In the field.

Part II is here.

The desire for invisibility:

The primary task of any street snapping camera (and snapper!) is to become invisible. Literally, the equipment must be an extension of the user’s brain and eye. Historically this rôle was best filled by the Leica M rangefinder with a 35mm lens. Today, that specialty is best filled by small digital cameras fitted with a wide-to-modest-telephoto zoom lens, spanning the classic range afforded by a Leica with wide, standard and 90mm lenses. For the GX7 the optic of choice for the street snapper which best suits the task is the 14-45mm kit lens, equivalent to 28-90mm on full frame. It’s sharp at all apertures, focuses very fast and is silent. The Panny 20mm fails miserably on the last two tasks and is not recommended for street snaps. A modern MFT digital camera with a decent lens will easily deliver far larger and far better printed images than any film era Leica, and with far faster operational utility.

The first ‘roll’:

I snapped some 260 images (7 rolls!) on and around Mission Street in San Francisco the other day and the best news is that there’s little to report, other than that I really liked some of the results. I used Aperture Priority exposure and the RAW file format, as usual. The GX7 mostly nails exposure even in some of the very high contrast lighting scenes encountered. The body handles well and makes for a nicely balance rig with both the 14-45mm kit and 45-200 telephoto zoom Panasonic MFT lenses, both highly recommended. These are not fast optics but the GX7 renders images well even at ISO 1600 (where a touch of noise reduction in LR5 removes grain in really large prints). When a blurred background is called for a quick round-trip through Photoshop and use of the Magic Lasso and the Lens Blur filter does the trick. Color rendering is identical to that in the G1 and G3, which is to say it’s neutral. I used stock settings in the camera with no image filters or like nonsense.

The shutter:

I used the electronic shutter exclusively and the only person who will ever hear the muted susurrous it emits will be the person pressing the button, and that only in a very quiet room. To all intents and purposes the camera is silent, unless you use the ghastly Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 MFT lens with its grinding, bog slow, focus motor which will guarantee your street snaps are out of focus. The GX7’s shutter release features a nice two stage action, the first pressure focusing the lens, the second releasing the shutter and most of the time you will only know the shutter has been released when you see the quick blink in the EVF. For razor sharp responsiveness you can program the camera to take the picture after the first stage of release button pressure, at the risk of being out of focus. Would Cartier-Bresson have killed for this or what? I wrote about how fast, small digital cameras would take over for street snappers over six years ago and except that they have yet to become disposably cheap, that piece was bang on target.

The finder:

There is a slight delay when the camera is raised to the eye before the eye sensor switches on the EVF. In practice this can be mitigated by the simple expedient of lightly touching the shutter release as the camera is being raised to the eye.

The EVF works well, noticeably sharper than in the G1/G3 owing to all those added pixels, and while highlights in the EVF tend to get easily blown out, the effect is less so than in the earlier cameras. EVFs are making rapid progress and I doubt we will see any new cameras coming out with flapping mirrors a decade hence. Couple an EVF with an electronic shutter and you can pretty much have any framing rate desired, untroubled by the mechanical limitations of a flapping mirror and a mechanical shutter.

I did not use the LCD. That’s not a serious image making tool for what I do. The camera itself is unobtrusive, the boxy form factor making it look like any other point-and-shoot, immediately qualifying the user as a tyro. This is a good thing.

The snaps:

All snapped using the 14-45mm kit lens except the last which was with the 45-200 at full extension. ISO 400-3200 was used – the 6400 limit is unavailable in electronic shutter mode for some reason. By programming the three custom functions on the top right hand mode dial to 400, 1600 and 3200 ISO I could easily switch sensitivity with a click of the knob. The default setting is for the EVF (and LCD, if used) to show a 5 second still of the image after the picture is taken. This is intensely irritating for street snaps when you want to see what’s happening in the finder at all times, and I set the saved custom settings to no image view.

