In summary
Targeted mainly at snapshooters, the Panasonic’s Lumix DC-GX850 will suit those looking for a compact, pocketable camera that does more than their smartphones ““ and delivers sharper, more colour-accurate photos.
Features that made the GF8 attractive, like the ‘Beauty’ modes, DFD (Depth-From-Defocus) AF technology, built-in Wi-Fi and wealth of in-camera pre-sets and special effects carry across into the new model. The touch-screen monitor is the same in both cameras and neither has any type of viewfinder, either built-in or attachable.
Full review
Announced at the beginning of January, Panasonic’s Lumix DC-GX850 combines features from the company’s GF and GM lines, taking the ‘Beauty’ features and flip-up monitor from the former and the small body size from the latter. It is being supplied with the retracting Lumix G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. lens (model H-FS12032), which was bundled with the original GM1 camera and is covered in that review. It comes with a neat silver and black, orange or pink body.
Angled view of the Lumix DC-GX850 with the G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. kit lens. (Source: Panasonic.)
The three body colours for the Lumix DC-GX850 camera, each shown with the monitor flipped up to the ‘selfie’ position. (Source: Panasonic.)
We received the black version to review, along with the 12-32mm kit lens.
Who’s it For?
Essentially, the GX850 represents a relatively minor upgrade to last year’s GF8 camera, which we reviewed in March 2016. Targeted mainly at snapshooters who enjoy taking selfies, it will suit those looking for a compact, pocketable camera that does more than their smartphones ““ and delivers sharper, more colour-accurate photos.
Features that made the GF8 attractive, like the ‘Beauty’ modes, DFD (Depth-From-Defocus) AF technology, built-in Wi-Fi and wealth of in-camera pre-sets and special effects carry across into the new model. It also provides the same built-in flash and mechanical/electronic shutter mechanisms. The touch-screen monitor is the same in both cameras and neither has any type of viewfinder, either built-in or attachable.
What’s New?
The GX850 has the same resolution and many of the same features as the GF8, although both the sensor chip and Venus Engine processor have probably been updated. There’s no low-pass filter over the sensor, which means images may be sharper but they may also be subject to aliasing artefacts.
For those disappointed by the GH8’s video capabilities, the GX850 adds the ability to record movies with 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution at 25 frames/second (fps) and also use Panasonic’s proprietary 4K Photo modes ““ including the Post Focus mode. But there’s no 6K Photo option; that’s reserved for the flagship cameras.
And while continuous shooting speeds with the mechanical shutter are the same as in the GF8, the buffer memory capacity has more than doubled to approximately 100 JPEGs or at least 15 raw files. On the downside, the GF8’s 40 fps frame rate with the electronic shutter isn’t provided, leaving the GX850 with a top rate of 10 fps for JPEGs or 7 fps when there are raw files.
Autofocusing has been upgraded in the GX850, which provides 49-area selection, compared with 23-area in the GF8. A new Distinct Scenery setting has been added to the Scene pre-sets, along with an ‘L. Monochrome’ Photo Style setting that produces B&W images ‘with rich gradation and crisp black accents’.
The new camera has four white balance custom memories, double the number in the GF8. Time lapse and stop motion animation are supported. However, the battery capacity has dropped from 230 shots/charge in the GF8 with the kit lens to 210 shots/charge in the GX850.
One of the most perplexing changes has been the replacement of the SD slot with a microSD slot in the GX850. These tiny cards are easy to lose and you may need an adapter to download images to a computer.
We can’t understand why Panasonic has done this because it certainly doesn’t save space or weight. The GX850’s physical dimensions are the same as the GF8’s but it weighs three grams more.
Build and Ergonomics
Physically, there’s not much difference between the GX850 and the GF8 which, itself, resembles the GF7, which we reviewed in March 2015. The bodies of all three cameras feature ‘bar-of-soap’ styling with rounded end panels, a flip-up monitor and a pop-up flash integrated into a hump on the top panel. There’s no grip moulding, although a thumb rest is provided on the rear panel.
Front view of the GX850 showing the camera’s ‘bar-of-soap’ shape. (Source: Panasonic.)
There’s no viewfinder and no way to attach one. Nor is there a hot-shoe for mounting accessory flashguns or other accessories. The flash is tiny and not very powerful and it only lifts a little over a centimetre above the top panel.
The top panel of the GX850. (Source: Panasonic.)
