2023 Weekly Challenge Week 34: Panasonic G9

Earlier this year I reviewed my then most current Micro 43rds body the Panasonic GX8.  After shooting it on that trip along with having it as one of my only "good" cameras on me to cover a few events in late July it solidified me on why I liked shooting Micro 43rds cameras.

Prior to that review and several more weeks of shooting the GX8 as my primary camera I was considering selling my Panasonic M43rds equipment in favor to pour everything into Nikon APS-C, but after spending more time with the GX8 again I did a 360 and put my trades and upgrades for the rest of the year back into M43rds instead.  

Why?  Because from everything I have reviewed and used so far this year the GX8 has gave me the most predictable results that even the D7200 and Z50 (yet to be reviewed) have struggled to get that consistency at times.

As such, for how dependable and consistent Micro 43rds is for me it was hard for me to let that go even if it is a system where I only own four lenses for and typically only rely on two or three of those to shoot with. It's a great system when I want to consolidate everything down and use only one camera with 1-2 lenses and just go out and shoot without putting a lot of thought into it.

 

Released in 2018 this was Panasonic's answer to the Olympus OMD-EM1 series of cameras.  Whereas Panasonic was known for having stronger features for video in the GH series; Olympus (and later OM) was more known for the Photography aspect and the G9 was made to bridge some of this gap with a high end Photography focused flagship M43 body.

It has the same 20mp Micro 43rds sensor as my GX8 that I had become to really enjoy, but offers a better imaging processor which means better ISO noise reduction in camera and thus being able to slightly push the ISO higher and still have usable less noisy and sharper results. While my Nikon APS-C bodies still outclass the G9 for ISO noise above ISO 6400; it's still pretty solid up until this point. Paired with quality glass Micro43rds is more then sufficient for indoor flash-less shooting. 

In Spring I had bought an older used Sigma 150-500mm lens for Nikon F mount fairly cheap, and I'm glad I didn't go for the more expensive option the 150-600; because while the 150-600 would have solved the sharpness/quality issues I had with the older lens it would not fix the weight, which made my wrist hurt after about 30 minutes of handhold shooting with it. That's where Micro 43rds comes in.

After using the 150-500 on the bulkier APS-C system I found that I loved the range of the Sigma Lens but not the weight nor the performance; so the Panasonic M43 path seemed to be the best option for me as the Panasonic 100-400mm lens has the same equivalent zoom but half the weight of the Sigma lens I previously had.

I doubled down and traded up my GX8 plus the aforementioned Sigma Lens in for this camera. As such M43 remains my second primary system and workhorse when it comes to Wildlife/Nature photography.

Since this camera is a new addition to my collection, this review will serve as more of a "First Impressions" of it as the review week was also my first full week of shooting it.  

At first glance, there really is nothing "Micro" at all about the G9. It shares a form factor close to my larger Nikon APS-C DSLRs including a large forward swept grip and top LCD screen.  

In the hand it feels a lot more like my D7200 then it does from other Mirrorless cameras I have used (like the Z50) and this honestly is not a bad thing, especially when paired with larger M43 lenses (large still being relative when you compare to what a 800mm lens on Full Frame would bulk out at or even 500-600mm on APS-C).  

The button layout on this camera is pretty familiar, though the AV -/+ button is a little crowded to the control wheel and takes some getting used to (instead of being on the back). Like the GX8 it has a good amount of programmable function buttons which helps you customize controls; though I still wish I could re-program a few of the default buttons. 

Overall the button layout is solid and the AF joystick, a feature I never used before on other cameras is in a position on the where I've found myself using it more as the G9 really shines in one point Autofocus mode, and being able to change the size and location of that point on the fly quickly without the touchscreen is a huge advantage.

The G9 balances perfectly with the Panasonic 100-400mm lens and that combo becomes a long telephoto kit that is so ergonomically agreeable to shoot it feels like the camera is just an extension of my arm.

So aside from Ergonomics of this camera being top-rate what other features does it have to offer?  Since there are so many I'm just going to list the features I like as a bulleted list vs go into each feature in detail:

• 12 FPS Mechanical/ 60FPS Electronic full resolution shooting (which makes it 1 fps mechanical then the Z50 with the ability to go even faster using the E. Shutter (I've found that 12fps is more then plenty even for burst shooting of wildlife.)
• Dual UHS II card slots- I have several other cameras with Dual SD card slots but the G9 is the only that supports UHS II.
• Larger, longer battery life then the GX8 (In the field the GX8 got me around 400-600 photos per battery and the G9 is double that at 1400-1600 per charge; using full mechanical shutter and shutting the camera off when not in use)
• Faster more accurate AF- while the Panasonic G9 still uses Contrast Detect AF which a lot of people complain about it is the fastest CDAF ever created with the Firmware updates. This makes it faster to AF then some older PDAF systems like my D7200 for sure and a major upgrade from the GX8.  You do have to use Panasonic lenses to take full advantage of this newer CDAF system however, which becomes the on Caveat.
• Quiet "shock less" leaf shutter mechanical shutter-  By far the G9 is the quietest mechanical shutter from anything else I own that's not a pocket camera or the Pentax Q10.  Shutter-Shock was an "Issue" on the GX8 (one that I never ran into) that the G9 had since fixed and improved on.
• Improved weathersealing- like the GX8 the G9 is weathersealed and the weathersealing on the G9 is better then what the GX8 had.
• Large EVF with depth adjustment-  The depth adjustment is a new feature I have not seen offered before.  It allows people who use glasses to not only use a diopter to adjust the "prescription" of the viewfinder but also allow the borders of the EVF to be changed so that people like myself who prefer to keep our glasses on while shooting the ability to see the entire frame vs having the edges clipped out.
  

With the First Impressions out of the way (which I admit are also me still justifying the purchase and upgrade and likely sound like a sales pitch) I'm still learning this camera, and a few things like just how sensitive the shutter release is which makes it a lot easier to fire off accidental photos will take getting used to, the G9 is the closest camera I have to a full professional level camera even if it has one of the smaller sensor formats available that still produces high quality images. 

The 2x crop factor is the king of the reason I still shoot Micro 43rds as that boost to optical zoom with lighter weight lenses makes it a lot more comfortable to be out with this camera all day without needing a tripod/monopod or regretting it later.  So enjoy some photos from my first week of shooting the G9, a camera that like the GX8 it replaced will be one of my go to cameras when I want a workhorse that just works without the challenges and sacrifices or testing of my patience when shooting my collection of older equipment.