I use both the G85 and the GX85 and I am completely satisfied. Absolutely no reason for me to change. Extremely fast autofocus when shooting photos. Wonderful color.
I carry both in the same bag. The G85 will have the kit 12-60mm, 45-150mm, or the 100-300mm version 2 lens on it. The GX85 will have the 14mm 2.5, or the 20mm 1.7 on it. Perfect small bag for the road.
I LOVE my G85! I use it regularly for both photography and video! Paired with my Leica 12mm f1.4, the camera is unbelievable! The camera is a lot of fun to use! Beautiful! Great video as always Grant!
Great camera, superb as a back-up and extremely capable. It’s literally the cheapest weatherproofed m43 body on the market - Period ! I’m currently suffering from sellers remorse, as I foolishly traded mine in recently.
Here in the US, you can get the G95 with the OLED display and the 12-60 for only $100 more than the 85 which is a no brainer. Killer deal. I might pick one up.
For photos I absolutely agree. But for video you get a HUGE crop that basically excludes wide angle shots with reasonable lenses. Also, the video noise is lower.
I love my G85, a beaut, value for money allrounder. Came out in 2016 and still being sold new by many retailers. Yep, sure there are plenty of better cameras, but bang for your buck? Definitely still a valid contender.
Another great video…….. I’m getting my first camera for mainly photography for Xmas , I’m getting the G7 , but now I’m considering maybe getting the G85 instead. It’s a little more money, but I think it would be worth it . Anyways, great job, keep it up 👍🏻 🙌🏻🙏
Thanks Grant, the G85 is being heavily discounted in US--selling for less than GX85--and I recently picked 1 up as every day camera for a song. In future video, could you explain more about how you "tweak in camera profiles" for JPGs?
Grant.....Christmas Greetings from across the world...Liverpool UK...Thank you for your fun....entertaining and useful videos.....Looking forward to 2024....Take care Grant...
This is one camera I've never regretted buying. The light weight is a real bonus (although the flip side to that is that is feels more plasticy than the Olympus E-M1) and it's good for everything (particularly being weather sealed - quite important here in the UK!). The down sides for me are the battery life (maybe my batteries are getting old...), the AF in video is unreliable, and the refresh rate for the EVF is a struggle for fast moving motorsports. I'd still highly recommend the camera to anyone as you can learn to work around these negatives. Great review!
The G85 was my first digital interchangeable lens camera (had a couple digital point and shoots and a film SLR before) that I got not long after it came out. Awesome little camera. I sold it when I switched away from MFT and I still regret giving it up. I admit I've got several used G85s saved to my eBay watchlist right now...
About your point on paid professional video work: for pro video work you need to be able to see what you're doing and with the built-in screen or viewfinder that is really hard nailing focus all the time. So I use an Atomos recorder/monitor so I get ProRes 4:2:2 straigt to a SSD. Perfect for grading (within the limits of 8 bit files). I'm not missing V-Log as CineD with iDynamic set to High records the full dynamic range of the sensor with the highest quality possible for 8bit recording. Truly a magnificent camera. For video, I like to do noise reduction and sharpening in post, so leave those set to negative 5. Surpise tip: By using the 4k photo mode you can shoot 30fps 4:3 aspect video if you set the 4k Photo mode to Stop/Start. Almost "open gate" and great for anamorphic adapters or shooting for social media AND UA-cam at the same time.
Hi Grant, I agree with everything you said. I'm having seller's remorse right now because I sold mine and have regretted it. Bummer. A very good hybrid camera. Cheers.
Enjoy your video's mate, just picked a second hand G85 and a Leica 12-60 2.8 zoom, could you please advise a good Photo editing suite that would suit a complete dummy. Thanks grant..
I have this camera currently. In market for a new lens, I have the 12-60 mm f3.5-5 that came in the pack. Do you have any recs for a new lens? I do shoot photo and video, but def do more video shoots…thanks so much!
