Sony Alpha 7C vs Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Sony Alpha 7C and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Sony Alpha 7C was introduced in September 2020 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 was introduced in February 2016. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony Alpha 7C over Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 over Sony Alpha 7C.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Sony Alpha 7C and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 have 3.0" screens with 922k dot and 1,040k dot resolutions respectively. Sony Alpha 7C has a Fully Articulated screen which makes it selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 has a Tilting screen which makes it very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting. Both models feature touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Electronic (OLED) Viewfinder on Sony Alpha 7C

Sony Alpha 7C has a built-in 0.39" Electronic (OLED) viewfinder with 2,359k dot resolution. It has a 100% coverage and 0.59x magnification. There is no built-in or optional viewfinder available on Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8.

Sony Alpha 7C features a 24.2 megapixel Full Frame BSI-CMOS sensor with dimensions of 35.6 x 23.8 mm and a total area of 847.3 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 51,200 and expands to 50 - 204,800 in boosted mode. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 features a 16 megapixel Micro Four Thirds CMOS sensor with dimensions of 17.3 x 13 mm and a total area of 169 mm². Its native ISO range is 200 - 25,600 and expands to 100 - 25,600 in boosted mode.

Sony Alpha 7C has BSI-CMOS sensor, short for Backside Illuminated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor sensor. In traditional CMOS sensors, the wiring and circuitry are located on the front side of the sensor, which can block some of the incoming light. BSI technology flips this design by placing the photosensitive elements (pixels) on the backside of the sensor, allowing more light to reach the pixels. This significantly enhances light sensitivity and improves low-light performance. BSI-CMOS sensors are particularly effective in low-light conditions, as they can capture more light, resulting in brighter and less noisy images. This makes them well-suited for indoor and night photography. BSI-CMOS sensors deliver a higher SNR and reduced cross-talk.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how different sensors compare with each other:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	36 x 24 mm	864 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Sony Alpha 7C is equipped with BIONZ X processor and can take pictures up to 6000 x 4000 resolution. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 is equipped with Venus Engine processor and can take pictures up to 4592 x 3448 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 4:3 (3232 x 2424, 2272 x 1704), 3:2 (4592 x 3064, 3232 x 2160, 1824 x 1216), 3:2 (4592 x 2584, 3840 x 2160, 1920 x 1080), 1:1 (3424 x 3224, 2416 x 2416, 1712 x 1712) with 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 aspect ratios.

Lens Mount

Sony Alpha 7C has Sony E lens mount and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 has Micro Four Thirds lens mount. Due to Full Frame sensor in Sony Alpha 7C its crop factor is equal to 1x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length. Due to Micro Four Thirds sensor in Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 its crop factor is equal to 2x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 2.

In-Body Image Stabilization on Sony Alpha 7C

Sony Alpha 7C has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS) with 5 stops of compensation. This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when camera is paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi

Cameras have built-in Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac/b/g/n 2.4/5 GHz on Sony Alpha 7C, 802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz on Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

Bluetooth on Sony Alpha 7C

Sony Alpha 7C has a built-in Bluetooth (version 4.1) which lets you to connect the camera to a smartphone or a dedicated remote control device. This allows you to remotely trigger the camera, adjust settings and controls remotely through a paired mobile app. While Wi-Fi is generally faster for transferring larger files, Bluetooth can be used for small, selective transfers, it can provide real-time information about your camera's battery status, memory card capacity, and other key settings directly on your paired smartphone or smartwatch.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in Bluetooth.

NFC

Cameras have Near Field Communication (NFC) technology which simplifies the process of pairing it with other NFC-enabled devices like smartphones or tablets. It allows to quickly transfer photos and videos or remotely control the camera from compatible device. NFC can also be used for authentication and security purposes. It can verify your identity before accessing certain features or transferring sensitive data. It can be used with NFC-enabled accessories as well, such as lenses, flashes and GPS devices.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB inputs for data transfer. Sony Alpha 7C has a Micro HDMI and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 has a Micro HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Sony Alpha 7C comes with NP-FZ100 battery pack with battery life of 740 shots.

External Storage Slots

Sony Alpha 7C has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) card slot. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) card slot.

Shutter

Sony Alpha 7C has Electronic shutter and Mechanical Focal Plane shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/8000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/4000 sec with mechanical shutter on Sony Alpha 7C, and up to 1/16000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/500 sec with mechanical shutter on Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8. Sony Alpha 7C can shoot continuously up to 10.0 fps. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 can shoot continuously up to 5.8 fps.

Focusing

Sony Alpha 7C has Fast Hybrid AF (Phase-detection / Contrast-detection) system with 693 focusing points and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 has 23 focusing points. Sony Alpha 7C has detection range from -4 to +20 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Sony Alpha 7C ranges from -3 to +20 EV and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range on Sony Alpha 7C and ±5 EV range on Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8. You can also do exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Sony Alpha 7C and exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8.

Flash

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 has a built-in flash with maximum range of 5.60 m at ISO 200. Sony Alpha 7C has no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected via Intelligent Hot Shoe. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/160 sec on Sony Alpha 7C.

Sony Alpha 7C body has dimensions of 124 x 71 x 60 mm (4.88 x 2.8 x 2.36") and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 body has dimensions of 107 x 65 x 33 mm (4.21 x 2.56 x 1.3"). Sony Alpha 7C weighs 509 g (1.12 lb / 17.95 oz) and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8 weighs 266 g (0.59 lb / 9.38 oz).

Sony Alpha 7C

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF8

124 mm

71 mm

107 mm

65 mm

71 mm

65 mm

60 mm

33 mm