Shooting To The Top PANASONIC LUMIX DC-G9
THEY’RE COMING THICK and fast now… pro-level mirrorless cameras, that is. The last few months have seen the arrival of Sony’s A9 and A7R III – joining the likes of Fujifilm’s X-Pro2 and X-T2 plus the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II – as mirrorless designs more targeted at professional users. The tide is undoubtedly turning.
Panasonic’s Lumix G9 – announced late last year, but just becoming available now – is also designed with professional usage in mind, supported by a growing system of Leica-designed high-performance lenses, including a new DG Elmarit 200mm f2.8 Power OIS telephoto (equivalent to a 400mm f2.8).
As a Micro Four Thirds format camera, the G9’s closest rival is the E-M1 II, but the Panasonic's feature set and specifications also put it in the frame with the full-35mm format A9 and A7R III.
Both Olympus and Panasonic are proving that the smaller sensor is no longer inferior in terms of image quality… and, indeed, an advantage when it comes to lenses such as the latter’s 100-400mm telezoom (effectively a hand-holdable 200-800mm).
The G9 is based on the GH5 flagship with some of its video capabilities wound back and replaced with additional photo-orientated features (in contrast to the recently-announced GH5S which goes even further as a pro-level video camera).
The bodyshell is an all-new design and makes the G9 look more like a D-SLR than ever, especially as there’s now a large LCD info panel on the top deck which is a first for a Lumix G series mirrorless camera. There’s also a much beefier handgrip and a more pronounced cover over the EVF… looking for all the world like a pentaprism housing. No prizes for guessing who Panasonic is trying to appeal to here.
The body panels are magnesium alloy over a diecast chassis and with full weather sealing plus, as with the GH5, insulation to enable shooting in subzero temperatures down to -10 degrees Celsius. Perhaps intentionally, the G9 looks and feels a lot more like its direct rival in the Micro Four Thirds format, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II.
The EVF – or “Live View Finder” as Panasonic calls it – uses the same 3.686 megadots OLED panel as the GH5, but with an increased magnification of 0.83x (35mm equivalent) and the option of switching to 0.77x or 0.7x settings. Additionally, the refresh rate is switchable between 60 and 120 fps, the latter eliminating black-out when shooting at faster frame rates… which is another plus for the electronic finder over an optical one. This is all-important because the viewfinder experience is a key difference between D-SLRs and mirrorless cameras, and Panasonic is working hard to make its EVFs better and better.
The G9’s monitor screen is a 7.62 cm TFT LCD panel with a resolution of 1.036 megadots and adjustable for
