with the panasonic 20mm 1.7 smaller than my x100v and slightly lighter. Size is everything to me. If the 20mm would have been water resistant not sure I would have ever bought the 100v but glad I did.