The main top panel controls ““ comprising the mode dial, combined power on/off lever and shutter button and Fn1 button (which accesses the 4K Photo modes) ““ are clustered on the right hand side of the pop-up flash. On the left hand rear corner is the Fn3 button, which selects the Post Focus functions. Two tiny stereo microphone holes straddle the flash housing.
The rear panel of the GX850. (Source: Panasonic.)
The rear panel is dominated by the flip-up monitor, which has capacitative touch-screen controls and a resolution of 1,040,000 dots. It flips up vertically to face forward for selfie shooting but can’t be tilted downwards if you want to shoot with the camera held above your head.
The monitor supports the standard touch, drag and pinch/spread operations and touch functionality can be switched on and off on page 7 in the camera’s Custom settings menu, which also offers Touch Tab and Touch AF settings. The former displays touch icons on the right side of the screen, while the latter optimises either focus or focus and exposure for a touched subject.
To the right of the monitor is an arrow pad with directional buttons for accessing the EV compensation, white balance, AF and drive modes. It’s surrounded by a control dial. Below it lie two buttons; one for the Q. Menu, Back and Delete functions and the other to access the Display sub-menu.
The Playback button sits above the arrow pad, just below the thumb rest. Above the thumb rest and just below the mode dial is the movie button. A slider for popping up the flash is located at the junction of the monitor hinge; just below the Fn1 button. The flash is pushed down with your finger.
As usual with an entry-level camera, the combined battery/card compartment is accessed via the base plate, on the right hand side. The tiny microSD card slides in just in front of the battery, a challenging task for anyone with large fingers or limited dexterity.
The metal-lined tripod socket is in line with the lens axis. Interface ports for HDMI and AV-Out/Digital (USB) connections are located under a lift-up cover on the right hand side panel.
Sensor and Image Processing
Although offering the 24-megapixel same resolution as the GF8, the GX850 benefits from having the latest sensor chip, which has no low-pass filter. This has resulted in a noticeable increase in image sharpness. It also boasts the latest Venus Engine processor, which enables support for 4K video recording and Panasonic’s proprietary 4K Photo still picture modes.
The GX850 supports the same image sizes as the GF8 for stills, recording both JPEG and RW2.RAW file formats as well as supporting the capture of stereo pairs for 3D viewing using the MPO file format. It also offers the same image size settings and aspect ratios. Typical file sizes are shown in the table below.
|
Aspect ratio |
Image Size |
Resolution |
Fine |
Standard |
|
4:3 |
RAW |
4592 x 3448 |
20.5MB |
|
|
L |
4592 x 3448 |
9.5MB |
4.7MB |
|
|
M |
3232 x 2424 |
5.0MB |
2.5MB |
|
|
S |
2272 x 1704 |
2.9MB |
1.5MB |
|
|
3:2 |
RAW |
4576 x 3056 |
19.9MB |
|
|
L |
4576 x 3056 |
8.5MB |
4.2MB |
|
|
M |
3232 x 2160 |
4.7MB |
2.3MB |
|
|
S |
2272 x 1520 |
2.8MB |
1.4MB |
|
|
16:9 |
RAW |
4576 x 2576 |
18.3MB |
|
|
L |
4576 x 2576 |
7.4MB |
3.7MB |
|
|
M |
3232 x 1824 |
4.3MB |
2.1MB |
|
|
S |
1920 x 1080 |
1.1MB |
0.6MB |
|
|
1:1 |
RAW |
3424 x 3424 |
16.5MB |
|
|
L |
3424 x 3424 |
6.9MB |
3.4MB |
|
|
M |
2416 x 2416 |
3.7MB |
1.9MB |
|
|
S |
1712 x 1712 |
2.2MB |
1.1MB |
|
Video
Video capabilities have been enhanced through the addition of 4K recording, which is only available in the MP4 /H264 recording mode with a maximum frame rats of 30 fps. FHD and HD clips can be recorded in the AVCHD format with frame rates of 50 fps (progressive or interlaced), 25p or 24p. Users can adjust camera settings in the P, A, S and M modes and apply many of the Creative Control filters.
