The Panasonic Lumix GX85 is my first Micro Four-Thirds Camera – and I have to say, I’m really impressed with it! This small, interchangeable-lens camera was first released in 2016 and I picked it up second-hand earlier this year, looking for something that was portable but still took great photos – and possibly as an alternative to the Fujifilm X100VI.
Among street photographers, the Lumix GX85 gets a LOT of praise for being small, yet delivering exceptional photos. It’s also highly recommended as a travel camera for the same reason. The Lumix supposed to be a great way to create amazing images without being limited by the quality your phone produces.
That’s why I was drawn to it in the first place; I wanted something small that I could easily fit my bag that would take photos good enough to print, especially if they were of meaningful moments with family.
With that in mind, I also want to point out that this isn’t going to be a tech-heavy review; I take things from the frame of use and experience rather than looking at a spec sheet of features I may or may not use. For example, any video recording features are moot as I just don’t really do video.
With that all in mind, is it worth buying a second-hand Lumix GX85 this year? It might depend on what you already have in your camera kit, plus what you want to use this small, portable camera for. Let’s take a look!
Lumix GX85: An Introduction
When this camera was released in 2016, it was a successor for the Lumix GX7, which was released all the way back in 2011. In some markets, the GX85 was actually released as the GX7 Mark II. The GX85 is also considered smaller, more compact version of the Lumix GX8, packing the same high IQ into a sleeker body. Here’s a comparison of the GX8 and GX85 with some great real life examples!
Not gonna lie, I panicked when I got my GX85 in the mail and saw that the sensor seemed to be loose and wiggly! I learned photography on a DSLR, so anything to do with the sensor moving and wiggling meant something was SERIOUSLY wrong.
However, the wiggly sensor is actually a key feature of this camera. It’s how the IBIS (In-Body Image Stabilisation) works; when the camera is functioning and turned on, the sensor is locked in place. However, when the camera is turned off, it’s not locked in.
Compatible Lenses
Another thing that I think is REALLY neat about the M4/3 system is that no matter the brand, if the lens is made for M4/3, it’ll fit on this camera. That means there is an incredible range of M4/3 lens options for it.
The most common ones you’ll come across are from Panasonic and Olympus, but there are some other amazing brands in the game such as Zeiss and Tokina. This means the Lumix GX85 has a huge range of lenses at your disposal to experiment with!
Colour Rendering
If you’re new to photography, what you might not realise is that the tech that goes into the sensors means different camera brands, well, look different in the images. This is called ‘colour science’ or ‘colour rendering’.
When it comes to the Lumix GX85, I’m not the biggest fan of the colour science. Those with light, cool-toned skin tend to look very pink in photos – since I often bring this camera along to family events, it can give some of my family members an unflattering look on camera. While I know that I can edit this to minimise it, I don’t want to have to add skin tone correction to every single time I edit any family photos!
GX85 Body Features
Size
The first thing that I noticed – and really enjoy – about this camera is the compact size. While I’ve loved taking photos for a long time, I actually haven’t used the Micro 4/3 System before this.
I’m used to DSLR and mirrorless-sized cameras, and this pocketable size was a welcome relief and frankly incredible to my mind. While it’s true that the first changeable lens camera I ever used was a Canon 1000D – which is pretty small as far as DSLRs go – the GX85 is small enough that you can tuck it away in a pocket, provided you’ve got one of the smaller pancake lenses on it.
It can even fit inside a smaller bag, provided it’s covered with a camera wrap or case to protect it from everything else!
Screen
I also like the tilting screen – while an angled display is par for the course for almost all cameras these days, this was actually only my 2nd camera with a tilting display. This makes it really great for shooting from the hip!
Tilting screens make for discreet street photos; if you’re a shy street photographer like me, one of the things I do is pretend to just be ‘looking at’ my camera with the angled screen out and using touch to capture on the screen.
It makes things a little less obvious you’re taking a photo if you’re looking for a candid moment, without making the obvious motion of bringing a camera to your face and snapping a photo.
Lumix GX85 vs. Lumix S9
The Lumix S9 was launched this year to INCREDIBLY mixed reviews; I remember seeing a LOT of negative comments and tweets about this camera, however I think it’s worth doing a brief comparison to the GX85. Lumix really made the point that the S9 would be the ultimate influencer’s camera, based on the features they packed into it.
It has a full-frame sensor, and was launched with a 26mm fixed aperture (f/8) lens as a compact kit to start with. Without having seen this combo in real life, I’m not 100% sure how much more compact it would be than
One of the biggest selling points, according to Lumix, are the new built in LUTs (for video) and presets (for stills). This edits videos and photos in-camera, then you can transfer straight to your phone for social media. I remember seeing this being roasted, from
Because it’s full-frame, the S9 loses a lot of the compact benefits of the Micro Four Thirds system. Lenses designed for full-frame are larger, and you lose a lot of the benefits of the relatively compact body if you use anything but the 26mm pancake lens.
By comparison, you can have some pretty impressive focal lengths in small packages if you stick with the M4/3 route! If I had to choose between the two, I’d still stick with the GX85 for the true portability of this body.
Final Comments
As much as I like the Lumix GX85, I don’t think it’s something that I’ll be keeping alongside a Fujifilm XE-3. They’re very similar in size, but the benefit of the XE-3 is that I can use the same lenses for my XT-1.
However, I think this could be a great pick for you if you’re looking for a digital camera that you can travel with and bring along 1-2 lightweight lenses to take great travel photos. Even though it will be a 8 year old camera this year, the technology of the GX85 can still impress and create amazing images!
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