#microfourthirds — Public Fediverse posts

I have bought and sold the Lumix GX8 three times. Why I keep coming back to it, and why it feels almost as good as my Leica M6 with old Nikkor lenses.

#Lumix #GX8 #microfourthirds #photography

https://seanbreslin.jp/2026/11/11/lumix-gx8-panasonic-leica-15mm/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

I Keep Coming Back to the Lumix GX8

I have bought and sold the Lumix GX8 with the Panasonic Leica 15mm three times since it was released. I originally sold it because of gear choice fatigue, and because I thought I needed full frame, first with the Lumix S5 and later with the Leica SL2-S. But I keep coming back to it because I love it. I am repeating myself, I know. In my 2019 post on camera gear I wrote that I had never looked back, and rereading it now I am left wondering why I switched to full frame at all.

The 15mm, in particular, is so light that it is crazy not to have it with me everywhere. It is a 30mm equivalent, which suits me because I shoot mostly between 28mm and 35mm anyway.

Lately I have been using the GX8 with old Nikkor lenses on an adapter: the 28mm f/3.5 AIS, the 105mm Micro Nikkor and the 300mm f/4.5. With the 28mm especially, it feels almost as good as my Leica M6. The 105mm and the 300mm are for exploring the river, the 105mm for macro and the 300mm for birds, which makes them a 210mm and a 600mm equivalent. The 300mm matches the Olympus 300mm f/4 I rented for bird photography, but the Olympus costs nearly ¥300,000 new and the Nikkor cost me ¥15,000 used on Mercari Japan.

The GX8 is small, and with the Nikkor lenses you get a mostly manual experience, which is what I want nowadays from a camera. I recently rented a Fujifilm something-or-other to see what all the fuss was about but I did not like it at all. It felt like a toy.

There is another reason I keep coming back to the GX8. I do not have to think about the camera. I can just be in the moment. It is a cliché, but it is true.

If the best camera is the one you have with you, then the GX8 is better than an iPhone, because I can carry it everywhere: in Nagoya, on bike rides, to work. I even take it with me when I put out the morning rubbish and photograph the sunrise behind all the electricity cables Japanese streets are famous for.

I have also stopped taking myself so seriously. I keep a daily journal and add a print to it each day as a substitute for an online photo feed (I am getting very tired of the online space), and a small, light camera suits that workflow.

Used prices seem to be rising, and I am foolishly tempted to buy another one as a backup, but I wonder if Panasonic will release a new version in the near future.