The table below shows the settings available.
|
Video format |
Aspect ratio |
Mode |
Picture size |
Frame Rate |
Bit rate |
|
AVCHD |
16:9 |
FHD/28m/50p |
1920 x 1080 |
50 fps |
28 Mbps |
|
FHD/17M/50i |
17 Mbps |
||||
|
FHD/24M/25p |
25 fps |
24 Mbps |
|||
|
FHD/24M/24p |
24 fps |
||||
|
MP4 |
4K/100M/30p |
3840 x 2160 |
30 fps |
100 Mbps |
|
|
4K/100M/25p |
25 fps |
||||
|
4K/100M/24p |
24 fps |
||||
|
FHD/28M/50p |
1920 x 1080 |
50 fps |
28Mbps |
||
|
FHD/28M/25p |
25 fps |
20 Mbps |
|||
|
HD/10M/25p |
1280 x 720 |
10 Mbps |
The maximum recording time per clip is 29 minutes and 59 seconds ““ or up to 4GB in MP4 mode. You can check the recordable time on the monitor screen.
Users can record still frames while shooting a movie clip, although not when 4K resolution is selected. Up to four frames can be captured in Photo Priority mode, which uses the selected resolution and quality settings. The Video Priority mode lets you capture up to 30 JPEGs at the selected video resolution.
The GX850 also includes Panasonic’s Snap Movies recording, which lets you specify the recording time in advance and record FHD movies as you would snapshots. You can engage pull focus at the start of a recording and fade in or out of recordings. Snap Movie can be assigned to one of the function buttons to make it quick to access.
Playback and Software
As with all recent Panasonic cameras, the software bundle must be downloaded from Panasonic’s support website, a link for which is provided in the user manual. The applications include PHOTOfunSTUDIO 9.9 PE (Windows), SILKYPIX Developer Studio SE (Windows & Mac) and a trial version of LoiLoScope, a Windows-only video editor.
Buyers of this camera needn’t bother with the Silkypix application (which has consistently delivered poor results with all the cameras we’ve tested). Like most current Panasonic cameras, the GX850 is supported by Adobe Camera Raw, our preferred raw file converter. Other third-party converters should also support this camera.
Performance
The big surprise with the review camera was how sharp the images we obtained from it were. This improvement over the GF8 was confirmed by our Imatest testing and it was roughly paralleled in both JPEGs and converted RW2.RAW files, which we turned into 16-bit TIFF files with Adobe Camera Raw.
Subjective assessments of test shots found plenty of detail in the image files. JPEGs showed the usual tendency to increase saturation in warmer hues, although other colours were close to the ideal values. Converted raw files showed the expected reduction in saturation , which brought warm hues back to ideal values without compromising other colours.
Overall, the review camera delivered an impressive collection of stills, even when we pushed its capabilities to their limits. Contrast in JPEGs was slightly high, resulting in blown-out highlights in many outdoor shots, although a fair amount of shadow detail was recoverable.
Backlighting was particularly well handled and flare was rare, even when the sun was inside the frame. We had one instance of obvious flare (see below) among all the shots we took.
Imatest showed resolution in JPEGs to be above expectations both in the central zone and towards the periphery of the frame, although over-sharpening in the camera may have played a role in obtaining these results with JPEG files. Raw files delivered higher resolution, with slight under-sharpening around the centre of the frame and slight over-sharpening towards the periphery.
Resolution remained relatively high at ISO 100 and ISO 200 (the native sensitivity), declining gradually as sensitivity was increased. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests.
Long exposures taken in dim lighting showed little visible noise up to ISO 6400, with a progressive increase in noise thereafter. By ISO 12800 granularity was quite obvious in test shots and at ISO 25600 colour noise was very noticeable and image softening was obvious.
Flash exposures were roughly two stops under-exposed at ISO 100 when the 32mm focal length was used, but correctly exposed from ISO 400 on, although the influence of ambient lighting could be seen from ISO 3200 and shots were slightly over-exposed at ISO 12800 and ISO 25600. Softening was evident in shots at the two highest sensitivity settings.
The auto white balance setting delivered similar results to the GF8’s. It failed to provide complete correction in shots taken under incandescent lighting but came close with shots taken in LED lighting. Shots taken under fluorescent lights and flash shots were free of colour casts.
The incandescent pre-set introduced a faint purple cast, while the flash preset remained colour neutral. No presets are provided for fluorescent or LED lighting. Manual measurement produced neutral colours with all four lighting types and there’s plenty of scope for fine-tuning colour rendition via the touch screen.
Autofocusing while shooting stills was acceptably fast and accurate in most situations, particularly when the touch screen was used to set the focus position. No significant slowing was evident when shooting stills in low light levels or while panning.
Metering was as accurate as we’ve found with previous G-series cameras. The default Standard setting in the iDynamic mode delivered well-balanced highlight and shadow detail, even in quite contrasty situations, although only for still shots. Video clips often contained over-exposed highlights in contrasty conditions, regardless of the recording mode or resolution. Autofocusing was reasonably fast, but occasionally hesitated when subjects moved quickly towards or away from the camera.
