Panasonic LUMIX DC-G9MEB-K G9 Mirrorless Camera with 12-60

 

Bought this as the other models on the market now are more aimed at V-Blogging and I wanted something that would specialise in stills. It’s got so many features, including video, that it would take me all year to try them and review them but it’s a lovely camera and dies take the most amazing stills. It’s well thought out to the point of being a little too well thought out. They could get rid of some of the buttons and just have a toggle switch which would tidy the job up.
Seller delivered almost a week early so very pleased with that. The only down side to the camera is the price as with all cameras and things to do with cameras they are expensive.

 

We bought this from Amazon Warehouse for about 60% of the current full price, and the quality is fantastic. Coming from Olympus OM-D EM5 (Mark 1), the image and video quality of the G9 is a step up. It’s quite a large body, but the grip makes it easier to handle. Autofocus is much faster, and improved a lot more when we updated the firmware. It’s interesting to compare this to my phone camera. It still doesn’t do as well in low light as my Pixel, due to the processing that phones use. But if you’re shooting with good lighting, the results are much better.

 

What to say… I shoot mainly photos, but some video. I have a Panasonic G7 and GX80 and a small collection of lenses, and I was looking to upgrade the G7 to a beefier dslr style camera. Both are great cameras in their own right, but in particular the G7 was missing a few features I wanted, such as in-body stabilisation. I always worried whether the G9 was more camera (and money) than I needed. I agonised for ages whether to go for the G9 or the G90 which has some great video features. I even considered the Nikon Z50, as I have had, and loved, a Nikon in the past So this came up on a special and I took the plunge.

I really regret not having jumped at it before. It takes everything up a notch. Higher resolution, better colour science, faster everything. It’s photo focused, but has nearly the same video capability of the GH5. It’s a wonderful camera to use, and feels great in the hand. It’s so customisable, I’m still trying to work it all out. I won’t list the specs, as if you’re looking at this camera you’ll do your own research, but it is loaded with pretty much everything you could need, and will perform excellently in anything but extreme low light, and even then it does pretty good. Battery life is very good.

I’m keeping the GX80 as a pocketable solution, but the G7 will be finding a new home…

 

I’ve been using a Sony a6300 for the last year and a half. Very fed up of Sony’s colour science and prices, I decided to try something different and picked the Lumix G9! Here’s my experience with it…

FOCUS
Auto focus is nice and quick. Very quick! A little hunting in low light but being an MFT camera, you will expect that. Daytime shooting in both photo and video is excellent! There are the usual suspects here:
AFS – for Single Shot,
AFF (F stands for Flexable) — for moving subjects,
AFC (Continuous) — you’d mainly use this for video, and finally
MF — Total manual control.

All work good enough. May not be a advanced as Sony’s but no other camera manufacturers are, and it’s certainly good enough. Face tracking is great. Also this camera has animal detection. This means it will recognize most animals you’ll encounter and track it while keeping focus on it.
The camera’s focus modes are:
Face/Eye and animal Tracking — Self explanatory,
Tracking — This is where you aim at your subject, then half-press the shutter to set a lock on that object, you can then release your finger from the shutter and it will track that object.
225-Area — for un-centered subjects,
Custom Multi — you can set the shape of your focus area! Not sure how this works as I don’t use it.
1-Area — this focuses on the subject that is in the auto-focus box, you can touch focus to select it.
Pinpoint — when you half press the shutter button, it’ll enlarge the focus cross area to see more clearly. I love this!

STILLS
Colours are good. Skin tones are nice. More like Cannon, way better than SONY!
The shutter button is sensitive! But I think this is to help eliminate CAMERA shake while taking stills, and it does do that. Keep in mind, this camera has a small sensor (MFT). So if you find you need to shoot with a shutter speed as low as 20-30 indoors, then having a sensitive release means you don’t have to press it hard to take a shot. Therefore the camera doesn’t move from the pressure of the shutter press. Genius really, and you do get used to it quite quickly. I like it.

