The Panasonic Lumix G9 is Panasonic's latest flagship photographic Micro Four Thirds camera and features a 20mp sensor, 5-axis image stabilisation, 60fps continuous shooting, 4K video recording, and a large electronic viewfinder with 3.6m dot resolution. The G9 will be available for £1499 body only, £1669 with Lumix G 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, or £2019 with Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 lens, and available to buy 1st January 2018.

Along with the G9, Panasonic has also announced the new Leica DG Elmarit 200mm f/2.8 OIS lens, which will be available to buy 1st December (£2699 includes 1.4x teleconverter, which becomes 560mm at f/4). 

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Panasonic Lumix G9 Features

The Panasonic Lumix G9 is Panasonic's flagship photo camera, designed to compete with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, Fujifilm X-T2, Nikon D500, and others. The Panasonic Lumix GH5 remains the flagship hybrid video/photo camera. The Panasonic Lumix G7 and G80 will remain on the market and continue to offer high value for money.

The camera offers high-speed shooting, at up to 60fps at full resolution, with fixed focus, and up to 20fps continuous shooting with continuous AF, using an electronic shutter. Using the mechanical shutter, the quickest continuous shooting speed is 12fps. 

Dual I.S 2 - The camera has a 5-axis sensor-shift system, and combined with optical image stabilisation gives up to 6.5 stops of image stabilisation. It is designed to work with both wide-angle and telephoto lenses and works with both stills and video recording.

There is an updated Venus image processing engine, designed to give improved noise reduction performance for more detailed images at higher ISO speeds, compared to the GH5. This should also provide more natural skin tones, with improved gradation. The sensor has an Anti Reflective (AR) coating, for improved detail retention, and clarity. Panasonic says that the camera now has 25% wider dynamic range.

The camera body has been designed for photographers, and as well as a magnesium alloy weather-sealed body, there is a joystick control on the rear to quickly change the focus point. There's a new mode dial on the top left, with a drive mode dial underneath. A FN (function) lever can be found at the front, letting you switch quickly between 2 different customisable shooting modes.

There's a new night display mode – which can be used for the screen or EVF or both (customisable). It makes the display black and red, making it more discreet in low-light shooting. 

Panasonic says that the autofocus (AF) has been improved, with the camera giving the World’s fastest 0.04s AF speed, with improved AF accuracy for moving subjects while tracking, and a 480fps readout speed.

In addition to the usual focus modes found on Panasonic Lumix cameras, and faster AF, there are some new AF modes:

• AF point scope
• Vertical/horizontal focus switching
• Loop AF point

The camera features customisable focus scenarios, designed to help you choose the right focusing options for the specific type of shooting you are doing. 

There's an 80mp multi-shot mode, which combines 8 shots in-camera giving you an 80mp raw and/or JPEG image. This works in the same way as the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, moving the sensor at a sub-pixel level to capture more detail, as well as full-colour information for each pixel. 

Wi-Fi is built-in to allow remote control of the camera. With low-power Bluetooth v4.2, you can connect to a smartphone or tablet whilst reducing the amount of power used.

Accessories: a battery grip is available, the DMW-BGG9E priced at £309, which is also weather-sealed, and if you pre-order the G9, you will get a free battery grip. A larger eye-cup is available for £17.99, and a large shoulder strap, priced at £44.99.

Key Features:

• 20mp Micro Four Thirds Sensor, w/o LPF
• 5-axis in-camera sensor stabilisation (up to 6.5 stops)
• 3inch vari-angle touch-screen, 1040K dots
• 0.83x magnification 3680K dot OLED EVF with 0.77x, 0.7x options, 120fps, 5ms (blackout free)
• Top LCD screen (Large, backlight)
• Improved Venus image processing engine
• 225 AF areas, 0.04s AF speed (world’s fastest)
• ISO100 (Low) to ISO25600
• 80/40mp photo mode (raw/JPEG in camera)
• 60fps / 20fps continuous shooting (full resolution, electronic shutter, AFS/AFC)
• 12fps / 9fps continuous shooting (full resolution, mechanical shutter, AFS/AFC)
• Shutter rated for 200,000 shots
• 6K (18mp) photo at 30fps, 4K (8mp) photo at 60/30fps
• Dual UHS-II SD slots
• USB charging, USB tethering supported
• Wi-Fi / Bluetooth built-in
• Weather-sealed magnesium alloy body

