Panasonic G9 Mark II. I was wrong

[Andrew - EOSHD]

It turns out I am a bit wrong.

... That Micro Four Thirds was dead. Well near me, the G9 II came down to a much more sensible 1299 so I thought I'd give it a try.

This thing... oh my gawd.

Feel like putting the rest of my gear in the bin!

This little box of joy is pure art in the handheld 4K/120p mode (and also in 5K open gate). The colour science, slow mo and IBIS are so, so good. The new GH7 sensor is quite something. Beautiful filmic quality to it.

And I thought IBIS was good on the full frame Panasonic cameras or Olympus OM-1 but this is taking the biscuit now.

You can just stand there and get a completely static frame especially in 120fps. I keep putting shutter at 1 second for long expose stills, pin sharp...The first camera that can really lay claim to being a tripod killer, in my view.

Then there's the image processing... It totally defies the price. The new sensor just looks so clean in low light and dynamic range is fantastic. The real-time LUTs look stunning here. No other Micro Four Thirds camera has nearly as good colour processing (except the more expensive GH7), so in this sense I prefer it even to the Olympus OM-1 with the lovely Olympus skin tones.

In some ways it is better than a flagship $4k full frame cam... I am not joking.

Not missing a full frame sensor that much to be honest. It has the dynamic range, the low light, the resolution, and with a fast enough lens... the full frame look as well. The Metabones Speed Booster 0.64x fits without scraping the sensor-box.

Also, the EVF is enormous and totally defies the price.

Criticisms? Autofocus is very lens dependant - it's still a bit rubbish with the older stuff and adapters. Also no ProRes LT like the X-H2... With two SD card slots, it limits you only to 1080p in ProRes mode which is a bit silly... but the high-res stuff is available if you plug in an SSD via USB. GH7 has an advantage there for sure.

But in plain old 10bit H.265 the image is superb.

I think this body design suits the smaller lenses too... You know I'm not the greatest fan of the S5 II body design, well it is growing on me here... Micro Four Thirds and small stuff seems to go well with the G9 II / S5 II body design. It starts to make more sense. The sharp angles cut in less, camera as a whole is lighter, the grip is sufficient for everything and it's got that "GH2 feel" when you put the tiny 20mm F1.7 pancake on there whereas the S5 II with the larger lenses doesn't have that same charm to it.

I am inclined to say Micro Four Thirds LOOK is back too... It's an antidote to predominance of a super shallow depth of field in commercial work and Netflix.

It really makes me want to fully commit again to the system as it just does SO MUCH, far more than any full frame camera remotely affordable.

It does more than a Sony a1 II FFS!

[FHDcrew]

I just freaking bought this thing.  I so agree with you.  The camera is unbelievable for the price.  I genuinely will never need anything more than what this camera has.  Lowlight was quite impressive.  And I'm coming from having shot on the OG Nikon Z6 for nearly 4 years; that camera was very good in low light.  Like "lets shoot a wedding reception at 25,600 ISO" level good.  And on this G9 II...you can actually use it at 12,800 if you are fine with some somewhat pleasing grain, or just denoise the image in Davinci.  Cleans up easy.  Colors are VERY thick. Dynamic range is great.  IBIS is the best I've ever used.  E-stabilization high is amazing and crops less than 1.3x according to my tests.  Planning on getting the Panasonic 12-35 2.8 OG and the 25mm 1.7 and pairing those two together for a nice compact kit.  I think its the most underrated camera of 2025.  A real steal.  Also I consider this camera to be a real tempting alternative to an FX30.