Panasonic Lumix G9 II REVIEW: Now with PDAF!

Brilliant detailed review mate. Thankyou.

Great, comprehensive review, But I cant understand a lot of your words, must me you mic quality, or muffled under shirt, or pointing wrong way. seriously, it's annoying. I have to rewind many times to hear your kind words. . Please boost your treble for your subsequent clips. adding a bit more high frequencies (boost high eq) will make your voice more legible. ( and Ive got good hearing). again thanks.

Any more G9 II videos that we can expect in the coming year? Would love to see it go head to head to the OM1, Sony A6700 and R7

i'm waiting for om5-2.. probably gonna be a disappointment (again), but i'm still waiting.

Thanks ! Do you konw if the AFS mode is un phase detection like AFC or contrast detection ?

You better spend $300 more and buy a Sony A7 IV.

Excellent review as always, BTW 👍

Great review! I have been testing my new G9ii and one of my favorite new features is the countdown display of how many seconds are left in a long exposure. Just a small quality of life surprise. But can Panasonic PLEASE do a firmware update to allow Fuji-like shutter speeds to go past 60”!

No way Mr Gordan Laing you’re still going. It’s been a long time since I last watched any camera reviews due to personal reasons but I’m back. The first time I discovered camera labs was the n 2007 when I was building up to purchasing the Olympus E-510 twin lens kit. And I remember devouring your reviews of it and reading them over and over again along with Wrotniaks website and excellent E-510 review. Good to be back.

Would the old Leica 100-400 work ok with the new G9II? I know they made a new one.

I don't see why anyone who is new to digital photography would not use this cam. If you are serious about photo and video this is the cam for you to consider. There are others too but it is a bit shortsightened to think that if FF costs the same as MFt it needs to be FF. You should take a good look at your needs, what you can spend to make your decision and it can go Mft, APS-c or FF. It really just depends on your preferences.

I'm interested in seeing more content on this camera... just to let you know.

No colour profile dedicated button like the GH5ii :(

As a GH6 owner this one is a tough call .. i like the GH6, but the auto focus in video is just not good enough to be used. The times i have tired to rely on it it has failed every time. So right now i use it with manual focus mostly, so this could be worth it for that alone. But there are rumors that the GH7 might be announced before the end of the year, and i would hate to buy a camera just to find out a month later i should have waited for the next in line.

As always, a very thorough review. Many thanks! I would like to see you test video bird detect autofocus at 4K 50p and 4K 100p. Thanks!

Does the Panasonic assemble high res photos in the camera the way that Olympus does? When I switched to Sony Olympus that was one thing that I really missed.

Does the G9ii have an automatic de-fish filter like the omd and emiii? Was wondering when watching your footage with the Oly 8mm, which I own

Why do you need a grip?😮

I think all camera companies should take 6-10 years to release a new camera. That is, it should come with drastic and remarkable changes if compared to the previous one.
For the previous models, the manufacturers should make some changes here and there and upgrade them, at least, software-wise. The 6-10 years should be spent in research and development of the product. Hope G9 mk 2 has remarkable changes😊.

Well, just pre-ordered this body! Now, just have to sell a couple old bodies :-)

I'm mildly disappointed that they left the sort of dslr-like aesthetic of the g9. The original g9 is cool pretty cool looking. Yeah looks aren't everything especially with cameras but I don't like the ultra squared off look of all these newer mirrorless cameras. The g9 had a little more snazz than its successor does. And that price tag. The g9 has dropped to around 1200 usd while the g9 II is listed at 1800. That's $200 more than the original price of the g9. It better be the best camera I'll ever use if it's $1800.

Thanks, Gordon. Actually, I happen to like the G9 I's hair-trigger shutter! I'm also bummed that they didn't go with the 5.76MP EVF and lost the mode dial lock (and top screen). Other than that, I almost pre-ordered one but I'd still like to see a test with production firmware as well as tests of the new lenses, as I have the current versions of both the Lumix G X 35-100 f/2.8 "Mk 2" and Leica 100-400 f/4-6.3 and wonder if they're worth upgrading.

Hi Gordon. Could you include a test for rolling shutter when shooting stills please? As a wildlife tog who mainly shoots BIF it's one of the prerequisites for me when choosing a camera body. Anything worse than the OM-1 would be unacceptable to me.

Let's see - Lack of tilting screen, fan, and locking mode dial = big disappointment for existing G9 owners. That said, pre-burst shooting, autofocus, video modes, etc., are great additions/improvements. Mixed bag overall, unfortunately...

The 12mm walking shot like gimbal shot. 8mm is suppose to do better giving such wide angle but come out a bit shaky.

There is more to build than ergonomics, the layout of the G9 was probably the best physical camera design ever made in history. I think the shifting of the buttons, lack of top display and dial changes make this just an S5/GH6 hybrid. Just like what panasonic did to the GX8 and GX7, they reinvented the series into another model range (GX9 is just a GM1 with a really bad eyepiece), now the G9ii is just a Sony shaped body.

