FINALLY, I was given a Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 to "try out" for a week. Can you actually get a good idea what this Panasonic top end camera is like in a week? We will see!
When I Google " panasonic lumix dc-g9 review ", I receive 352,000 results! Therefore I am not going to repeat what these HUNDRED THOUSANDS of reviews are saying, I am just going to tell you how I FEEL about "Panasonic's best stills camera to date" and my LIKE and DISLIKE of it's features.
The G9 kit I received from Panasonic New Zealand consist of the G9 body and a beautifully made LEICA DG VARIO-ELMARIT 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH lens.
For NZ$4,000 this Panasonic pride and joy came with, to me, a WIDE, GAUDY camera strap!
In some country, luckily not where I am in, the strap is screaming out "I AM a G9, PLEASE COME and ROB ME!"
I would use a plain, black strap for this professional shooter!
The G9 is the first Lumix that look just like a DSLR, it even come with a top LCD screen that can light up, just like all the DSLR!
I love this feature, may be because I have been using DSLR half of my working life, I like how you can just glance down at your G9 to confirm your settings and to make sure they have not been change.
The G9 however, is a BIG camera, a little too big and heavy for this old man!Side by side with my old Nikon D300, it is slightly smaller and lighter though.
The size is however, NOT a design fault, the G9 size is needed to hold a longer, heavier lens nicely. The huge, contoured grip help in this respect and it make the camera a joy and comfortable for extended use.
For the next 6 days, the G9 went with me everywhere, I try to shoot as many pictures as I can, for that purpose you will have to get use to the ultra sensitive shutter release button ever, you can almost certainly shoot off a bunch of images without wanting to. You get use to it however, it will be nice if you are given an adjustment to the release sensitivity.
The Lumix G9 is a FAST shooter, as a matter of fact it is the FATEST among all the Lumix!
You are able to fire a blistering SIXTY FRAMES per second! If you are not careful you can end up with hundreds of pictures on a day out!
I took the G9 for a short burst to experience it's raw speed at our Oriental Bay...
Take a look at the composite frame above, they were shot at 12 frames per second, can you imagine what 60 frames will be like?!
Is this the ultimate sports shooter ever?
Shame I was given not enough time to find out.
On the second day, while I was editing some of my shots, I was made aware of a high pitch whine coming from somewhere. At first I thought my computer's HDD is going to die, then I realised it was actually coming from the active G9 (switch on) beside me!
A quick email to Panasonic New Zealand confirmed there might be something wrong with the G9's built-in five-axis stabilisation, I returned the camera to Auckland.
Kudos to their fast service, I receive another review set the next day!
And the rain came...
The G9, of course, is fully weather sealed, so is the lens.
The last two pictures were shot hand held with the 12-60 at F4 and HALF SECOND. What a marvellous stabiliser! Some users claimed they can hand hold to full TWO SECOND and still get very sharp images, I don't know how true the claims are!
The slowest speed I am able to hand hold for a sharp result was a full second.
The Lumix G9 inherits the 20 MP AA filterless sensor of their GH5 for sharper results. Panasonic claimed there is improved JPEG processing for more natural skin tones, greater detail and better dynamic range and noise reduction.
Celebrating my birthday at the Pomelo Kitchen and Bar, Oriental Parade, the 20MP of the G9 provided a flawless backlit "wefie" shot and the high dynamic range of the sensor returned all the details of the heavily under exposed iPhone snap I grab!
Three of the delightful dishes we enjoyed as seen by the Leica 12-60.
Earlier, walking along our beautiful Oriental Parade, I took these shots with
the G9 using a mixture of Lumix lenses.
I took the camera with the Leica 12-60 kit lens to find out how the G9 deal with video, this movie was shot at my wife's line dancing night, Johnsonville in 4K mode.
The HUGE 4K MP4 file was sized down for Youtube upload. The 12-60 did a wonderful job, the AF track accurately and the stabiliser kept the filming really steady.
I did some "still grab" during filming and the very sharp JPEG files surprise me!
Famous Last Words...
It has been an exciting week "playing" with the Lumix G9, it is indeed Panasonic's most capable still imaging optimised camera. It is also a really fast shooter, a very capable camera for action, sports and wild life photography.
I love how the camera handle, it is a bit big, and the shutter release ultra sensitive to my liking but I can live with them; I like the HUGE viewfinder, the twin card slots...
Oh, the G9 is also Panasonic first camera that feature HIGH RESOLUTION MODE which I spend a whole day testing, but that will be my next posting.
Did I miss any feature on this latest offer?
The PANORAMIC MODE!
Come on Panasonic, what is the reason to take that away?
** Review camera courtesy of PANASONIC NEW ZEALAND
Next...
G9 HIGH RESOLUTION MODE
Post a Comment