Kit Laughlin
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 p.2 #17 · No love for the Panasonic GX1? And some thoughts vs. RX100 | |
So, Bif; thanks for that excellent list; your position is perfectly clear now.
I have to ask—given my original post and my background of having shot Canon, Nikon and Sony pro gear (and Panasonic and Sony pro video, too) for 30+ years, why are you commenting here? This thread is explicitly not about these kind of cameras and I know them as well as you do, probably.
This thread is about a different approach to making images and video and, moreover and this is the important part, which can be carried aboard a flight somewhere. Currently, cabin baggage limits here are 7Kg. My entire stills and video kit fits easily within that limit, with all the rest one needs on board. This was the objective. I have been carrying two Pelican hard cases around the world for years, and I don't want to do that any more.
So, my goal was to find gear that is good enough for what I am ding presently. What I shoot ends up in brochures and on the net, mostly. And the video I shoot ends up on DVD (and down-rezzed, down-sampled 720p HD video looks fantastic on standard definition DVD). And I don't shoot sports.
Looking at your list, I feel the Panasonic (it feels like it's made all out of metal and rubber to me; it's well made, in my view) ticks the following boxes from your list:
It won't fall apart (and I have to say in 30 years of shooting professionally I have never dropped a camera, but it could happen, of course)
I don't want the weight that you claim as an advantage; with the RRS bracket, the GX-1 fits my hands perfectly. And as my longest lens is the tiny Sony 45, no need to have the kind of grips the pro bodies have, so—for me—that aspect is moot.
Having used Panasonic pro vide gear since they started making it, I deem them a respectable company, and I have had no problems getting warranty claims met.
I have no need these days of the "full range of system components"; and I have strobes in the studio. My macro work is met by studio flash and the excellent 45/2.8 macro.
My on-the-road kit is now the 7-14, wrapped and stowed with my checked in luggage; the three main lenses (12/2, 20/1.7, and 45/1.8) come on board with me.
Your next point you will need to explain; I have had zero problems with Panasonic warranty-wise. And the GX-1 is better made that any of the G-series bodies, in my estimation. We'll have to wait and see on this point, I guess.
I can make decent images with this gear; images that my clients like and are happy to pay for. Like many here, I have been chasing the grail of "exceptional images" ever since the dawning of the digital era—and my photography has been improving (I am seeing better). So, rather than gear specs, I pay attention to light, and get it right in the camera. The GX-1 exceeds my capacities in this regard: by this, I mean that the limitations of the GX-1 are not limiting my image-making.
And on the last point, the GX-1 does all I need; this was the point of the original post. And this is the first time since the beginning of digital this has been the case. The battery life is excellent for my work; the focus tracking works very well for what I shoot (no sport!); I have never come close to filling the buffer. A big day for me is 75 images.
The last point I would like to make is that while I agree any external EVF looks like an add-on (it is, after all), it works a treat and it can be removed for walk-around duty, if you want. How a camera looks is less important than what functions it can perform, although aesthetics do play a part in one's interaction with the device I agree.
And this is just the current state of play; that Fuji X-E1 is a worry. Anyhow...
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But that's Plastisonic for ya, I don't think I've ever seen any equipment from any area of tech gadgetry that was made by Panasonic which wasn't a failure in the design department. And I'm pretty sure the exceptions (which I can count on one hand and which happen to include the G1/G2/GH1/GH2) were/are total accidents. It's like the million monkeys all banging away on typewriters: sooner or later a line from Shakespeare will appear - although in the G1/GH1 case there were a few words missing (like the warped lens behind the EVF). But the GX1 has it all spelled wrong and is mostly gibberish. 