It was released over one year ago and it still packs a punch in its market segment. The GM5 was included in DPReview’s yearly lineup which emphasizes what we already know, that’s it’s a very good little camera.
This miniature-like stylish interchangeable lens camera packs a 16MP Micro Four Thirds sensor, but unlike its predecessor, the GM1, it also comes equipped with a 1, 16 million pixels EVF.
Here are some of the key highlights.
- 16 MP Live MOS Micro 4/3 sensor
- Built-in Wi-Fi
- 1080p 60p video recording
- 1/16,000 maximum shutter speed
- Focus peaking
- Magnesium alloy construction
It’s easy to see why the GM5 is an impressive small camera. It’s so small that it’s sometimes easy to forget it’s a M4/3 system and you can change lenses. Despite its small size, it manages to feel solid and reliable. The mechanical shutter speed only lets you take the speed up to 1/500th and while that can be somewhat limiting, once you shift to electronic shutter you regain full access to a wide variety of shutter speeds that lead all the way up to 1/16,000.
The electronic viewfinder is far from being jaw dropping and it’s in fact quite small in size, but that too is something to be expected from such a small body.
This is an ideal camera to put in your day to day bag or even your pocket and forget about it completely. You can take it to a night out with friends or half-way across the world and it still wouldn’t be more uncomfortable than an iPhone.
In terms of image quality, the GM5 performs very well. The images look very good and if you take into account all the fantastic lenses available for the format, you’ve got yourself top quality that fits in your pocket. Put something like the superb Panasonic 20mm f/1.7II on and you’ve got a killer street photography kit.
Of course it’s hard to build a camera like this without some compromise. The 16MP sensor has seen a lot of action in Panasonic’s lineup and while it still performs admirably, it’s not the latest piece of technology you can buy. The flash sync speed is also a modest 1/50, but that again you’re probably not going to buy this camera for studio work.
The intuitive design and the two physical customizable Fn buttons make it easy and enjoyable to use. We think it’s an ideal day to day camera that can benefit from using top quality M4/3 lenses.
Click here for more details about Panasonic DMC-GM5.