"Panasonic G series" Owners Thread

There's an ex display Lumix 100-300mm lens on sale at John Lewis, Sealand Road Retail Park in Chester, reduced to £250. I doubt it's been out of the glass display cabinet judging by the condition. Looks like this is a Mk 1 version as the 100-300 lettering is in gold. I already own this lens but mine was secondhand at about the same price.
 
I've just been looking at the GH5 news. It's interesting that they seem to have gone for an even more video centric camera and this leaves me wondering if those looking for a top end MFT stills camera or a MFT camera for occasional video use rather than mainly video use will be put off?

I suppose this camera does still offer something to stills shooters or will they look more towards the G9 as the top end Panny camera now?
 
I've been watching early reviews of the GH5s, and it's pretty clear it is aimed at videographers who use gimbals or cranes or whatever. Hence no IBIS. I've also seen ISO comparisons between it and the regular GH5 and to me, it looked like the GH5 was better at every level. G9 for the photographer for sure. It's where my money would go if I ever bothered to upgrade the G80. I don't really see much need even at that, the improved IBIS and AF, that huge EVF and the better grip are all nice but nothing I personally 'need'. The video-centric models don't interest me at all. The 4K is more than decent enough on the G80
 
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Well I flogged off a load of old gear that I hadn't used in years (and to be honest, some of it I didn't know I still had - an not all Photographic), and got nearly £1500 for the lot, so decided to treat myself to an effectively "free" Panasonic G9. Ordered it yesterday lunchtime from WEX (it was showing "Pre-order") and expected it to take around a month to supply (based upon how long the EM1 MK II took to supply after launch, but to my surprise, it's just turned up ?

I'll give you my thoughts against my EM1 MK II over the next few weeks when I have chance to evaluate it, but so far seems very nice (battery is charging), and will hopefully make a good second camera for the EM1 MK II, especially as I have a mix of Panasonic Leica and Olympus lenses.

Quick question though from anyone else that has received theirs. With regards to the free battery power Grip offer from Panasonic, (up until the 14th Jan), am I right in assuming you have to own the camera for 35 days before you can submit your claim (i.e. I can't do it straight away) ?
 
I've been watching early reviews of the GH5s, and it's pretty clear it is aimed at videographers who use gimbals or cranes or whatever. Hence no IBIS. I've also seen ISO comparisons between it and the regular GH5 and to me, it looked like the GH5 was better at every level. G9 for the photographer for sure. It's where my money would go if I ever bothered to upgrade the G80. I don't really see much need even at that, the improved IBIS and AF, that huge EVF and the better grip are all nice but nothing I personally 'need'. The video-centric models don't interest me at all. The 4K is more than decent enough on the G80

Usually :D for stills photography I'd have thought that downsizing a 20mp file to 10mp would give at least as good a result as starting with a 10mp file, usually :D but I'm not interested in video and to be honest I couldn't force myself to read through all of the video related stuff to find out why the 10mp is the better choice but I assume that for video shooters this makes sense.

I'm still happy enough with the image quality from my GX7 and GX80 and although more DR would be nice I don't suppose that these cameras are ever going to match my Sony A7 so to be honest rather than hope for something that may not be possible with the current sensor technology the thing I'd like to see most is a better EVF on a RF style body. The one I had on my G7 was excellent and I'm sure that the ones on newer cameras like the G9 are even better.

If they bring out a GX9 or GX90 or something similar with a really good evf I could be interested especially if they have the more GX8/GX7 style body with the tilting evf and the switch for AF/manual etc rather than the rather lacking in this sort of thing GX80 style camera.
 
Well I flogged off a load of old gear that I hadn't used in years (and to be honest, some of it I didn't know I still had - an not all Photographic), and got nearly £1500 for the lot, so decided to treat myself to an effectively "free" Panasonic G9. Ordered it yesterday lunchtime from WEX (it was showing "Pre-order") and expected it to take around a month to supply (based upon how long the EM1 MK II took to supply after launch, but to my surprise, it's just turned up ?

