sanveer

I hear you, being one of the most "sizeist" users here, but I just don't see the strength of the reaction being proportional.
We could make a list of all the things wrong with the G9ii release, or the release of any other model from Panasonic, and we could easily find parallel examples from other manufacturers of things they do that are just as egregious, but when Sony releases yet another camera that overheats, or GoPro releases another doppelgänger camera with microscopic spec improvements, or whoever the hell else waits years and then releases an uninspiring black box, we don't then spontaneously question the future of the brand or the entire format.
If someone were to post in every Sony camera thread that FF was dead and Sony was going to exit the camera market because of the latest release then they'd be considered unhinged, but somehow with MFT every camera announcement is turned into a wake..
What will you use it for?

I know the Single Biggest thing that would make the G9ii sell in the truckloads.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A Netflix Certification 😎

I know the Single Biggest thing that would make the G9ii sell in the truckloads.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A Netflix Certification 😎

Anyway, I've pre-ordered one.

Are polls still there? 
Maybe this topic requires a poll? With suggestions for the options, before the polls are opened.
Mine would be 'too slow to adopt PDAF', and 'abandoning small cameras like the GM/GX lineup'. 
Their supply chaim and marketing are also disappointing. 

https://petapixel.com/2023/09/05/canon-has-nearly-50-of-camara-market-share-nearly-double-sony/
 
"As reported by Digital Camera Info and Digital Camera World, an annual Inspection World Share data report from Nikkei Shimbun — a Japanese business publication — shows that Canon, far and away, dominates the camera market with 46.5% of all units sold in 2023. The data, provided by Techno System Research, found that Canon sold over 3.348 million camera units in the same period that Sony sold around 1.879 million units. The report does not make a distinction between mirrorless cameras and DSLRs.
Nikon holds 11.7% of the market in a distant third, with Fujifilm and Panasonic following with 5.8% and 4.2% market share each. These top five companies account for 94.3% of the entire camera digital camera market share.
Comparing this with a 2022 sales report published by Digital Camera Life, it’s likely that Canon continues to rely heavily on its DSLR sales, at least in terms of volume. Canon’s mirrorless market share is still higher than Sony’s, but the race is much closer: 1.54 million units versus 1.25 million units.
Further, Sony is actually ahead of Canon when it comes to the value of those sold cameras. Canon’s higher number of camera bodies sold equated to 506.7 billion yen, while Sony sold fewer units for a sales value of 565 billion yen. Canon seems to be excelling when it comes to selling more affordable cameras, while the opposite is true for Sony.
All of this said, the breakdown of the market share leaders isn’t that different than in previous years, as Canon’s lead has only increased by 0.7%. Sony’s fell by a scant 0.9%. Nikon’s rose by 0.4%. There is not a lot of movement from any company on the top five list."

Are polls still there? 
Maybe this topic requires a poll? With suggestions for the options, before the polls are opened.
Mine would be 'too slow to adopt PDAF', and 'abandoning small cameras like the GM/GX lineup'. 
Their supply chaim and marketing are also disappointing. 

https://petapixel.com/2023/09/05/canon-has-nearly-50-of-camara-market-share-nearly-double-sony/
 
"As reported by Digital Camera Info and Digital Camera World, an annual Inspection World Share data report from Nikkei Shimbun — a Japanese business publication — shows that Canon, far and away, dominates the camera market with 46.5% of all units sold in 2023. The data, provided by Techno System Research, found that Canon sold over 3.348 million camera units in the same period that Sony sold around 1.879 million units. The report does not make a distinction between mirrorless cameras and DSLRs.
Nikon holds 11.7% of the market in a distant third, with Fujifilm and Panasonic following with 5.8% and 4.2% market share each. These top five companies account for 94.3% of the entire camera digital camera market share.
Comparing this with a 2022 sales report published by Digital Camera Life, it’s likely that Canon continues to rely heavily on its DSLR sales, at least in terms of volume. Canon’s mirrorless market share is still higher than Sony’s, but the race is much closer: 1.54 million units versus 1.25 million units.
Further, Sony is actually ahead of Canon when it comes to the value of those sold cameras. Canon’s higher number of camera bodies sold equated to 506.7 billion yen, while Sony sold fewer units for a sales value of 565 billion yen. Canon seems to be excelling when it comes to selling more affordable cameras, while the opposite is true for Sony.
All of this said, the breakdown of the market share leaders isn’t that different than in previous years, as Canon’s lead has only increased by 0.7%. Sony’s fell by a scant 0.9%. Nikon’s rose by 0.4%. There is not a lot of movement from any company on the top five list."

