Panasonic G9 Review

Panasonic G9 Hands-on Preview

Panasonic has no shortage of enjoy within the virtual camera enterprise. It's been sixteen years now since the enterprise first kicked off its Lumix digital camera line with the simultaneously-launched LC5 and F7 compact cameras in past due 2001, and near a decade for the reason that past due-2008 release of its first mirrorless version, the Micro Four Thirds-layout Lumix G1. Now, the organization brings that revel in to undergo with possibly its most exciting digital camera but, the Lumix G9, imparting lots of what inspired us inside the extra video-oriented GH5 at the same time as handily outperforming that digicam inside the nonetheless imaging branch, and in a smaller, less expensive body, in addition.

A floor-up redecorate with friendlier ergonomics and the best Lumix picture excellent ever

Following in the footsteps of the popular G7 and G85 (which, in a few markets, was genuinely referred to as the G8), the Panasonic G9 is a ground-up redecorate geared toward extensively improving each handling and image first-class. Based around the GH5's 20-megapixel photograph sensor with, as is normal in recent times, no decision-sapping optical low-bypass clear out, and with its output dealt with by way of the modern day-era Venus Engine photo processor, the DC-G9 is said to offer the best nevertheless image best of any Lumix digicam to this point.

In specific, Panasonic is promising that the Lumix G9 will first-class its predecessors with more element and lower noise levels, especially because the sensitivity ramps up, as well as with extra powerful sprucing, better suppression of ghosts and flare, plus higher shade control, which should show mainly major in skin tones and blue skies.

And if you need even more element with highly static topics, the Panasonic G9 additionally debuts a smart resolution-enhancing multi-shot mode comparable to those visible in latest fashions from its Micro Four Thirds-partner Olympus, as well as in some Pentax DSLRs and the these days-released Sony A7R III mirrorless digital camera. Panasonic's High Resolution mode, just like that utilized by Olympus, captures a total of eight shots in more than one seconds, after which combines them for saving in RAW or JPEG formats. The very last end result is an 80.6-megapixel photograph which packs in considerably greater detail than can be captured in a single shot at the camera's native 20.2-megapixel resolution.

A logo-new, tons-improved body with SLR-like ergonomics and a take-anywhere nature

Of route, whilst photograph first-class is fundamental to an excellent camera, it's now not the first component you are going to notice when you are taking it out of the container. Compare it to its predecessors and the Panasonic G9 without a doubt grabs your attention with its completely new magnesium-alloy body, that is not simplest splashproof and dustproof, but also freezeproof to fourteen°F (-10°C) too. Its chunkier handgrip up front and lots greater beneficiant eyecup on again are the most apparent differences from in advance fashions, but it also sports a whopping 30 devoted controls, up from 22 inside the G85.

The new chassis sports activities a whole lot-stepped forward ergonomics and a number new features, with a generously-sized pinnacle-deck fame LCD, an intuitive rear-panel joystick for AF factor selection, and a triplet of devoted white stability, ISO and exposure reimbursement buttons within easy attain of your shutter finger. It additionally functions a lockable mode dial which sports activities a complete of 3 Custom positions, one up from the G85's positions. And there may be a brand new the front-deck function transfer which lets in you to quickly toggle backward and forward between groups of 7 unique features.

The rear-panel LCD is largely unchanged from that of the G85. Its were given a 3.0-inch diagonal, and a decision of 1,040kdots. It's still attached to a aspect-set up tilt/swivel mechanism, our favourite amongst many one-of-a-kind LCD articulation mechanisms in the marketplace for its brought versatility, making it easy to get shots excessive within the air or low to the floor, no matter their orientation.

The Panasonic G9's new viewfinder gives class-leading magnification

And while you look even more carefully, you may find a few much less obvious improvements across the Panasonic G9's body, consisting of dual UHS-II rated SD card slots, and an uprated digital viewfinder this is nevertheless OLED-based totally with a manufacturer-claimed one hundred% insurance, however now sports a greater beneficiant 3,680kdot panel decision, 0.83x magnification (35mm-equivalent) and 21mm eyepoint (from the viewfinder lens). That's as compared to 2,360kdots, 0.74x magnification and a 20mm eyepoint inside the G85.

And the brand new finder also permits no longer just a blackout-loose, user-selectable 60fps or 120fps refresh fee (the latter with an impressively minimum lag of simply 0.Half seconds), but also lets in manipulate over magnification in 3 steps, must you wish to do so, perhaps because you need to maintain your eye a touch further from the eyepiece. Really, the only downside of the new EVF is that it has a more abbreviated dioptric correction range of -four to +3 diopters, down from the -four to +four diopter range of the G85's finder.