I'll give you my thoughts against my EM1 MK II over the next few weeks when I have chance to evaluate it, but so far seems very nice (battery is charging), and will hopefully make a good second camera for the EM1 MK II, especially as I have a mix of Panasonic Leica and Olympus lenses.

Quick question though from anyone else that has received theirs. With regards to the free battery power Grip offer from Panasonic, (up until the 14th Jan), am I right in assuming you have to own the camera for 35 days before you can submit your claim (i.e. I can't do it straight away) ?

I think you'll have to wait... at least I'm sure I had to when I claimed cash back once... I think they do this as it'll cost them less as a percentage of people will wait the required period and then forget...
 
I think if you go to register it then claim the grip you will be told to wait,you may get the option of a reminder email,idid for cash back.

Well I flogged off a load of old gear that I hadn't used in years (and to be honest, some of it I didn't know I still had - an not all Photographic), and got nearly £1500 for the lot, so decided to treat myself to an effectively "free" Panasonic G9. Ordered it yesterday lunchtime from WEX (it was showing "Pre-order") and expected it to take around a month to supply (based upon how long the EM1 MK II took to supply after launch, but to my surprise, it's just turned up ?

I'll give you my thoughts against my EM1 MK II over the next few weeks when I have chance to evaluate it, but so far seems very nice (battery is charging), and will hopefully make a good second camera for the EM1 MK II, especially as I have a mix of Panasonic Leica and Olympus lenses.

Quick question though from anyone else that has received theirs. With regards to the free battery power Grip offer from Panasonic, (up until the 14th Jan), am I right in assuming you have to own the camera for 35 days before you can submit your claim (i.e. I can't do it straight away) ?
 
Well I flogged off a load of old gear that I hadn't used in years (and to be honest, some of it I didn't know I still had - an not all Photographic), and got nearly £1500 for the lot, so decided to treat myself to an effectively "free" Panasonic G9. Ordered it yesterday lunchtime from WEX (it was showing "Pre-order") and expected it to take around a month to supply (based upon how long the EM1 MK II took to supply after launch, but to my surprise, it's just turned up ?

I'll give you my thoughts against my EM1 MK II over the next few weeks when I have chance to evaluate it, but so far seems very nice (battery is charging), and will hopefully make a good second camera for the EM1 MK II, especially as I have a mix of Panasonic Leica and Olympus lenses.

Quick question though from anyone else that has received theirs. With regards to the free battery power Grip offer from Panasonic, (up until the 14th Jan), am I right in assuming you have to own the camera for 35 days before you can submit your claim (i.e. I can't do it straight away) ?

With any luck, my G9 should be waiting for me when I get home from work :)

I believe that you have to wait 35 days before claiming the grip, but will look more closely at this when I get in from work tonight.

Simon.
 
I think you'll have to wait... at least I'm sure I had to when I claimed cash back once... I think they do this as it'll cost them less as a percentage of people will wait the required period and then forget...

I understand it is more to ensure people don't buy a camera, claim the cash back or accessory and then return the camera - waiting the 30/35 days means you are usually outside the return window.
 
Long tail tit
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I'll hardly get anytime to play about with my G9 before 21/01 thanks to work, but impressions straight out of the box last night are very positive. The grip on it is extremely comfortable, and fits my hands very well indeed. The AF-On button (back button focusing) and the little joystick to move the AF area around are also very comfortable to reach. This is already a major improvement over the GX8, where I could never really use back button focusing as I just couldn't comfortably reach it. The EVF is enormous. There is a little barrel distortion present (nothing that appeared to be a problem in initial use), and as a glasses wearer I have to move my eye to see the very extreme corners on its largest setting, but in all other aspects so far, the EVF is extremely impressive and very immersive. I also out of curiosity fired off some frames using the high burst setting. Bear in mind that this was while pointing the camera at a stationary subject, but apart from a momentary (and I mean momentary) black out on the first frame, there was no black out of the EVF at all while I held my finger down on the shutter. I'll have to play around with this a lot more to confirm how it works on moving targets, and also maybe refine my settings in the (very extensive) menus. All of this was with the EVF at 60 fps refresh rate. The mechanical shutter is super smooth as it releases.

