Panasonic lumix GX9
£879/$998 (with 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6) Panasonic’s new rangefinder-style mirrorless camera offers plenty of features in a compact, well-made body
A rangerfinder-style mirrorless camera with a retro feel
We reviewed Panasonic’s flagship G9 stills camera last issue; the new GX9 is a step down from that, with a smaller rangefinder-style body but the same 20-megapixel resolution. It’s designed as a premium ‘street photo’ camera that looks like an evolution of the high-quality GX8. A handful of key changes includes a smaller body; the removal of the image sensor’s optical low-pass filter (to improve fine detail rendition); an L.Monochrome picture mode; an optional grain effect; slightly improved continuous shooting speed; and a more effective Power Save mode for extending the battery life. The GX9 also gets Bluetooth, a built-in flash, an optional grip and improved in-body image stabilisation. This works with Panasonic’s image-stabilised lenses to give a hybrid dual-stabilisation system.
Panasonic says the GX9 has improvements in both resolution and dynamic range, plus improved tracking autofocus using 3D measurement of the entire image. The AF sensitivity has been improved too, with a low-light Starlight AF mode. Panasonic continues to develop its 4K Photo modes with Auto Marking, where key moments in your 4K bursts are tagged automatically for easy navigation later, and a new in-camera focus stacking option for merging post-focus frames into a single shot with full near-to-far depth of field. Its also possible to select key frames in a 4K burst and merge them into a single multiple-exposure image.
Build and handling
The GX9’s Micro Four Thirds sensor is roughly half the size of the APS-C sensors used in most mirrorless cameras, so you might expect the GX9’s body to be correspondingly smaller, but it’s actually about the same size as a Sony A6500 or a Fujifilm X-T20. On the plus side, although the body is not smaller, the lenses are. You do end up carrying around a lot less weight.
The external controls work well for the most part. The exposure compensation dial has a good, firm feel, and you can spin it with your thumb. The main mode dial, stacked
directly above, is smaller and even firmer. The top-mounted control dial feels really positive, but the rear control dial under your right thumb is slightly less accessible and a tad more vague.
The ISO setting, white balance, drive mode and focus mode are accessed via buttons on the rear and the four-way D-pad. Here, the camera’s firm and positive exterior controls give way to the on-screen interface with its menus and touchscreen controls. Adjustments become a little more complicated, and it can take a little while to navigate to some of the more esoteric options provided by this camera. It looks reassuringly ‘physical’ from the outside, but you’re also going to have to spend a lot of time swiping and tapping on the screen.
Performance
Panasonic’s DFD autofocus system is very fast for single-shot photography. The Face/Eye detection mode identifies features almost instantly; the Tracking mode, once locked on, follows a subject round the frame quickly and reliably; the 49-Area mode just picks a focus point for you; the Custom Multi mode lets you pick a focus zone for the camera to work in; and the 1-area and Pinpoint modes give you all the accuracy you could need.
Unfortunately, in continuous shooting, the Tracking mode quickly lost focus with any subject movement and framing changes; and while the Custom Multi mode maintained focus pretty well with changing subject distances, a combination of screen blackout and display lag meant that it was hard to judge focus while shooting.
In fairness, the GX9 is not billed as a sports specialist. It can shoot at a decent frame rate when required, but if this is your main area of
Although the body is not smaller, the lenses are. You do end up carrying around a lot less weight
interest, you’d be better off with a camera designed for the job.
The image quality is very good. The difference in sensor size only appears at higher ISO settings, where the GX9’s images start to lose detail and smooth over more quickly than those captured with larger sensors. Dynamic range is very good too – another thing smaller sensors are not supposed to be good at. The L.Monochrome mode gives nice results, with a little more depth than the regular mono mode, but while the new grain effect does a convincing job of simulating film grain, it’s a little too strong on its High setting and, in the L.Monochrome mode, seems to create some faint vertical banding.
Dynamic range is very good too – another thing smaller sensors are not supposed to be good at