The GX-7 is the latest in the Lumix family of M4/3 interchangeable lens mirror less cameras, or as I prefer to refer to them, "cameras".  Seriously, we can stop the whole mirror less vs DSLR crap ok?

Quickly, it is a 16MP micro four thirds architecture using the standard M43 mount for lenses.  The LCD is 3" and has 1040K dots for great viewing.  Of course it does video, I'm pretty sure that if you buy a hamster today it does 1080p video.  The camera is WiFi capable and also supports NFC with capable devices.  The body comes in either black or silver.  Panasonic makes a big deal of the Venus processing engine that has superior noise management for improved low light shots.  In my own AUTO ISO test, ISO floats to 3200 still produced really nice images.

The GX-7 is like many other cameras of the type.  It's compact, takes great lenses and is really targeted at the more serious photographer.  That's not to say you cannot shoot the camera in P all the time, but you don't have to.  Moreover the choices are not cluttered with a bunch of "picture styles".   Relax there are photo styles, but not in the way.  I shot the camera predominantly in Aperture preferred, using AUTO ISO as well as specific settings for ISO.  I used a number of different lenses on the camera including the Olympus 17/2.8, the Sigma 30/2.8, the Sigma 60/2.8, the Olympus 9-18 and the Olympus 14-150/4.5-5.6.  I had some extra time at the store where I work part time so did my first look there.

The camera uses SD cards and is powered by a Lithium ion battery.  While there were Lumix lenses in the store, I just don't care for the Lumix power zoom or the 14-42.

In addition to a very bright and sharp rear LCD that tilts up and down, there is an EVF to the left rear that also tilts.  The EVF has a diopter adjustment hidden on the bottom to adjust for your own eyesight.  The EVF display is awesome with 2764K dot equivalency.  It's bright and easy on the eyes, plus the eye detection system works fast and accurately.

Light in the store was, well it was crappy, so the available shutter speeds even at high ISO were relatively slow.  I was very impressed by the in body stabilization because I typically cannot handhold a 300mm equivalent at 1/60s.  Images on the screen were sharp and easy to check.  Uploaded to Lightroom 5.2 the RAWs were read without problem and all the EXIF data came across.  There are no lens profile corrections at this moment for the combinations I used, but in general the lenses I tried were very good.  Colour balance was excellent even when switching lens brands.  Autofocus is super fast.  I was using my store test card, a 4GB Transcend piece of crap, and writing speed for RAW+JPEG was pretty slow.  I do not blame the camera, I blame the junk card.  When I get a long form test unit, I will use a proper card.

There is a built in transformer like articulating flash, but what is better and far more useful is the fully functional hot shoe.  You can use Lumix TTL flashes of course, but I would be more inclined to use a Pocket Wizard to fire real strobes.  The camera's small size makes it very fast to shoot.

The downside for me is that I have larger hands and while the body is very positively grippable, I found I was hitting the buttons and rocker with the base of my thumb when using the camera one handed.  The LCD is a touch screen and because I shoot left eyed, I not only got nose prints on the LCD, I also managed to activate the touch screen.  Not optimal.  Since this was a first look, I did not read the documentation to see if the sensitivity is adjustable.

I love the image quality, think that the camera is extremely usable and the EVF is brilliant.  I look forward to a longer term test but as it sits, after 20 minutes, I put the camera away and won't miss it.  The right side strap lug could not be in a worse place.  It interferes with the grip, it presses into your hand, and it makes using the camera awkward.  Seriously if this were my camera, I would find a way to remove the lug entirely and use a Black Rapid or Cotton Carrier strap screwed into the tripod socket.  It's such a good little camera that the discomfort of the stupid lug annoys me even to write about it.

If you have smaller hands, or less meaty hands and want a really superlative small, fast camera that has access to the pantheon of M4/3 lenses, take a look at the Lumix GX-7.  I think you'll be impressed.

The sample images contained here are the original RAW files, imported to Lightroom and exported as 80% JPEGs, 72 DPI, sharpened for screen.  No colour, WB or any other processing was done.  You can see that the camera produces really nice images, no muss, no fuss.

Full specifications courtesy Panasonic

DMC-GX7