Very positive first impressions, and I'm now itching to get out to use it in anger.

Simon.
 
Following on from Simon's post above, I've only had my G9 a few hours but here are my initial comments vs my Olympus OMD EM1 MK II

The G9 actually seems to be a bit smaller than the online pictures showed, and putting it next to my OMD EM1 MK II, it was literally mm's in it. Certainly compared with my Nikon D500 (which by itself isn't the largest DSLR), it's really much smaller and certainly a good weight advantage over a DSLR still. As Simon said, the grip is very nice (though not massively better than the Olympus), but I'd have to agree with everything he said about the viewfinder. It's immense, very clear and sharp, and yes there is a little distortion at the very edges, but nothing to write home about.Love the fact that the on/off switch is around the shutter button like all the Nikon DSLR's I ever owned, but the movie record button is (in my opinion), is a bit of an ergonomic own goal . It's sits behind the ISO/WB and EV buttons but lower down on a "shelf" and is actually quite difficult to reach without contorting your fingers.

Generally though it's pure Panasonic (meaning very nice). The shutter sound is very nice, it's very quick and responsive and the AF joystick is a joy to use (reminds me of using my D500). Menus wise, whilst I (unlike some) don't have a real problem with the Olympus menus, Panasonic really do show how they can be done with really simple well laid out menus, with nice sub divisions and a lack of Olympus cryptic meanings. A really nice touch as well is a "my menus" section (much like DSLR's) where constantly used items can be put for easy recall (wish Olympus could do this in the next firmware revision). In my initial testing of high res mode it's a mixed bag. Positively, it's much faster than the Olympus to actually process the image once the shot is taken (literally a couple of seconds vs about 7-8 on my EM1 II), but image quality wise I think it's a wash with the Olympus, and whilst it does add a meaningful amount of extra detail, like my OMD, it's certainly not 80mp's worth - I would put it more akin to the D800's 36mp - still not bad for M4/3, although the Olympus has a much better algorithm for items that move during exposure, where it seems to naturally blur them where as the Panasonic just records as 8 ghost images with no processing of these moving areas at all. Also it should be noted that in high res mode (and in standard electronic shutter mode for that matter), longest exposure is only 1 second. On the Olympus in high res mode longest exposure is 8 seconds, and in standard electronic shutter mode, I think (don't have the camera with me right now) the longest shutter speed isn't limited to 1 second either. Oh and I should add that on the Panasonic, High res seems to be a one shot affair and needs to be recalled for every shot (stand to be corrected here), whereas on the Olympus it's a drive setting so when selected is permanently engaged until you turn it off.

As regards jpg output quality, you can certainly see where Panasonic has been developing the G9. It's jpeg output (especially at higher ISO's) is pretty impressive. I've shot some test images at ISO 4000 & 6400 and they stand up very well (better than the Olympus jpegs). When it comes to raw files though, the quality (to my eyes) seems about the same. Oh, one nice new feature is that in the menus there's a new item for what function to do when pressing the lens function button (the buttons that are on most Olympus Pro lenses), and it works. I've set my (as per my Olympus bodies) to re-center the AF point when pressed and the lens button now works the same on my OMD and G9, whereas previously on Panasonic cameras, they completely ignored the Olympus lens buttons.

