cc_chang1

<p>Thank you for the help. I eventually put a tiny bit of car wax over the metal pins and the metal rails, let dry and then polish as I would with a car and this solves the problem. The wax does not attract dirt. Some time people are complaining about connection issue with these transceivers and I think some of that is caused by not pushing the device deep into the shoe for full contact.</p>

<p>I ordered a pair of these about 2 years ago and they were tight to be pushed into the hot shoe on day-1. Today when I was ready to use them, neither one could be pushed into the hotshot — they were very tight. They can be connected to a Yonguo flash without any problem, and this flash as well as a Nikon SB600 can be attached to my D7100 without any problem. I don't use these transceivers much so should I somehow lubricate the pins? Using light machine oil is probably a bad idea so how about car wax, which we were told to use to lube the lift for the lift gate. These transceivers do work if they are pushed in place in the hotshoe but they are just too tight ... Help, please.</p>

<p>In my experience of owning both Olympus and Panasonic cameras, Olympus, e.g., E-PL5, EM10-II, etc, has much better face detection. This shows up particularly when the face is not entirely in view. The Olympus FD will often lead the AF to the head so you won't miss much. With Panasonic, it much too easily will focus on something else that is more contrast than the human face.</p>

<p>CPM: that's all right.</p> <p>I am really excited by the 14-20/2 lens. As Dieter wrote, this lens is much more useful than the Sigma 18-35 because it is wider on the wide end. FF eq of 20mm is very nice. At the long end, I much prefer 30mm which yields the FF eq of 45mm, which I find much more useful than 35mm, which is too long (50mm eq) in tight space. I love the Sigma 30/1.4 Art, much more so than the Nikon 35/1.8.</p> <p>As a general walk around/vacation kit, this lens plus 85/1.8 will cover a very good range and makes for a simple 2-lens kit that is not too terribly heavy. Finally third parties are addressing Nikon's lack of good DX specific (more compact) fast wide angle lenses.</p>

<p>??=Despite its appearance as a very compact lens.</p>

<p>The upcoming Tokina 14-20/2 for DX is your answer:<br> http://www.dpreview.com/news/4439209905/tokina-announces-ultra-wide-14-20mm-f2-lens-for-canon-and-nikon-crop-sensor-dslrs</p>

<p>My main problem with this lens, and many older lenses, is flare. If there is any light in the frame, indoors or out, it flares. It is also a very heavy lens. However it seems that you don't mind the flare ... </p>

<p>As a long time Nikon user who also uses m4/3, you can "adapt" Nikon lenses<em> if</em> you already have them <strong>to save money.</strong> Otherwise get many of the new native manual focus lenses made specifically for the m4/3 mount, some are cinematic-focused. Many old MF lens from Nikon or others usually have issues with flare and poor performance wide open (especially for f1.4 or faster lenses) in the area of CA and edge sharpness. There is no point of going out of you way to find these on the used market where QC could be another issue to worry about. </p>

<p>In short the 12-35 is an outstanding lens in its own right. For the same subject and background, the 24-70 may give you better subject isolation, however, but you can easily address this with a small and fast prime such as the 45/1.8 or the 60/2.8. </p>

Hi Barry: dpreview now apparently checks SS routinely and have found G7 to still has this problem. SS has been solved for Olympus cameras after firm ware upgrade to introduce electronic first curtain. I am assuming SS can still occur in GX8 since it does not have EFC. SS can be addressed by using its full electronic shutter however but this increases noise. The SS in G7 is slight though so this may not substantially impact overall IQ. Furthermore, by being heavier,SS may be now under control in GX8. I am leaning toward EM5-II, however, which should soon be much cheaper than GX8. If you do get the GX8, let us know how it performs. In particular, if you have the 20/1,7 lens, we would love to know whether it still has the banding problem with GX8's new sensor.

<p>See here for the issue of AF-assist lamp and the grip:<br /> http://www.sansmirror.com/cameras/a-note-about-camera-reviews/panasonic-camera-reviews/panasonic-gx7-review.html<br /> "For instance, that grip on the front? That positions my hand so that it blocks the AF Assist Lamp, a common problem on lots of cameras these days. I'm not a big fan of the AF Assist Lamps in the first place, but there are times when they're useful. But if to use them you have to change how you hold the camera, that's a bad choice. But then again, the bigger lenses all block the lamp, too (e.g. the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8, especially with the lens hood on). Features that are often compromised sometimes aren't worth having, in my view." <br /> <br /> In terms of designing theme, I would like to see Panasonic defines the purpose of the GX line better. If the GX is intended to provide a more portable photographic system, they should design it to be as small and compact as possible. The grip should be just big enough for holding mostly small lenses, and take out "features" that are not necessary, which in my view is the "complicated" and protruding EVF. I would like them to make the two command dials larger and easier to see and operate. It was not easy for me and others to even notice that there are two dials. May be in use, they are fine but they are too small compared to the very large Exp Comp dial — why does this dial need to be the biggest of all the dials?<br /> <br /> Furthermore, since SONY came along with their NEX and the Alpha lines, m4/3 now has a marketing challenge — if the cameras are of the same size, why should one buy a m4.3 camera with a smaller sensor? It is a tough sale to most consumers that m4/3 has many nice small lenses, because there are small lenses for SONY and Samsung's cameras as well ...<br> The real deal breaker for me is the lack of electronic first curtain. This feature is missing in the G7, and G7 has been tested to show minor shutter shock. After Olympus, as well as SONY, has gone through so much to resolve the issue of SS, it is disappointing that Panasonic's new cameras still have these issues. </p>

<p>I too think that GX8 is bigger than it needs to be — a compact body camera and one with a m4/3 sensor in particular — should be designed to work with mostly small prime lens to result in a light weight and compact system. Otherwise it is hard to make the point that one should by a m4/3 camera but not a mirrorless APSC or FF camera.</p> <p>I think in the interest of making the body more compact and lighter, a tithable EVF is not necessary considering the fact that the rear LED is now fully articulated. I would rather see a built-in flash like the one in GX7. GX8 does not seem to have Electronic second curtain, and G7 has been shown to have shutter shock issues. Is GX8 heavy enough to dampen the vibration to eliminate this issue? GX7 was known to have an issue with the AF assist light, which is blocked by the large lens and the right hand. Has this been solved by the larger GX8? While GX8 is now bigger, its front and rear command dials seem to be smaller, why? In turn, GX8 has a very large exp compensation dial, which is great, but it is disabled in M-mode when auto-ISO is in use, and this just seems very silly. Thus I do not yet see a consistent design theme in GX8, except that they somehow think that American just like larger cameras, no matter what.</p>

<p>Another vote for m4/3 for Nikon shooters, since it makes sense to get a kit that is substantially smaller without too much sacrifice in IQ. </p>

<p>My guess is that when you look at the RAWs, there will be very little difference between them. Even with these images, to my eye, the D7100 looks better with better DR and slightly more details. The D7200 just suppresses the noise more at the expense of DR and detail, although these compromises are small. I would not buy D7200 with the expectation that its high ISO performance is better than the D7100. </p>

<p>Just keep in mind that it is equally important to choose your lens carefully. If you buy a large sensor camera only to use it with a slow super zoom, you may as well shoot with a smaller sensor camera with faster lens. For example when you use a slow lens to shoot at f4.5 at ISO 3200 with a FF camera, you could get similar DR and noise performance with an APSC sensor camera at f 2.8 because you only need ISO 1600. My personal preference for traveling is to shoot m4/3 with f1.8 and f2.8 fast lenses which they have plenty of and are small and not crazily expensive. Panasonic m4/3 in particular is fantastic for video.</p>