Video Features:

• 4K/60fps video (full-sensor), 8bit
• FullHD 180fps slow-motion video
• Fullsize HDMI out
• Mic/headphone sockets

Panasonic Lumix G9 Handling

The Panasonic Lumix G9 has a very large electronic viewfinder (EVF) considering the size of the camera, giving a large 0.83x magnification, the largest in this class. The EVF looks slightly too large when on 0.83x magnification, as you feel you are having to move your eye around more to see the edges. Pressing the V.Mode button lets you choose between different EVF view sizes, 0.83x, 0.77x, and 0.7x magnification, as we've shown below. The EVF has a resolution of 3.68m dots, and has a refresh rate of 60 or 120fps. The rubber surround is large and gives a comfortable eye-rest. An even larger rubber surround is available as an optional extra.

0.83x Viewfinder	0.77x Viewfinder	0.7x Viewfinder

The locking mode dial can be set as locked, or unlocked, and features 3 custom modes. Underneath this you can find a red ring, and then the drive mode dial. This includes 6K photo, focus stacking, as well as two continuous shooting modes, and self-timer modes.

Shooting with the camera, using the high-speed continuous shooting mode with the mechanical shutter, it's possible to shoot up to 600 JPEG shots using the 12fps mechanical shutter or 60 raw images, as shown in the video below. Using the electronic shutter, you can shoot 50 shots when using the 60fps continuous shooting mode (at full resolution).

The buttons on the camera are quite large, although some felt quite soft. There are three customisable function buttons on the back of the camera, with a further two customisable buttons on the front. In addition you can customise five on screen function buttons. There are front/top and back control dials, with a scroll wheel on the back giving you direct access to aperture and shutter speeds in manual mode. There's also a joystick on the back, which is within reach of your thumb, and can be used to set the focus point, or used to scroll through menu options. On the front of the camera, there is a new function lever switch, which can be used to choose different functions. The shutter release button is quite sensitive, and can take a little bit of time to get used to.

Panasonic Lumix G9 - Customisable Function Buttons

The handgrip is very large for the size of the camera, giving you something good to hold on to. It feels excellent, with a soft rubber texture and a good thumb grip on the rear, with plenty of space for your thumb.

The focus point can be set to anywhere in the frame, letting you set the focus point to the very corners of the image. There's a focus switch to switch between AFS/AFF, AFC, and Manual Focus. If you use manual focus, then focus peaking, and a magnified view will help aid focusing, or you can press a button on the screen to get the camera to focus for you. Thanks to the 5-axis image stabilisation, the view on-screen or through the viewfinder is stable, which aids in focusing (and composing) the shot.

The menus are clear and logically laid out, with a number of different areas for photo, video, custom settings, setup, my menu, and playback. The My Menu section is where you can put your favourite settings and options, making it quicker to access these. 

The screen is clear with good colour reproduction, and the EVF and LCD screen both match each other for colour. The touch-screen can be used to set the focus point, and can also be used in the menus and in playback. Viewing angles are excellent, and the screen can be twisted forwards so you can see yourself if you're in front of the camera. You can display a dual-axis electronic level on the screen. Playback is extremely quick, with it possible to rapidly scroll through photos, even if you've taken thousands of images. 

The in-camera raw editing can be used to adjust settings, and fine tune your images, saving a new JPEG image. You can even use this to process high-resolution images that you've shot, so for example, if you shoot a 40 megapixel High Resolution photo (with JPEG and raw), and then later want to save it as an 80 megapixel JPEG image, this is possible, without having to process the image on your computer. 

The side access ports are easy to access, and you'll find microphone, headphone, HDMI and USB3 ports. On the front is a flash-sync socket, and on the same side as the SD memory card slots is a remote socket. The dual SD card slots are both UHS-II compatible.

The camera uses the DMW-BLF19 battery, which is compatible with the Panasonic Lumix GH5. The battery gives 380 shots (EVF), or 400 shots (LCD), which can be extended to 920 shots using the power saving EVF mode. The camera features USB charging as well as the ability to use the camera whilst powering it via USB. The optional battery grip will double the camera's battery life.