Like I say I've only had the camera a few hours (vs a year for the EM1 MK II), so I'm sure more will come out over the next few weeks. Straight off the bat though, a couple of things I think the Olympus does better.Don't know if it's just my example, but whilst image review is pretty much instant, when using the scroll wheel to zoom in on images, mine seems to think about it for a second or so before zooming (I'm using Lexar 1000x 150mb/sec 64gb cards). On the OMD zooming is instant.Also, whilst on the subject of zooming, I have my OMD set up so that a double tap of the FN1 button zooms me in to 7x magnification (approx 100%), I've not found a way on the G9 to do instant zoom (or assign a button), so you have to use the jog wheel or rear command dial and scroll.Would have been nice is when reviewing, a press of the AF joystick zoomed to 100% (whereas it actually just takes you into the menus's when pressed). Also, the main command dial being behind the shutter button (like Canon has) will take some getting used to as I've been used all my life to having te main command dial either in front (Nikon) or around the shutter button (Olympus), but I guess that's just muscle memory.

More to follow.
 
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Sounds great! I'm still getting used to the G80, finding new bits and bobs to play with daily [just bought new end of November, so mostly just Christmas family photos to date] - Really need to get out and shoot it proper.

The G9 looks tasty for sure, for 3 main reasons: Better VF, better IBIS [G80's is already great] and better ISO performance - every little helps. I also really like a chunky grip - can never be too chunky IMO. I'll see how this year goes with the G80 first though.
 
Silly question......how useful is the auto focus touch screen/joy stick. What do you use it for? I turned the touch screen off on my g6 as I was for ever setting focus points unintentionally! Going back to the old days you just centered on the subject you wanted in focus, held the shutter button down half way then repositioned the camera to compose before taking the picture.......quick and simple. Just don't understand what you use this feature for.......except maybe for tripod mounted shots?
 
Silly question......how useful is the auto focus touch screen/joy stick. What do you use it for? I turned the touch screen off on my g6 as I was for ever setting focus points unintentionally! Going back to the old days you just centered on the subject you wanted in focus, held the shutter button down half way then repositioned the camera to compose before taking the picture.......quick and simple. Just don't understand what you use this feature for.......except maybe for tripod mounted shots?

With older cameras I used to focus and recompose but that was when they only had one focus point smack in the middle of the frame or a few clustered around the middle of the frame. These days with mirrorless cameras you can focus anywhere within the frame so moving the focus point makes more sense also these days we have the ability to pixel peep and see when our focus is even ever so slightly off which it could well be if we focus and recompose. However, if you move the focus point you're more likely to be able to pixel peep and still be very happy that your focus is bang on :D

These days I move my focus point a lot, maybe not for every shot but a lot :D My cameras don't have a joystick so I have to use the arrow buttons which isn't too bad but a joystick would be better. I never use touch sensitive screens though.
 
Silly question......how useful is the auto focus touch screen/joy stick. What do you use it for? I turned the touch screen off on my g6 as I was for ever setting focus points unintentionally! Going back to the old days you just centered on the subject you wanted in focus, held the shutter button down half way then repositioned the camera to compose before taking the picture.......quick and simple. Just don't understand what you use this feature for.......except maybe for tripod mounted shots?

Not a silly question at all Gary. Like you, I don't use the touchscreen on my Lumix cameras much at all, and usually have them closed with the screen facing in. Where something like the joystick comes into its own is when I'm shooting motosport using AF-C. I obviously can't focus-recompose under those circumstances, so end up moving the AF box all over the place depending on the composition I want. The joystick will make this so much quicker and easier to do.

Simon.
 
I use the touch screen, but it does have its downsides. You have to always remember to double check your focus point as it's so easy to knock out of place, but you only need do this at the start of your shooting. A quick tap on the screen, see where your focus point is at, hit the display button to bring it home to centre. I like using the touch screen for close focus images, where your point of focus is off centre. Focus recompose isn't accurate enough for this. I have yet to move the point accidentally with my nose btw :D
 
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Hello G owners, I'm about to buy a G80 for my son, who is doing a media course and needs a camera with good video capability, I have a whole bunch of Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards, but am wondering if there is a recommended minimum speed of card?

Also which 3rd party batteries are recommended?
 