Processing:

RAW images were processed in Lightroom 5.2 with some round-tripped to PS CS5 when background blur was called for. The first two snaps above were round-tripped through Snapseed. At the time of writing, the latest version of iPhoto does not yet recognize GX7 RAW files nor does Apple’s Aperture. I have long questioned Apple’s commitment to still photography apps and this slow update cycle for their key applications seems to confirm my concerns. Aperture in particular, used by many pros, has a history of slow updates, whereas Adobe does an excellent, speedy job with Lightroom and with Adobe Camera RAW for Photoshop.

‘Rolling shutter’ nonsense:

You will see references in the geek press to the ‘rolling shutter’ effect which may be encountered with moving objects when using the electronic shutter in the GX7. For that matter you can get the effect with any mechanical focal plane slit shutter too. It results from the movement of the subject during exposure while the electronics scan (or the slit in the mechanical shutter passes over) the sensor and record the image. It’s an effect which is most famously visible in Jacques-Henri Lartigue’s fabulous race car image snapped in 1913 with a slow-moving focal plane shutter and a rapidly moving car. In street snapping the effect is irrelevant and not noticeable, though Lartigue, it must be said, made the best of it.

The rolling shutter effect at work. J-HL’s dad at the wheel.

The cull:

I mostly used the maximum aperture available, occasionally stopping down one stop. Of the 260 images, 78 were ‘keepers’. The cull focused on poor composition, lack of drama and so on. In all cases I was to blame, not the GX7. Can’t complain about that or about the 30% retention rate.

Sensor dust in Panny MFT bodies:

As for sensor dust, I have never had as much as one mote with any of the G1 (14,000 images), G3 (5,000 images) or GX7 (260 images), despite changing lenses outdoors with abandon and no precautions taken. Nikon could do worse than learn Panny’s secret here for in my D700, D2x and D3x sensor dirt is very much the order of the day, even in my (sold) D700 which allegedly had a sensor cleaner built-in, though I can’t say I ever noticed the difference.

Ability to tailor the controls and functions:

This has jumped significantly from the G1/G3. There is so much ability to tailor the controls and operation of the GX7 to your liking that I cannot recall ever having encountered something so well thought out. Even my ‘pro’ Nikons are left in the dust in this regard. It makes for a bit more of a learning curve, but a lot of this tailoring is a one-off effort, whereafter the body is set just as you like it. The provision of a large number of programmable function buttons, both hardware and touchscreen, is especially welcome. Commendable.

Recommendation:

The GX7 is unreservedly recommended for the street snapper. Sports and birds-in-flight aficionados will have to look elsewhere for advice as I am clueless about both genres.

It is not cheap, the $900 for the body which I paid having now jumped to $1,000. Panasonic (and Olympus) body pricing seems focused on not being competitive with APS-C bodies, which is a shame as those manufacturers – especially Nikon and Canon – have not made any meaningful technological progress in years, sticking to noisy flapping mirrors and bulky glass pentaprisms. The new Sony FF bodies (A7 and A7R) with EVFs look technically promising, if butt ugly, and it will be a cold day in hell before Sony gets meaningful market share with these. The world is crying out for FF EVF bodies from Canon and Nikon, both of whom seem quite deaf to the demand.

A spare battery for the GX7 is de rigeur, just as soon as Panny makes them available.

If you can lay your hands on a 14-45mm Panasonic kit lens, in preference to the later 14-42mm which is not as good by many accounts, so much the better. Autofocus speed with this lens is instantaneous and the electronics never hunt. That body/lens combination will take you around the world and you will want seldom for other lenses. That’s very much in keeping with the MFT ethos – small and simple. Yes, the zoom collar could be smoother but that’s the only complaint I have. (Well, OK, the provided hood is huge and silly, but you can chuck it out). I recommend you avoid the alternative motor-operated power zoom lenses offered by Panasonic. A manual twist ring room is far faster in every respect, easier to use and drains no precious battery power.

