Lumix G9 + Leica 8-18mm
Today Panasonic has announced their latest flagship stills camera, the Lumix G9. The Lumix G9 is a strange camera for me because it’s a camera that I have been involved in from almost the beginning having attended design interviews in London, engineer meetings in Japan and the UK and much more stretching back more than 12 months.
I had the opportunity to use the pre-production camera for a few days during a video shoot for Panasonic in rainy Wales just a couple of weeks ago and thought it may be useful for me to share a few of my thoughts around what is new, what is good and what you should consider if you are thinking of upgrading. I’ve also included images from the newly released Leica 200mm f2.8 that I had a chance to play with.
The Specs
- Worlds Fastest Camera – 20fps with continuous AFC mode and 60fps with AF locked in RAW
- 20MP Sensor with no low pass filter
- Worlds Fastest AF – 0.04sec with new custom AF tracking modes and 480fps drive speed
- 80MP High Res Shot Mode in RAW/JPEG
- DUAL IS with 6.5 Stop Compensation
- 3680k OLED EVF (0.83x) – blackout free + switchable magnification 0.83x / 0.77x / 0.7x + 120fps refresh rate
- Status LCD
- Splash / Dustproof / Freezeproof -10C
- 3“ 1040k Free Angle LCD
- 4K Video 60p
- Night Mode
- Double SD Slot (UHS-II compatible)
- USB3.0 with USB powering
- Bluetooth 4.1 / WIFI 5GHz / Full-size HDMI
Lumix G9 + Leica 200mm f2.8
Lumix G9 + 35-100 f2.8
Speed – RAW Powerhouse
The one thing that is very obvious when you pick up the G9 is the pure power of this camera. Looking at it from a spec point of view, the camera already claims to be the fasted in the world in a number of areas including AF and burst shooting, but it isn’t until you start shooting that you realise just how powerful it is.
One of the weaknesses of mirrorless cameras, in general, has been the continuous autofocus performance and Panasonic’s own DFD system has often taken some flack for its performance, but I think that in the G9, the AF really has hit a new level.
Even compared to the GH5, the G9’s AF is considerably faster and more reliable and AFC performance, even at 400 and 800mm equivalent, was fast and accurate. Panasonic has also added some new AFC custom settings, allowing you to choose profiles to tailor the performance depending on whether the subject is moving erratically or in a more linear fashion.
There’s also a couple of new AF settings such as ‘AF Scope’ (temporary full-screen punch in to confirm focus), ‘Loop Movement’ (for looping the focus area from the right to the left and vice-versa) and ‘Focus Switching for Vert / Hor’ which automatically switches the focus point as you rotate the camera.
On top of the AF improvements, burst shooting has just gone through the roof to an insane level. Over the last few years, Panasonic has really been pushing the 4K and 6K photo modes, and despite trying it a couple of times, I was always held back by the JPEG limitation.
When the engineers announced to me that this camera would be able to do up to 60fps in RAW, I was amazed. Which makes me think back to my first DSLR camera, the Nikon D40 and it’s incredible 2.5 frames/second. There’s also been a shutter speed improvement allowing you to now also shoot at 1/32,000s with the electronic shutter, compared with 1/16,000s on the GH5.
Lumix G9 + Leica 200mm f2.8
Image Quality
Apart from the pure speed of the camera, the G9 has also been pitched as having the best image quality of any micro four-thirds camera and having looked at the RAW images, it’s certainly the best Panasonic camera, hands down. The G9 takes lots of the improvements of the latest wave of Lumix models such as the new 20mp sensor, removal of low pass filter and Dual IS and combines them to make a camera that punches well above its weight.
If you have experience of the GH5, you’ll find the still image quality of the G9 to be familiar with some improvements. The sensor processing of the new venus engine has shown some improvements in DR, low-light, detail processing and also a new coating on the sensor is designed to reduce flare and increase contrast.
The Dual-IS has also had a boost from 5-stops in the GH5 to 6.5 stops in the G9. This also works in 4K video modes and preliminary tests seem to show a visible improvement for handheld shooting. There’s also IS-Lock from the V2 GH5 firmware included for good measure.
The headline new feature for image quality is the inclusion of a sensor-shift, high-resolution mode. In this mode, the G9 takes 8 images and combines them in camera to produce an 80.3mp RAW or JPEG image. I haven’t had a chance to play with this on an Olympus, but now having the ability to do this in RAW is incredible.
Unfortunately, due to lack of software support, I haven’t had a chance to check out my HR images from my time shooting in Wales. Hopefully, I can share these as soon as the software catches up.
Lumix G9 + 35-100 f2.8
Lumix G9 + Leica 8-18mm
Ergonomics and Usability
In my opinion, the big improvements in the G9 come from the ergonomics and handling improvements. The G9 has a new magnesium body that is freezeproof, dustproof and weather sealed which is something I’ve come to appreciate when traveling. The body is a little bigger than the G80 but smaller than the GH5, which gives it a nice balance when shooting with the larger zooms and the new 200mm telephoto prime.
The G9 also has a brand new 3680k OLED EVF that is blackout free and has a switchable magnification 0.83x / 0.77x / 0.7x (35mm equiv.) for people wearing glasses. The OLED contrast levels, high resolution, high magnification and 120fps refresh rate means the G9 has the best EVF I’ve ever encountered. Even compared to the GH5, which wowed me when I first used it, the G9 is larger and more responsive.
There’s also a new top LCD for quick access to the settings, I’ve never personally bothered with those but for some people, this will be a nice feature when setting the camera up on a tripod for example. The G9 also has the joystick for changing AF settings that we first saw on the GH5, as well as a new fn lever below the lens to allow you to quickly change camera ‘profiles’.
Dual card slots, USB-C and USB powering, a full size-HDMI and mic inputs round off the body giving it a real Pro feel with all the right inputs. The G9 also runs from the same battery as the GH4/GH5 which is great for times when I need to carry both stills and video cameras together.
A final, cool feature is the new ‘night mode’ that changes the monitor and EVF to red-light only, helping to prevent you being blinded and losing your night vision when shooting in the dark.
Lumix G9 + Leica 200mm f2.8
Lumix G9 + Leica 8-18mm
Video Functionality
Despite not being touted as a video camera, the G9 has some impressive specs. I haven’t had a chance yet to test it, so I can’t offer much of an opinion of how it compares to the GH5, but it has many similar key specs: 4K 60p (up to 10mins), 4K 24/25/30 (up to 30mins) and FHD up to 180fps. The internal recording is 4:2:0 8-bit and you can get 4:2:2 8-bit output up to 30p over HDMI. Cine-D and Cine-V are also included for projects where you may want to grade the footage and also match with the GH5
Lumix G9 + Leica 8-18mm
Conclusion
Truth be told, I haven’t had a huge amount of time to really get to know the camera intricately, but from my first impressions, this camera is an absolute beast. At the launch price of £1,499.99/€1,729.99 body only, it’s certainly at the higher end of the M43 market, but just looking at the specs you get for your money, I’d argue this camera is unrivaled in what it offers. I can’t think of a single thing that this camera is missing from a features perspective and this democratisation of ‘high-end’ features such as 20fps burst shooting, in a mid-range body is what I have come to love from the LUMIX system.
Want to check out the camera in the flesh?
I now have a G9 to test for the coming weeks and I’ll be demoing the camera in the UK over the coming weeks, so if you would like to get hands-on with the camera, drop me a message and come along to one of the below events,:
- Lincoln Photo Show 10th Nov
- WEX London Store Opening 11th Nov
- Jessops Derby 17th Nov
- Wilkinson Cameras 18th Nov
- Jessops Nottingham 2nd Dec
Alternatively, if you can’t make the events or you live outside the UK, drop me a message in the comments section below or via twitter and I’ll do my best to answer your queries.
Thanks for these great impressions! Looking forward to try out this beast.
I am considering changing to mirrorless from aps-c (Canon). I had my enes focusen on Olympus M1 ii, but now comes this new pany. What should I go for ? And why?
Jorgen
APS-C might be a touch better in low light but this G9 will knock the socks off the Canon and the Olympus too, in terms of pure speed and features
If it is using the same old GX8 20mp sensor, sorry, what did panasonic do all this time? It is not ok.
I don’t think it’s the same as the GX8, if anything it may be related to the GH5 sensor, but I have no info on that
All manufacturers have hit a ceiling on technology at the moment – don’t forget that 20MP in MFT is about 75-80 MP on FF and none of the big players is anywhere near that on FF sensors.
Pretty much across the board, developments from all manufactures have been on functionality, not sensor. In that respect we are pretty much as we were back in the latter days of film cameras.
Which lens is this:
“Lumix G9 + Leica 20mm f2.8”
?
200mm f2.8 sorry!
How is the shutter sound?
Similar to all the latest wave of cameras like GX80, G80 and GH5
Very nice review man, respect!
Still can’t beat omd em1 mii.
It beats it in a number of ways including speed, handling, EVF and RAW high resolution, but the OMD-EM1 M2 is also a great camera
Unless the camera can perform a dual x-y perspective change as can be done in the OMD EM-1.2, I won’t be buying this camera. I do a great deal of architectural photography in Chicago.
