Panasonic had quite a successful run with its flagship Lumix model, the GH5 which is over a year old now. And while the camera was known mostly for its video-capturing capabilities, it was not as popular as other shooters in the market. Now, the series’ latest successor the GH5, the G9, will look to employ better photography taking tech into the body.
The G9 will cost $1,699 when it launches in January. Based entirely from the GH5, it will be a stills-based camera, employing a 20.3MP Micro Four Thirds sensor. The camera also comes with 5-axis optical image stabilization and uses the same image processor as the GH5. Some might wonder why the company has used the same image processor as the unimpressive one on the GH5, but Panasonic claims that the image processor has been tuned for better performance on stills. The new name and the redesign as a whole is said to feel reminiscent of Sony’s take on cameras, but we will leave that up to the public opinion.
The camera comes with a high-resolution mode that brings together eight separate sensor shifted exposures in camera into an ultra-high-res 80MP JPEG or RAW photo. The sensor is capable of an ISO range from 200-25600, which is expandable to 100-25600. The video is as impressive as ever, with the camera capable of shooting 4K video at a smooth 60fps. The image stabilizer provides 6.5 stops for stabilization that are always on, whether the user implements the Dual I.S.2.0 compatible Lumix lenses for lens based stabilization or not. All shaking of the camera while shooting is compensated for by using data from the gyro, image and accelerometer sensors. To make the camera more impressive, it is supposedly the fastest auto-focusing camera with a speed of 0.04 seconds using 225 AF points. The AF modes include Face/Eye Recognition, Tracking AF, 1-area AF and Pinpoint AF.
Also, the AF system uses DFD, otherwise known as Depth From Defocus, that calculates the distance between the subject by evaluating two images with different sharpness levels while instantly referring to the data from the current lens. Even the camera’s continuous shooting speed is fast, holding a class-leading 20fps with continuous auto-focus. Using the mechanical shutter, the camera can take shots at 9fps using continuous autofocus, while it can take 12fps stills with single autofocus.
Camera’s connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, USB charging and dual SD card slots with compatibility options for UHS-II/V90 storage options. The LCD screen on the camera is also touch-based and the build is dust and splash resistant as well.
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