DevonChris

I use a GX8 daily for commercial photography and video and have never once encountered shutter shock.
In fact I cannot remember taking a photo with camera shake or that is out of focus when using the 12-35 f/2.8.
I now use a Voigt 25mm f/0.95 as my main lens so that takes more care (I much prefer manual lenses and love this Voigt), but I remain hugely impressed by this camera (I dumped my Nikon D810 and pro glass for it).
The two factors that have elevated it for me are :
Using the Voigt lens for photography. The still images are very close to Leica quality. Using a Ninja Star for video. the images look awesome and are very gradeable.

I use a GX8 daily for commercial photography and video and have never once encountered shutter shock.
In fact I cannot remember taking a photo with camera shake or that is out of focus when using the 12-35 f/2.8.
I now use a Voigt 25mm f/0.95 as my main lens so that takes more care (I much prefer manual lenses and love this Voigt), but I remain hugely impressed by this camera (I dumped my Nikon D810 and pro glass for it).
The two factors that have elevated it for me are :
Using the Voigt lens for photography. The still images are very close to Leica quality. Using a Ninja Star for video. the images look awesome and are very gradeable.

The cool thing is that the custom setting remembers everything, like white balance and shutter speed settings.
I had my first paid video job this weekend, to record a local Carnival parade.  I was all set to go with my GX80s and I was using C1 for 4k/25fps and C2 for 1080p/50fps and set both with similar settings except for shutter speed.  It was really easy to reset everything back to baseline.  I could easily have set up C3 for time-lapse as well, but I was using my LX100 for that.
I was using the two GX80 with the 12-35 and 35-100 zoom lenses plus LX100.  A Shure VP83F for general audio and Sony SX1000 hand recorder for recording a couple of specific performances.  The audio wasn't going to be critical due to the rain/wind and the client was expecting a montage over samba music anyway (no interviews).  I'm hoping that the Instamic ships some day as a small, high quality mic like that would be helpful to plant on people/things when shooting spontaneously.  
Everything was packed into a 13" messenger bag as well as a Mefoto tripod and a couple small clamp/gorilla pod support, extra batteries, cards and rain protection gear as the outlook wasn't good.  I was prepped to be on my feet and mobile for about 5 hours documenting the parade setup its progression through the town.
Just as things started happening the skies unleashed torrential rains and due to the lightning (and large costumes being erected in an open field) they cancelled the event.  I only got some shots during the early preparations and performers packing up between large cloudbursts.  I did like the quality of the limited stuff that I got, however was very disappointed as it would have been a very fun event to video.  Very unfortunate...
The most useful thing that I had with me that day was a head-mounted umbrella that kept my hands free and my cameras dry.

Look - I have to disagree regarding my gx7 - no matter how carefully I white balance, and grade, there always seems to be something wrong going on in the red to orange range for me.. I try to avoid those colours, and yeah, it can look pretty good but I get to the point where I think its ok, especially with filmconvert..  - then look at any Canon footage straight out of cammera and think that it just looks so right, more pleasing.. the gx85 does look alot better at this stage to me though - from what I've seen it looks somewhat Blackmagic like with the colours.. slightly more neutral than the Canon's and looks like a great base colour look for grading!
Two frames from where I'm happy with the Panny's colour:)

@John Mathews On the GX80 can you use manual exposure, setting both SS and aperture independently, in "C" mode?
I have been trying for months to find a way to use manual mode on the GX8 in its version of "C" mode.
Thanks, Chris

VAT would not be charged for export to non EU countries.
Interestingly when we leave the EU, we in the UK would not have to pay VAT if we bought goods from Europe (unless that gets negotiated away in the exit deal).

I use a GX8 daily for commercial photography and video and have never once encountered shutter shock.
In fact I cannot remember taking a photo with camera shake or that is out of focus when using the 12-35 f/2.8.
I now use a Voigt 25mm f/0.95 as my main lens so that takes more care (I much prefer manual lenses and love this Voigt), but I remain hugely impressed by this camera (I dumped my Nikon D810 and pro glass for it).
The two factors that have elevated it for me are :
Using the Voigt lens for photography. The still images are very close to Leica quality. Using a Ninja Star for video. the images look awesome and are very gradeable.

Bright light is my nr1 issue the last couple of years. ISO800 solved any lowlight problems I ever had. The Digital Bolex gives me a nice iso 160.
But I dream of a nice and clean native ISO 50.
The constant ND workaround is getting boring. I've started skipping the 180 degree shutter to get around it.

Yay, it works on the GX8 Many thanks, John and Fuzzy.
I've spent ages puzzling over how to get manual exposure to work with the custom modes and couldn't find out how to do it in the operating manual.
I have just been using the motion picture setting with exposure mode set to "M".
These Panny cameras are really excellent. I'm so pleased that I moved to the GX8 from Nikon FF for pro photo and video work.

Yay, it works on the GX8 Many thanks, John and Fuzzy.
I've spent ages puzzling over how to get manual exposure to work with the custom modes and couldn't find out how to do it in the operating manual.
I have just been using the motion picture setting with exposure mode set to "M".
These Panny cameras are really excellent. I'm so pleased that I moved to the GX8 from Nikon FF for pro photo and video work.

If you want manual motion picture shooting when you move the dial to "C", then you'll have to build the camera state that you want.
For instance, under menu 2 of the motion picture settings, I'd put "Exposure Mode" to "M" for manual, set all the other camera settings of my preference, then save the state of the camera in the menu: Custom (the wrench icon with a C next to it) --> Custom Set Mem.--> C1.
After that, whenever I go to "C" on the dial, I'd have that camera state ready to go under the C1 option. 