Aside from the occasional focus tracking lapses, video quality was generally good and the 4K movie clips provided a worthwhile boost in resolution. Regardless of the resolution setting, however, clips tended to be quite contrasty and highlights were often burned out. Audio quality was acceptable for amateur movies and very little camera noise was picked up during focusing or zooming.
Our timing tests were carried out with a 32GB Panasonic micro SDXC card, which was supplied with the review camera. Provided the lens was unlocked first, the review camera powered up in roughly a second, which was relatively slow by current standards.
We measured an average capture lag of 0.15 seconds, which was reduced to 0.1 seconds when shots were pre-focused. Shot-to-shot times averaged 0.5 seconds without flash and 2.2 seconds with.
It took just 1.2 seconds to process each high-resolution JPEG, 2.1 seconds for each RW2.RAW file and 2.3 seconds for RAW+JPEG pairs. Using the mechanical shutter in the high-speed mode the review camera recorded 52 high-resolution JPEG frames in 9.8 seconds without showing any sign of slowing. This equates to just over five frames/second. Processing this burst of shots took six seconds.
With RW2.RAW files, the camera slowed after 25 frames, which were captured in five seconds. It took 8.9 seconds to process this burst. On changing to the RAW+JPEG setting, the capture rate paused after the 17th frame, which was reached in 3.3 seconds. It took 14.5 seconds to process this burst.
With the electronic shutter, the camera recorded 62 large/fine JPEG frames in 5.4 seconds before slowing, which equates to just over 11 fps. It took 8.2 seconds to clear the buffer memory. With RW2.RAW files, recording paused at 17 frames, which were captured in 1.5 seconds. It took 10.1 seconds to process this burst.
The buffer memory was reduced to 15 frames in 1.2 seconds for RAW+JPEG capture. It took 14.6 seconds to process this burst.
Conclusion
All told, there’s a fair bit of useful technology packed into this fairly unexciting compact interchangeable-lens camera and it delivers decent performance at a reasonably competitive price. Snapshooters active on social media could find the built-in Wi-Fi handy, even though connection to your smart device is via QR code, rather than the simpler NFC.
Unfortunately, the lack of a viewfinder will always be a deterrent for serious photographers and anyone who likes to shoot stills and/or movie clips outdoors. We found the monitor screen almost impossible to use in many situations while taking our test shots on a bright, sunny autumn day in Sydney. We could only see well enough to compose shots when the screen was in the shade, otherwise we were stuck with point-and-guess shooting.
It’s a bit early for discounting prices of this camera in local stores, although we’ve seen it listed for between AU$670 and AU$700. B&H, which markets aggressively into Australia, has it listed at US$549.95, which equates to just over AU$744. So even without the $50 odd needed to cover shipping, you’ll pay less if you buy from your local camera store.
SPECS
Image sensor: 17.3 x 13.0 mm Live MOS sensor with 16.84 million photosites (16 megapixels effective); no low-pass filter
Image processor: Venus Engine
Lens mount: Micro Four Thirds
Focal length crop factor: 2x
Image formats: Stills: JPEG (DCF, Exif 2.3), RW2.RAW, RAW+JPEG, MPO (with M4/3 3D lens); Movies: AVCHD (Audio format: Dolby Audio 2ch), MP4 (Audio format: AAC 2ch)
Image Sizes: Stills ““ 4:3 – 4592 x 3448, 3232 x 2424, 2272 x 1704; 3:2 – 4592 x 3064, 3232 x 2160, 2272 x 1520; 16:9 – 4592 x 2584, 3840 x 2160, 1920 x 1080; 1:1 – 3424 x 3424, 2416 x 2416, 1712 x 1712; Movies: AVCHD: 1920 x 1080: FHD/50p @ 28Mbps, FHD/50i @17Mbps, FHD/25p @ 24Mbps 50i/50p recording; MP4: 3840 x 2160: 4K @ 30p/25p/24p: 100Mbps, 1920 x 1080: FHD 50p @ 28Mbps, 25p @ 20Mbps, 1280 x 720: HD 25p @ 10Mbps
Aspect ratios: 4:3, 3:2, 16:9, 1:1
Image Stabilisation: Lens based
Dust removal: Supersonic wave filter
Shutter (speed range): Single curtain focal plane mechanical shutter plus electronic shutter (60 to 1/16,000 second)