In Part IV I’ll take a look at use with manual focus lenses, an area in which Panny’s design and engineering really excel.

First impressions.

Part I is here.

By way of introduction, it bears repeating a couple of paragraphs from my now two years old G3 review:

For geeky reviews written by people who wisely confine their work to labs, judging by their photography, there are any number of sites which will give you lab results you will not find here. Camera Labs is one of the better ones and you are, at least, spared the moronic comments found at DPReview.

My focus in these articles will be on:

• Changes from the G1 and G3 and ergonomics
• Street snapping, stealth and responsiveness
• GPS logging
• Wifi and the use of smartphones and tablets to control the GX7
• Use with MF lenses
• I will not be looking at the movie mode

The immediate first impression is of high quality, tangibly better than that of the G3. Then again, at $900 for the GX7 body compared with $600 for the G3, quality should be better. The falling price spiral seems to have ended. This impression is further reinforced when the camera is first turned on, as both the LCD and the EVF have greatly increased pixel densities, which make the image and data displays pop. It’s like going from a regular display in a Generation 1 iPad to a Retina Display version. You didn’t think you needed it, but there’s no going back.

You do not have to look too far for the design inspiration for the GX7.

Leica IIf, 1948.

My first thought was that the fine, almost jeweled, look and feel is reminiscent more of the old screw thread Leicas than it was of the later M series rangefinder models. You get the small size of the Leica IIC/IIF with the handling feel of a Leica M2. At a Panasonic price, of course. If you want to pay $2,000 for one of these just wait a while and Leica will rebrand it for you and take your money. Yup, $1,100 for a red logo. Or you can waste $8,000 on a tired M body with its manual focus lenses. There’s one born every minute ….

You do not get the nail pounding toughness of a pro Nikon or Canon, but heavy pro sports use or fashion and advertising is not the target market for MFT. These cameras are more aimed at serious amateurs whose back has given out from too much lugging of full frame gear.

Changes from the G1 and G3 and ergonomics:

A small width increase yields great handling benefits over the G3.
Chrome GX7 variant adds a nice retro ‘amateur’ look.
Height and weight are much the same.

While the biggest change in appearance from the G1/G3 is the absence of the faux pentaprism hump, thank goodness, replaced by a flat top plate, the biggest practical change is in the grip area for your right hand. It’s only a little wider than in the G3 but the improvement in handling compared with the compromised G3 (which is too narrow in this regard) is substantial. Further, the extra width pushes the shutter release button further away from the index finger into a much better location. The G1 had it right and the GX7 restores that excellent design’s hand comfort. Having gone with a smooth rubber finish on the G1 (not bad) to a cold, uncovered, slippery metal one on the G3 (not good), Panasonic has used a textured rubber surface on the GX7 which is excellent. Is it Leica M2/M3 excellent? Nothing is, but it’s their best finish yet.

New surface finish. NFC area is circled.

The GX7 adds a second serrated control dial, which surrounds the shutter release and is visible above and below. This is handy and given the great programmability of the body, I have set the main, rear control dial to adjust aperture (I snap only in Aperture Priority mode) and the front/shutter dial to exposure compensation for quick adjustments when required. You can use the rear dial for exposure compensation, by pushing in, holding and turning, but my approach is far more user friendly.

The front control dial surrounds the shutter release. Pop-up flash at the left.
MF/AF lever is below the red movie button.

When switched to MF, using the well located rear plate lever, the finder will optionally bring up the enlarged center section of the image (up to 10x) and this remains simply the best manual focus system on the planet. Accuracy is far greater then using the focus LEDs in the finder of a modern Nikon (I use a D2x and D3x). With the 500mm Nikkor Reflex mirror lens it’s insanely accurate – and needed for an optic with an effective length of 1000mm. The GX7’s MF mode also allows the use of focus peaking, meaning a colored indicator (even the color is user programmable) shows the area of sharp focus. Nice, to have. Autofocus is incredibly fast with my three MFT optics – the Olympus 9-18mm, the old and excellent Panny 14-45 and the Panny 45-200, the latter two with OIS built-in.

