I've always thought of micro four thirds as the little kid camera. I know people who love this system probably no longer want to read this, but it gets better... I was wrong. The cameras are just as good as any other system I owned. Actually, in terms of quality and design, the GX8 might be my favorite, I can see myself buying each camera as the years go on as long as the style and build quality aren't revamped. The system is weather sealed, meaning it's pretty much built to perfection. Factor that in with its form factor (rangefinder styled body) and you have a winner. Panasonic did a great job designing this camera.

Operation

The GX8 is really customizable, that's one of many things this system has going for it. I'm pretty much able to adjust everything to my liking, thus making operating this camera really easy. I'm also very lazy and I have yet to 100% complete that. Out of the box, the camera can be kind of annoying. I often find myself pressing buttons or changing settings that I didn't intend to. The white balance button get's hit constantly, which makes my camera go from AWB to cool in a matter of seconds. I'm constantly changing the live view feature, one minute I'm able to look at the screen, the next minute it just black. The rear function button, which I have yet to assign anything to, is always getting hit as well, it brings up something about shutter speed, however, I never read the actual message on the screen. Again, these all can be changed and customized to your own liking, I just have yet to do so.

The camera also comes with a tilting viewfinder, a feature people raved about since the GX7 (I still want to pick this camera up as a backup). I myself didn't really understand what was so great about it. Sure it's cool if you're recording video and need to get a lower shot with added stabilization, I guess it's also dope if you're shooting from the hip (a segment in which I'm working on), but in real life situations, it's not very practical. One can't walk and shoot like this, you'd run into a wall. I read it was supposed to make you more invisible on the streets, I just think it makes me stand out more.

My biggest worry with this camera was that it was going to have issues auto-focusing. My style of shooting needs super fast focusing with no shutter lag. This camera didn't let me down, it's auto-focus is above average, it's really fast, but at times it tends to focus elsewhere than what I assigned it to. I have a lot of pictures where the background is in focus but the subject looks to be in motion... Perhaps user error?

One thing I noticed is that since using the camera I haven't felt the need to shoot in burst mode as much, this could be me still getting used to the system or it could be the result of great images and a boost in confidence. As time goes on we'll see what the real reason is, but I felt as if I needed to inform you all about that.

Image Quality