GX8 vs. War and Peace

[Jorgen Udvang]

Compared to Leo Tolstoy's major work, "War and Peace", the user manual of the Panasonic GX8 is relatively minor, a third of the size at only 403 pages in the pdf version. Still, it represents a major challenge for this grumpy old fart who cannot even be bothered to read the two page instruction sheet on how to assemble the foot for the new computer monitor correctly.

Still, after all my ranting over the autofocus of mirrorless cameras in general and the GX8 in particular, I found that I'd better start browsing the headlines of that book (the GX8 user manual, not War and Peace). What I've found so far is rather interesting, and I have to admit that

1. This camera has some very useful tricks up its sleeve.
2. There is a reason why it offers 7 physical fn buttons that can be programmed, 9 buttons with fixed functions and another 5 soft fn buttons on the LCD than can also be programmed.

That's 21 buttons plus 5 dials and levers, and no, I didn't count the shutter and lens releases. I don't know how far Leo Tolstoy came within the first 403 pages, but I'll make a comparison one day. What is certain is that it would be embarrassing to replace this camera with something else before I've studied and utilised most of the options available to me when using the camera.

None of those buttons will of course solve the shutter shock issue and the rolling shutter I have to live with as a result of being forced to use the electronic shutter. AF-C will also still be what it is. However, I've found that by configuring the single area AF differently than I've done previously and by using that in combination with AF/AE Lock, I can probably increase my success rate for tricky, but stationary or slow moving subjects considerably. I'll be travelling again from tomorrow. Let's see if I can find something to take photos of

--

PS. I was so annoyed with this camera last week, and was so sure that I'd put it up for sale during the weekend, that I sold one of my batteries to a colleague with a G85. Now I've ordered another two batteries :ROTFL:

PPS. I'll blame all this on the old OM-1, a camera with an on/off switch, an ISO dial and a shutter release. I still tend to use cameras as if they were digital versions of the OM-1. I might have to develop my brain slightly. Either that or buy a Leica M-D :grin:

 

[rayyan]

The only dials I like to handle are not necessarily the ones on a camera.
And I prefer not to read manuals. If one has to read camera manuals, it takes the fun out of photography, for me at least. As in other things I like to fiddle with...no manuals are read or required.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

The only dials I like to handle are not necessarily the ones on a camera.
And I prefer not to read manuals. If one has to read camera manuals, it takes the fun out of photography, for me at least. As in other things I like to fiddle with...no manuals are read or required.

I agree, Rayyan, but in this case, I like the camera in question enough to compromise

Yes, I'm a man without principles :ROTFL:

 

[Paul_Kerfoot]

My G85 user manual is 320 pages and it doesn't come with the camera. It takes most of a ream of paper to print it so I just use it on-line. Learning to use a camera, shouldn't claim a major portion of your life. Don't get me started about Lightroom books.

 

[Godfrey]

I don't know about anyone else, but I enjoy reading the manuals for all the devices I own. I learn a lot of things about them that way and use much more of what they're capable of if I actually understand them thoroughly. This goes for things as simple as my old Leica CL (film) camera just as much as it does for my current whiz-bang electronic camera. For instance, I hadn't read the section on loading the film into that CL through the first two of them I owned; much as I loved the camera, loading it was never easy. I read the manual when I bought the third and realized I'd been doing it incorrectly ... done correctly, it's sure and consistent, takes a third the time, and I never screwed it up. Ninety percent or more of the questions I see surfacing on all the various camera forums, over and over again, can be easily answered by just reading the instruction manual.

Besides, as a technical writer in my last career position writing documentation for complex software products, it always annoys me when someone complains "this thing doesn't work right!" and it becomes perfectly obvious that they never even bothered to open the manual I labored on for six months: The answer to their problem was in the first page I wrote. No wonder technical writers are undervalued by so many development teams: buyers don't bother trying to understand the products they buy, they just want to complain. So the products are often dumbed down to suit the childish proclivities of the users, and much of their real value is mostly lost. I consider that a huge and sad waste.

