Upgrading to a Lumix G9 in 2020?

MiniMadRyan wrote:

Hi All,

I shoot primarily with a Nikon D7200 w/battery grip and an assortment of lens from a 70-200 2.8 to the massive 200-500 f5.6. I love the handling and layout of the D7200. I also purchased a Lumix G7 last year on sale, and it's primarily used as my B-camera, and for when I'm looking to travel lighter.

Recently though, I've been intrigued by the Lumix G9 and the amount of features relative to its price. While it's a bigger body than the G7, it's still smaller than my Nikon and a bit lighter too.

My question is, in light of the recent news, and lower cost FF cameras supposed to be coming soon, is the G9 a good choice still in 2020? I'm not really interested in going to an entry level FF, as most of the features I'd like are in FF cameras 2-3 times the price of the G9, with only the D500 and Z6 being remotely close.

To me, it would seem the G9 offers a lot of higher-end features, without the huge costs, while still being a bit easier to carry around. What do others think?

Cheers

Ryan

Yeah, I think that, which is why I bought one a few days ago. Of course, two big factors influenced me:

1) They had a sale, so I got it for $1000. I wouldn't pay much more for a m4/3 camera.

2) I have quite a few nice primes already, and m4/3 is my only system, so if I bought a camera with a larger sensor, I would have to buy new lenses, too.

I feel pretty sure your IQ is better on the D7200, and duplicating those long lenses in m4/3 is going to cost you. I feel the handling of the G9 will be great for you except that every Nikon I have used seemed to work totally differently from the camera lines I have used, so you might have to relearn some things. I mean, even the reflex action of putting lenses on and off.

You gain amazing IBIS, but the AF system may not be as good for C-AF. I don't know how good the D7200 is, but the G9 has a contrast-detect AF system instead of phase detect, and that can have problems with tracking.

The m4/3 system does have a wide range of lenses, though for me there are a lot of gaps. However, if you want a mainstream control system and a mainstream sensor, I feel m4/3 has the best lens coverage among mirrorless systems with sensors smaller than FF. Sure, the Canon M and Sony APS-C faithful would immediately chime in with 'large number of EF lenses,' which have to be adapted, or 'large number of FE lenses,' which are made for FF and are mostly the wrong focal lengths for APS-C, but for lenses designed for the mount and the sensor size, that is only m4/3. And the cameras in the M and E mounts just don't compare with what you can get in m4/3, in terms or performance or build quality.