$500 Lumix vs $1500 Lumix for Street Photography

The Lumix S9 and Lumix GX80 share some similarities, but mostly differences. As Lumix street photography cameras, these two are great options for street photographers.

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⏰ Timestamps
0:00 - Two Lumix Cameras
0:29 - Size Comparison
1:11 - S9 Street Lens
2:00 - GX80 Street Lens
2:28 - S9 Street Photography
4:01 - GX80 Street Photography
4:44 - Sensor Formats
5:19 - Depth of Field
6:08 - S9 Value
7:24 - GX80 Value

#streetphotography #megapicskills

[GeorgeHolden]

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[lorenzoomero]

The GX80 was my first mirrorless camera… so many memories 🥺😭😭

[TL-xwfh]

Can't agree more, George. I had the GX80 for a few years now, and it is a fantastic camera, and with EVF!!! Never seen the need for a FF camera too. I've taken it on many holidays over the years, with the 12-32mm lens and that's all I need to get great images. As I've said before the Panasonic S9 is a still born camera. A camera desperately looking for someone to buy it.

[PPLRRN]

S9 for me. I can buy a single good zoom lens and be done with it due to the hybrid zoom. That in itself is a good value knowing how expensive lenses are.

[malcolmwright]

The lumix GX series is very good value. I picked up a GX9, 12-32 kit lens (in originalbox), plus 25mm F1.7, 14mm F2.5, and Oly 40-150 F4.0 to 5.6 for just £500. Everything works, and it works well with my existing Olympus M4/3 lenses.
As for street photgraphy, shallow depth of field is a disadvantage, in my opinion as it might as well be studio work if the depth of field doesn’t give a clue to the location.

[gillyguitars]

I absolutely love my GX80 especially when paired with the Pana Leica 15mm f1.7 which is the lens you should've bought instead of the 20mm. Really fast and lens!

[martingreenberg]

Thank you George for this comparison.

I own the GX85/9 and have no intention to purchase the S9. The S9 is being marketed for context creators. I am not in that market. From my perspective as a street photographer, the S9 is a suboptimal body. Glad you purchased a cheap 35mm plastic view finder. I’m sure that substantially improved your experience.

The GX85 is a lovely camera for street photography. Small and lightweight. Very nice image quality. The Hd video is nice but of course LUMIX for some reason disabled the body by not including an audio jac. Why LUMIX did you do that? As you point out, there is a large selection of nice M43 glass available. The L mount doesn’t have a wide choice of lenses for the S9.

The price comparison between these bodies is crazy. The GX85 plus lens is bout 1/4 the price of the S9 without the lens. I’m not convinced the full frame sensor is worth anywhere near the price premium for the S9. To be fair, the S9 isn’t designed with street photography in mind.

In this comparison the GX85 is the clear winner. So will LUMIX put the G9ii guts in the S9 body? I hope so.

Mask On Nurse Marty (Ret)

[GrainOnTheGo]

GX80 has an EVF which the S9 lacking is just wild to me. I can't fathom how LUMIX saw the S9 and the demand for rangefinder style cameras and didn't add an EVF. I have an S5ii and really love it but would've instantly traded it for an S9 with an EVF.

[MichaelGerrard]

I used the GX80 for four years, a fab camera. I now use the GX9, even better! I bought mine a few years ago, new, for less than you paid for your second hand GX80! This is how crazy the second hand market is now. Pany should release a new GX camera, it makes much more sense.
By the way, I mostly use the electronic shutter, it works well. The 4K video on the GX80 and GX9 is good in my opinion. The AF is also pretty good, at least I find it fast!

[MicroFourNerds]

Aaah the gx80 🫶🫶🫶🫶 my second biggest selling regret after the Pen F. (Now I juat hoard everything to be on the safe side 😂)

Now, if we could just have a new gx80 🤷‍♀️🤞

[grantclarke]

A tip for those shooting with the gx80 for autofocus: use point focus! Just tap on the screen to choose the area and focus. It's pretty quick and snappy (probably nothing close to the top end these days) but I actually prefer it to full autofocus cuz I can be more specific about what is actually in focus. No focus on the tip of the nose!

[crisrocchi]

True, the gx80 has no special video specifications, no microphone input, but the 4k 25/30p combined with the stabilized sensor also allows you to shoot beautiful footage. Obviously, if you work with video it can't be your only camera, but it can be a second camera or a travel camera for video too.

[derrenleepoole]

Depth of field between different sensor sizes isn't really a consideration if you're doing street photography IMHO. If you're shooting street, quite often you're zone focusing, or at east shooting narrower apertures to ensure you nail acceptable focus. At that point, the benefits of one sensor size over another is negated.

[LesFilmsduRegard]

Hello,
I also own the DMC-GX80. An excellent camera...
...However, I would recommend the Leica 15mm F/1.7 lens. I have had the Lumix 20mm in the past. The sharpness is superb, but it has 3 major flaws for me:
- Pumping during focusing.
- Latency during focusing.
- Audible pumping noise during focusing, recordable in video mode.
Best regrards,

[Tethysmeer]

I am still happy with my gx80 12-32 for travel, camping etc. Would love an update with stacked sony sensor, better evf.

[Devvy]

Nice video. I'm half expecting to see myself in the background in some of your shots as I'm always out and about in town 👀

[ryanchai]

Actually the autofocus issues you might be facing with the GX80 might be due to the Lumix 20mm F1.7, my EM5 is also a lot slower with the Lumix 20mm F1.7, but it is fast with the Olympus 14-42mm Kit lens. The Lumix 20mm F1.7 is quite a slow focusing lens in the micro four thirds space.

[eduardolara]

Great! I just did the same, bought an old Yashica wide/tele accessory OVF for the vintage Yaschica GSN rangefinder film camera, and plan to use it with one of my adapted 35mm M Mount lenses and plan to take it out for a shoot this weekend. I keep the S9 on aperture priority, keep the lens at F8, and limit the shutter to 1/60 and ISO on AUTO. Will also try with the Sigma 45mm F2.8 AF, which I bought. I bought the S9 after years of using the Leica Q and Q2, which, while both very good, had a lens that was still too wide for me, and the overall size was still too bulky. That aside, good comparison between these two cameras, I had the LUMIX GM-1 several years ago and actually took a lot of very good photos just with the back LCD, which gave me the confidence to go ahead and try out the S9. Thanks for the video.

[TheSourtoast]

If I was going to replace my GX85 with a full frame I would go with the Sony A7C. I just can't live without an EVF. And you're right about the lens options and price difference between Lumix L and Sony.
Back to MFT, the Olympus 45mm is a great prime in a tiny package for "across the street" photography and portraits. I always carry it with the 20mm and a Laowa 7.5mm in a small bag.

[sorahare]

Great video! The GX80 appeals to me so much recently, but the camera stores in my city don't sell it anymore, so I keep looking for similar options.