Panasonic GX850 First Shots: The large-sensored camera with the small footprint hits our lab
posted Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 2:04 PM EST
Still labeled with the "GF" naming convention in other parts of the world, the sleek and svelte Panasonic GX850 aligns its reputation in the US market with cameras like the mid-grade GX85, which won the Best Intermediate Mirrorless category in our 2016 Camera of the Year awards. That camera was Panasonic's first offering to drop the resolution-robbing optical lowpass filter, and the smaller-in-size and lower-in-price GX850 follows suit in doing the same.
As most of our core readers know, the optical lowpass filter is a measure used to combat moiré, which is the name given to unsightly artifacts produced when sensors have trouble with repeating patterns such as bricks or certain fabrics. But that measure is known to reduce overall sharpness to a noticeable degree, and the camera companies have learned that many shooters would prefer more sharpness even while risking the dreaded moiré.
As with many cameras over the past few years, we noticed with the GX85 that leaving off the lowpass filter most definitely helped with overall sharpness and detail as compared to its predecessor. We are now poised to make the same comparison with the GX850 as compared to the predecessor GF7, and can also get an idea of how image quality stacks up against the nearest competitor here at the entry-level price point in the Olympus E-PL8.
Let's take a closer look!
Panasonic GX850 vs. Panasonic GF7
Panasonic GX850 vs. Olympus E-PL8
Dive into our Panasonic GX850 First Shots and our Comparometer to continue your own comparisons across the ISO range, and stay tuned for much more to come on the Panasonic GX850!
• Panasonic GX850 Lab Samples • Best Prices •
• Panasonic GF7 vs. Panasonic GX850 •
• Olympus E-PL8 vs. Panasonic GX850 •
