I’ve been using my Panasonic G7 mirrorless 4K camera for all of 2017 so far, and I love
it.
I had a LOT of praise to say about it in my full review - which you can watch via the
link in the video description.
But having used it for so long for my work, I’ve run into some serious limitations of
it that now have me looking into a proper non-DSLR video camera for my a-cam.
Here’s the 5 reasons you might NOT want to buy a Panasonic G7 for video - right after
this.
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I’m EposVox, here to make tech easier and more fun today talking about some big issues
I have with Panasonic’s budget blowout - the G7.
The G85, or G80, or GX85 - camera name localization is really stupid - is a newer entry from Panasonic,
but it will still have most of these issues.
First and foremost, the mic pre-amps are terrible, and the audio format it records to is super
compressed and unusable for me.
This was especially sad since I came from the T3i - with that line from Canon notoriously
having some of the worst audio of the whole DSLR market - and this isn’t much better.
I can manually set levels to minus 12db and use an external pre-amp to run a mic to it,
but even if the levels turn out okay I can literally hear the trashed compression destroying
my audio.
It’s just unusable for me, forcing me to stick with two-system audio.
This ties directly into my second point here - the format it records to.
As one of the artificial product separation rules to keep the G7 a downgrade from the
GH4, the G7 records to a MP4 format that has to start a new file every 4 gigabytes.
Thankfully - up until you hit the 30 minute limit - it starts and stops recording on its
own, BUT there are a few frames dropped between that process.
Usually one or two, and every once in a while it doesn’t drop any.
But usually there are two frames separating the stop of file 1 and start of file 2.
This means that when I sync the footage with my externally-recorded audio, there are gaps
in the files.
I then have to go in and add markers to the timeline and make certain to cover these up
with b-roll or a flicker or black screen is present to the viewer.
This has been incredibly frustrating for my a-roll shooting.
Similarly with my third point, it has a 30 minute recording limit before it stutters
and then stops recording and you have to manually start it again.
I don’t run into this wall often, but it on top of the frame gap issue is a headache
when it happens.
Yes, there are methods online to extend that limit to 1 hour or, supposedly, unlimited.
BUT I don’t actually want to do that with the other issue still present - the limit
helps remind me to keep clips short and compensate for the missing frame issues.
Point number 4 - the continuous autofocus on this camera is AWFUL.
It’s fairly competent for the initial focus grab, but then it’s slow as hell to re-gain
focus, and often inaccurate.
And for the face-lock autofocus…
I could be standing still and talking and it will lose focus on my face for a while
and spend a long time hunting to get it back.
I ran into similar issues on the GH4 during my brief rental period, but it was at least
a lot quicker about grabbing focus back.
I don’t use autofocus a ton - mainly because my T3i didn’t even have continuous AF and
this one’s sucks - but when you’re constantly running solo recording yourself, it would
be really freaking handy to have.
These first 4 points are why I’m saving up for a beefy dedicated a-cam setup.
I need something that I can just set up as my a-cam and leave alone, and that has solid
mic pre-amps with XLR, non-limited recording, and solid autofocus.
Currently I’m looking into a C100 body with the dual pixel AF upgrade, as that seems to
be the cheapest option without sacrificing image quality, but we’ll see.
The $500 on the G7 was a big enough investment for me, 2 grand is a bit off of the table
right now.
Lastly, we have a potential quality control issue.
I’m still having issues with the main mode dial, as I mentioned in my review.
It doesn’t kick off while I’m recording anymore, but when I’m handling the camera,
it always winds up switching a lot between one of the adjacent photo modes and video
mode over and over til I change it forward and back.
And even then, the issue can come back quickly.
Sometimes when I turn it on, it will say “Mode dial in incorrect position,” too.
Very annoying.
Some have told me this has never once happened to them, and others have told me they experience
it, too.
5 things.
5 potentially deal-breaking issues for a video camera, that you should consider when deciding
whether or not you wanna purchase the Panasonic G7 for your video needs.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment down below and let’s talk about it.
Otherwise, like the video if you liked it, don’t forget to subscribe, and I’ll see
you in the next one.
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