Hello G owners, I'm about to buy a G80 for my son, who is doing a media course and needs a camera with good video capability, I have a whole bunch of Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards, but am wondering if there is a recommended minimum speed of card?

Also which 3rd party batteries are recommended?

When i got my G80 I used an old Sandisk 32GB U-1 card and tested 4K, worked fine. I use one of these now in it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ex...15661861&sr=8-2&keywords=sandisk+32gb+sd+card And tbh, I don't notice much difference, but then I don't shoot video much, only short clips. I'm sure the U-3 card will be more reliable for longer shoots. Afaik there's no major advantage to going beyond that, as the camera doesn't have the extra pins for UHS-II or whatever the latest and supposedly greatest cards are. It would still only write at around 40mb/s anyway.

Your son may require 64GB or higher if he's doing a lot of video work

I bought this for a spare battery: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0051GO05Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Just as good as the original one, I find I'm rarely swapping batts, every 2days or so, with normal shooting and the odd 4K clip. Again, he may require a few of these for mostly video work, but they're a decent price for a solid battery. Comes with a plastic cover for storing safely.
 
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When i got my G80 I used an old Sandisk 32GB U-1 card and tested 4K, worked fine. I use one of these now in it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ex...15661861&sr=8-2&keywords=sandisk+32gb+sd+card And tbh, I don't notice much difference, but then I don't shoot video much, only short clips. I'm sure the U-3 card will be more reliable for longer shoots. Afaik there's no major advantage to going beyond that, as the camera doesn't have the extra pins for UHS-II or whatever the latest and supposedly greatest cards are. It would still only write at around 40mb/s anyway.

Your son may require 64GB or higher if he's doing a lot of video work

I bought this for a spare battery: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0051GO05Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Just as good as the original one, I find I'm rarely swapping batts, every 2days or so, with normal shooting and the odd 4K clip. Again, he may require a few of these for mostly video work, but they're a decent price for a solid battery. Comes with a plastic cover for storing safely.

Thanks, I have some 45mb/s and 60Mb/s cards so they should do to start with.

Expro - know of as a Fuji replacement battery so I'll get a couple of those.
 
Thanks, I have some 45mb/s and 60Mb/s cards so they should do to start with.

Expro - know of as a Fuji replacement battery so I'll get a couple of those.

Definitely test your current cards first. I had some expro for my Fuji too, they're as good as third party get.
 
There's an ex display Lumix 100-300mm lens on sale at John Lewis, Sealand Road Retail Park in Chester, reduced to £250. I doubt it's been out of the glass display cabinet judging by the condition. Looks like this is a Mk 1 version as the 100-300 lettering is in gold. I already own this lens but mine was secondhand at about the same price.

I bought my GX80 from there in September , that lens was in the cabinet at £569 , I asked to try it on the GX80 for feel and mentioned the lens was overpriced as there was a new one out . The sales person removed the price , I go in there quite often and it was full price again , couple of months later they had knocked £100 off it then before Xmas it was in the sale cabinet at £350 , ok they are not a camera shop but its taken a while to reduce.
I've just bought the new 100-300 with the power OS , white box £369 :)
 
I'll be interested in feedback on G9 image quality v the 16mp cameras.

I've tried looking at the DPR image quality page and I can't see any difference between the G9 and my GX7. I downloaded their JPEG test shot and their GX7 raw but I do think that shooting at high ISO's in light that allows very fast shutter speeds is pointless as a measure of image quality. I'd much rather look at high ISO shots taken at lower shutter speeds in low light which is IMO a much more real world scenario.

I don't know why DPR persist with this mythology. To me it shows nothing useful at all.

Anyway, any feedback on real world image quality and any thoughts on the 20mp chip cameras v the latter 16mp cameras would be nice :D
 
E-infinity Online Camera Store , I'd never heard of them , I just Googled best price , excellent service they even sent me a photo of the box with my postage label on before dispatch and Royal Mail tracking .
Looks like they're a Hong Kong retailer, and grey imports. Not necessarily a problem, but worth bearing in mind. For example, it's covered only by the supplier's warranty (not the manufacturer's) and it looks like you're responsible for sending it back to them (presumably to Hong Kong) in case of any faults, even if it's dead on arrival.
 
