Panasonic has introduced the Lumix G7 to replace the G6, and it sits just below the Panasonic GH4 – but alongside the GX7. That’s a lot of G numbers, but basically, the Panasonic G7 is the company’s mid-range compact system camera.
The Panasonic G7 features the same sensor as the GX7, which seems to be Panasonic’s flagship sensor. With 16 million pixels, it has the same resolution as the G6, but the sensor itself is newer (although it is still two years old).
There’s also now the same Venus Engine 9 which is found in the GH4, which, according to Panasonic means that the combination produces the best image quality of any Panasonic camera to date.
The new processor also means that native sensitivity range has been boosted from ISO 200 – 25,600, with an expansion setting of ISO 100. The G6 could only shoot at 25,600 in an expansion setting, so there’s a good chance that image quality at the higher end of the spectrum has been improved
Full resolution continuous shooting is possible thanks to the quad-core CPU for fast processing. Up to 8fps is available in Single-AF mode, or 6fps in Continuous AF mode. The Panasonic G6 was capable of 7fps and 5fps, respectively.
However, the big news with this camera is the new 4K modes, which should have lots of appeal to both videographers and stills photographers. Shooting at 4K continuous allows you to shoot at 30fps and extract the frame you need.
This means however that resolution drops to 8 million pixels, but this is still large enough to create A4 prints. There are a variety of different 4K shooting modes to choose from, and it can be utilised in any exposure mode (such as aperture priority or shutter priority).
The same depth from Defocus (DFD) system as first seen in the GH4 has also been added to the Panasonic G7. It uses lens data and the contrast of a scene at two different focus points to help it determine an accurate focus speedily. Focus speeds of just 0.07 seconds are claimed, which is roughly half the time the G6 takes.
In what may be seen as a fairly unusual move, Panasonic has included only Wi-Fi connectivity for the Panasonic G7, ditching the NFC as found in the G6.