Lumix S9 Titanium Gold

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

Unboxing here - I should say that it looks amazing.

 

[MrSMW]

It does look really good and if it only had a mechanical shutter, it would be golden. Titanium golden to be precise.

 

[eatstoomuchjam]

I guess that people must have been complaining to Panasonic that the S9 was too affordable and they really needed the same thing, but more expensive.  😉

[John Matthews]

I cannot fathom why Panasonic is spending its resources on 200 copies of a camera and giving half of the copies away to YouTube scrubs. Rather, shouldn't they be looking more concerned with releasing a SH1ii- THE camera that 99% of us want to see be released? Perhaps, the pulled another S9 smokescreen on us as it was planned, but regrettably still not ready- only 3 years behind schedule! Then again, maybe it was never planned from the get-go.

[BTM_Pix]

Playing devil’s advocate, I’d see it as a fairly cheap way for them to stimulate new interest in the S9 in general.

”Maybe you can’t get this particular S9 but hey if you haven’t seen this camera before, you have now seen how good it is and you’ll be amazed at how cheap and available the non bling version is”

The rest of them they’ll flog to Leica users who have been denied something compact since the CL/TL days and can hold their nose and buy a Panasonic because it’s a limited edition one in a box that they can take out and polish every Sunday.

[John Matthews]

2 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

”Maybe you can’t get this particular S9 but hey if you haven’t seen this camera before, you have now seen how good it is and you’ll be amazed at how cheap and available the non bling version is”

That’s definitely a shift in their marketing strategy—not one that really appeals to me. Owning the S9 (though not the painted gold version), I can’t help but feel Panasonic has done the camera-world equivalent of polishing a turd.

That said, I actually like the S9 for what it is—though not at the original price. At the discounted sub-1000 euro mark, it makes sense. My main issue is that it didn’t deserve the attention of a redesign because it’s a fiddly little camera that lacks proper lenses. I’m still waiting for a Panasonic-branded, real pancake lens with autofocus—the kind that should have been released alongside the S9.

I even mentioned this to Sean on his weekly livestream. I asked why Panasonic wouldn’t create a lens like the 40mm f/2 that TTArtisan just released, even if it cost twice as much. His response was that they wouldn’t, because everyone would hate on it—much like the 26mm joke of a lens. I disagree. I believe they’d sell plenty of copies of a 40mm f/2 with AF (even if plastic) at around 350 euros.

Sometimes, Panasonic just can’t see the obvious, IMO.

[MrSMW]

2 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I asked why Panasonic wouldn’t create a lens like the 40mm f/2 that TTArtisan just released, even if it cost twice as much. His response was that they wouldn’t, because everyone would hate on it—much like the 26mm joke of a lens. I disagree. I believe they’d sell plenty of copies of a 40mm f/2 with AF (even if plastic) at around 350 euros.

Or just go buy the TT Artisan one at £159 and that's Lumix's loss in terms of lens sales at least.

IMO, unless you want to shoot cropped video, in which case the Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 is a great choice, for stills, the 40mm f2 is a perfect match.

I didn't realise it was a limited edition and even if they gave away 1/2 of them, apparently still at least one available as it's listed as in stock on Panny's UK website at £1199 inc. matching Titty lens.

Might just pick one up to sell on to the Leica Sunday polishers...

[John Matthews]

17 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

Or just go buy the TT Artisan one at £159 and that's Lumix's loss in terms of lens sales at least.

I intend on doing this, but Sean's response rubbed me the wrong way. It's too bad Panasonic doesn't have the same spirit as it had with the GM1 (the camera referenced in the release of the S9). I wanted a 28mm and 40mm pancake. The TTArtisan isn't quite pancake status, but it's the best we've got.

 

18 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

didn't realise it was a limited edition and even if they gave away 1/2 of them, apparently still at least one available as it's listed as in stock on Panny's UK website at £1199 inc. matching Titty lens.

It seems like a decent price.