The sensor is 20.3 MP so not the biggest and best out there, but it’s certainly enough for most users. There’s really no point going bigger than that unless you plan on printing billboards. And even then you don’t need to go higher as billboards are made to be seen from a distance.
The pictures are sharp (but of course that depends on the lens anyways) and give nice detail. There is a HDR mode that takes multiple shots at different exposures and combines them in-camera to create a high dynamic range image, and this works well.
The most exciting thing about this camera though is the 80mp stills mode! You have to use a tripod for this though, as it needs to be still. It uses the in body stabilizer to move the sensor while it takes multiple shots and then stitches them together to make one huge image. Keep in mind though the images it creates are MASSIVE in size. But they are awesome. Seems you’ll have no problem printing billboards with this camera after all!
So we also have a 4k and 6k photo mode. This is cooool. There’s a few options with this but in short what this allows you to do is:
when you press the shutter release, it’ll start recording a 4 or 6k video. In 30 fps and each frame will be 18 MP. You can then cycle through the frames and choose one (or more) to save as still images. This way you never miss a fast moving subject again. It can also be set to start recording images BEFORE you even press the shutter release. The images are just as good as stills too. It’s pretty amazing really!

VIDEO
Has a lot of picture profiles, including ‘CINELIKE’ but no LOG profiles without paying around 80 extra — sucks! (available from Panasonic’s website)
The G9 used to be mainly a photography camera, with few video features. Not anymore! After the November 2019 update we’ve seen an increase in video capability. The video options of this camera include:
4k 60p.
4k 50p.
4k 30p.
4k 25p.
4k 24p.
FHD 60p.
FHD 50p.
FHD 30p.
FHD 25p.
All the above is recorded internally as 8bit 4:2:0. But you can also record externally in 10bit 4:2:2.
And in FHD you can go as high as 180 FPS in high speed mode!

Since the November update you can now record internally at 10bit with hybrid log gamma in 4k 24, 25, and 30fps in HEVC mode.

There is IBS built in to this camera. This means that it uses a mechanical stabilizer inside the body to counter move the sensor to eliminate shaky hand movements. And it is awesome! With the ninja walking technique you can achieve gimbal-like shots no problem. Use this with a lens that has Optical stabilization and you’re videos will be smooth!

FUNCTION
Monitor and EVF are awesome! They’re both bright and clear and give you all the needed information including histograms, audio levels focus peaking, zebras etc.
But, I don’t like that it doesn’t tell you on screen what your focal length is. Nor does it say in the playback mode. The only place you can get this info is in the meta data of the file, once you’ve transferred to PC. I find this very strange! So focal length marking on a lens is a must for this camera.
Luckily with the Leica 12-60mm, it does have markings you can use.

This camera has lots of customizable buttons. And as it has dedicated WB, ISO and EXP COMP buttons, you have more options for FN buttons. There are 3 FN buttons on the back and two unmarked custom buttons on the front. I love the placement of these. You also have an FN switch on the front too.

FN switch is good to have, but could of easily worked as a button too. Don’t know why they went with a switch design. It is a little stiff to use. Would of rathered a toggle button. But I still love it none the less.

Wi-fi connection to phone is A star. Works quickly and easily. The app is good. Allows you to control ISO, Shutter Speed, WB, F-Stop, Exposure Comp. Shooting mode, focusing mode – basically everything except manual focusing. It is low latency, meaning there isn’t much lag between action in front of the camera, and the display on your phone screen, so can be used for video too!

ERGONOMICS/ DESIGN

Camera ergonomics is OK but I find it is a little on the large side for a mirrorless camera (I’m used to Sony a6300). I have smallish hands though so may not be a problem for you.
If you use an L bracket for mounting to tripod, the side articulating monitor will not rotate all the way around as L bracket prevents this. But this is the case for all cameras with this style monitor. Personally I’d rather the monitor rotate upwards like the Sony A6400, but I know a lot of people wouldn’t agree with me as the hot shoe will be an issue. But I have no problems using a cold shoe relocation bracket to solve this. Just my opinion.

Weather sealing seems good. I’ve used in light rain, and no problems. Of course you have to have a lens with weather sealing too for it to be effective. The Leica 12-60mm does have this so you’re good if buying this as the kit lens.