A notably bigger, heftier frame, and a brand-new accessory grip

Of path, there's a rate to pay for a lot of these introduced controls and capabilities. While it is still a fair bit smaller than the GH5, the Panasonic G9 is likewise considerably larger than turned into the G85 in every dimension, and it is a fair bit heftier, too.

At 5.Four x 3.Eight x 3.6 inches, it is approximately a 3rd of an inch wider, a 3rd of an inch taller and two thirds of an inch deeper than its predecessor. And in comparison to the GH5, it is nearly same in width, a quarter of an inch less tall and 1/2 an inch much less deep. In phrases of weight, the 23.2-ounce (loaded and ready with out a lens) Panasonic G9 is a pretty substantive 5.4 oz heavier than become the G85, and just 2.Four ounces lighter than the GH5.

And of path, because the frame is more moderen and larger than that of its predecessor, in case you're upgrading from the G85, you will also want to shop for a new grip. The DMW-BGG9 grip you may need is priced at around US$350 at launch.

Burst capture overall performance it's in a whole exclusive league from the G85

If you're upgrading from the G85, though, you could locate it rather smooth to miss the need for a brand new accessory or two here or there. That's due to the fact the Panasonic G9 goes to give you performance that puts it in a completely specific league from the sooner digital camera.

Where the G85 turned into confined to round six frames in line with second with continuous autofocus or a fairly rapid 9 to ten fps with awareness fixed from the first body, the Panasonic Lumix G9 will supply a whopping 20 fps with non-stop autofocus, and a significantly extraordinary 60 frames consistent with 2d without, whilst the usage of the digital shutter. And that is now not simply at its complete 20.2-megapixel decision in JPEG layout, however also when taking pictures in raw layout, and you will additionally find a pretty decent 50-frame buffer for either format in line with Panasonic.

That stage of performance additionally blows the GH5 out of the water, incidentally. The more steeply-priced (however additionally greater video-centric) flagship model is rated at nine fps with non-stop autofocus or 12 fps without (and not using a pace benefit while the usage of the digital shutter), though the G9 is rated at the ones same speeds when the usage of the mechanical shutter. Both cameras have buffer depths rated at approximately 600 JPEGs or 60 uncooked frames at 12 fps or slower.

Point-dense autofocus it really is claimed to supply enterprise-leading performance

The Panasonic G9 sports activities a new Advanced Depth from Defocus (or Advanced DFD) autofocus machine that's carefully related to but surely stated to slightly outperform that which we've seen previously in the GH5. As properly as extra than quadrupling the total variety of autofocus points from 49 within the G85 to a whopping 225 within the Panasonic G9, the new autofocus machine is said to better song challenge motion and to be much less at risk of overshooting whilst digital camera to issue distance all at once stops converting, in particular while taking pictures in 4K and 6K Photo modes.

The new AF system also vaults the Lumix G9 to the top of the industry's league tables in phrases of single-factor autofocus, in keeping with its maker. The time to acquire a focal point lock is now said to be as little as 0.04 seconds, only a smidgen faster than the GH5's zero.05 seconds and the G85's zero.07 seconds. In element, the motive for this degree of speed is that Panasonic now has the system operating at a really fast 480 samples in line with second.

The Panasonic G9 additionally gives an uprated, greater effective stabilization machine

The five-axis photograph stabilization device in the Panasonic G9 is another vicinity where the camera bests not simplest its immediately predecessor, but also its flagship sibling. Although it uses the same gyro sensor as in the GH5, the use of recent algorithms which bear in mind records from the accelerometer and even from the picture sensor while determining a motion vector to stabilize imply that it could now calculate that vector extra accurately. And what meaning inside the actual international is that the machine can now provide a producer-claimed 6.Five forestall corrective capability, a great leap forward from the 5-prevent correction supplied by using the GH5 and G85.

To higher stabilize longer lenses, the Panasonic DC-G9 can combine its in-camera, sensor shift-type stabilization device with the built-in optical stabilization device located in a few lenses. This machine is referred to as Dual I.S. 2 in Panasonic parlance, and will prove its well worth when shooting at longer focal lengths, however you needn't use a lens with Dual I.S. 2 compatibility to gain the picture stabilization's complete corrective energy at wider angles, as Panasonic literature suggests a corrective electricity of 6.5 stops regardless of unstabilized lenses.

The Panasonic G9 offers plenty of different upgrades

Other upgrades in the Panasonic G9 consist of a new 6K Photo mode as visible formerly inside the GH5, mirroring in its functionality the earlier 4K Photo function from the G85 which remains available within the newer fashions as well. In a nutshell, the modes will let you shoot video footage with a nonetheless-pleasant shutter speed at 4K or 6K decision, for excessive-res 8.Three-megapixel or 18-megapixel body extraction.

