Panasonic G7 Hands-On Field Test

The Panasonic GH4 is one of TCSTV's favourite cameras for video, and a very underrated one for stills. The new Panasonic G7 gives you all the GH4's still capabilities in a lighter, much less expensive body. They were even good enough to include 4K video! Is this the best budget hybrid body on the market? Chris Niccolls takes a look.

Purchase the Panasonic G7 from The Camera Store:

Shot and edited by Jordan Drake
Filmed on the Panasonic GH4

[YouMotorcycle]

I wonder if they knew what an absolute future legend they had in their hands when they made this. G7 still holds up well today. Great camera

[DarkSwordsman]

Jeez the quality of this video really held up for over 4 years. That's some crazy production quality. Lol

[anthonyh]

This is the video that convinced me to buy the G7. I had it for many years so many videos so much experience. recently I sold it after I upgraded but it’s still a great camera and I’m always happy to pass it on to someone else

[TheCameraStoreTV]

Jordan and I have looked at the files closely at 3200 ISO and at the other ranges and to its credit the G7 compared very favorably against the competition. We were quite surprised. Now certainly the A6000 showed the most chromatic noise but that is easy to remove and we didn't want to process any of the files to keep things objective. Its hard to see on youtube but the main reason we still feel the Nikon and Sony are slightly better is that the Panasonic shows minor but visible smoothing in the files at high ISO. A little detail is lost and we feel the Sony and Nikon would process out better. Still what a fantastic job Panasonic has done with the G7 files. Its very close.
Chris @ The Camera Store TV

[AshPlatt]

kind of off topic, but you're a great presenter!!! Makes watching these lengthy reviews much more enjoyable - good work! :)

[DIYTinker]

I am an amateur/enthusiast photographer and my main focus is family photos and kids videos. Use to have canon T5i, sigma lens with point and shoot S110. Been waiting for a 4K solution, and i finally sold all canon gear and bought the G7 ($450 with kit on 2015 black friday) with LX100 ($480 silver also on black friday). I do miss some of canons functional features but i am getting use to panasonics layout and I love the G7 video quality with kit lens and photo with both kit and 60mm macro lens. The LX100 is as amazing. Panasonic's new 3 year warranty (after rebate) sealed the deal. This review is awesome and sums up my experience as well. CamerStoreTV, thx for for making great reviews, Sub to your channel!

[mountainhobo]

Guys, you're overdoing the V-Log. It's all middle gray now.

[codythep]

You guys have been AT IT for years. Love to see these reviews done well and holding up. What a beating location as well!

[orange]

Filming on this (gh4 vlog) is stunning! Colours and sharpness so beautiful.

[bentoby]

I gotta say that was a really good review. Descriptive, understandable, and you dont just spit specs at us. You really tell us what you think and what we should know. Props to you.

[shawnmanh]

Thank you so much for your informative and very detail review. You made me a G7 owner just now.

[Hanzilla]

FINALLY!! THANK YOU so much guys. After every decent Youtube review channel skipped reviewing the excellent G5 and G6 I am really glad you guys took the time to make such a thorough review. I love my G5 but it is getting worn and old and I was wondering what to replace it with. This really helped me a lot. Brilliant. Thank you :-)

[HeathcliffBlair]

Thanks for the review. I bought the G7 yesterday (the review helped) and have compared its video with my GH4s at identical settings. Same 4K image resulted, although the G7 seems a bit brighter as the review pointed out. This may be because of some internal level tweaking going on rather than an improved sensor. Headphone jack is not a problem as I, for one, always record audio off-camera. Build quality is actually better than I expected (quite solid and not as plasticy as some have said, and better than, say, a Canon 600D), and it's not that much smaller than the GH4. The apparent absence of a potential S-Log (or V-Log whatever it's called) upgrade is no big deal either. Judging from some of the material I've seen, I'm beginning to suspect that Log profiles aren't all they're cracked up to be for mid-range cameras like this - people just can't seem to grade it attractively beyond a certain flat contrast point and it can end up looking mushy. The Cinelike profiles seem good enough for now.

I had intended to use the G7 as a B camera with my GH4. Now I think they're both pretty much equal A cams. The G7 really IS a GH4 minus a few unimportant bells and whistles. Amazing camera for the price - five years ago or less you'd be waving goodbye to 10 grand for a camera like this. Canon, Nikon etc could be in real trouble if this keeps up.

Thanks again.

[elidanceali]

I've been waiting for this review! Thanks so much guys. I currently own a G5 and want an upgrade - looking over the market I didn't expect to like the g7 so much. Basically everything I didn't like about the G5 the G7 has improved!

[RockstarLittle]

As a budget (very amateur) film maker this seems like a good option for me. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets some unofficial firmware updates to lift that 30min video limit, after all that came out of the EU in 2007, taxing anything over 30mins an extra 5%.
Are all the kit lens options pretty much naff or would it be worthwhile going for the slightly more expensive kit lens option?

[AndyLSB]

the audio quality of this video is over 9000!!! great job ...

[BrendanMacWade]

Excellent review. You helped me choose the GX1 as my street camera, and I'm considering this as my second Micro Four Thirds body. I'm not wild about the SLR appearance, but the fast shooting and video capability makes this a smart second camera choice for this platform. I have the 45-150 version of that kit lens, and I am very impressed with the sharpness. Obviously plastic mounts and the lack of serious sealing will deter professionals and photojournalists. But this looks like a great device for the enthusiast.

[patrickhemus]

Just bought this camera used. Very happy with my research and purchase. Seems I found a high quality, budget gem.

[dpc]

It's amazing how five years fly by. We started with the gh4 as our main camera and g7s became our b cameras. We now use a varicam and the gh4 is STILL our b camera as nothing has replaced it yet. The g7s only had hdmi, which didn't hold up like the gh4 has. Next year the cameras will all change. All in only 5 years, it's crazy!

[joeframo]

Hey Chris hey Jordan I finally got my G7 it's a great camera thank you for sharing this video I know it's old but that camera works great I love the 4K