I love the specs of the G9m2but that price tag is stopping me from spending that much on a hobby. IBIS and weather sealing are great for the out doors... so stepping back I saw the G85... in Canada the G95 is only 50 bucks more. So in a year or two I might swap from the awesome Canon Color science to check out how Panasonic does it. Light weight lenses and stabilization are very appealing, but damn that crop factor really hurts. I jumped into Canon because of the midrange price point on the bodies and lenses Sure the older manual M43 lenses are all around, but the prices of new lenses and the 2x crop... that's causing a lot of hesitation.
Hey Grant, I'm tossing up between the G7 and G85. My main concern with the G7 was the poor autofocus during video, is this something the G85 struggles with as well?
I own the g7, the g85 and the g9 and allthough a bit heavier, I only use the g9 now, cause it offers superior image quality, two card slots and, even though no phase detect, the autofocus is greatly improved compared to the g7 and g85. Of course the g9 mark II is superior in autofocus and other aspects to the original g9, but I picked up my g9 used for 550€. the autofocus on the g7 and g85 in video is not reliable at all and I use them in manual focus when I film.
I use both the G85 and the GX85 and I am completely satisfied. Absolutely no reason for me to change. Extremely fast autofocus when shooting photos. Wonderful color.
I carry both in the same bag. The G85 will have the kit 12-60mm, 45-150mm, or the 100-300mm version 2 lens on it. The GX85 will have the 14mm 2.5, or the 20mm 1.7 on it. Perfect small bag for the road.
I LOVE my G85! I use it regularly for both photography and video! Paired with my Leica 12mm f1.4, the camera is unbelievable! The camera is a lot of fun to use! Beautiful! Great video as always Grant!
Great camera, superb as a back-up and extremely capable.
It’s literally the cheapest weatherproofed m43 body on the market - Period !
I’m currently suffering from sellers remorse, as I foolishly traded mine in recently.
Here in the US, you can get the G95 with the OLED display and the 12-60 for only $100 more than the 85 which is a no brainer. Killer deal. I might pick one up.
For photos I absolutely agree. But for video you get a HUGE crop that basically excludes wide angle shots with reasonable lenses. Also, the video noise is lower.
I love my G85, a beaut, value for money allrounder. Came out in 2016 and still being sold new by many retailers. Yep, sure there are plenty of better cameras, but bang for your buck? Definitely still a valid contender.
Another great video…….. I’m getting my first camera for mainly photography for Xmas , I’m getting the G7 , but now I’m considering maybe getting the G85 instead. It’s a little more money, but I think it would be worth it . Anyways, great job, keep it up 👍🏻 🙌🏻🙏
I have one and truly see its value. I stream with and usae it for travel and street photography. The Meike 35 mm and 25 mm are fantastic on it.
Thanks Grant, the G85 is being heavily discounted in US--selling for less than GX85--and I recently picked 1 up as every day camera for a song. In future video, could you explain more about how you "tweak in camera profiles" for JPGs?
Grant.....Christmas Greetings from across the world...Liverpool UK...Thank you for your fun....entertaining and useful videos.....Looking forward to 2024....Take care Grant...
Many Thanks :) Same to you :)
This is one camera I've never regretted buying. The light weight is a real bonus (although the flip side to that is that is feels more plasticy than the Olympus E-M1) and it's good for everything (particularly being weather sealed - quite important here in the UK!). The down sides for me are the battery life (maybe my batteries are getting old...), the AF in video is unreliable, and the refresh rate for the EVF is a struggle for fast moving motorsports. I'd still highly recommend the camera to anyone as you can learn to work around these negatives.
Great review!
Thank You :)
I love this camera!! Been using it since 2021. I just picked up the Sigma 30mm F1.4. Wow!!!! Absolutely perfect pairing. Underrated camera to be sure
Love my G85! My only problem with it is that, for what I do, it's very, very hard to justify replacing it with the G9 mark 2.