There’s probably loads more features that I’ve missed but I think I’ve covered the most important ones. Hope this was somewhat helpful to you, if so click the button below so I’ll be able to see, thank you very much 🙂

Weight lens (Leica 12-60mm) with camera: 1031g
Weight of camera: 657g
Weight of lens (Leica 12-60mm): 374g

 

I delayed buying this camera because I thought that it might be too heavy for regular use but in the event my fears were unfounded. The camera handles very well & produces good pictures.
I would have preferred a tilt LCD rather than the side opening LCD but this has the virtue of being able to be reversed to fully protect the glass surface from possible damage in a camera bag. The camera is more stable & comfortable to use with larger lenses.

 

I’m going to compare my new G9 against my shortly owned Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T30. If you’re in the business for a compact setup for enthusiast photography, those 3 will certainly be on your list. I’m skipping the Sony A6x00, simply because they have horrible ergonomics and only stand out in the autofocus department. The A6600 is particularly overpriced for that matter…

Body:
To put it mildly, the Fujis bodies are horrible: the grip is tiny, the ISO and Shutter speed dials have to be operated with your eye away from the viewfinder, the exposure compensation dial is hard to rotate on both the X-T3 and the X-T30. I did find the X-T30 actually easier to hold, especially when coupled to a light 18-55 kit lens, as I found myself holding it just fine with 2 fingers on the grip. The X-T3 was another story, with the pinky not being able to grab onto the body, and when used with a heavier lens like the 16-80 or the 16-55, it becomes ridiculously front-heavy and totally uncomfortable. All in all, the Fujis are just a rounded box: it’s compact, but not comfortable to hold for several hours out and about, and buttons simply don’t fall right under your fingers. Another problem: whenever I pick up either of the Fujis, I often end up rotating dials and pressing buttons by mistake, simply because they’re either located in odd places (X-T3/30) or because the dials are too easily rotated (X-T30).
Now, the Panasonic: I’d say it’s a dream to hold thanks to its deep grip and little ridge for the fingers. The shutter, the joystick, the several dials are easy to access, easy to rotate, even with gloves. The only downside would be that the joystick can only do up, down, left and right, it can’t go diagonally. It adds a few more steps to set the autofocus area.
On top of this, you get weather sealing (like on the X-T3), it’s built like a tank and should last forever, unlike the X-T30 thas feels cheap, with buttons and dials that don’t inspire confidence. Finally, the flippy screen on the G9 is certainly a massive advantage over the clunky system on the Fujis.
Another negative for the G9 would be that the function buttons feel a bit mushy: this might be just due to the weather sealing, making them more rubbery. However, the X-T3 is weather-sealed and does have nicer clicky buttons.
The shutter release button feels radically different on the Fujis and the G9: the Fujis have a hard click, and the Panasonic has a very soft shutter. I like both. There is no doubt that the very light shutter of the G9 can be a joy in low light to avoid any unwanted camera shake, yet you’ll certainly often find yourself taking many photos inadvertently…

Menus:
I didn’t like the Fujis menus, I found them a bit ambiguous with subcategories (with a dedicated marker on the left tabs), but also sub-pages sometimes that are not identified in a similar way (rather with an X/Y page system). I did really like the Q-menu however, a very quick way to put loads of controls in a simple and quick grid. That system is especially important on the X-T30 because it has fewer dials and buttons, however, the Q-Menu button can be touched by mistake, especially when grabbing the camera. The G9 also has a quick menu, fully customizable, but fewer controls can be crammed into the monitor at once. I must admit I just need quick access to the AF styles and metering.
A great thing about the Panasonic is that it remembers absolutely everything when shut down and restarted, even the previous position of the AF box.