The mode dial, top right, is heavily click stopped. There is no earthly way you will change this by accident and the sharp knurling (almost too sharp) on the knob makes changes easy. I simply program the three custom settings (C1, C2, C3) for Aperture preferred automation at 400, 1600 and 3200 ISO, respectively, making changes for low light easy. I prefer this method to trusting the camera’s electronics to set ISO based on some algorithm.

The pop-up flash shoots up vigorously – too much so – when you slide the rear release. You quickly learn to restrain it with a finger to reduce the violence of the action which is not consonant with the operating feel of the rest of the camera. It’s useful for fill-in flash or small product photography. The hot shoe allows the use of more powerful studio units and Panny has thoughtfully colored the related protector to match the satin chrome of the top plate.

Panasonic has, yet again, changed the dimensions of the battery (grrr!) but the location is much improved.

Power storage has risen from 7.3mAh in the G3 to 7.4 mAh, even though the battery is smaller. Nice. The SD card goes in the slot parallel to the battery. The new offset location makes battery or SD card replacement possible with the camera on a tripod – that was impossible on the G3, and only the card could be changed on the G1.

The rear LCD swivels up or down, but cannot be turned around the way it can on the G1/G3. I only use it for programming the camera, so that makes no difference to me. The menus, by the way, have been cleaned up and are easier to read than in the G1/G3. I did notice that the touch response is an order of magnitude better than on the G3 which was awful in that regard. It’s not iPhone quality, but close. Even pinching/un-pinching is supported and the ability to touch an area for selected focus should work well for macro photographers.

Likewise, the EVF eyepiece can be swiveled up to 90 degrees for waist level use though I remain somewhat mystified what use this has. First, you have to hold the camera to your eye and second you cannot take portrait orientation images unless you like to look really silly. I suppose there are some clandestine uses for these things, but they are not of interest to me.

The EVF diopter adjuster is accessible when the EVF is tilted up. It’s a slider, which is not as easy as the click wheel on the G1/G3, but it’s a ‘set and forget’ thing, so hardly of consequence.

Effective design of physical controls. The EVF eyepiece
protrudes 3/8″ but does not hamper operation.

There is a great deal of programmability allowing the camera to be customized just the way you like and Panny has struck a fine balance between physical and software controls. There are four programmable function buttons on the rear (and yet more in the menu system and touch LCD screen) and the total button count is a great deal less than on a ‘pro’ Nikon body or on the silly Nikon Df ‘pure’ snapper which has twice the number of buttons and dials. The balance between buttons and menus seems just right, and while there are many options in the menus, once set they can be forgotten.

Electronic shutter:

It’s amazing to me how unremarked this feature has been in the geek press. Or maybe not so amazing. After all, that cadre has no interest in taking pictures.

Switching the camera to electronic shutter use not only disables all the beeps and mechanical shutter noises, it also renders the camera silent (only the user can hear the lens quietly focus) while massively extending shutter life. When the shutter is activated the EVF gives a very brief ‘off-on’ blink, confirming the picture was taken. More of this feature when I take to the streets with the GX7.

Sadly, my first test run disclosed that there is no power saved from using the electronic shutter. Panny states that battery capacity is 320 snaps with the regular shutter; I was down to one (of three) power bars after 280 snaps using the electronic shutter, with no LCD use and no pixel peeping. So 400 snaps is probably the limit on one charge. Disappointing. A spare battery is recommended, though original Panny batteries are currently out of stock at Amazon and B&H.