Exposure Compensation: +/- 5EV in 1/3EV steps (+/-3EV for movies)
Exposure bracketing: 3, 5, 7 images in 1/3, 2/3 or 1 EV step, max. +/-3 EV, single/burst
Other bracketing options: WB (3 exposures on blue/amber or magenta/green axis)
Self-timer: 2 or 10 seconds delay
Intervalometer: Time lapse and stop motion animation supported
Focus system: Contrast AF system with DFD technology and AFS (Single), AFF (Flexible), AFC (Continuous) selections
Focus modes: MF; Face/Eye Detection, Tracking, 49-Area, Custom Multi, 1-Area, Pinpoint; AF-ON (One Shot AF), Shutter AF, Half Press Release, Quick AF, Continuous AF (during motion picture recording), AF+MF, MF Assist, Touch MF Assist, Focus Peaking, Touch AF/AE Function
Exposure metering: 1728-zone multi-pattern with Multiple, Centre-weighted and Spot metering modes
Shooting modes: Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual
Scene presets: Portrait (mode dial), Child (mode dial), Silky Skin, Backlit Softness, Relaxing Tone, Distinct Scenery, Bright Blue Sky, Romantic Sunset Glow, Vivid Sunset Glow, Glistening Water, Clear Nightscape, Cool Night Sky, Warm Glowing Nightscape, Artistic Nightscape, Glittering Illuminations, Handheld Night Shot, Clear Night Portrait, Soft Image of a Flower, Appetising Food, Cute Dessert, Freeze Animal Motion, Clear Sports Shot, Monochrome
Function buttons: 8; each can be programmed for one of the following functions: 4K Photo Mode, Post Focus, Wi-Fi, Q.Menu, AF/AE LOCK, AF-ON, Preview, One Push AE, Touch AE, Level Gauge, Zoom Control, Cursor Button Lock, Photo Style, Filter Select, Aspect Ratio, Picture Size, Quality, Sensitivity, Metering Mode, Bracket, Focus Mode, i. Dynamic, i. Resolution, HDR, Shutter Type, Flash Mode, Flash Adjust., Ex. Tele Conv., Digital Zoom, Stabiliser, Snap Movie, Motion Pic. Set, Picture Mode, Silent Mode, Peaking, Histogram, Guide Line, Zebra Pattern, Monochrome Live View, Rec Area, Step Zoom, Zoom Speed, Touch Screen, Restore to Default
Photo Style modes:Standard, Vivid, Natural, Monochrome, L. Monochrome, Scenery, Portrait, Custom
Creative Control modes: Expressive, Retro, Old Days, High Key, Low Key, Sepia, Monochrome, Dynamic Monochrome, Rough Monochrome, Silky Monochrome, Impressive Art, High Dynamic, Cross Process, Toy Effect, Toy Pop, Bleach Bypass, Miniature Effect, Soft Focus, Fantasy, Star Filter, One Point Colour, Sunshine
Colour space options: Adobe RGB, sRGB
ISO range: Auto, Intelligent ISO, ISO 200-25600 in 1 or 1/3EV steps, extendable to ISO 100; max. ISO 3200 in movie mode
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Incandescent, Flash, White Set (x 4), Colour temperature setting (2500 – 10000K in 100K), plus manual adjustment in Blue/Amber, Magenta/Green axes
Flash: Built-in TTL flash, GN5.6 equivalent (ISO 200/m)
Flash modes: Auto*, Auto/Red-eye Reduction*, Forced On, Forced On/Red-eye Reduction, Slow Sync., Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off (* For iA, iA+ only)
Flash exposure adjustment: +/-2EV in 1/3EV steps
Sequence shooting: Max. 5.8 frames/sec. with mechanical shutter; 10 frames/sec. with electronic shutter
Buffer capacity: Approx. 100 JPEGs or at least 15 raw files
Storage Media: microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC cards (UHS-I compatible)
Viewfinder: None
LCD monitor: Tiltable 3-inch, 3:2 aspect TFT LCD with approx. 1,040,000 dots, static touch control
Live View modes: 2x, 4x digital zoom, Extra Tele Conversion (max. 2x for stills, 2.4x [FHD], 3.6x [HD] for movies) Level Gauge, Real-time Histogram, Guide Lines (3 patterns), Center Marker, Highlight display (Still image / motion picture), Zebra Pattern (Still image / motion picture)
Playback functions: Playback Mode (Normal / Picture Only / Video Only), Index (12 or 30 thumbnails), Calendar display, Zoomed playback (Max. 16x), Slideshow (All / Picture Only / Video Only, duration & effect is selectable), Location Logging, Beauty Retouch (Aesthetic Retouch / Foundation / Make Up Retouch / Smile), RAW Processing, 4K PHOTO Bulk Saving, Light Composition, Clear Retouch, Title Edit, Text Stamp, Video Divide, Time Lapse Video, Stop Motion Video, Resize, Cropping, Rotate, Rotation Display, Favourite, DPOF Print Set, Protect, Face Recognition Edit, Picture Sort, Creating Still Pictures from a Motion Picture
