Why should a satisfied user of a g80 consider to upgrade to g90?

spike29 wrote:

As always every time the new body comes around the then old new body is shelfed to the second one/backseat. So just question out interest: would you upgrade as hobby photographer and sell your g80 in order to buy the g90?

Probably not. There are a few things that make the G95/G90 more desirable, but for me probably not enough to pay the upgrade cost:

• The G90/G95 now has a headphone jack which is useful for monitoring the levels of sound being recorded. The microphone jack has been moved so it does not interfere with the articulating rear screen, but the headphone jack is in the spot where the microphone jack used to be, so you have the same problem with having to set your screen and then attach the microphone (G85) or headset (G95) after adjusting the screen..
• The European version (G90) no longer has the 30 minute video limit that the G80/G81 did. The USA/Asia version (G85) did not have a limit. In the last 12 months, I have had 6 times that I needed to record video longer than 30 minutes. So if I lived in Europe, I could imagine this would be a big feature.
• The G90/G95 has the 20 MP sensor compared to the 16 MP sensor in the G80/G81/G85. Particularly for out-of-camera JPGs, this has been a good improvement at high ISOs on other 20 MP cameras. Now, unlike a lot of DPR readers, I shoot JPG only, and for me, it might be a useful upgrade.
• The downside of going to the 20 MP sensor is if you shoot in 4K, you now have a worse crop factor (IIRC, 1.26 vs. 1.19). At the moment, I don't shoot video in 4K, so it isn't an issue for me. The G9 at a slightly higher price does use over-sampling and no crop factor, but you need to switch the camera into an undocumented test mode to change the video record limit settings.
• The G90/G95 now can charge batteries in the camera with a USB-micro cable, and I believe the USB-micro cable can also power the camera if the USB connection can provide 5v/2.1a of power. This means you don't have to use dummy batteries to use external power any more (yeah). One thing that might be a downside, might not, is the camera still uses the micro-USB cable instead of the new USB-C cable that other new cameras are moving towards. Right now, I have the micro-USB cables from everything else, but over time, I suspect the micro-USB will seem old fashioned (like the mini-USB jack that preceded micro-USB) in a year or two.
• As an upgrade, it does use the same batteries and grip as the G85. The G9 uses different batteries and a different grip. I figure it would cost me an $100 or so to get clone batteries/grip to replicate what I have with the G85.
• In the USA unfortunately, the camera comes with the 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. I already have that lens, and I wish the camera was available without the lens.

So for me, the main improvements are out-of-camera JPG, and USB power.  I probably would welcome having a headset for video sound recording, but since I don't have one now, I don't know if I would use it.

The bundled lens and 4K crop factor might be two issues against doing the upgrade.