Didn't think this would work at first.

Turns out it does, and then some!
The 9.5K sensor in this thing has enough left over for 4.8K in 2x crop mode
The Ultra HD is oversampled from this 4.8K and we have our nice looking Cinema DNG internal to SD card. Something the Micro Four Thirds cameras can't do.
So it is basically a Digital Bolex at this point.
Frame grab:

The form factor is also perfect for these lenses being so small.
It feels balanced as a Super 16mm handheld candid camera.
It has one over on the Sony a1 for c-mount as well... The 2x crop is sticky, between Cine and Stills, and is remembered every time you turn it on. Whereas the Sony clear image zoom keeps getting reset when you power down or switch modes.
So yeah, I think my Digital Bolex D16 itch has finally been scratched!!
It's also perfect for bunny pics

"The company has not released any new product for the price range below 50,000 yen ($370 at current rates) or so since 2019 and has no plans to develop a low-priced model going forward. "We've halted developing any new models that can be replaced by a smartphone," a spokesperson said.
... These companies are following in rivals' footsteps. Fujifilm has discontinued production of its FinePix compact cameras and will develop only the X100V series and other pricier models."
Canon has not released any new Ixy cameras since 2017. But the company acknowledges that "entry-level models continue to enjoy persistent support, so we'll continue development and production as long as there is demand." 
Sony Group has not offered any new compact models under its Cyber-shot brand since 2019, although a spokesperson said that "it's not that we'll stop developing new products." Casio Computer halted production of Exilim cameras in 2018.
Camera makers had long competed with one another by increasing the number of pixels and by shrinking the size of their devices. But then smartphones came along, offering apps for editing pictures and allowing photos to be easily shared with family and friends. This changed the way people took photos.
Smartphone makers are racing to offer advanced photography features in their devices. "It'd be a challenge for camera makers to be successful with keeping their compact digital camera businesses," said analyst Ichiro Michikoshi of research firm BCN.
Compact digital models accounted for 36% of global digital camera shipments in 2021, according to CIPA. The broader camera market will likely shrink even faster with Japanese companies, many of them big players, scaling back operations in compact digital models.
The bright spot is the mirrorless segment, with global shipments jumping 31% on the year to 324.5 billion yen in 2021. Mirrorless single-lens models offer fat margins, and users replacing lenses and other parts will keep contributing to the manufacturers' bottom lines.
Retailers are focusing on this segment as well. "These days we recommend mirrorless cameras even to novice photographers," said a salesperson at electronics and appliance retailer Joshin Denki."
 
 
I am guessing the reference is to point and shoot cameras, with fixed lenses, including the LX100 family. If Panasonic feels the GX and GM do indeed have a market, and they can profit from them (maybe with price increases), they may add some to that group. Strangely the Japanese are not really good at very quick turnarounds, and making products at lower manufacturing costs. Two reasons why they aren't the top players in the smartphone industry.
It's therefore a strange conundrum. They don't wanna integrate absolute smartphone features likes 4G and 5G chips for uploading data on ILCs. And Sony has been slowing its development of ILC replacing smartphones, by not pushing 1inch and larger sensors (they have a massively cropped 1inch sensors). Sony is arguably one of the hurdles for both Smartphones replacing ILCs, and in some ways possibly causing sensor development (like not giving PDAF to Panasonic) slowdown in Pro and Prosumer Cameras. 
 
I wanna write more, but I have to rush. 

It is certainly an "interesting" choice thats for sure and its a bit like a car having one of those skinny spare tyres.
They tick the "does it have two card slots" box but open up the newer question of "are they both adequate though?".
My Leica T has internal memory which is a boon as it gives you extra storage space if you fill the card up but also provides you with security against the "oh shit I've left the SD card in the reader at home" which I have actually done !
Absent of new cameras offering the same internal storage (and why not by the way) and trying to keep the size down then its a pragmatic choice but it is heavily dependent on the real world requirements of the files its generating and how the implementation is in terms of control.
What is the minimum write speed for h265 10 bit 4K would be the obvious question.
Is there a sufficient buffer in the camera to be able to offload at the slower speed (a pre-capture in reverse) ?
Background copying from the SD to the MicroSD to make it a managed overflow option?
Foreground copying from the SD to the MicroSD?
Jpegs to the MicroSD and RAWs to the SD?
When all that is known then we can move it from "strange and also silly" (which on the face of it would be the case) to a best case of "strange but yeah OK its workable".
In terms of strangeness though, it still isn't in the same ballpark as the fundamental one of putting a small sensor in a full frame body 😉
 
 
 
 

Which has strange design choices, including 1 card slot that is "(UHS-I) Micro SD". I had to read that Many Times to believe it. 