Looks like they're a Hong Kong retailer, and grey imports. Not necessarily a problem, but worth bearing in mind. For example, it's covered only by the supplier's warranty (not the manufacturer's) and it looks like you're responsible for sending it back to them (presumably to Hong Kong) in case of any faults, even if it's dead on arrival.

Fingers crossed then , its all good so far :)
 
I'll be interested in feedback on G9 image quality v the 16mp cameras.

I've tried looking at the DPR image quality page and I can't see any difference between the G9 and my GX7. I downloaded their JPEG test shot and their GX7 raw but I do think that shooting at high ISO's in light that allows very fast shutter speeds is pointless as a measure of image quality. I'd much rather look at high ISO shots taken at lower shutter speeds in low light which is IMO a much more real world scenario.

I don't know why DPR persist with this mythology. To me it shows nothing useful at all.

Anyway, any feedback on real world image quality and any thoughts on the 20mp chip cameras v the latter 16mp cameras would be nice :D

I’d expect zero difference in raw between my GX8 and G9. However, I am expecting significant improvement in the JPEG output of the G9 compared to the GX8. I also wouldn’t expect much real world difference between the 20mp sensors and the latter 16mp ones. From my experience, they are very similar but of course you get more cropping flexibility from the 20mp units.

Simon.
 
I’d expect zero difference in raw between my GX8 and G9. However, I am expecting significant improvement in the JPEG output of the G9 compared to the GX8. I also wouldn’t expect much real world difference between the 20mp sensors and the latter 16mp ones. From my experience, they are very similar but of course you get more cropping flexibility from the 20mp units.

Simon.

Thanks for that.

I've looked at 20 v 16mp raws before and found nothing in it but maybe there's no substitute for trying the kit yourself over time to detect the subtleties.
 
Having a total brain fade moment just now. Which menu setting gives you the exposure simulation through the EVF? At the moment I only get the actual simulation when I half press the shutter.

Cheers,

Simon.
 
Having a total brain fade moment just now. Which menu setting gives you the exposure simulation through the EVF? At the moment I only get the actual simulation when I half press the shutter.

Cheers,

Simon.

Constant preview
 
Does the aperture effect/stop down still only work in manual mode?
 
Constant preview

Am I going mad here?
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I have the G9 in shutter priority, set at say 1/200s and f2.8 and ISO200 (this tends to be my starting point for motorsport and these settings are saved to C3-1). The camera has constant preview enabled and is setup to focus with the AE/AF button on the back of the camera.

When I look through the EVF (with those settings above, indoors late afternoon), I see a nicely exposed image in the EVF, and the histogram (which I like to be displayed at all times), confirms a nice exposure. Now, given the light in the room and the settings on the camera, I know that this can't be right, and sure enough as soon as I half press the shutter button, the EVF darkens considerably, the histogram bunches right up on the LHS and my aperture and shutter speed flash red.

While this is probably the muppet behind the camera, is there not a way to show the exact exposure through the EVF with these settings without using fn5? Any advice welcome, even if it is to confirm I am a total muppet
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Thanks,

Simon.
 
I've never noticed this as I only use M mode, which does give a solid preview of any adjustments made. Just tried the camera in S mode and I see the issue you're experiencing. The Live view shows decent exposure, take the shot - under exposed ... I'm not sure how to fix that either :/
 
I've never noticed this as I only use M mode, which does give a solid preview of any adjustments made. Just tried the camera in S mode and I see the issue you're experiencing. The Live view shows decent exposure, take the shot - under exposed ... I'm not sure how to fix that either :/

Keith, thanks for posting that. I can certainly work around the effect, but your post shows that at least I haven't done anything daft or changed an obscure setting somewhere :)

Simon.
 
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