Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 Mirrorless Camera Review
All interchangeable lens cameras share common feature sets, with some giving higher sensitivity (ISO range), quicker shutter speeds, or increased video capabilities. Aimed squarely at icon enthusiasts and advanced photographers World Health Organization will appreciate and create use of its several artistic imaging choices, the Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 ($1,697, body only) stands out as a quick performing artist, with AN astonishing framing rate and really quick optical device acquisition time, and several options and functions that may attractiveness to knowledgeable photographers World Health Organization wish to create use of fashionable process and capture capabilities.
Let’s take a more in-depth inspect the Panasonic Lumix G9 during this review.
Features & Build
The small Four Thirds-based Panasonic Lumix G9 contains a twenty.3MP Live MOS sensing element and delivers several spectacular options, together with twenty frames per second (fps) stills victimization the mechanical shutter and a good additional spectacular sixty independent agency via the electronic shutter. AN onboard image stabilization system will deliver up to six.5 eV of shake reduction, and there’s a brand new high-resolution mode that shifts the sensing element to yield 80MP stills, created by merging eight pictures to one image that, in our tests, made wonderful detail.
There area unit varied bracketing choices, together with exposure, focus, and white balance: with aperture bracketing all apertures are often chosen, that permits the lensman to then work with focus stacking and even a “best-of-focus” choice, that Panasonic dubs “post focus” management.
The metal alloy body of the Panasonic G9 is well sealed to shield against inclement weather, and there’s a completely articulating touchscreen show and an outsized EVF. whereas the still image capabilities area unit spectacular, video options increase the camera’s allure: 4K video at up to 60p/150Mbps, with a high-speed mode that permits capture up to a hundred and eighty independent agency fully HD and sixty independent agency in 4K. The G9 may also deliver 6K or 4K stills, still as several alternative distinctive and fascinating capture and post-exposure process modes.
Handling.
All of this management comes with a reasonably advanced layout that in observe is less complicated than creating settings with the “hold this button whereas dynamic settings with another dial” technique found in alternative cameras. The Panasonic Lumix G9 boasts fourteen buttons, five dials, a joystick, a selector wheel, and a operate lever marked with one and 2 dots. Settings ar primarily set with dials and buttons: solely many will be set through the short menu.
The outsized program mode dial on the higher left of the Panasonic G9’s body will be protected against accidental amendment through use of the lock/unlock button within the middle of the dial. alternative settings are modified by use of a press-adjust-relock technique. The alphanumeric display computer screen on the highest of the body shows a helpful summary and might be backlit. One note: we have a tendency to found the shutter unharness button to be a touch “soft” therein it generally motivated the shutter once we tried to line focus.
The Panasonic G9’s electronic viewfinder is bright and enormous, with a responsive eye detector. The Live read button is on the left-hand facet of the viewfinder and simple to control. Panasonic describes each monitor and viewfinder as having views of “about 100 percent.” The monitor swivels out and has touchscreen capability, facilitating navigation of the most menu also because of the fast menu.
A Night mode is on the market that uses solely red, that is incredibly useful in creating changes and alternatives in low-light conditions: this is often offered once mistreatment the monitor or viewfinder. the short menu includes nearly all settings and is straightforward to navigate mistreatment the 2 high dials. the most menu needs scrolling through the various tabs, which may be up to 5 pages long. However, the user will customize a “My Menu” tab.
Being “built for speed,” a quick burst mode in 6K or 4K size is meant to permit the user to later extract desired frames. Time-lapse photography is additionally attainable. a number of the Panasonic G9’s burst shooting modes use the electronic shutter, and therefore the saving method permits the user to possess the camera change for any rolling shutter impact issues. The output is AN MP4 and chosen frames will be marked in-camera. The user also can save the complete set.
The G9 has intrinsic five-axis electronic stabilization that may work beside an appropriate in-lens system. The system will deliver an awfully spectacular six.5 f/stop advantage. There are some nice options for long-exposure ability, like the most shutter speed (excluding bulb) of sixty seconds. additionally, optical device choices embrace trailing and zone. the number of optical device points could be a respectable 225. mistreatment manual focus triggers AN enlargement of the middle of the pic to help focus within the viewfinder also as once mistreatment the monitor. However, the enlarged space can't be shifted around the frame from the middle. And though a flash hot shoe and external jack are enclosed, no flash is enclosed or inbuilt.
Connectivity is nice, with USB kind three, HDMI group A, electro-acoustic transducer and mike jacks, together with an overseas trigger jack. Most of the association covers area unit rubber and connected to the body. 3 major exceptions area unit the external flash jack cowl, that may be a little, unattached plastic screw cowl, and 2 covers on the bottom of the camera—for a cable to the battery compartment, associate degreed an electronic instrumentation plate for the battery grip instrumentation, that has soft rubber covers. All 3 appear susceptible to loss: the manual even reminds users to do to forestall youngsters from swallowing the covers. The G9 has 2 South Dakota card slots, each of that support high-speed UHS-II media.
Still Image Quality & Performance
Resolution: The resolution in pictures created by the twenty.3MP Panasonic Lumix G9 is tight, considering that a lot of competitors have an honest deal additional megapixels in their sensors. At rock bottom native ISO of two hundred, the G9 records one,860 line pairs per image height (96% of the theoretical maximum). At ISO 400, the resolution is comparable, and subjective visual examination of the check pictures captured at ISO 1600 seems to point out them to be as high in resolution as pictures created at ISO two hundred. The resolution declines terribly slightly as ISO increases: at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400, eighty-seven of the theoretical most resolution is recorded, and at the very best ISO accessible during this camera, ISO 25,600, it’s 76%.
Sharpness: Detail copy tests reveal a loss of the best details at ISO 1600, a minimum of when put next to those recorded at ISO 200: at ISO 6400 and better, smoothing is incredibly obvious. The G9 conjointly created artifacts at ISO 6400: forty.3% in high-contrast components of the image scene and fifty two.8% in low-contrast areas. Sharpening is moderate at nearly all ISO settings.
Noise: normally, visual noise at 100% viewing isn't terribly noticeable: noise isn't apparent at ISO two hundred, and barely visible at ISO four hundred, though it becomes obvious at ISO 6400 and better. Simulating a large-size print, the noise would be below the brink of being noticeable in pictures shot at ISOs between two hundred and 1600, and hardly discernible at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400, and solely within the darkest tones. The dynamic vary exhibited by the G9 is nice, with over ten f/stops at several of the ISOs tested (10.6 at ISO two hundred, 10.1 at ISO four hundred, and 10.3 and 10.2 at ISOs 1600 and 3200, respectively) and below ten stops at ISO 6400 and better (ranging from eight.4 to 9.0).
Pros.
+ A speedy performer: 60 fps in both JPEG and Raw format
+ Bright and large EVF; articulating and touchscreen LCD
+ Numerous creative options in both still and video recording
+ Capable of high-resolution recording up to 80MB stills
+ Impressive image stabilization stats
Cons.
- The slightly “soft” shutter release
- No built-in or accessory flash included
- Connectivity covers could be more durable
page source: Panasonic Lumix
Comments
Post a Comment