jeffharris wrote:Promeneur wrote:The GX85 is smaller than the GX8 and we would be getting the same sensor and processor. So, which is more important a smaller camera or a weather sealed camera?One word: ERGONOMICS!The GX8 has GREAT handling and GREAT EVF. The GX7-series is small and that’s just lovely. BUT the GX8 isn’t much bigger, though it got a weird reputation for being some sort of behemoth.To me it is sort of a behemoth for a rangefinder.  It's actually a bit longer than my G95. However, it offers almost everything as my G95. Had it been available new in 2021 when I got into M43 it would have been my first choice as I wanted a rangefinder that is environmentally sealed. The GX8 is the only one in the lot as you are very much aware.  If I see one pop up in "Like New" condition on B&H at an interesting price you and I might be competing to see who hits "buy" first.I owned and tolerated a GX7 for a couple of years. I used it a LOT, but it was never better than just okay. The best thing about it was the nicely sculpted grip, which Panasonic chose to jettison with the GX85.With smaller lenses I don't have a problem on any of the rangefinders.  And even my GX850 I can hold comfortably.  With my PL50 -200mm and PL100 - 400mm I only use them on my G95.The GX8 is completely different and FAR better in terms of ergonomics, handling, more and better external controls and general usability. It has a great feature set.Ergononics is a tricky business as we all have different hands just like we all have different needs in an EVF due to our individual eye accuity.It’s only downsides were the mechanical shutter and not the best IBIS. NEITHER were deal-breakers and we’re easily worked with, or worked around. Neither has been a problem for me.What are the issues with mechanical shutter?  For how I use a rangefinder I don't really need the best IBIS and yes it is easy to work around.Weather sealing? A bonus. The GX8 is about SO much more! If you haven’t yet, TRY one. It’s an effin great camera! Ask any GX8 user.In the end for me it's not so much the incremental increase in weight of all these cameras, but the physical space a camera takes in my shoulder bag.  In a few weeks I'm taking the Amtrak down to Washington DC, so the G95 will stay home.  I'll be carrying two rangefinders which are larger than the G95 by itself, but I won't have to swap lenses to use my PL8 -18mm.  The other lens will be the 14-42mm PZ and two other small lenses.Anyway, I have enough cameras I think for all occasions for now.  Let's hope that Panasonic comes out with a new environmentally sealed rangefinder with all the best features as our cameras are getting long in the tooth!

Promeneur wrote:jeffharris wrote:Promeneur wrote:The GX85 is smaller than the GX8 and we would be getting the same sensor and processor. So, which is more important a smaller camera or a weather sealed camera?One word: ERGONOMICS!The GX8 has GREAT handling and GREAT EVF. The GX7-series is small and that’s just lovely. BUT the GX8 isn’t much bigger, though it got a weird reputation for being some sort of behemoth.To me it is sort of a behemoth for a rangefinder. It's actually a bit longer than my G95. However, it offers almost everything as my G95. Had it been available new in 2021 when I got into M43 it would have been my first choice as I wanted a rangefinder that is environmentally sealed. The GX8 is the only one in the lot as you are very much aware. If I see one pop up in "Like New" condition on B&H at an interesting price you and I might be competing to see who hits "buy" first.I bought a brand new one last year to replace my 2015 original GX8.I realized I can still use the old one for manual lenses, so I guess I have two GX8s.I owned and tolerated a GX7 for a couple of years. I used it a LOT, but it was never better than just okay. The best thing about it was the nicely sculpted grip, which Panasonic chose to jettison with the GX85.With smaller lenses I don't have a problem on any of the rangefinders. And even my GX850 I can hold comfortably. With my PL50 -200mm and PL100 - 400mm I only use them on my G95.I've never worried about lens size regardless of the camera I was using.With M4/3 it's the same. I've had the GH2, GX1, GX7 & GX8.The GX8 is completely different and FAR better in terms of ergonomics, handling, more and better external controls and general usability. It has a great feature set.Ergononics is a tricky business as we all have different hands just like we all have different needs in an EVF due to our individual eye accuity.It’s only downsides were the mechanical shutter and not the best IBIS. NEITHER were deal-breakers and we’re easily worked with, or worked around. Neither has been a problem for me.What are the issues with mechanical shutter? For how I use a rangefinder I don't really need the best IBIS and yes it is easy to work around.Legend has it, myth actually, that the mech shutter is problematic with a  VERY few light weight lenses, like the kit zooms and 14-140mm f3.5-5.6 (both versions and I've owned both). And only between say 1/80th and 1/250th shutter speeds.I RARELY use the mechanical shutter and don't worry about shutter shock.Weather sealing? A bonus. The GX8 is about SO much more! If you haven’t yet, TRY one. It’s an effin great camera! Ask any GX8 user.In the end for me it's not so much the incremental increase in weight of all these cameras, but the physical space a camera takes in my shoulder bag. In a few weeks I'm taking the Amtrak down to Washington DC, so the G95 will stay home. I'll be carrying two rangefinders which are larger than the G95 by itself, but I won't have to swap lenses to use my PL8 -18mm. The other lens will be the 14-42mm PZ and two other small lenses.Anyway, I have enough cameras I think for all occasions for now. Let's hope that Panasonic comes out with a new environmentally sealed rangefinder with all the best features as our cameras are getting long in the tooth!GX8 mark IIfor the WIN!