Image quality and AF:
I did test the X-T30 18-55 vs the G9 with Leica 12-60 and on my handheld test, the G9 was noticeably sharper and had a nicer noise reproduction than the X-T30. I did, however, limit the max ISO to 1600! I’m aware the Fuji sensor is supposed to have less noise at higher ISO, but I simply wanted to compare both cameras at the same ISO.
The Fuji also gave less details in low light areas, with a very blotchy/smudged look, whereas the G9 had a noisier yet more detailed look. Does it come down to the lens? I do not know: the Fujinon 18-55 is considered to be a great kit lens, and the Leica 12-60 too. All in all, I wasn’t that impressed with the Fuji sensor, I would have expected a clear advantage, but my test, at similar ISO, favored the G9. The G9 did have a slightly lower shutter speed in those tests, however. And speaking of shutter speed, I must say the image stabilization with the G9+Leica 12-60 is absolutely phenomenal: in theory 6.5 stops! I was able to get sharp images at 60mm (120mm equivalent on full-frame) at 1 sec of exposure. I even manage a few sharp 1.4s shots at wider angles. On the other hand, the Fuji 18-55 would give up quickly beyond half a second. I did also test the 16-80 on the X-T3 and this was actually a great performer: 1 sec was achievable at times, however, remember it is only an f/4 lens! Another issue is that because these 2 Fuj bodies don’t have IBIS, you’ll certainly be more limited than with a G9 in low light, with a similar fast prime. Indeed, a non-stabilized Fuji system with a non-stabilized f/1.4 lens will require a much faster shutter speed than a G9 with a similar lens, when handheld! This allows the G9 to keep a lower ISO in low light and bypass the whole “Micro 4/3 are bad in low light” polemic.

Regarding the AF, I noticed the X-T30 would sometimes struggle on very low contrast areas, in a similar way to the G9, especially in low light, so I was a bit disappointed given it’s a phase-detect AF system. Other than this, I couldn’t fault either system for stills. The G9 also just got machine-learning AF (face detect, but also animals) and it works great: I was able to track fish in a little pond! It also works on horses and sheep.
So yes, the Fujis have great film simulations, however, I found the G9 produces great Jpegs too (I would stick to the Natural profile) and the Cinelike-D profile is the perfect starting point for grading your RAWs (and also reducing clamping in JPEGs).

Video:
I don’t shoot videos, so I cannot comment. But you should know that the latest firmware v2.0 for the G9 basically attempts to bridge the gap with the amazing GH5, with a few limitations like short recording time and the omission of 1080 24p (4K 24p is there though). I read the Fujis should be better for videos due to their phase-detect AF system, however. The Panas surely have the reputation to not be great for video footage, due to hunting issues (however a lot seems to be related to the lens used). Nonetheless, the latest firmware update for the G9 does reduce the hunting a bit. The big problem is that the YouTubers out there do rely a lot on an AF system that can track them, so they’re totally biased. And same goes for the flippy screen: as a photographer, I don’t really care about being able to flip the screen forward, because I’m always behind the camera; that’s why Fuji bodies are often marked down, because their screen doesn’t flip forward. For many video shoots not involving people tracking, you’ll most likely manual focus and therefore totally avoid this hunting issue on the Panasonic bodies.

Value for Money:
The G9 was initially launched above 2000 with the Leica lens, and I got mine for 1200, I must say it’s an absolute steal compared to the X-T30 that is currently roughly at 1100 and the X-T3 at 1500 or more depending on the lens. The Fujis do have some cashback offers at the moment though (until early Jan 2020), so you can probably shave 100 quid or more from the Amazon price. Still, the G9 offers all you could want in a great still camera:
– total weather sealing when combined with the Leica 12-60 (and the new Leica 25mm f/1.4 II) and top construction overall
– the absolute best EVF in this category: detailed, 120fps, and absolutely huge
– amazing, probably the best, ergonomics for crop sensors
– great weight/performance ratio
– 2 memory card slots (ultra-high speed)
– 6k mode with pre-buffering
– massive catalog of lenses (all Leica lenses are top-notch, Olympus lenses are great, most Panasonic are fine, and the new Sigma DC DN are excellent too)
– heavily discounted at the moment

The only caveat would be: is the G9 too big for you? in that case, the X-T30 is great, or why not a GX9 or an OMD-EM5?
And finally, the ultimate myth: is the Micro Four Third format dead? obviously, not: Olympus just released the OMD-EM5 Mark III (a decent camera) and more lenses are coming to the catalog as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if Oly and Pana announce a new higher megapixel sensor in 2020. Though, is it really needed, if it doesn’t improve low light performance?

TLDR: go buy the G9, if you’re an enthusiast and shoot stills mainly (but don’t mind having great video features too), and upgrade to the latest firmware!