Panasonic FS42 vs Panasonic GX85

Its time to look closer at the Panasonic FS42 and Panasonic GX85, former is a Ultracompact while the other is a Advanced Mirrorless and they are both produced by Panasonic. There is a large difference among the sensor resolutions of the FS42 (10MP) and GX85 (16MP) and the FS42 (1/2.5") and GX85 (Four Thirds) offer different sensor sizes.

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The FS42 was launched 8 years earlier than the GX85 which is a fairly serious difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Each of these cameras feature different body design with the Panasonic FS42 being a Ultracompact camera and the Panasonic GX85 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before getting straight to a comprehensive comparison, here is a concise overview of how the FS42 scores vs the GX85 for portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS42 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85. The complete galleries are available at Panasonic FS42 Gallery & Panasonic GX85 Gallery.

For those who are aiming to travel with your camera often, you'll need to factor its weight and dimensions. The Panasonic FS42 comes with exterior dimensions of 98mm x 55mm x 22mm (3.9" x 2.2" x 0.9") along with a weight of 132 grams (0.29 lbs) while the Panasonic GX85 has dimensions of 122mm x 71mm x 44mm (4.8" x 2.8" x 1.7") with a weight of 426 grams (0.94 lbs).

Check out the Panasonic FS42 and Panasonic GX85 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you are utilizing at that moment. Following is a front view dimension comparison of the FS42 vs the GX85.

Using size and weight, the portability grade of the FS42 and GX85 is 95 and 83 respectively.

In many cases, its hard to imagine the difference in sensor dimensions only by going through technical specs. The pic below should provide you a clearer sense of the sensor dimensions in the FS42 and GX85.

As you can tell, the two cameras come with different megapixels and different sensor dimensions. The FS42 due to its smaller sensor is going to make shooting shallower depth of field more difficult and the Panasonic GX85 will show greater detail utilizing its extra 6 Megapixels. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop pics a good deal more aggressively. The more aged FS42 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.