Personal View site logo
LX100 dead, quest to replace the little one. Cheap usefull camera replacement.
  • RoadsidePicnicRoadsidePicnic

    My LX100 is dying. Cant blame it after 6 years of service and lots of abuse. The lens started to get struck, lots of dust in sensor, I opened the thing and cleaned it a bit, put some white grease in the lens carriage (why they dont put it in factory to start with? why run it dry?), its better now but the lens motor still weak. Obviously they charge a hundred bucks for a little half a dozen dolar eletric motor.

    Thing is, maybe is time to change the gear, so I'm doing some research and collecting info into an upgrade path/replacement here.

    Scope:

    • personal camera

    • 4K30p or better

    • 2k60p or better

    • good bitrate, decent quality, don't mind raw

    • will not dump loads of money into it, ideally $800 fully operational

    • can make pro work, useful in-camera tools (yes LX100 was pretty capable, not talking about Ale$$$xa here)

    • wifi, stopmotion, timelapse, control app

    • hdmi not important but a plus

    • uses cheap media, cheap to stabilize and grip, minimally solid, will not sudenlly stop working on location, will not fry on mist, etc

  • 15 Replies sorted by
  • RoadsidePicnicRoadsidePicnic

    Lumix DMC-GX85

    All in all, is similar to LX100 with a mount, slight better usability. Cheap camera, geting out of production. Looks to have no problem to do full HD delivery (4k downconvert for main scenes and 1080 60p for slow). I find the in camera stop motion app very usefull.

    • small and light

    • UHD30p 100mbps

    • FHD60p 28mbps

    • DXO mark 71, 8bit video

    • Tilt LCD (not swivel), viewfinder, looks to have the same problems to monitor in sunny light as LX100

    • IBIS, no mic input, lacks external flash control

    • wifi, stopmotion, timelapse, control app, etc

    • seems to have clean hdmi out

    • reviews says it's very "plastic" build, don't know if it's a problem

    • $500 with two kit lenses plus card.

  • kurthkurth

    @roadsidePicnic...you beat me to the punch....I'd stay close to home. The pany gx85 is a deal. 2 lens kit for 5bills. Cameralabs has got a good review. It's only got like a 1.17x crop if memory serves. Or a deal on the oly em10mkiii.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    G9 from deals or used.

  • jleojleo

    GX85 is pretty solid. Still one of my favourites. Good IBIS, even a cheap Olympus zoom w/o OIS, 45-150mm, it can stabilize at 150mm. Here's the moon from a couple nights ago, Sigma 18-250mm, Commlite EOS-EF to M43 adapter, with Digital Zoom and Ex Tele on GX85, can see the craters at the edge :)

    image

    moon copy.jpg
    793 x 427 - 75K
  • MarcioKMarcioK

    Recommend the GX85 too. Have the GX9 now, the colors are better, some other little good new details, but there is an extra crop in 4k - if this is not a problem, take a look at it too.

    Have the E-M10 MK III too, good 4k with no crop, but it is somewhat different to use compared to the Panasonics.

  • kurthkurth

    @MarcioK....what do you mean "somewhat different to use" ?

  • MarcioKMarcioK

    @kurth - If you use peaking, you need to map 2 buttons to engage peaking + focus assist (aka image enlargement) to focus in pre shoot; - The LCD / EVF layouts are fixed (you could not have histogram + "bubble levels" in the same screen); - No zebras / highlights warnings in video mode; And some details that behave differently.

  • kurthkurth

    @MarcioK....how bout olympus color and ibis ? ...the evf , af, 4k detail. I don't like the gx85's evf color problem myself. And olympus color science seems best...of course w/o me owning an olympus. And of course , neither have mic in, which is limiting. And I think in this consideration, based on price, the fz1000 is priced at 5bills as well.

  • MarcioKMarcioK

    @kurth Ibis is very good. EVF is much better, larger and without the GX85 tearing problems (that never affected me, but it varies from person to person). Is a OLED EVF, though, there are problems with people that use polarized glasses, from what I've known.

    AF is CDAF, not reliable as usual for video. Olympus colors are there, same profiles as the stills. 4k detail is good, but Pannys are sharper (probably software sharpen).

  • RoadsidePicnicRoadsidePicnic

    Lumix DMC-G85

    Slight more expensive than GX, but have weather sealing and better ergonomics. Did not include G95 because highter crop factor and no significant improvement. Does not come with Vlog but I find built in tone curve is OK to deal with high dinamic scenes in 8bit anyway. I have used G85 some times and it feels very OK solid tool. Everything very similar to GX, kit comes with basic lens only.

    • UHD30p 100mbps

    • FHD60p 28mbps

    • DXO mark 71, 8bit video

    • Tilt and swivel LCD, viewfinder

    • IBIS, has mic input, weather sealed (big plus)

    • wifi, stopmotion, timelapse, control app, etc

    • seems to have clean hdmi out

    • personaly used it, seems solid

    $700 with 12-60 lenses plus card, can be $500 body only.

  • RoadsidePicnicRoadsidePicnic

    OM-D E-M10 Mark III

    Something like more advanced GX. Can be bought locally, unlike the panas. Looks like better choice for photo and doesn't look bad for video. Image quality looks good. No in camera stop motion means some limitations (also not supported in software) and it's like oly will not be improving this camera.

    • UHD30p 102mbps

    • FHD60p 52mbps

    • DXO mark ???, 8bit video

    • Tilt only LCD, viewfinder

    • IBIS, no mic input

    • wifi, timelapse, control app, no stop motion (no dragonframe support either)

    • Dont have clean hdmi out?

    • doesn't seem to be weather sealed but doesn't seem to be flimsy either

    $550 with lens in deals (not active).

  • RoadsidePicnicRoadsidePicnic

    Lumix DC-G9

    Very solid and capable, very well supported. Significantly more expensive than other options but looks like a system you can lock into for long time. Totally can see 6K PHOTO plus the rest being usefull into comissioned work. Kind of a high jump for someone with no native lens stock, but can see the Vivitar 1 series snaped into it (have one in mint stored home). Thing is, at this budget maybe it's more sensible to get GH5 with internal 422 400mbps? May be the two are a little off the scope, if not looks a good choice.

    • UHD60p 150mbps

    • FHD60p 28mbps

    • 6K PHOTO video mode

    • DXO mark ???, 8bit video, external 10bit 422

    • Tilt and swivel LCD, viewfinder

    • IBIS, mic and headphone input

    • wifi, timelapse, control app, stop motion (and dragonframe support)

    • Clean HDMI with 10bit 422

    • weather sealed looks very solid

    $1000 no lens full acessory kit.

  • IronFilmIronFilm

    G9 from deals or used.

    OP said "max $800 fully operational", wish I could find a G9 with the 12-60 kit lens for under $800!

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @IronFIlm

    G9 is now best deal in this price range (as it is effictively improved GH5), if you patient and careful can get body for $800-970.

    12-60mm cheap kit lens is $180-230.

  • RoadsidePicnicRoadsidePicnic

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev "However Panasonic has reduced the gap between the two models with the introduction of firmware 2.0 on the G9, with enables 10-bit 4:2:2 internal and external recording. HDR and V-Log L profiles are also available."

    I was unaware of that btw.

Add a Comment