Panasonic GM5 Review

The Panasonic GM5 is the smallest Micro Four Thirds camera with an EVF. It’s so small that most Micro Four Thirds lenses are designed for camera bodies bigger than it. With most lenses it looks a little ridiculous but there are great Micro Four Third lenses that work well with this camera.

The GM5 has a hot shoe mount, flash sync options, image bracketing, Long 60s Exposures, Burst mode, custom modes, full manual video and image exposure controls and so much more that you find in Micro Four Thirds cameras.

 

Specs

Going over the specifications, the GM5 has a 16mp Micro Four Thirds sensor.

A Live View Finder with a resolution of 1,166K dots.

On the back it has a 3 inch display with a resolution of 1280x720.

A Mechanical shutter from 60s to 1/500 maximum

An Electronic shutter that goes from 1s to 1/16,000

 

Look Around

All the controls on this camera are small. The buttons are flat and it can be hard to use with gloves but being a small camera that's expected.

Design

The red leather texture on the body gives it a beautiful look and the GM5 has a stylish design which appeals to many...including me.

Build Quality

It's a well built camera, it's small and light. Some parts may seem flimsy, that's because of it's slim design but the camera itself is well built.

Display

The 3 inch display on the back is nice. With an aspect ratio of 16:9, a resolution of 1280x720 and Wide viewing angles, not only does it look good but it goes well with the design of the camera. It's a touchscreen and the GM5 has digital function buttons on the display.

Ease Of Use

To keep the size down there is only 1 dial on the GM5 and that does most of the operation. You can press it to switch options.

 

Features

Despite being a small camera, it packs quite a lot of features. It has WiFi that allows you to transfer files from the camera to a smartphone. The WiFi also allows you to remotely control the camera with the Panasonic App.

Unfortunately, neither have worked for me. I wanted to use the App to use my phone as a monitor so I could record videos of me since the GM5 doesn't have a tilting screen but I couldn't get it work.

The GM5 has good 1080p video and with Micro Four Thirds lenses, you can get great quality shots.

 

Battery Life

The batteries are small. I can get about 70 shots with one battery so you will want more. They're small so shouldn't take up much space in pocket.

Price

The GM5 has become so rare, I can't find it on the used market! not only that, it's also expensive for a Micro Four Thirds camera. You'll find other Micro Four Thirds cameras for half the price and some with better specs.

 

What I like

Before we go onto about Image quality,  I want to mention what I like about this camera

1. EVF

Although the EVF is very small and it doesn't have a good resolution, I do find it useful for composing images even in low light. The EVF is why I picked the GM5 over the GM1.

2. Design

The design of this camera is sexy and I love it. Especially this red one, it's a gem!

3. Size

I love the small size of the GM5. This is what a Micro Four Thirds camera is supposed to be. 

 

4. Image Quality

Now let's talk image.

The Micro Four Thirds sensor gives great looking images with lots of detail.

16 megapixels are plenty for sharing images on social media, and for taking family photos it's also more than enough.

For professional work, 16 megapixels is plenty of resolution and you can get big prints from this camera. If you're into landscape photography, you may want more resolution and I recommend a 20 megapixel Micro Four Thirds camera to keep the weight and size down. If you want more... go bigger.

I find the dynamic range to be sufficient for most uses and I love the colors I get from the GM5. The Panasonic GM5 has an organic look to the images... very reminiscent of film.

The noise is an issue with all Micro Four Thirds cameras, You'll get clean images up to ISO 800. ISO 1600 could use a little Noise Reduction but not always. Personally, I like a little grain in my images and the noise from the GM5 is part of it's look.

ISO 3200 is recoverable but I would avoid ISO 6400 and higher.

If you're worried about noise in your images check out my FREE noise reduction tutorial which can get you super clean images here > Noise Reduction Tutorial

The GM5 doesn't have IBIS, more on that later.

With the huge Micro Four Thirds lens selection, you can find a lens for almost anything.

I've used the Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro to get detail shots.

The Panasonic 12-32mm Pancake zoom lens is the perfect match for this GM5. It fits perfectly on the camera.

The Panasonic 14-140mm f3.5-5.6 turns this camera into an all-in-one travel camera. With Micro Four Thirds image quality and the 14-140, this may be the best travel companion not sacrificing image quality yet being easy to carry around in a jacket pocket.

What I dislike

The GM5 does have drawbacks but not many.

1. Grip

The GM5 can be a bit hard to hold with big lenses and it could use a better grip. Although to be fair, because of it's small size I hold it differently, you're better off holding the lens than the camera.

2. No IBIS

The GM5 does not have IBIS. I would love a GM6 with a 20 megapixel sensor and IBIS. The optical image stabilization in Panasonic lenses makes up for most of what is lost but what if you're using manual lenses! The lack of IBIS makes a big different in the usability of lenses on this camera, especially in low light.

3. Bad raw files when using electronic shutter

The raw files from the GM5 are great! If you're using the mechanical shutter you might not notice it but since I've used the GM5 for years, I've noticed that when using electronic shutter, the RAW images have missing shadows! literally!

The camera does not allow mechanical shutter with manual lenses like the Laowa 7.5mm f2 or the Mitakon 25mm f0.95 and this becomes a problem. I like to shoot at ISO 100 all the time regardless of the lighting conditions and then boost the image in post but I cant' recommend this camera for such users because the RAW files have cut information. Otherwise, the ISO invariance is ok.

Furthermore, using manual lenses on this camera is not advisable as you're limited to using electronic shutter. I guess this isn't a big issue for most people but it is for me.

Recommendation

The GM5 is an amazing camera. The image quality is superb and the experience of using the GM5 is more like that of a pocket camera if you have a small lens on, it is a small camera after all.

I would like to see an update to GM lineup of cameras as these small Micro Four Thirds cameras is what Micro Four Thirds is about. I recommend the GM5 to anyone who is looking for a small camera with really good image quality!