G

"Simple is best, but the world can only be just so simple." - Albert Einstein

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I don't know about anyone else, but I enjoy reading the manuals for all the devices I own. I learn a lot of things about them that way and use much more of what they're capable of if I actually understand them thoroughly. This goes for things as simple as my old Leica CL (film) camera just as much as it does for my current whiz-bang electronic camera. For instance, I hadn't read the section on loading the film into that CL through the first two of them I owned; much as I loved the camera, loading it was never easy. I read the manual when I bought the third and realized I'd been doing it incorrectly ... done correctly, it's sure and consistent, takes a third the time, and I never screwed it up. Ninety percent or more of the questions I see surfacing on all the various camera forums, over and over again, can be easily answered by just reading the instruction manual.

Besides, as a technical writer in my last career position writing documentation for complex software products, it always annoys me when someone complains "this thing doesn't work right!" and it becomes perfectly obvious that they never even bothered to open the manual I labored on for six months: The answer to their problem was in the first page I wrote. No wonder technical writers are undervalued by so many development teams: buyers don't bother trying to understand the products they buy, they just want to complain. So the products are often dumbed down to suit the childish proclivities of the users, and much of their real value is mostly lost. I consider that a huge and sad waste.

G

"Simple is best, but the world can only be just so simple." - Albert Einstein

You are right of course, Godfrey, and my reluctancy to read through hundreds of pages to be able to use my camera properly doesn't change that.

However!

I had a look at the user manual for the Olympus OM-1, the camera that I keep getting back to. Admittedly, the manual is 72 pages no less. However, the user manual itself, which is very detailed, only fills the first 30 pages. The remaining pages are a catalogue of all parts of the vast OM System. This was not only useful for the photographer, but also worked as a great sales tool. I should know, having drooled over those pages more times than I can think of.

The user manual of the Leica M-D, the only current camera that is comparable to the OM-1 when it comes to simplicity, is 54 pages. The total number of pages per manual is twice that, but there are two languages per manual.

Would the quality of my images suffer if I used an M-D, or an OM-1 for that matter, instead of the GX8. Probably not. Not many of them anyway. Many of the photos that I didn't get and some of those that were out of focus due to my lack of knowledge about the camera's AF system would probably have been achievable with a simpler, manual focus system.

A barebones GX8, along the lines of the M-D, would be interesting. I can set the GX8 up for all manual of course, preferably after I've acquired another body, so that I don't have to change settings back and forth. I'll consider that... before I start saving for the M-D

 

[Godfrey]

If the GX8 is like the E-M1, you could define two user configs and swap back and forth between your "manual" camera and your "automatic" camera with a button press. I have my Leica SL set with four user configs and it turns out to be very handy to do that.

But the concept of using a full automation camera like a manual camera is not like using the M-D at all. The M-D is only a manual camera, you don't have any other options. So you use it in a way that is traditional to the use of old film cameras, like your OM-1 or my Nikon FM (or OM-1, or whatever) without thinking of what options you might or might not have. You don't have any, so there's nothing in that direction to think about. You concentrate on how to make the camera do what you want from the basis of traditional photographic settings alone.

It's funny, but I remember all the myriad settings that my E-M1 requires me to set up pretty easily, but every time I have to set the date on the M-D, I have to go back to the manual. I guess that's because I use the date setting facility so infrequently...

G

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

If the GX8 is like the E-M1, you could define two user configs and swap back and forth between your "manual" camera and your "automatic" camera with a button press. I have my Leica SL set with four user configs and it turns out to be very handy to do that.

But the concept of using a full automation camera like a manual camera is not like using the M-D at all. The M-D is only a manual camera, you don't have any other options. So you use it in a way that is traditional to the use of old film cameras, like your OM-1 or my Nikon FM (or OM-1, or whatever) without thinking of what options you might or might not have. You don't have any, so there's nothing in that direction to think about. You concentrate on how to make the camera do what you want from the basis of traditional photographic settings alone.

It's funny, but I remember all the myriad settings that my E-M1 requires me to set up pretty easily, but every time I have to set the date on the M-D, I have to go back to the manual. I guess that's because I use the date setting facility so infrequently...

G

Exactly!

I'll see what kind of options I have with the GX8 settings.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Success! After reading and reconfiguring, my relationship with the GX8 has improved so much that I've bought a second, used but low mileage, body. I'll probably buy another GM5 within 3 months as well. Two of each will give me all the options I want.

 

[Godfrey]

There's good value in making the effort to understand the device. However complex or simple it might be, it's surely better to know what does what so you can make it do what you want easily.

G