Turbofrog
Mu-43 Legend
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Messages
- 5,362
I am sad. I was slowly psyching myself up about upgrading my trusty GX1 to an E-M10 to gain the handling benefits of the EVF, focus-peaking, dual-dials, tilting rear screen, and the significant virtues of IBIS. Particularly exciting for me was going to be the improved usability with legacy lenses. The main reason for the E-M10 over the GX7 was as simple as this - the E-M10 does Auto ISO in M mode, whereas the GX7 does not.
I can't understate how huge an oversight this is, especially for users of legacy lenses. There are numerous situations where I will want to set both the aperture and the shutter speed (for creative reasons, or to ensure that I'm shooting fast enough to avoid camera shake or motion blur), but where exposure is changing frequently enough that I need to constantly adjust the ISO. This is certainly doable, even on my GX1, but it's a significant hassle. The alternative is simply to set the ISO high enough for the lowest-light situation, and then use the command dial to adjust shutter speed upwards to compensate for exposure - also doable, but means that I'm leaving image quality on the table, which isn't something I want to do with a 4/3 sensor.
The trouble is, I went and tried the E-M10 in a store the other day. It's a nice enough camera, but the ergonomics, usability, and particularly the menus just don't compare to the GX7 I tried previously. The GX7's touch-screen implementation, its picture-in-picture magnification, the quality of the focus-peaking and the fact that I don't need to enable it with a button, and its larger grip all seem to make it much better suited to use with manual lenses. Most bothersome on the E-M10 is that the focus peaking disappears when you press to half-shutter, but pressing to half-shutter is required to get a stabilized view for composition with the IBIS. Which is hugely helpful with longer manual telephotos, especially fast ones.
So now I'm back to wanting the GX7, despite it's worse IBIS. But no Auto ISO in M really is a dealbreaker. It's not that much of an upgrade if I still have the same handling hassles as my existing camera that are making me want to upgrade in the first place...
Given that the GH4 and FZ1000 now include Auto ISO in M mode, it seems Panasonic is listening to photographers finally. But I'm guessing there's no chance of a firmware update coming to save the GX7 for me. I guess I'm left still waiting for the ideal unicorn of a camera to one day be released. Maybe at Photokina...
I can't understate how huge an oversight this is, especially for users of legacy lenses. There are numerous situations where I will want to set both the aperture and the shutter speed (for creative reasons, or to ensure that I'm shooting fast enough to avoid camera shake or motion blur), but where exposure is changing frequently enough that I need to constantly adjust the ISO. This is certainly doable, even on my GX1, but it's a significant hassle. The alternative is simply to set the ISO high enough for the lowest-light situation, and then use the command dial to adjust shutter speed upwards to compensate for exposure - also doable, but means that I'm leaving image quality on the table, which isn't something I want to do with a 4/3 sensor.
The trouble is, I went and tried the E-M10 in a store the other day. It's a nice enough camera, but the ergonomics, usability, and particularly the menus just don't compare to the GX7 I tried previously. The GX7's touch-screen implementation, its picture-in-picture magnification, the quality of the focus-peaking and the fact that I don't need to enable it with a button, and its larger grip all seem to make it much better suited to use with manual lenses. Most bothersome on the E-M10 is that the focus peaking disappears when you press to half-shutter, but pressing to half-shutter is required to get a stabilized view for composition with the IBIS. Which is hugely helpful with longer manual telephotos, especially fast ones.
So now I'm back to wanting the GX7, despite it's worse IBIS. But no Auto ISO in M really is a dealbreaker. It's not that much of an upgrade if I still have the same handling hassles as my existing camera that are making me want to upgrade in the first place...
Given that the GH4 and FZ1000 now include Auto ISO in M mode, it seems Panasonic is listening to photographers finally. But I'm guessing there's no chance of a firmware update coming to save the GX7 for me. I guess I'm left still waiting for the ideal unicorn of a camera to one day be released. Maybe at Photokina...