Yes. No problem. Put it in "M" mode and save it as a custom mode. You can adjust your aperture and shutter independently. I wasn't aware of the GX8 limitation...

Thanks, John. I'll try that on the GX8.

I think that's why complaints about Panasonic DR seem overblown to me. Yes, it's less than some LOG/RAW cameras, but the shadows are so recoverable, the highlight roll off so smooth, and the midtone noise so filmic that I rarely have a problem making it look good. 

@John Mathews On the GX80 can you use manual exposure, setting both SS and aperture independently, in "C" mode?
I have been trying for months to find a way to use manual mode on the GX8 in its version of "C" mode.
Thanks, Chris

I found something about the GX8 out by accident today which blew my mind.
I was setting up manual focus and double clicked the MF Assist which was set to full screen. I was recording via the Ninja Star at the same time, but when I checked the file after the shoot I had recorded the magnified MF assist screen, which created an amazing close up of the subject.
It means that you can double tap the screen to punch in and out of zoom via the MF assist screen. The quality didn't seem to suffer either.
The client was delighted that I had got such an amazing close up of his woodworking skills!
It would be interesting to know if this happens with the other Panny cams when using an external recorder.
Yes, it sounds like the GX80 would offer the better value and it is great to record both internally and externally at the same time for redundancy.

I found something about the GX8 out by accident today which blew my mind.
I was setting up manual focus and double clicked the MF Assist which was set to full screen. I was recording via the Ninja Star at the same time, but when I checked the file after the shoot I had recorded the magnified MF assist screen, which created an amazing close up of the subject.
It means that you can double tap the screen to punch in and out of zoom via the MF assist screen. The quality didn't seem to suffer either.
The client was delighted that I had got such an amazing close up of his woodworking skills!
It would be interesting to know if this happens with the other Panny cams when using an external recorder.
Yes, it sounds like the GX80 would offer the better value and it is great to record both internally and externally at the same time for redundancy.

GX80 manual says the same... I don't know why Panasonic is doing that to us- then they don't tell us if it's 8-bit 4:2:2 or 4:2:0. I believe the GX80 one-ups the GX8 on that point because it will record internally at the same time. I would say both cameras are very capable. However, I believe this person is after value based on what he said... I'm going to say the GX80 beats the GX8 because it's less expensive. If he wants weather-sealing though, the GX80 is NOT the way to go- choose GX8 of GH4.
I just pixel-peeped it and still couldn't tell a difference. Staying with the original file.

The poor old GX8 keeps being overlooked, yet it is the best of the Panny bunch for photography and superb for video too.
I did a shoot today with the GX8/Nikon 28-70/Metabones/Atomos Ninja Star and the quality was really amazing at 1080.
I love using the GX8 with the Ninja Star as it is so easy to get very high quality footage with long battery life in both the cam and external recorder and for some reason you still get live view when streaming via HDMI even though the manual says that you can't

I wear glasses - if I want things smoothed out, I just take them off.
On a serious note, until TV is properly 1080p, I'm just going to stick with a HD TV - 720p upscaled to 1080p looks fine & Blu-Ray is about as sharp as I can handle. Also, 4K TVs are waaaaaay more expensive than HD TVs.
As far as filming things goes, BM Pocket produces one of the best images that I've seen/used for quite a long while (10yrs or so) - it's not about sharpness, never has been, never will be. Look at what most DPs say - they're trying to soften the image & that's for cinema, which you would've thought needed a bigger/better resolution for the bigger screen. So you can take your sharpness and.......
If you buy a 4K camera to re-frame & then downscale to 1080p - what a complete & utter waste of time. Learn to frame/film properly & appreciate the beauty of a great camera. I'd prefer to rent a proper 4K camera with a decent codec, instead of using something with a crippling 8-bit mess.

BTW I recommend making the WB adjustment (A:3 G:3) even for a manually whitebalanced scene.
Your kids are so carefree fuzzy! I wish I had subjects like that to test my camera settings with.
Jase, really nice shots as aways. I think the -5 everything works well for you. Do you use idynamic or change the highlight curve at all?

Will do a comparison this weekend and show you the results. Those shots are not OOC; i applied filmconvert and then adjusted the lows and highs as well as correcting for skin tones, although i am not 100% satisfied with the first shot of my brother... it was just a quick grade which still needs a bit of tweaking.
awesome you joined the voigtländer club

I just rolled off those shots with that Inazuma setting-suggestion.  FWIW, I didn't set the white balance.  It was on auto white balance.  I'll experiment more manual Kelvin as well as presets.

Very nice. You're nailing it with this set up
From my testing, I was surprised that:
The Panasonic colours are actually accurate once that red channel is tamed. White balance is very accurate when you do a manual WB using a grey card. I'm intrigued that you use a WB adjust. Is that a permanent setting or did you use those values just for that shoot?
I think people who complain about Panny colours are probably not using WB properly or haven't spent time learning the nuances of their camera. 
 

Natural Color Profile: 0,-5,-5,-2.
Indoor shots with a 55mm FD lens, Chinese Speedbooster, no filters.
Stabilizer set to 40mm
Highlights set to -2
White Balance Adjust A:3 G:3 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sqfycip8z52s3z9/AADEWeIG1R1i1hUObtrLGlrea?dl=0