On 4/11/2020 8:53 AM, Wayne Shumaker wrote:
Does anyone have opinion on the differences between the GX8 versus the GX9 (not
GX85)?
Yes, the GX8 is an old also-ran. The GX9 is my current axe of choice.
I am or have been an owner and user of GX7, GX85 (AKA GX80 and GX7 MkII), GX9,
GM1 and GM5
The GX8 is bigger
The GX8 was a market miscalculation that took Panny a while to recover from. The GX7 was a competent camera, fully
competitive with the contemporary E-M5. I make that statement as someone who used both, side-by-side around my neck,
sometime swapping lenses between them.
Oly 5-axis IBIS was theoretically superior to Panny 2-axis. With extensive use of the Oly 75-300 lens at or near it's
long end, and some careful pixel peeping, I couldn't see any difference in practice.
The GX8 added a larger sensor, more PDAF points, weather sealing and Dual IS, cooperative syncing between IBIS and their
many OIS lenses. It debuted Panny's Depth from Defocus AF system. DfD sped up focus in most cases. Very occasionally,
but very annoyingly on those occasions, it will decline to focus on near things without special effort. Also some video
improvements.
But it also got a lot bigger, a little heavier and more expensive. Apparently, there were a lot of others like me for
whom the size/weight/$ were a no go. You can see that in the home market name for the GX80/85. In Japan it is the GX7
MkII, the thing the market expected of the GX8.
One speculation at the time was that Panny hoped the GX8 would sell to the video market, as well as hold GX7 owners for
still photography.
and appears to have larger viewfinder and eyepoint.
The GX8 switched from LCD to OLED, very slightly lower resolution and very slightly greater magnification. It appears
the GX85 and GX9 retain the GX7 EVF hardware. I am notoriously VF agnostic, and have never used a GX8, so can't weigh in
on the differences.
The GX85 brought a new mechanical shutter design that finally ended Panny shutter-shock problems, 5-axis IBIS with
Dual-IS and removal of the AA filter to the basic GX7 spec. The GX98 shutter alone may be a reason to avoid it. I've not
used one. The AA change makes practical resolution pretty much the same as the GX8
It also doesn't have a tilting EVF, a great blessing, although lost again with the GX9. It balances that gain with loss
of the manual AF/MF switch.
Another difference is that the GX8 had a fully articulated LCD, while the others are tilting. to me, there are
advantages and disadvantages to both, and it's pretty much a toss up.
What isn't mentioned in spec summaries, and is downplayed in some reviews, are HR Mode and Focus Bracketing. I switched
from the E-M5 and GX7 combo to E-M5 II bodies for these.
I've made many of my most loved images using Focus Bracketing. It is pure, effing Magic that I use all the time. HR Mode
has turned out to be less useful than I had hoped. Mostly useful for lens testing and macro work on a copy stand. Still,
I have kept one E-M5 II only for it.
The GX8 doesn't have either feature. Focus Bracketing, with a useful alternate mode, appeared with the GX85, and
continues with the GX9.
The GX9 brings back the 20 MP sensor, manual AF/MF switch and dedicated EV comp. wheel of the GX8. It also has a newly
rationalized menu system that's quite an improvement.
Other than that damn tilting feature on the EVF, lack of weather sealing and lack of HR Mode, the GX9 is pretty perfect
- for now. :-)
As to weather sealing, which only the GX8, of these bodies, has, I used a GX9, with weather sealed lens, in pretty
heavy, and lengthy, rain in Zion NP, keeping it under a rain hat when not actually in use, and had no problem (other
than poor light ;-) )
Final, deal clincher. On the GX9, it's possible to turn off Touch AF, while leaving other touch screen operation on,
finally ending the nose driven wandering AF point. Hooray!
Moose D'Opinion
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|