Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 review – Stabilisation system

Until now, G-series CSCs from Panasonic have relied on lens-based image-stabilisation technology to counteract camera shake, with Mega OIS or Power OIS systems found in most Panasonic optics. Now, for the first time on a G-series camera, the GX7 also features a sensor-shift anti-shake system. This offers users of stabilised and non-stabilised lenses the best of both worlds, with photographers using legacy glass or Olympus and Sigma micro four thirds-fit lenses able to benefit from the sensor-shift system.

Lenses with built-in IS will automatically override the GX7’s sensor-shift system, but once a non-IS lens is on the camera, the GX7’s built-in anti-shake system takes over. To ensure the correct level of correction is applied to the mounted third-party optics, shooters can dial in the lens’s focal length between 8mm and 1,000mm. For video shooters, it’s worth noting that this body-based anti-shake system isn’t activated during capture.

The built-in image-stabilisation system performed well, automatically detecting a non-IS lens and delivering a comparable performance to lens-based systems with shorter-focal-length optics, though at longer focal lengths a lens-based system should have the slight edge.