August | 2017 | Micro Four Thirds Site

So I went to a bike show and decided to only take one lens with my Panasonic GF9 (GX850/GX800) camera – the Panasonic 20mm 1.7.

This lens is known to produce sharp pictures. I’ll include some samples below.

The bike show was indoors, where lighting was sub-optimal. The f/1.7 aperture of this lens allows it to perform well under these conditions. When necessary, I can use the in-built flash without casting a shadow when using this pancake lens.

This lens is also known to be slow to focus and is noisy when doing so. But as the models would pose for me to take my photos and I wasn’t taking any videos, this would not bother me.

Alritey, then. Here’re some of the photos from this outing:

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365
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Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 ~US$270 / C$320 / £250

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Every year in Singapore, there is a major motor show. Not only are there car models on show, there will be quite a few human models as well.

The show is held indoors, so the lighting is usually not excellent. As the models (cars and humans) will be there for you to take your best shot, you will want to get as sharp an image as you possibly can.

For 2017, I used my Panasonic GX850 (aka GF9) with two “professional” Panasonic f/2.8 lenses. Most of the time, I would be using the 12-35mm as I should be able to get up close. But should I want to take a headshot, then I’ll use the 35-100mm.

These lenses certainly produce sharper images than the kit lenses. Their fast f/2.8 maximum aperture is also necessary for the less-than-ideal indoor lighting.

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8:

Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8:

Versus the Primes

There are prime lenses which are faster (have bigger apertures and hence allow more light in) and produce sharper images than the f/2.8 lenses above. Examples are the portrait lenses like the 42.5mm f/1.7 and even the 42.5mm f/1.2. But for the setup of the motor show, it is usually difficult to use prime lenses.

There will be many photographers on site, and they will form an arc around major subjects of interest. As a courtesy, you cannot step in front of them and block their shot. You can only compose your shot from the arc. That’s why a zoom lens is necessary.

Here’re some of the shots I took during the 2017 motor show:

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365

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Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 ~US$730 / C$900 / £560

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Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 ~US$700 / C$930 / £700

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The 2018 Singapore Motorshow

For the 2018 show, I had acquired the Panasonic GX85 (aka GX80). The main advantage of this camera body is the 5-axis in-body stabilization. This can work together with the Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) in the lenses for even more effective stabilization.

I also acquired the Panasonic DMW-FL200L flash. This is because I found that the venue was not bright enough even for the f/2.8 lenses I used last year. I also didn’t want to use the in-body flash as they were not that powerful, gave an undesirable blueish tint, and was uneven if light delivery.

I also got myself a new lens. The Panasonic Leica 12-60 f/2.8-4.0. The main advantage of this lens is that it allows me to take wide shots (including car and human model), and zoom in for the close-ups without needing to change lenses. The Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 was just too short for that purpose.

The Panasonic GX85 (GX80)

Yes, the 5-axis dual image stabilization (combining camera body and lens stabilization) is very much of an advantage over my previous GX850 (GF9) which did not have in-body stabilization and hence solely depended on the 2-axis stabilization of the lenses. I had much fewer throwaways due to camera shake.

Panasonic GX85/GX80 ~US$490 / C$740 / £520

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The Panasonic DMW-FL200L

I chose this flash because it was the smallest and most compact, but it should meet my requirements. I was not disappointed. I did not have to use any compensation to bring up the power of the flash. It was more than adequate.

I did have the need to use the wide panel not because my lens was wide, but because it makes the flash more even. This is the white plastic piece that you put in front of the flash. During the show, I simply used this flash in TTL (auto) mode.

Panasonic DMW-FL200L ~US$228 / C$369 / £220

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The Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0

It is clear to me that the images I got from the Panasonic Leica f/2.8-4.0 are sharper than my Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8, but I would still say that my Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 is my sharpest lens, but just by a very slim margin.

It is sharp anywhere f/4.0 and below, and I’m happy to leave it in auto mode when shooting.

Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ~US$660 / C$840 / £621

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OK, so here’re the shots I took from the Singapore Motorshow 2018:

The 2019 Singapore Motorshow

The Panasonic Leica 12-60mm worked well for me the last time around, so I sticked with it on my GX85. I decided to use a new flashgun that I got, the Godox TT350o. I got this new flashgun more because of its high-speed sync feature, which doesn’t really come in useful in the dim lighting of the motorshow.

With this setup of the GX85, the 12-60mm, and the Godox flashgun, the whole setup is a bit heavy to carry in my hand for half a day, so I got the Panasonic DMW-HGR2 hand grip which really made it easy to carry in one hand: