“It’s Panasonic’s first camera body explicitly configured for stills shooters. Does the Micro Four Thirds cliché, Olympus for stills, Panasonic for video still apply? Let’s find [o]ut…….”
Another great review video by one of the best Micro Four Thirds camera and lens reviewers out there, a former Fleet Street newspaper and magazine photographer who really knows his stuff as opposed to the legion of “wazzupp?” camera vloggers with no actual professional experience.
I would take a David Thorpe review over one by any of the “wazzupp?” crowd any day.
Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 with Panasonic DMW-BGG9 Battery Grip and Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens. I consider Panasonic’s battery grips to be necessities and recommend buying them alongside each new camera.
Clicking on these affiliate links and purchasing through them helps us continue our work for ‘Untitled: Stories of Creativity, Innovation, Success’.
Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC Memory Card – B&H
Angelbird 256GB Match Pack for the Panasonic EVA1 – B&H – special promotional packaging of two Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC memory cards that are just as usable in other cameras than the AU-EVA1 that also have UHS-II SD card slots.
“It’s taken me so long to figure out what I’m actually seeing in Panasonic G9’s autofocus performance that now we have to address YodaYeo’s GH5 hack as well. Which I do. And a WHOLE lot more. I’m exhausted….”
Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 with Panasonic DMW-BGG9 Battery Grip and Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.
Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 with Panasonic DMW-BGGH5 Battery Grip and Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.
Clicking on and purchasing through these affiliate links helps us continue our work for ‘Untitled: Stories of Creativity, Innovation, Success’.
Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC Memory Card – B&H
Angelbird 256GB Match Pack for the Panasonic EVA1 – B&H – special promotional packaging of two Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC memory cards that are just as usable in other cameras than the AU-EVA1 that also have UHS-II SD card slots.
“It’s not often I’m moved to review new equipment but, being an early adopter of the Panasonic G9 it seemed an interesting exercise and may be helpful to those now trying to decide whether to take the plunge and order one….”
Many thanks to Helen Hooker for writing this in-depth hands-on review of the Panasonic Lumix DC-G9.
There are far too few female photographers and moviemakers reviewing and sharing aspects of their craft just as there are far too few female brand ambassadors for hardware and software makers and especially camera makers.
The motto of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media is “If she can see it, she can be it” and if female creatives are not out there obvious and visible then how are we to know that we, too, can have careers in the media and other creative arts.
Clicking on these affiliate links and purchasing through them helps us continue our work for ‘Untitled: Stories of Creativity, Innovation, Success’.
Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC Memory Card – B&H
Angelbird 256GB Match Pack for the Panasonic EVA1 – B&H – special promotional packaging of two Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC memory cards that are just as usable in other cameras than the AU-EVA1 that also have UHS-II SD card slots.
“Panasonic surprised a lot of photographers when they announced a flagship camera with even stronger photographic capability than the GH5. Panasonic is targeting pros with this camera, so we went out with professional wildlife and landscape photographer Joe Desjardins to see if this new body can compete with professional DSLRs….”
Clicking on these affiliate links and purchasing through them helps us continue our work for ‘Untitled: Stories of Creativity, Innovation, Success’.
Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC Memory Card – B&H
Angelbird 256GB Match Pack for the Panasonic EVA1 – B&H – special promotional packaging of two Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC memory cards that are just as usable in other cameras than the AU-EVA1 that also have UHS-II SD card slots.
“The LUMIX DC-G9 introduces Panasonic’s new High Resolution Mode. Ideal for landscape, scenery and still-life photography, the high-res mode composes shots from 8 shutter releases to produce 80MP JPEG /RAW images in-camera – a level of resolution generally seen only on medium format cameras that cost many times more than the G9….”
Panasonic Lumix DC-G9, a Micro Four Thirds stills photography hybrid camera with great video capabilities.
Commentary
Kudos to Panasonic Australia for showing us more about the G9’s high resolution mode than many of the YouTube camera superstars have so far.
While the G9 is a remarkable achievement in a (mostly) stills photography camera, its high resolution mode was what caught my eye when it was announced, not least as an alternative to the medium format digital cameras that are beyond my reach or daily needs.
Linhof Master Technika Classic 4″x5″ sheet film view camera, the epitome of large format analog photography cameras that can also shoot digitally with the addition of a digital back.
Medium format digital is the contemporary equivalent of the 120 rollfilm-using analog and sheet film cameras upon which I built my environmental portrait style during my magazine photography career, and I miss their high resolution, storytelling detail and the slow, sure, deliberative approach that the genre and those cameras demand from photographer and subject.
It is the polar opposite to the casual rapid-fire snapshot style of portraiture currently entrenched in the realm of magazine photography and for which DLSR and DSLR-style cameras are popular, yet here is Panasonic bringing a non-DSLR style of photography to its latest DSLR-style camera in the G9.
Pixel-shifting high exposure functionality is not new to Micro Four Thirds digital cameras – Olympus has it on several of its rangefinder-style and DSLR-style cameras while Pentax reportedly first introduced it into its APS-C and 35mm sensor-equipped K Series DSLRs.
[XL] (80.5M): 10368×7776 [LL] (40M): 7296×5472
• RAW images are always recorded in the [4:3] (10368k7776) aspect ratio….
[Simul Record Normal Shot]
Saves the first picture if pictures taken before the combining process in addition to a combined picture if [ON] is selected. Pictures will be saved with [Picture Size] set to [L].
[Shutter Delay]
Sets the delay between the time the shutter button is pressed to the time the shutter is released.
Will the high resolution mode come to the successor of Panasonic’s Lumix GX8 rangefinder-style camera, presumably to be named the GX9?
Those shutter delay options are a great solution for the times when you don’t have a remote release handy but given photographers should be carrying a tripod when planning on shooting 40 megapixel or 80 megapixel high resolution images on the G9 they should be carrying one or two remotes as well.
Always best to have spares of all crucial hardware, especially items prone to loss or failure.
So far there has been no news as to whether Panasonic will be releasing a GX9 any time soon but I hope one will be coming sometime this year.
I prefer rangefinder and rangefinder-style cameras for stills photography over DSLR-style cameras due to the way documentary subjects react to them and portrait subjects engage with them, and appreciate the GX series’ tilting electronic viewfinder for its unique waist-level viewing experience.
3 Legged Thing’s Winston carbon fibre tripod is reportedly their most stable tripod made to date.
A high resolution-capable GX9 attached to a sturdy but still portable tripod like 3 Legged Thing’s Winston via the company’s QR11-L L-Bracket for rapid switching between vertical and horizontal orientation, or a QR11-FB of using a G9 with DMW-BGG9 battery grip, might be the way to go when shooting environmental portraits.
The one possible downside to pixel-shifting high-resolution mode that some commentators point out when shooting portraits, subject movement between exposures, is not dissimilar to the one I often encountered when working with available light and medium or large format cameras with slow lenses.
3 Legged Thing’s QR11-LC Universal L-Bracket, soon to be joined by a full-size version designed to hold cameras with battery grips.
The trick is to engage your sitter with the process so deeply that they stay still enough for long exposures, or multiple shots combined into one, concentrating, breathing out, then gazing directly down the barrel of the lens for the duration.
Angelbird 64GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC Memory Card – B&H
Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC Memory Card – B&H
Angelbird 256GB Match Pack for the Panasonic EVA1 – B&H – special promotional packaging of two Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC memory cards that are just as usable in other cameras than the AU-EVA1 that also have UHS-II SD card slots.
“The Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 is the brand’s highest-end stills-oriented camera, sitting beside the video-oriented Lumix DC-GH5 at the top of the product lineup….
… It seemed for a little while there, the two biggest players in the Micro Four Thirds world were splitting off into their own separate niches with Olympus going after the pro stills crowd by way of the EM-1 series and Panasonic, the pro video crowd with the GH series.
No longer is this the case: the Panasonic G9 looks to take a square shot at the heart of the market Olympus is after with the OM-D E-M1 II….”
Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 camera with Panasonic DMW-BGG9 battery grip and Panasonic Leica DG Elmarit 200mm f/2.8 Power OIS telephoto lens.
Gallery
Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 with Panasonic DMW-BGG9 Battery Grip and Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.
Panasonic DC-G9 with DMW-BGG9 battery grip and Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.
Angelbird 64GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC Memory Card – B&H
Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC Memory Card – B&H
Angelbird 256GB Match Pack for the Panasonic EVA1 – B&H – special promotional packaging of two Angelbird 128GB AV Pro UHS-II SDXC memory cards that are just as usable in other cameras than the AU-EVA1 that also have UHS-II SD card slots.
“With mighty impressive image stabilisation, an ultra-sensitive shutter, super-fast burst mode, accomplished continuous autofocus and burst shooting, plus a viewfinder that’s unrivalled by any mirrorless model, the G9 really is the finest mirrorless camera that money can buy….
… The Panasonic Lumix G9 doesn’t only step up what mirrorless cameras can do – surpassing even the Fujifilm X-T2 in many areas – it successfully places itself in among the DSLR elite. It’s a very impressive bit of kit indeed….”
The Panasonic Lumix DC-G9, the finest mirrorless camera that money can buy?
“Panasonic’s Lumix G9 is a high-end mirrorless camera aimed at enthusiasts, delivering the best photo quality and fastest shooting from a Lumix G body to date….
… While the G9 is Panasonic’s ultimate stills camera, it’s no slouch for video, sporting 4k at up to 60p, 1080 at 180fps, relay-recording by swapping SD cards, and 4:2:0 / 8 bit internal recording. Here are my podcast and video reviews of the camera, starting with an overview; scroll down for my sample images and movies!”
“It’s wide, it’s fast and it’s tiny! Laowa’s 7.5mm f/2 is a very credible addition to the ever expanding armoury of Micro Four Thirds lenses. Is it a credible buy instead of a native Micro Four Thirds wide-zoom? It’s cheaper, that’s for sure. But does the IQ match up?…”
The Venus Optics Laowa 7.5mm f/2.0 super wideangle prime lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras, equivalent to 15mm in the 35mm sensor format, great for architecture, cityscapes, close-ups, interiors, landscapes and ultra-wide scene-setting establishing shots.
Commentary
This morning I had to jump into action to shoot a small series of architectural interior photographs to send off to a potential buyer of our house and soon-to-be subdivided property in one of the most prestigious suburbs in Sydney’s upper north shore.
Our plan has always been to sell our house only if the subdivision takes far too long to complete, subject as such things are to the vagaries of bureaucracies and the availability or lack of it of consultants and tradesmen, as a last resort.
With almost every cent of our savings spoken for and the final cost of the last stage of the subdivision process of unknown cost depending on when a tradesman can be persuaded to arrive to take on the final stage and what he finds when he starts digging, we have had to suspend all new photography and video production hardware and software purchases and it really grates.
I have been wanting some wider focal lengths than 12mm (in Micro Four Thirds) or 16mm (in APS-C) both of which are equivalent to 24mm in the 35mm format, for quite some time, for architectural photography and moviemaking as well as scene-setting shots in photoessays and movies.
The optimum super wide-angle lens solutions for each or just one of those two mirrorless sensor formats that I use are neither clear nor obvious.
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm f/2.9 Pro wide-angle zoom lens with STC adapter for 105mm diameter circular screw-on filters.
Choose a zoom lens and compromise on optical distortion and vignetting?
Compromise again on a variable instead of fixed maximum aperture zoom lens knowing that I find variable maximum apertures irritating when shooting video though acceptable enough when shooting stills?
And what do you do about superwide zoom lenses and some superwide prime lenses with convex front elements that make attaching protective, UV or ND filters really expensive, bulky or next-to-impossible?
One possible stop-gap solution might be an affordable, small flat-fronted manual prime like the Laowa 7.5mm f/2.0 rectilinear superwide lens.
There is nothing so annoying as shooting a figure walking through a cityscape and the lens is turning all the parallel straight lines into curves, morphing from straight to bent and back as you follow your subject.
Laowa 7.5mm f/2.0 superwide prime lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras.
The Laowa 7.5mm f/2.0, equivalent to 15mm in 35mm sensor terms, is wider than my preferred go-to superwide focal length of 10.5mm in M43, 14mm in APS-C or 21mm in 35mm format, and the Laowa has a very small filter diameter of 46mm, necessitating finding an alternative to my preferred range of top-quality knurled brass step-up rings made by Breakthrough Photography.
The smallest knurled brass step-up ring that Breakthrough makes is 49mm, but at least the company does make a 46mm X4 UV protection filter.
My second-choice brand in knurled brass step-up rings, Sensei Pro, does not appear to make a 46mm diameter step-up ring either so I am limited to my third-choice, the non-knurled but thankfully non-binding brass Heliopan, made in Germany.
Of all the brands of aluminium and brass step-up rings I have tried, those made by Breakthrough Photography have proven to be the best and are unique in their top quality machining and easy-handling traction frame.
The lengths we sometimes must go to in order to safely attach affordable screw-on neutral density filters!
Will the Laowa’s small size permit fitting focussing fingers in behind all three parts of such an ND filter solution?
Is its optical correction enough to avoid the dreaded straight-to-bent-and-back morphing parallels?
Or do I need to consider other superwide M43 lenses such as the narrower and slower SLR Magic 8mm f/4.0 prime or Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro superwide-to-wide zoom, both of which present other ND filter-attaching problems?
Why aren’t these things straightforward and easy to solve?
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro standard zoom lens is a terrific lens but needs to be supplemented with wider or longer primes or zooms for non-standard shots or subjects.
I managed to produce an acceptable set of interior photographs with my Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro zoom set at 12mm, my least favourite focal length for architectural and interiors photography, but at least it got the job done.
When it comes time to produce a complete set of images of this house and land once the final work is done and the council approvals – fingers crossed – come through, then I will have to do it with a much wider lens to get the feel of really being there in the interior or in the landscape rather than peering at it from a slight distance.
I would rather spend more money on Micro Four Thirds lenses and accessories right now than on APS-C gear as I need to have a well-rounded video and stills kit based on Panasonic’s Lumix Super 16/M43 cameras rather than Fujifilm’s Super 35/APS-C cameras.
Panasonic has really hit the moviemaking mark whereas Fujifilm is still playing catch-up from well behind in the video stakes and seems to have lost interest in producing more moviemaking-ready manual clutch focus primes and zooms.
Fujifilm’s X-Pro2 and X100F digital rangefinder cameras are unique in their feature sets and affordability compared to Leica’s wonderful but incredibly expensive digital rangefinders. I love making fly-on-the-wall documentary photographs with rangefinder cameras and have done so since my early days in analog photography.
Fujifilm’s strength is in stills photography with my preferred camera series being the professional digital rangefinder X-Pron (n standing for a number) and the compact digital rangefinder X100n, both of which allow me to create photographs with image design and timing that continue to elude me in EVF-based cameras like Panasonic’s.
If Fujifilm comes out with a top-quality, non-compromised EVF in the X-Pro2’s successor than I may well add one for use with prime lenses longer than 35mm and wider than 18mm, as well as all zoom lenses, making for a classic two-camera, longer plus wider prime lens kit for immersive documentary photography.
Meanwhile Panasonic goes from strength to strength with its EVF-based, DSLR-style video stills hybrids cameras, though I do have a very special fondness for its Lumix GXn rangefinder-style series with its unique tilting EVF that allows me to photograph in the style of my beloved, long-lost Rolleiflex twin lens reflex cameras.
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