I saw in the video, he says it's a Global Shutter, has 16 stops of dynamic range and 5k video, with a lot of frame rates. What more could one ask for? It's probably better than Full Frame, if the quality is anywhere close to advertised. If that's the case, Panasonic needs to pick up one of these sensors for itself too.

I saw in the video, he says it's a Global Shutter, has 16 stops of dynamic range and 5k video, with a lot of frame rates. What more could one ask for? It's probably better than Full Frame, if the quality is anywhere close to advertised. If that's the case, Panasonic needs to pick up one of these sensors for itself too.

I really hope that you're wrong, but your points make sense and it might simply be how the economics play out.
I'd hope that even if they released an updated GX camera, they could retain the same body/battery/EVF/etc, but offer improved bitrates / frame-rates / profiles.  A GX95 that took advantage of most/all of the modes on the new sensors would be wonderful.
In terms of the idea that smartphones killed cameras of this size, it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how things work, but one that the industry seems to make time and again....  the idea that serious people want a large camera and people who want a small camera don't want quality.
I shoot with the GX85 and iPhone 12 Mini, and I can assure you, the difference in image quality is night and day.  What do I mean by night and day?  I mean, the image quality of the GX85 shooting at night is better than the iPhone shooting during the day!

The 8K is a 35mm crop, correct? 
 

My wild speculation is that it will be a groundbreaking stereo 360VR camera using 16K braw files, with built in 3rd order ambisonics audio (in 32bit of course)
 
Come on man, be realistic! That's totally unreasonably wild speculations, that BMD would never do. 
You should stick with  more serious speculations that are actually possible in this world we live in, such as the  perfectly possible camera I just suggested BMD might release. 

It is and it isn't really as It was going to the point of what is possible without having to put it in the size of body that the G9ii is in.
A7cii is under 50% of overall additional volume of the camera body and a 19% increase in weight for an additional 290% in the sensor surface area with its associated IBIS mechanism and processing.
Versus the 220% of overall additional volume of the camera body and a 54% increase in weight for an additional 0% in the sensor surface area that they Panasonic have given us with the G9ii 🙂
 In terms of the discretion aspect, I'd always maintain that it is the width and particularly the height of the camera body that attracts the attention rather than the depth so the much of a muchness in the height and width means the A7cii will fly  under the same radar as the GX80.
Well, yeah, its all equal in the discretion in museums department for the A7cii until it bursts into flames and sets fire to the Bayeux Tapestry 🙂
 

IMHO, if Blackmagic gets PDAF and IBIS (and,better ergonomics, better battery and ease of use) they will pose serious  competition to everyone else. Also, true cinematography cameras will trickle down to a much larger crowd. Something that should have happened after the original pocket cinema camera. Which has superb image quality. But was s nuisance to use 🤣🤣🤣

I often wondered what would come first, Panasonic putting PDAF in an MFT camera or aliens being discovered.
Based on whats going on in Mexico today it looks like Panasonic just about won that contest.
Maybe the aliens had them under an NDA.

Great thorough review. This seems like one of the best ones. Hopefully someone tests the G9ii's video quality with the GH6 (I suspect it may have slightly cleaner video and thus slightly better dynamic range).
P.S.: That streaking issue has been fixed in the G9ii. 
 
 
 
 
I really feel Panasonic needs to Re-Brand and Re-Market their M43 lineup. A huge reason for not selling enough G7, GX85, and the GM5 cameras may have been poor marketing IMHO. The G9ii is a video monster, and Panasonic should leave no stone unturned to shout this to anyone and everyone.
 

Now that!

Great thorough review. This seems like one of the best ones. Hopefully someone tests the G9ii's video quality with the GH6 (I suspect it may have slightly cleaner video and thus slightly better dynamic range).
P.S.: That streaking issue has been fixed in the G9ii. 
 
 
 
 
I really feel Panasonic needs to Re-Brand and Re-Market their M43 lineup. A huge reason for not selling enough G7, GX85, and the GM5 cameras may have been poor marketing IMHO. The G9ii is a video monster, and Panasonic should leave no stone unturned to shout this to anyone and everyone.
 

That would be great. 

That would be great.