Lightroom import settings:

Panny claims that the sensor in the GX7 has been improved, though it remains 16mp (14mp effective in 3:2 aspect ratio which is what I use), as in the G3. (The G1 was 12mp, the G3 noticeably better at 16mp). Here are my Lightroom 5 import settings:

Is the sensor any better? Maybe. A little less noise, perhaps, and needs a little less sharpening, but hardly a compelling reason by itself to upgrade. As with the G3, 18″ x 24″ prints, given decent technique, are a breeze., as my HP DesignJet 90 prints confirm.

Typical file size for a RAW file is shown below.

Should you upgrade?

The GX7 is better than the G3 in every way except for the inability to fold the rear LCD in on itself. If you are a happy G3 or GX1 user, should you upgrade? Well, your $600 mint, boxed G3 is now worth $200, so you will be $700 out of pocket. The upside is superior execution, handling and display quality, plus wifi and NFC if those turn your crank. It’s rather like comparing an iPad 1 to an iPad Air. Is the later device better in just about every way? Yes. Do you need to upgrade? Only you can decide. For me it seems like the 2 year upgrade cycle (G1, G3, GX7 and iPad 1, iPad 3, iPad Air) is going to be much longer in future, given the high level of function for the GX7 and iPad Air. A G1 user really should upgrade.

The later sensor is much more capable and the poor shutter life of those relatively fragile mechanical shutters, which is likely in the range of 20-30,000 clicks, compared with the 250,000 in ‘pro’ behemoths like the Nikon D3, is mitigated through the use of the electronic shutter which has no moving parts. The GX1 user upgrading to the GX7 gains a better sensor and a proper finder, meaning he no longer has to look like a fool, arm outstretched, when trying to compose pictures. Plus he will actually get to see what he is trying to snap.

I can’t wait to give the GX7 a run on SF’s streets, the most vibrant this side of Paris. I will be using the electronic shutter exclusively and cannot think why any street snapper would do otherwise.

Meanwhile, here’s a quick snap, hand held, with the 500mm Reflex Nikkor. You can just make out the typical OOF doughnuts in the top left of the image. This image takes advantage of a first for Panasonic. Unlike every Panny MFT body before, the GX7 has in-body image stabilization. For users of long MF lenses this is a blessing indeed, with this image taken at a very slow 1/160th second, hand held. That’s for an effective focal length of 1000mm which would typically dictate a 1,000th second or shorter exposure time to mitigate the appearance of camera shake. the fastest shutter speed on the GX7 is 1/8000 sec, the fastest in any MFT body.

Autumn. Panasonic GX7, 500mm Reflex Nikkor f/8 at 1/160 hand held, ISO 400. RAW original processed in LR5.

Proof of the pudding? Here are some large (13″ x 19″) prints from my first ‘roll’ on the ‘Leica for the rest of us’, made with the HP DesignJet 90 printer:

Small camera, big prints. The Leica concept realized in the digital age.

More in Part III.

More improvements for the MFT format.

I continue to be a huge fan of the Micro Four-Thirds concept, and have just ordered a Panny GX7 body. This follows on from my G1 (July 2009) (the first ever MFT camera) and G3 (March 2011) (which had a better sensor but compromised ergonomics). Both the G1 and G3 designs adopted a faux pentaprism shape, the prism hump used for storage of the built-in flash. The GX7 does without that pretense, adopting a more classical Leica rangefinder form while retaining the pop-up flash in an ingenious cantilevered design which still allows the use of a flat top plate.

Before looking at the appealing technological enhancements in the GX7, it bears repeating that if you like large prints – the touchstone of quality image reproduction – then anything up to 18″ x 24″ with an MFT sensor is easily achieved. Only if you need the ability to selectively enlarge sections of the frame does full frame become a necessity. Given that few make prints so large that’s the same as saying that MFT works for most serious snappers. The one constraint is that the shorter focal length lenses used mean much more is in focus at a given aperture, so if background blur is insufficient, the snapper needs to resort to post processing to confer additional blur. Not too difficult with recent versions of Photoshop and the Magic Lasso tool. Click on ‘Instructional Videos’, at the base of this page, to see how to do this. And for light weight and portability, there’s no comparing an FF DSLR with an MFT body.

