The new Panasonic G9 is the Micro Four Thirds version of the Sony A9
The new Panasonic G9 is like the Micro Four Thirds version of the Sony A9
The Panasonic G9 has just gone up on sale at B&H and Amazon and it looks to be quite an impressive camera. It features a 20.3MP Digital Live MOS sensor without low pass filter paired with a Venus Engine for incredible color, detail and texture.
Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) also sees improvements as the G9 incorporates 5-axis Dual IS 2.0 which incorporates in-lens stabilization with in-body stabilization for a total of about 6.5 stops compensation. This means that even when not matched with a lens that has IS, the camera itself will provide you with stabilization so you can shoot with slower shutter speeds.
Like the Sony A9, the camera is incredibly speedy. The G9 does 20 fps burst shooting with AF-C, and that actually increases to 60 fps in AF-S mode, making it great for wildlife photography. This boosted AF performance comes mainly from an increased Depth-From-Defocus system with 225-areas for fast, precise focusing over the entire frame.
The G9’s body has also been redesigned to be splash, dust and freezeproof, with a top status LCD so you can see at a glance what the settings are even before you pick up the camera. Height and weight are as you see in the diagram above, and the OLED viewfinder has been improved with 0.83x magnification, and 3.68 million dot resolution. The EVF also has a fast 120fps refresh rate to keep up with the high continuous burst shooting, so you certainly won’t suffer any lag.
On the video front, the G9 offers UHD 4K video at up to 60p/50p (3840x2160 MP4), or 2x slow motion video in 4K (from 60fps capture) or 6x slow motion in HD (from 180fps ) quality. The camera also allows for recording 8-bit 4:2:2 footage to an external recorder thanks to a full-sized HDMI output. You’ll also get a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 3.5mm microphone input for better audio capture.
The Panasonic G9 is available for pre-order from B&H and Amazon now for US$1697.99 and US$1699.99 (body only) respectively. Expected availability is listed as mid Jan 2018.
Sources: B&H, Amazon, Sony Alpha Rumors