Panasonic has announced the first 20-megapixel Micro Four Thirds model – the interchangeable lens Lumix GX8.
The camera will be available in Australia in September in two versions: all black and a model with a silver top with a black bottom. It’s body-only RRP in Australia is a tasty $1399, while US MSRP is US$1200 or A$1620 – without any tax applied. How the tide has turned! Credit to Panasonic Australia for first publishing a local RRP (unlike your less transparent camera wholesalers), and for bringing this model in at such a good price.
The Micro Four Thirds GX8 offers a dual image stabilisation system, with stabilisation in the body as well as the usual image-stabilised Panasonic lenses. When shooting video, the GX8 will employ 5-axis hybrid stabilisation combining sensor shifting and digital corrections, similar to the system used in Panasonic video cameras.
The GX8 has a new 20.3-megapixel image sensor – up from 16-megapixels in the GX7 – and quad-core Venus Engine CPU. Continuous shooting is at 8 frames per second in AFS mode and 6 fps in AFC mode. Panasonic claims a 1/3 stop improvement in dynamic range compared to the GX7.
The GX8 records 4K video (3840x2160x30fps) as well as 1920x1080x60 in either AVCHD Progressive or MP4. Like the G7, the GX8 features a 4K ‘Photo Mode’ that lets users shoot 4K video and create an 8-megapixel still from a 4K video file during playback.
The 4K Photo Mode is an improvement on simply grabbing stills from 4K video because it enables changing change aspect ratios and a faster 1/500 sec shutter speed delivers sharper focus than 4K video frame grabs. The colour range is also wider in 4K Photo Mode
A 4K Burst Shooting mode captures frames at 30fps while the shutter is pressed (up to 4GB). A 4K Burst S/S (Start/Stop) mode starts consecutive shooting with a single press of a shutter button and stops it with the second press. Finally, a 4K Pre-burst mode automatically records 30 frames before and 30 frames after your shutter press for a total of 60 4K video frames to choose from.
Other features:
– Tilting 2.36-megapixel OLED Live Viewfinder with a magnification ratio of 1.54X and 100 percent field of view;
– 3-inch tiltable 1.04-megapixel OLED touch screen display;
– 49 AF points;
– ISO to 25,600;
– 1/8000 mechanical shutter speed, /16,000 sec electronic shutter;
– Improved low-light focusing down to -4EV with a Starlight AF mode for photographing the night sky;
– Wi-Fi and NFC;
– ‘Weatherproof’ magnesium alloy die cast frame;
– In-camera RAW processing;
– Focus peaking;
– 240fps Contrast AF system with DFD (depth from defocus) technology that calculates the distance to the subject by evaluating two images with different sharpness level while consulting the data of optical characteristics of the current lens to deliver a .07 sec AF speed.
Pricing:
Body only (DMC-GX8GN-K, -S): RRP $1399
14-42mm Single lens kit (DMC-GX8SINGLE-K, -S): RRP $1499
14-42mm & 45-150mm Twin lens kit (DMC-GX8TWIN-K, -S): RRP $1699
14-140mm Zoom lens kit (DMC-GX8ZOOM-K, -S): RRP $1999
12-35mm F2.8 Pro lens kit (DMC-GX8PRO-K, -S): RRP $2399
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