Some of the great things about the micro 4/3 system are that the prime lenses are excellent, the lenses and bodies are light weight, both the bodies and lenses focus fast, and now with the GX8, the image quality rivals larger sensor bodies.
Today being Christmas, I wanted to be able to enjoy being with the family, snap some shots without having to deal with RAW or off camera flash, also I wanted fast autofocusing with face detection. Of course, I want the images to look awesome too, and I love shooting portraits that are cropped in tight without a lot of background.
Every time I use the GX8 with the Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 lens, I’m blown away. The great thing about f/1.2 on the micro 4/3 system is that it doesn’t have too narrow of a depth of field in comparison to full frame, but it lets in a lot of light — useful for keeping the ISO down, also increasing shutter speed for candid portraits.
The results speak for themselves. Every shot below was captured at f/1.2 or f/1.4, shot JPEG, and edited in Athentech Lucid. The lighting was a combination of CFL, LED, and sunlight — harsh and awful conditions.
If you’re even thinking about getting this camera and lens combo, don’t think, just go out and buy it!
Originally published at bershatsky.com on December 26, 2015.