Interface terminals: USB 2.0 Micro-B, microHDMI TypeD / VIERA Link
Wi-Fi function: IEEE 802.11b/g/n, 2412 MHz – 2462 MHz (1-11 ch), Wi-Fi / WPA / WPA2, Infrastructure mode, QR Code connection
Power supply: DMW-BLH7 7.2V, 680mAh, 4.9Wh Li-ion Battery Pack; CIPA rated for approx. 210 shots/charge with H-FS12032 / H-FS35100 lenses
Dimensions (wxhxd): 106.5 x 64.6 x 33.3 mm (excluding protrusions)
Weight: Approx. 239 grams (body only); 269 grams with battery and card
Distributor: Panasonic Australia www.panasonic.com.au
TESTS
Based on JPEG files taken with the G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. lens.
Based on RW2.RAW files converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw.
SAMPLES
Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.
Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.
Auto white balance with LED lighting.
Auto white balance with flash lighting.
12mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/60 second at f/3.5.
32mm focal length, ISO 1600, 1/80 second at f/5.6.
20-second exposure at ISO 100, 25mm focal length, f/8.
8-second exposure at ISO 400, 25mm focal length, f/8.
4 second exposure at ISO 1600, 25mm focal length, f/11.
2-second exposure at ISO 6400, 25mm focal length, f/13.
1/2-second exposure at ISO 12800, 25mm focal length, f/11.
1/2-second exposure at ISO 25600, 25mm focal length, f/16.
Flash exposure at ISO 100, 32mm focal length, 1/50 second at f/5.6.
Flash exposure at ISO 400, 32mm focal length, 1/50 second at f/5.6.
Flash exposure at ISO 1600, 32mm focal length, 1/50 second at f/5.6.
Flash exposure at ISO 6400, 32mm focal length, 1/50 second at f/5.6.
Flash exposure at ISO 12800, 32mm focal length, 1/50 second at f/5.6.
Flash exposure at ISO 25600, 32mm focal length, 1/50 second at f/7.1.
29mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/200 second at f/7.1.
Crop from the above image magnified to 100%.
Strong backlighting; 12mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/400 second at f/8. Note the blown-out highlights.
Strong backlighting;32mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/250 second at f/8.
Flare;12mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/2500 second at f/3.5.
Coloured flare artefacts;12mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/60 second at f/16.
12mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/500 second at f/8.
16mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/400 second at f/7.1.
32mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/200 second at f/6.3.
19mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/125 second at f/4.3.
20mm focal length, ISO 3200, 1/60 second at f/4.3.
12mm focal length, ISO 2000, 1/60 second at f/11.
Stabilisation test;12mm focal length, ISO 200, one second at f/8.
25mm focal length, ISO 1600, 1/40 second at f/5.6.
32mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/125 second at f/7.1.
32mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/320 second at f/8.
Still frame from AVCHD Full HD (1920 x 1080) movie clip recorded at 50p/28Mbps.
Still frame from AVCHD Full HD (1920 x 1080) movie clip recorded at 25p/24Mbps.
Still frame from MP4 4K (3840 x 2160) movie clip recorded at 30 fps / 100Mbps.
Still frame from MP4 4K (3840 x 2160) movie clip recorded at 25 fps / 100Mbps.
Still frame from MP4 Full HD (1920 x 1080) movie clip recorded at 50p/28Mbps.
Still frame from MP4 Full HD (1920 x 1080) movie clip recorded at 25p/20Mbps.
Still frame from MP4 HD (1280 x 720) movie clip recorded at 50p/20Mbps.
Still frame from MP4 HD (1280 x 720) movie clip recorded at 25p/10Mbps.
Rating
RRP: AU$799; US$550 (with H-FS12032E 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens)
- Build: 8.5
- Ease of use: 8.5
- Autofocusing: 8.7
- Still image quality JPEG: 8.9
- Still image quality RAW: 8.9
- Video quality: 8.7