That’s one chunky camera for M43.

A good review Gordon. Well done Panasonic. There's nothing here to make me switch from my OM-1 but I can see the attraction for current M43 Panasonic owners and the video capabilities will appeal to some as the OM-1 is less than stellar in this department. The real winner is the M43 format with 2 excellent flagship body options now available.

I hope they fixed the truly bad shutter button. I love my G9 but that shutter button is the worst. It has no two stage feel to it at all. Countless times I shot pictures when simply meaning to activate is all. I hope they give a proper two stage feel of some kind. I know it’s nit picking but for the price I want a proper shutter button

Hi Gordon, than you for the video.

I have two questions :

1- How about the IBIS performance in open gate and 5,7K compared to 4K ? Since the S1 and and GH6, very high resolution modes like 5,7K, 5,8K or 6K, (especially in open gate) have lower IBIS performance compared to 4K or C4K. The IBIS of the G9II seems improved compared to the GH6 so I'm very interested to see if the Open Gate IBIS is improved as well.

2-Also, the GH6 has sadly lot of details smearing in low light with non log profiles compared to previous cameras, fortunatly V-Log has much better details rendering and almost zero detail smearing so I use it almost everytimes. However, the DR BOOST who give a sharper image, better DR (better highlight recovery) and less noise is only available at ISO 2000, so even if the DR Boost improves noise, the non DR Boost V-Log at ISO 250 is cleaner. The fact than the G9II can use the V-Log DR BOOST at ISO 500 is great, but is the quality is the same than on the GH6 (no smearing/chroma noise reduction) ?

Great review Gordon! Comparisons to the OM-1 would be much appreciated.

Thanks Gordon for all your work. Glad you're testing the G9ii with Oly lenses because it's a major question for me (poor experience with oly 25 f1.8 on G85 by example). 2 questions for you : 1/ One thing i've learned from reviews on cameras in general, is that tracking is a thing, sharp focus may be another. So, the tracking seems really good, but, at the end, are the pictures sharp ? (especially in hard conditions, moving subjects, low light) ? 2/ is there differences on autofocus ability using mechanical shutter (=> black out) compared with ES (thus without blackout) ?

Thanks for this great first look! In it's own right this is an outstanding camera, however I feel some conflict here. I find it curious as to why both the GH6 and G9 II have been released without BSI sensors which for the the format and photosite density you'd think would have to be leaving low light and dynamic range performance on the table with a higher noise floor. The GH5s was a massive success in this regard. I also find it curious that they choose their photo centric body to introduce PDAF where DFD is not nearly so much an issue as with video. So now there are truly useful video features like 12-bit ext BRAW / ProRes RAW recording and Dynamic Range Boost stranded on the GH6 while the G9 II has the PDAF and insanely good video IBIS. As an ex GH5 video centric user (now on Sony FF) I think you summed it up perfectly that this IS the camera for those deep in M43 either on a G9 or GH5 and looking for an upgrade.

Gordon, are you sure about your description of iDynamic? Previously it was just single exposure with shadows rised.

can you test low light video quality?

Perhaps you could film Utube deep dives on just cameras sub menus .. video capability only .. focus settings and permutations .. colour contrast saturation..
Substance only please .. not trivialities strap holders . No fan..weight battery life .. size ..it is what it is

Thank you for this video Gordon! Can't wait for the samples, I would really like to understand if this camera paired with the 12-35 can produce detailed images such as an a7iii with the 24-105 (given the comparable focal lenghts) with a smaller and lighter lens

The images you show are not very good have took better pictures with my phonev

To clarify, are you saying that the new Pre Burst features is a substitute for the 4K/6K Photo feature? That was something I used on my old G9 and missed when I bought my S5 II. I need to better understand how the PreBurst function will help me capture those fast moving, unpredictable subjects like Hummingbirds in Flight. 4K/6K Photo did a great job with this.

This is the best featured M43 camera so far.

Great and detailed review that only felt like 10min. Good and very informative watch.

I am shocked, gordan vlogging with one arm 😱😱😱😁

For me, the biggest advantage of this camera over the OM-1 is the HUMAN detection. With OM-A, as soon as the subject turns his/her face away, it seems that the OM-1 does not detect him/her anymore. The G9ii keeps the tracking on the subject moving to its HUMAN detection. Very useful feature for a bunch of applications where the face may be hidden by a scarf or momentarily turn his/her face away

Would be interested to see whether G92 can track human’s face and eye like Canon and Nikon where you can put a box and stick to it? Currently, OM-1 does not do that well at all.

GM6 would be more relevant.

I'm just sad they took away my top deck lcd panel and that the mode dial is not lockable. Other than that its fantastic.

If a GX10 surfaces I might get interested. Until then, no. If I wanted a lot of size and bulk, I'd go full frame; I don't.