Can you give us some more info on how you tweak your jpegs
The G85 was my first digital interchangeable lens camera (had a couple digital point and shoots and a film SLR before) that I got not long after it came out. Awesome little camera. I sold it when I switched away from MFT and I still regret giving it up. I admit I've got several used G85s saved to my eBay watchlist right now...
I paired it with Olympus pro 12-40 2.8... perfect !
Agreed! And for travel I use the 12-100 f4 PRO Olympus.
I built my other channel on these cameras; they are so good! Great stuff, Grant. :)
Thanks man… Yeah, great little cameras! Very underrated :) Love your blues channel, been following for years :)
Have had mine for 6 years love it, I am thinking of getting the g100 or gx9 as a companion and of course the 12 -35 2.8 just for fun.
About your point on paid professional video work: for pro video work you need to be able to see what you're doing and with the built-in screen or viewfinder that is really hard nailing focus all the time. So I use an Atomos recorder/monitor so I get ProRes 4:2:2 straigt to a SSD. Perfect for grading (within the limits of 8 bit files). I'm not missing V-Log as CineD with iDynamic set to High records the full dynamic range of the sensor with the highest quality possible for 8bit recording. Truly a magnificent camera.
For video, I like to do noise reduction and sharpening in post, so leave those set to negative 5.
Surpise tip: By using the 4k photo mode you can shoot 30fps 4:3 aspect video if you set the 4k Photo mode to Stop/Start. Almost "open gate" and great for anamorphic adapters or shooting for social media AND UA-cam at the same time.
about the second card slot... it have wi-fi so you can connect an ipad or tablet to preview and download your work without need for second slot.
Hi! Thanks for the video once again!
Is there a big difference in battery life compared to the GX80?
Thanks mate, don’t know I’m sorry RE battery life
Excellent video Robert....as a professional you could give us some presets to get the most out of the machine....😉
Hi Grant, I agree with everything you said. I'm having seller's remorse right now because I sold mine and have regretted it. Bummer. A very good hybrid camera. Cheers.
Enjoy your video's mate, just picked a second hand G85 and a Leica 12-60 2.8 zoom, could you please advise a good Photo editing suite that would suit a complete dummy. Thanks grant..
I just use Lightroom Mobile Most Of The Time :)
G85 was perfect size camera, not too small not too big, wish pana update with new tech….
I have this camera currently. In market for a new lens, I have the 12-60 mm f3.5-5 that came in the pack. Do you have any recs for a new lens? I do shoot photo and video, but def do more video shoots…thanks so much!
Honestly - You can't go past the lumix 12 to 35mm f/2.8 - That lens can do it all :) Or Primes like the 15mm f1.7 OR the 12mm f1.4 :)
Just the auto focus... Just that... I have it..
I love the specs of the G9m2but that price tag is stopping me from spending that much on a hobby. IBIS and weather sealing are great for the out doors... so stepping back I saw the G85... in Canada the G95 is only 50 bucks more. So in a year or two I might swap from the awesome Canon Color science to check out how Panasonic does it. Light weight lenses and stabilization are very appealing, but damn that crop factor really hurts. I jumped into Canon because of the midrange price point on the bodies and lenses Sure the older manual M43 lenses are all around, but the prices of new lenses and the 2x crop... that's causing a lot of hesitation.
My first camera ❤
Hey Grant, I'm tossing up between the G7 and G85. My main concern with the G7 was the poor autofocus during video, is this something the G85 struggles with as well?
Yes - The Autofocus on all Lumix cameras is not the best - if you want good autofocus I’d go Sony - like a a6400 :)
I own the g7, the g85 and the g9 and allthough a bit heavier, I only use the g9 now, cause it offers superior image quality, two card slots and, even though no phase detect, the autofocus is greatly improved compared to the g7 and g85. Of course the g9 mark II is superior in autofocus and other aspects to the original g9, but I picked up my g9 used for 550€.
the autofocus on the g7 and g85 in video is not reliable at all and I use them in manual focus when I film.
Would you buy GX85 body with malfunction flash for $160?
Nar - I personally wouldn't, but that's just me...