Back in 2011 I bought into a secondary "Travel" sized interchangeable lens system which was also my first Mirrorless camera system, the format that is known as Micro 43rds. My first M43 camera was using the first generation M43 12mp sensor; an Olympus PEN EPL-2 (Which I would be glad to review if I can ever re-buy one for a reasonable price; they are somewhat hard to come by).
From this camera I would upgrade to an Olympus Pen EPM-2 and an Olympus OMD E-M5 (Mark I) neither of which I still own. In 2018 I switched from Olympus to Panasonic because at the time it was the better option ergonomically over the Olympus Pen F which I felt had too many controls packed onto a really small body, and it wasn't weathersealed. The OMD E M5 Mark III wouldn't be announced till a year and a half later, at which time my budget would be a lot tighter.
The Panasonic GX8 won me over due to its unique design and massive amount of customizable analog controls (which we will get into later). It is a mid-sized Micro 43rds camera and comperable in size to most "standard" mirrorless bodies today which means that it really wasn't "Micro" compared to something like an Olympus PEN or even Olympus OMD E-M10. It is a fairly unique camera and it bounced back and forth with being my "Primary" camera body several times since I picked it up in 2018. The first being the gap of time between Canon and Nikon as my primary system in 2019 and when I was forced to sell my first Nikon D7200 in 2020. So while I don't shoot this camera as much anymore it still remains my solid backup kit.
Released in 2015 the Panasonic GX8 was the first Panasonic with the current gen 20mp Micro 43rds (2x crop factor) sensor. While the bump in resolution was only 4 megapixels this sensor had a lot better Dynamic Range and was better with High ISO noise which made it fairly competitive to even some APS C sensors. As mentioned before this camera is weathersealed and the weathersealing on this body is far superior to what Canon and Nikon uses including a rubber lined stopper on the battery compartment similar to what the Olympus E M5 and E M1 use.
As with any M43 camera this camera can use either Panasonic or Olympus lenses; and having been a former Olympus shooter all my lenses for this camera are Olympus and they do just fine. This allowed me to easily switch to the Panasonic when it offered the ergonomics and features I was looking for at the time in my price range, which Olympus did not offer at the time.
The GX8 is loaded with features. It has 7 (yes seven) fully customizable function buttons; eight if you count the record button as well. There are another 4 virtual function buttons that can be accessed through the touchscreen. It also has three control wheels instead of 2, the third is typically set to exposure compensation and has EV stops printed on it.
It was also the first Panasonic camera to support Dual IS, albeit I own no IS lenses that are compatible with it as of current. It still has a 4 axis In Body Image Stabilization which is behind the 5 axis IBIS of Olympus but on par with what Sony uses and it's more then sufficient enough to make me happy with it at any focal length.
Additionally this was the first ICL camera I owned that had a silent Electronic Shutter, which is a great feature for Street Photography and Nature Photography as you can reduce the amount of attention you draw to yourself by not having a loud mechanical shutter fire when you are taking a photo. E Shutter does have its limits however, and can create strange patterns in the image when taking photos with the E Shutter under Flourcent light due to the refresh rate of the sensor.
This camera has no Built in Flash, which is fairly common in pro/higher end prosumer ICL camera bodies. While in a pinch a pop up flash is nice to have for a small fill flash I do fine without it, and this camera is great to take to Museums, Aquariums, shows etc where Flash Photography is not allowed.
Overall there is really nothing I can complain about on this camera. Sure, it isn't as good in low light as my newer Nikon Z50 or even D7200 but it's the latest upgrade on the system that got me into Mirrorless cameras, and likely one I don't really ever need to upgrade. I don't shoot it as much as I used to but its a great fallback camera and makes a wonderful companion on a day of Street Photography or when I want something slightly smaller then my DSLR kit without sacrificing on what lenses to bring.
The large tilting periscope style EVF of the GX8 is one of the best and most unique features to this camera, and its one of the few Micro 43rds camera with this option that did not take up the Hotshoe to do so (The other cameras with this feature are the GX7 and GX9 which lack the weather-sealing of the GX8). This makes for some unique shooting angles this camera can pull off in bright conditions where a flip out or rotating screen is not a good option.
Enjoy a few photos I took while on a short vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. I have many more examples from this camera posted as it's likely been the camera I've taken the most shots with that I currently still own.
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