Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX80 review

The 16-million-pixel GX80 sits below the GX8 in Panasonic’s range

Panasonic Lumix GX80 – At a glance:

• 16-million-pixel Four Thirds sensor, no optical low-pass filter
• ISO 200-25,600 (ISO 100-25,600 extended)
• Dual IS: 5-axis in-body stabilisation working with 2-axis in-lens
• 4K video recording and 4K Photo mode
• 2.76-million-dot equivalent EVF (16:9 aspect ratio)
• 1.04-million-dot 3-inch tilting touchscreen
• New low-vibration shutter: 60sec – 1/4000sec (1sec – 1/16000 sec electronic)
• £509 body only, £599 with 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

While Panasonic was the first company to make a compact system camera with the G1 in 2008, in the intervening years it’s not really settled on any specific kind of design.

Its GX series aimed at enthusiast photographers is a case in point. The GX1 was a viewfinderless fixed-screen camera designed as a spiritual successor to the much-loved GF1. Its replacement, the GX7, was a slightly larger camera with a built-in, tilting electronic viewfinder, a tilting LCD screen and in a first for Panasonic, in-body image stabilization.

Last year’s replacement for this popular model was the GX8: an evolution of the design with a fully-articulated screen and weathersealing, but in a much bulkier body that wasn’t universally well-received.

Now with the GX80, Panasonic has gone back to essentially the same template as the GX7, in making a compact rangefinder-style body with a tilting screen and built-in EVF. There are a few omissions – the EVF is fixed rather than tilting, and the GX7’s focus mode switch has disappeared – but in exchange you get all of Panasonic’s latest and greatest technology, most notably a new dual IS system that combines 5-axis in-body image stabilization with 2-axis optical IS when using suitably-equipped lenses. This being Panasonic there’s also 4K video recording and its associated 4K Photo mode for extracting 8MP stills from 30fps 4K footage.

Panasonic’s 12-32mm (24-64mm equivalent) kit zoom retracts to a very compact size

In short, the GX80 Panasonic appears to have hit on a Goldilocks formula – not too big, not too small, and not too expensive either. It costs £509 body only, £599 in a kit with the tiny retracting12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS pancake zoom, or £729 in a dual-lens kit adding the compact 35-100mm f/4-5.6 OIS telezoom. Three colour options will be on offer: all black, silver and black (exclusive to Jessops), and silver and brown (exclusive to John Lewis). So how well does it work?