And what’s with the cost of the battery grip? Why so expensive? Even without the battery, which would reduce the cost to about $300, it is about $100 more than comparable grips for other cameras. And it does nothing special. (Furthermore, the AE/AF lock button on the grip for the G80/85 is misplaced–it is guaranteed a user will accidently hit this button many times when not wanting to.)
Is the perspective correction just on JPEGs? Haven’t heard that one before
Do you know of any image quality differencea between the e shutter and the mechanical one? Like it was in previous panasonic cameras often the case with it being 10 bit vs 12 bit to achieve a faster readout
Thank you so much for this review. I’m a chronic owner of GHs, now on the 5, and I use them for stills. The GH5 has the curious function of stacking several JPEG images for producing a single image focused from the closest to the furthest planes. Did you find this in the G9? In JPEG or already in Raw? Thank you.
Hi Jacob
Nice blog with some great images too.
I am currently using a GX8 with 100-400mm PL lens mainly for wildlife – but love the look of the 8-18mm.
I really like the look/potential of the G9 – but I need to be sure of the image quality.. ie a noticeable improvement on the GX8 before I commit to it.
If you don’t mind, I have a couple of questions which you may be able to answer, based on your time with the camera so far:
– Would you use it professionally for your landscape work where client say requires large prints – or significant cropping is required but good detail/low noise required?
– I have struggled to track and capture large birds in focus on the GX8 that I would have been successful with if I still used my large and heavy Nikon equipment. I find the camera can initially find the subject and focus…but then does not hold focus it starts to hunt and I can’t usually require focus or find the subject again. (This is using AF-S single point, so I don’t understand why the camera tries to refocus after finding a subject initially)…..
Do you think this may be addressed in the G9?
Thanks for any reply Jacob, I appreciate you may not have an answer to these questions.
I would love to get to an experience day to try, but at the moment they are either too far away or not viable with my work commitments,
Kind regards
Andy
Hey Andy,
GX8 is my favourite camera, so I hope if anyone can help with this, I can.
– Image quality in normal stills mode is better but it’s small improvement, maybe in the region of a stop in low light (I haven’t tested side by side so this is more of a feeling) and similar in DR.
– AF is much much better, in a different league. If you need AF in M43 body, this is the camera you need. When I used it with the new 200mm prime, I was blown away by the AF speed.
On the subject of trying the camera, Panasonic are doing almost daily ‘touch and try’ days, so keep an eye out for one of those!
Thanks again and I hope this helps
Thanks for great initial impressions, I’ve been waiting to add a second (or rather new primary) body to my Olympus E-M1 and the Mark II had some missing features I wanted in order to warrant the price (such as new display and higher res EVF that has been taken care of in the G9) other then that both cameras seem quite similar and I’ve got the G9 down on pre-order even though I mostly have Olympus PRO glass. We’ll see how that performs on the G9.
I question/comment though to your very good review. If I understand it right from interviews and specification text the high res mode is only available at max shutter speeds of 1 second. If true, this seriously limits it as a landscape camera compared to the high res mode in the Olympus E-M1 Mark II. Can you verify this? Also, if so, would this be something that can be brought back to Panasonic by you as a possible firmware fix? Being able to shoot 60 second long exposures in the E-M1 Mark II for each sensor shift (so 8 minutes total) makes for some really cool running water shots and if it could be implemented in the G9 it would truly stand as a superb landscape camera as well.
Also, as a response to you/Will Lee regarding the E-M1 Mark II perspective control that is indeed for JPG only and not for raw and as such can just as well be performed by any decent software in post. I guess it could be a big deal for those shooting lots of architecture and don’t shoot RAW though. Problem is you loose pixels so a true tilt-shift lens would be better.
Thanks again!
Regards from Sweden
Rasmus
Dear Jacob,
Thankyou for your great pics and article. The GX8 has been my favourite camera for ergonomics, the first that made me want to get out of bed in the morning. My main main interest is landscape. Thankyou for the great shots. The Hi-res mode interests me. How practical do you think it would be to try to stack exposures. Do you think there might ever be a bracketing mode?
Regards from UK
WoW . Awesome Review. Thanks for sharing this nice review
How does the dynamic range compare to GH5?
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Hi Jacob,
Thanks for a great review. I’m interested in either the G9 or an EM1 mark II but I have mostly Oly lenses in my kit including the 12-100mm PRO & the 12-40mm PRO. Will the Panasonic DFD feature work with my Oly lenses or as I suspect it is only available for the dedicated Panasonic / Leica lenses ?
It’s not a deal breaker for me but I’d really like to get my hands on a G9 to try it for myself, but at the moment ( 11-01-2018 ) my closest camera retailers don’t have any !
Do you know when they will be readily available ?
Sorry to bother you with this but your review is the best I’ve read so far.
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