GX7

Panasonic GX7

The GX7 Electronic Viewfinder will tilt up to 90 degrees

The rear LCD also tilts: up 90 degrees, and down 45 degrees

The GX7 is beautifully styled in the rangefinder tradition. Panasonic has designed the back for easy access to the buttons and function keys.

The tilting EVF and LCD provide flexibility for photographing in various positions. With the tilting LCD, one can photograph from chest and waist level when necessary.

Below: ISO test: 20mm f/1.7 @ f/1.7, 1/50s, ISO 3200. Walking around this plaza in early evening, I carried the camera using a wrist strap. With the LCD tilted, it was easy and quick to frame a shot at chest level. The camera is nice and small and doesn't call attention to itself, especially with the 20mm f/1.7 mounted. For me, the thumb grip is ideally placed so that my thumb has quick access to the rear wheel for changing aperture. The top wheel is also easily accessed for camera EV compensation. A very well-designed ergonomics, in my opinion, especially for a fairly small camera.

Below: Shops along the plaza. 20mm f/1.7 @ 1.7, 1/60s, ISO 2500. The in body image stabilization is very nice, since two of my Panasonic lenses (20mm and 7-14mm) do not have OIS. With Auto ISO, the camera seems to attempt to keep the shutter speed at 1/50 - 1/60. I had the limit set at ISO 3200. Even though the camera is small, it balances nicely in my hand, and I have no trouble keeping the camera steady.

Below: Tiny waterfall in a local park. 45-150mm with ND filter, @ 97mm, f/9, 1/2s, ISO 200. This lens has OIS so the camera auto-selects which image stabilization to use. I'm on a tripod here, so I disabled the OIS as the Manual recommends.

Below: Castor Bean flower. 45mm f/2.8 with on-board flash, @ f/9, 1/60s, ISO 200. Flash is useful when the ambient light doesn't reveal the inner parts of a plant/flower. This Flash performs very well. The Flash EV compensation is accessed by pressing the rear wheel. Two exposure meters display, one for the camera EV compensation controlled by the rear wheel, and one for the Flash EV compensation controlled by the top wheel. A very well thought-out design, which makes me happy, since I use the Flash quite often.

Below: another photograph with flash, for a dramatic effect.

Below: manual focus. The GX7 is one of the best cameras to use in manual focus I've had. The AF/MF lever is close to the thumb grip. A magnifying window displays, and pressing the rear wheel switches to full screen. The top wheel increases magnification by .1x and the rear wheel increases magnification by 1x up to 10x. I have a Custom Mode configured for flowers with the full screen display as default.

A common problem in closeup/macro of flowers is to catch the front plant parts within the DOF. Auto focus often focuses past these front parts, stamens especially. With the silky smooth focusing ring of the 45mm f/2.8 macro lens, manual focusing couldn't be more precise.