The 4K / 6K Photo mode additionally now offers a pre-burst photo feature to allow you to get the shot although it occurred slightly earlier than you pressed the shutter button. And there may be a brand new pinnacle electronic shutter pace of one/32,000-2nd, and the mechanical shutter, which tops out at 1/8,000-second has a rated lifestyles of two hundred,000 cycles, just as in the flagship GH5.

There's a brand new night mode which can be applied one by one to both the electronic viewfinder or LCD display, and which like the comparable mode on latest Pentax DSLRs disables all but the crimson channel of the live view, photograph evaluate, menus and overlays, so one can make certain the minimum feasible disturbance on your night vision. And you may also now configure a three-10x display enlargement round the chosen autofocus factor for simpler visual confirmation of attention. In addition, you can assign custom capabilities to a button on your lens, loop from one aspect of the body to the opposite when selecting AF points, and switch among autofocus points mechanically when converting from portrait to panorama orientations or vice versa.

Not simply stills, however video too

And even as it is no longer aimed at video with quite the same focus as is the GH5 -- maximum appreciably, it does have a rather brief 10 minute clip length restriction in 50/60p 4K mode, and a 30-minute restriction at lower frame rates, it does nevertheless help capture of full sensor-width video and not using a pixel binning or skipping at both 1080p and 4K resolutions. The Panasonic G9 can, as alluded to just now, file 4K extremely excessive-def pictures at up to 60 frames in step with 2nd, and Full HD video at as much as a whopping one hundred eighty fps.

USB charging offers you staggering battery existence on a shoestring finances

For our cash, one of the coolest capabilities of the Panasonic G9 may be found in a rather unexpected place: Power supply.

Like many cameras, it helps charging battery packs in-digicam via a USB charger cable, but it also lets in USB strength deliver, with the digital camera capable of jogging completely off the electricity supplied to it from a USB connection. We measured ourselves, and found that the Panasonic G9 attracts a few seven-hundred-800mA while inactive, and typically stays below 900mA even when underneath load, only once in a while peaking at one amp.

At those fees, which means you may strength the G9 with a 10,000mAh battery % comparable in length to a % of playing playing cards and bought for as low as $25 which might give you battery lifestyles at the order of eleven hours or so. And with a instead large 20,000mAH percent (which is ready the same weight as two of the Canon LP-E19 batteries used inside the EOS 1DX II), you could strength the Panasonic G9 for near an entire day.

If you want to stretch the battery existence even greater, you may also set off a new Power Save LVF mode which puts the digicam to sleep absolutely each time you're taking the viewfinder faraway from your eye, and then requires a half-press of the shutter button to bring it lower back to existence. Be doing so, which is straightforward in case you just remind yourself to half of-press the shutter button every time you're raising the camera in your eye, you can more than double the rated battery life from 380 to 920 frames in conditions in any other case much like the usual CIPA check.

Unusually modern-day wi-fi connectivity comes trendy inside the Panasonic G9

The Panasonic G9 includes each Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios. The Bluetooth radio is a 4.2 Low Energy-unit that keeps strength consumption to a gentle sip, allowing for an usually-on connection. The Wi-Fi radio is uncommon that, at least in a few international locations, it's each 2.Four and 5GHz-well suited and supports not simply the 802.11b/g/n standards, but also the tons faster 802.11a/n/ac standards as well.

You can not simplest remote manage the Panasonic G9 whole with a remote stay view feed -- or even wake the camera remotely-- thru Wi-Fi, but additionally remote manipulate it without a stay view feed the usage of the a good deal decrease-energy intake Bluetooth radio to preserve battery existence. Of path, you may also use the Bluetooth connection to your cellphone to geotag your pics. And you could replica settings between camera our bodies thru your smartphone, a pleasant contact in case you need to shoot with a random body assigned from a pool.

Wired connectivity is generously-precise too

And it's not simply wireless verbal exchange it truly is surprisingly properly-unique on the Panasonic G9. The stressed out connectivity has also been showered with love, with the new model offering a USB 3.0 Micro B connector compatible with the original-spec USB 3.0 SuperSpeed (Gen 1) wellknown. Catering to external recording and tethered playback, the G9 also has a Type-A HDMI port. Output is 4:2:2 at eight bits, besides for 4K 60p that is 4:2:zero. Of course, the G9 consists of 3.5mm external stereo mic and headphone jacks, a 2.5mm far off control port, and a PC-sync socket.

Panasonic G9 price and availability

The Panasonic G9 might be offered body-handiest in the US marketplace, priced at round $1,700. It's expected to start delivery from early January 2018. The digicam ships with a unmarried battery percent, a USB-powered committed battery charger, an AC/USB adapter, USB 2.0 & USB three.Zero cables, shoulder strap, eye cup, frame cap, flash sync socket cowl, warm-shoe cover, and manuals. As mentioned formerly, you can assume to pay US$350 for its optionally-to be had battery grip accessory.