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Hands on with the Panasonic Lumix GX7

Take a closer look at the Panasonic Lumix GX7 and some sample images taken on the camera.

Lexy Savvides
Lexy is an on-air presenter and award-winning producer who covers consumer tech, including the latest smartphones, wearables and emerging trends like assistive robotics. She's won two Gold Telly Awards for her video series Beta Test. Prior to her career at CNET, she was a magazine editor, radio announcer and DJ. Lexy is based in San Francisco.
Lexy Savvides
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1 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

Retro, meet future. This is the Panasonic Lumix GX7, a new interchangeable lens camera (ILC) from Panasonic.

The GX7 brings a 16-megapixel sensor, magnesium alloy frame and remote shooting options to the ILC fray. As opposed to earlier G-series models, the GX7 has image stabilisation built in to the camera body, which makes shooting with legacy lenses much more appealing. Focus peaking and video recording come as standard, too. Click here to read more about the specs of the GX7, and click through for hands-on photos.

The GX7 boasts features that put it more in line with a rangefinder-style camera than any other G-series that has come before.

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2 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

At the top of the GX7 is a mode dial and a control wheel around the shutter button. In conjunction with the usual adjustment wheel at the back of the camera, the control wheel can be used to adjust parameters when shooting in manual modes, such as aperture and shutter speed.

Within the menus, the direction and operation of these wheels can be adjusted to the photographer's liking.

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3 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

The EVF tilts up 90 degrees for a more discreet shooting experience, particularly for street photography and portraiture. At 2.76 million dots, the EVF is also very high resolution and offers 100 per cent coverage.

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4 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

At the back is a switch that slides between AF and MF modes. Focus peaking is available in both video and photo modes, with three different colour overlays and two intensity levels to choose from.

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5 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

The GX7 boasts features that put it more in line with a rangefinder-style camera than any other G-series that has come before.

PanasonicLumixGX7_6.jpg
6 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

At the top of the GX7 is a mode dial and a control wheel around the shutter button. In conjunction with the usual adjustment wheel at the back of the camera, the control wheel can be used to adjust parameters when shooting in manual modes, such as aperture and shutter speed.

Within the menus, the direction and operation of these wheels can be adjusted to the photographer's liking.

PanasonicLumixGX7_7.jpg
7 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

Time for some sample shots. These images were taken using the GX7 in manual mode using the Leica 25mm f/1.4 prime lens.

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8 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

The GX7 has a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 second, so you can use a wider aperture for shallow depth-of-field effects even without a neutral density filter.

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9 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

The GX7 has a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 second, so you can use a wider aperture for shallow depth-of-field effects even without a neutral density filter.

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10 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

The tilting 3-inch LCD touchscreen (1.04 million dots) comes 80 degrees up and 45 degrees down.

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11 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

A canoe at sunset, taken on the GX7. The camera does come with a built-in HDR mode, which snaps three images in quick succession at 1, 2 or 3EV either side of the metered exposure. This shot, however, was taken without the HDR mode active, using a custom picture mode preset.

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12 of 12 Lexy Savvides/CNET

Like earlier cameras, the GX7 comes with a number of different scene modes. Sunset-specific modes enhance contrast and saturation for more vibrant photographs straight out of camera.

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