Here are some of the immediate benefits of the later technology in the GX7:

• Better ergonomics
• In-body anti-shake, means I can use my long Nikkors with antishake
• Improved MF for long lenses
• Electronic shutter option – silent
• Improved sensor – G3 is already good enough for 18” x 24” prints
• Much improved EVF – possibly the best in the business
• WiFi – will be cool with the iPad Air and the Nexus 7 (the latter also supports NFC)
• GPS – used with a tablet or smartphone app, not built-in (needs a free Panny app for iOS or Android)

The ones which really get my attention for street snaps include the silent electronic shutter and the internal IS for use with my Nikkors, with a simple lens mount adapter. As an EVF adjusts finder brightness automatically, a 500mm f/8 Refex Nikkor is every bit as bright as an f/2 prime.

The electronic shutter is a far from trivial enhancement. Using the movie mode’s technology and delivering full RAW quality, I expect that the electronic shutter will permit thousands of still images to be recorded on a battery charge, whereas the regular shutter is limited to some 300 with Panny’s small battery. Further, because the electronic shutter uses no mechanical parts, there is no wear and tear on the mechanism and 10 frames per second machine gun shooting is possible. Whether the latter is needed is an open question, but it suggest that the ‘decisive moment’ has just become a good deal more indecisive. HCB must be rolling in his grave ….

I bought the chrome version as anything which looks more amateur is taken less seriously on the street. And, yes, Lightroom 5 does support GX7 RAW file conversion.

You can download the 380 page (!) extended Instruction Manual here.

More in Part II.

A promising potential upgrade.

I have extolled the virtues of the 14-45mm kit zoom which came with my Panasonic G1 here before. That lens now makes its home on my recently acquired Panny G3.

But nothing stands still and the announcement of the Power Zoom 14-42mm Panasonic lens brings several potential advantages:

• Half the weight and bulk of the 14-45
• Significantly improved optical performance
• A retracting design which promises to finally make the G3 a pocketable kit with lens fitted
• One stop of improvement in shake reduction
• Significantly faster focusing for further reduction in shutter lag
• Improved anti-flare coating

That is a non-trivial set of claims for improved overall performance. I need to determine that the lens remains extended once powered up; if it retracts after some period of inactivity it’s not a candidate, as that introduces unacceptable operating delays on restart. (I have the G3 set to Power Save after 10 minutes of non-use). It will retail for $400 in the US which is about what I would expect to realize on sale of the G1 and its original kit lens, neither of which I will need.

I really do not like power zooms on a still camera lens; it’s much easier and faster to twist a zoom ring than to press buttons. However, the other improvement claims here, if true, are compelling and apparently the zooming button on the lens varies speed according to the amount of pressure, thus making the best of a bad job. For movie makers, of course, power zoom is the way to go.

Collapsed, the 14-42 PZ is identical in size to Panny’s 20mm f/1.7 which is, by a considerable margin, one of the worst lenses I have ever used. Until – and if – that lens is completely redesigned, I will not be revisiting it, regardless of the faster focusing offered by the G3 compared with the G1. The 20mm is so poor in many other respects that there’s no need for masochism.

You can read about this new lens on Panasonic’s site by clicking the picture below:

Click the picture.

The older 14-45mm kit lens is profiled here. As you can see, the optics of the PZ represent a complete redesign.

The constant improvement in focus speed and reduction in shutter lag represents the last major hurdle for Panasonic in gaining acceptance as the sports shooters’ camera of choice. Were I Nikon or Canon, who dominate this market, I would likely be stocking up on replacement underwear.

Meanwhile, I have cancelled my back-ordered Olympus 45mm f/1.8 MFT lens as its faster aperture is not something I need and I expect the 14-42 PZ to be more than adequate as a portrait lens.