Panasonic GX850 Review

The Panasonic GX850 is a compact yet capable entry-level Micro Four Thirds camera that offers excellent image quality, great features and good performance, all for an 360 camera app affordable price. While not without its faults, the GX850 is a terrific option for those looking for a small mirrorless camera that won’t break the bank.

Pros
Impressive image quality; Sleek design; 4K video recording; Good overall performance; Tilting touchscreen; Enjoyable user experience.

Cons
No EVF; No hot shoe, Short 4K clip limit; MicroSD card slot, Poor battery life.

Price and availability
The Panasonic GX850 has been available since February of 2017 and is available in black or silver with a 12-32mm OIS kit lens for under US$550.

If you’ve been keeping track of Panasonic camera updates over the last couple of years, you will have noticed there’s one Lumix ILC line that’s been rather neglected, the GM series.

Back in 2013, the team at Panasonic somehow managed to cram a nearly full-featured Micro Four Thirds camera into a pocket-cam-sized body with the tiny GM1. It was instant hit around the IR headquarters. It was small, lightweight and had the full versatility that interchangeable lenses offered. Then the GM5 arrived a year later, adding an EVF, making the GM1 that much better. The problem was the little GM-family was rather a pricey, premium pair of “pocket ILCs,” and although we here at IR loved the little cameras, we eventually got the feeling that the GM cameras hadn’t sold as well as Panasonic had hoped.

With the introduction of 2015’s GF7 (and subsequent GF8 in 2016, which did not see a US release) — a camera that was more or less similarly sized to the GM5 though much less expensive — the writing was perhaps already on the wall for the premium GM line. And while we’ve yet to get a definitive answer from Panasonic regarding the fate of the GM series, the lack of news as well as affiliate and Panasonic websites all listing the GM5 as no longer available seems to answer the question. Farewell, GM series.

As such, for those looking to step up from their smartphone or small-sensored point-and-shoot camera to something that’s not only an easy to use camera but also an ultra-compact Micro Four Thirds ILC that still fits into your pocket, the new Panasonic GX850 looks to fit the bill quite nicely.

GX850 stays at 16MP, drops low-pass filter
Working from the inside out, the heart of the Lumix GX850 is centered around an updated 16-megapixel Four Thirds Live MOS sensor. While a handful of recent Micro Four Thirds models, such as the GX8, GX9, G9 and GH5, are sporting a newer, higher-resolution 20MP Four Thirds sensor, the Panasonic GX850, on the other hand, maintains the familiar 16-megapixel resolution as a large number of previous Lumix ILC cameras.

However, similar to the updated sensors from the GX85 and G85 camera, the 16MP chip inside the GX850 does not have an optical low-pass filter. This has become a much more common practice for both high-end cameras and now for more entry-level ones as well. What you gain from the filter removal is sharper per-pixel detail; in other words, sharper photos, especially when you look closely.

Updated image processor offers 4K video & photo features
Another imaging pipeline change is a newer Venus Engine image processor, though a specific model name or version number wasn’t specified in our briefing with Panasonic. However, despite the newer processor, the GX850 still offers the same ISO range as its predecessor — 200-25,600, with an extendable low ISO of 100.

Taking a tour of the pocketable GX850
The overall design of the Panasonic GX850 is very similar to that of its predecessor, though it no longer has that noticeable “hump” above the lens for the LCD tilt mechanism; instead continuing a raised top-deck all the way to the edge of the camera body. The more “rangefinder-esque” design does appear a bit more like its premium cousin, the GM5. However, unlike the GM5, the GX850 does not have a built-in EVF; it’s LCD-only, like the GF7. The overall styling is very sleek, compact and minimalist, especially from the front, which is all but devoid of any buttons except for the lens release switch.

Panasonic GX850 Pricing & Availability
The Panasonic GX850 is sold in either an all-black color or a two-toned silver and black style, and is kitted with the ultra-compact G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 Mega OIS retractable zoom lens. The GX850 started shipping in February 2017 for a retail price of US$549.99.