I've never posted on this forum before but I read it quite often, and I thought I should finally contribute since I have actual useful content this time that nobody's actually definitively confirmed. I have the Panasonic GX85, the US version. I have it in my hands and it's a beauty. But let's just get straight to the point.
1. In AVCHD and in 4K, there is no 29 minute recording time limit. There still is a weird 29 minute (and 4GB) limit for FHD/HD/VGA MP4 clips, but none for AVCHD and 4K MP4. Part of me didn't actually believe it, so I took a fresh battery, a fresh 64 GB card, put the camera into 4K video mode, IBIS on, and just hit record. 1 hr 29 min 9 sec later, the card filled up, and the camera stopped recording, but the battery still had one bar left, and the camera never quit recording on me. It was warm, but not hot to the touch. It was indoors and at night, however, but I'm just telling you, recording long clips is well within the realms of possibility with this camera. I'm actually quite excited about being able to record indefinitely in AVCHD as well. When I'm recording a long event, it's not that important to get the best quality, but it's important to be able to get SOMETHING. I can run this camera up on a tripod, set it to AFC mode at 1080/30p 24Mbps AVCHD, hit record, and come back some time later and know that it got SOMETHING for last hour and a half. AVCHD can be annoying to work with, but a lot of consumer-level camcorders still use the format, so in effect, I'm getting a very capable large sensor camcorder to go along with my high-end 4K shooter. No complaints at all.
2. And that's not all, folks. I've had a GH4 and one of my least favorite things about filming 4K in the GH4 (and GX8 and G7) is that stupid 4 GB file size limit thing. So when you're shooting 4K, every six and a half minutes, there's a new 4GB file. But that's history now. On the GX85, if you use an SDXC card (basically anything bigger than 32 GB), the camera will give you one single monolithic file. I record a lot of musical performances, so long takes are kind of standard in my regular usage. I am not joking when I say that my editing process for 4K just became 40% happier. According to the manual, a file will split if "the continuous recording time exceeds 3 hours and 4 minutes or if the file exceeds 96 GB." Since the battery can't even last that long, for all intents and purposes, GX85 will give you single takes in single files.
I expected the IBIS and the 4K and the beautiful design and all the other stuff. But I honestly didn't expect these two features. I really thought they were going to burden us with a stupid 29 minute limit in all settings (I assumed that and ranted about in other forums, I feel dumb now, oops) and never in my wildest dreams did I actually think they'd solve the 4GB issue with this camera, but they did.
It's safe to say, this is the best MFT mirrorless shooter right now. GH4, you had a good run, but GX85 is the king. This is a true hybrid shooter. And at about half the price as a GH4 when you consider the cute pancake zoom has decent resale value.
As an aside, GX8 buyers have got to feel a little burned by the GX85. I'm sure a lot of them would love large file support and 5-axis IBIS.
I've never posted on this forum before but I read it quite often, and I thought I should finally contribute since I have actual useful content this time that nobody's actually definitively confirmed. I have the Panasonic GX85, the US version. I have it in my hands and it's a beauty. But let's just get straight to the point. 1. In AVCHD and in 4K, there is no 29 minute recording time limit. There still is a weird 29 minute (and 4GB) limit for FHD/HD/VGA MP4 clips, but none for AVCHD and 4K MP4. Part of me didn't actually believe it, so I took a fresh battery, a fresh 64 GB card, put the camera into 4K video mode, IBIS on, and just hit record. 1 hr 29 min 9 sec later, the card filled up, and the camera stopped recording, but the battery still had one bar left, and the camera never quit recording on me. It was warm, but not hot to the touch. It was indoors and at night, however, but I'm just telling you, recording long clips is well within the realms of possibility with this camera. I'm actually quite excited about being able to record indefinitely in AVCHD as well. When I'm recording a long event, it's not that important to get the best quality, but it's important to be able to get SOMETHING. I can run this camera up on a tripod, set it to AFC mode at 1080/30p 24Mbps AVCHD, hit record, and come back some time later and know that it got SOMETHING for last hour and a half. AVCHD can be annoying to work with, but a lot of consumer-level camcorders still use the format, so in effect, I'm getting a very capable large sensor camcorder to go along with my high-end 4K shooter. No complaints at all. 2. And that's not all, folks. I've had a GH4 and one of my least favorite things about filming 4K in the GH4 (and GX8 and G7) is that stupid 4 GB file size limit thing. So when you're shooting 4K, every six and a half minutes, there's a new 4GB file. But that's history now. On the GX85, if you use an SDXC card (basically anything bigger than 32 GB), the camera will give you one single monolithic file. I record a lot of musical performances, so long takes are kind of standard in my regular usage. I am not joking when I say that my editing process for 4K just became 40% happier. According to the manual, a file will split if "the continuous recording time exceeds 3 hours and 4 minutes or if the file exceeds 96 GB." Since the battery can't even last that long, for all intents and purposes, GX85 will give you single takes in single files. I expected the IBIS and the 4K and the beautiful design and all the other stuff. But I honestly didn't expect these two features. I really thought they were going to burden us with a stupid 29 minute limit in all settings (I assumed that and ranted about in other forums, I feel dumb now, oops) and never in my wildest dreams did I actually think they'd solve the 4GB issue with this camera, but they did. It's safe to say, this is the best MFT mirrorless shooter right now. GH4, you had a good run, but GX85 is the king. This is a true hybrid shooter. And at about half the price as a GH4 when you consider the cute pancake zoom has decent resale value. As an aside, GX8 buyers have got to feel a little burned by the GX85. I'm sure a lot of them would love large file support and 5-axis IBIS.