Naturally the E-P5 for me. It is still the only M4/3 I use though I do have an E-M10 Mk2 somewhere, unloved.The E-P5 is perfect size and handling for me, tilt screen as I hate those flip out sideways things, plus of course I never use EVF so the screen must be quick to deploy and tilt is that.Though why would I need the update?Maybe a bit better dynamic range or a few more neat features of the latest image processor might attract me, though I can still live happily with the E-P5 as it is now.If it cost any money for the proposed upgrade then forget it, I'll keep the E-P5 as it is and still be 100% happy.Aside: This post gets me to count 39,999 so next one (when I choose to do it) and I'm finished with DPR forever. I've cleaned out my PMs and deleted my gear list and tidied things up so I'm ready to zip my bag closed and go.

Its been a long time reading your posts and fare thee well.from my wee but and ben.

What makes for longer lasting camera bodies is when a company makes a then state of the art camera such as the GX7 was (for example only) - then makes a simpler concept camera much smaller with all the basic attributes of the larger progenitor but uses much the same (effectively) sensor.  Arguably a very similar image can be made with that smaller simpler body.  Especially when the user gets over limiting the lens size to body size hump.(Nobody worried about huge telephotos on a dslr body.  Or putting a tiny pancake lens on a G9 or OM-1).Just very recently in the throes of dpreview and where-do-we-go I bought a G100 in speculation simply because it was very reasonably priced.  I wondered if I could stand a camera body that was billed as v-log and featured heavy video enhancements.What I found was the realty that the video capability was not in my face at all and could be ignored.  That early adopter's comments that it was a pretty good stills camera were quite correct.I have been very impressed - here i am with the very latest sensor (it is also the heart of the wonderful G9) in a still quite compact camera body at what has become a quite affordable price.When price meets performance what is there not to like?But with the much lamented GM5's disappearance we must wonder if the G100 might disappear also down a similar track - not really appreciated until the price is right for the consumer but not right enough for the manufacturer.

cba_melbourne wrote:Skeeterbytes wrote:Just because. (They'd have to ditch the second card slot and big battery, several controls and perhaps a few other features, but it's a camera with a different mission.)Give it titanium top and bottom plates.Cheers,RickWhy would you replace the elaborate existing Magnesium top cover casting with a Titanium plate?Titanium cannot be cast, it would have to be a stamping. And Titanium stampings cannot have those elaborate details. Titanium is not easy to bend into shapes. I think what you mean is probably just a grey Titanium-lookalike paint. Very often when camera marketing talks like a "Titanium special edition" they just mean that, a Titanium lookalike paint. Not the metal the part is made ofPen-F already has a very premium all magnesium body, front and back shell, top and bottom. No reason to make it cheaper with stampings:Left the raw Magnesium casting, right machined, cleaned up and painted. No way you can do that complex part as a Titanium stamping.Why? I like titanium and love camera gear made with it. Do I think they can replicate the current camera using it? Probably not. Do I think it's possible with modest revisions? Yes. Would I buy one? Heck yes!Cheers,Rick

GM5 with weather sealing with a lager MPX sensor for cropping and IBIS

Crazy Micro Four Thirds Dude wrote:If you could send in one of your older cameras, and hypothetically the new processor would be able to fit in place of the old one, and they would update the sensor to OM1 sensor, or the hypothetical PDAF upcoming Pany sensor, which camera would you send in.The rules are....Only one camera, please don't even tell your runner up. Tell us as much or as little as you want, of why you chose that camera, but please limit it to one.You must possess the body you are advocating for, we will cheat and say of you have broken dials, stuck shutter, etc, they would also be fixed for free, but you must have the camera body.I have an Olympus E-1 and this is one of the nicest cameras I've ever used. I would still like to keep its Kodak CCD.If I were to have a second E-1 I would pick the GH6 sensor for its dual gain feature. Alternatively, the OM-1's sensor without its quad-pixel filter would be interesting too. It would result in a 80mp single shot camera.

My GM1 with fit zoom was effectively 'drowned' on a very wet trip on Milton Sound NZ eight years ago.  Not weather sealed but dried out very carefully afterwards.  Today both camera body and lens are still working fine as if nothing had happened.Why mimic the RX100 pop-up when the fixed evf on the GM5 is simpler fixed and very effective in practice.  The only thing I could think of would be if a slightly larger evf could be used.  But the main reason for the present size seems to have been to fit function buttons and the rear wheel above it.I use GM1 and GM5 bodies interchangeably and the difference in screen size is something I never notice unless I think that it is worth comparing directly - something that has only once entered my mind over many years of use.The GM5 evf does not need to be popped up and is always 'ready for use' so why complicate matters when there is no necessity to do so.  Basically: if it works well, ain't broke, then don't mess around with it.The GM5 exactly as it is with a later sensor, updated 'engine' and firmware is all that is necessary.  A recent wrestle with the G100 shows that there has been a lot of firmware water under the GM bridge since the last GM5 rolled off the production line.The menu system is much the same and the simplified instructions that come in the box are not the full story.  A quick look through the full 508 page manual seems to indicate that the camera will not be fully understood unless the 'hidden' new stuff in the full manual is absorbed.The G100 might just be a preview of what a refreshed GM5 might work like even if it is not what we hope that it would look like.

finnan haddie wrote:.......... https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/cameras/m/m-a-titan-setYou are 100% right of course.Putting the latest sensor and processor would make the most sense into a very expensive top quality body. A Leica, of course.A key reason why I am unlikely to ever buy adigitalLeica, is how fast the electronic innards become obsolete. But if it was possible to update the relatively cheap electronic innards, it would suddenly make much more sense to own such a very expensive high quality and top workmanship Leica. One could buy a camera body essentially for life, and every 8 to 10 years have the factory upgrade the electronics inside to the very newest and latest.Of course it will never happen. But I like the idea very much.