G9 still worth it in 2022?

Trevor Carpenter said:

Interceptor121 said:

Trevor Carpenter said:

Interceptor121 said:

Tyrbiter said:

The firmware updates from 2.0 onwards have been very nice and improved the camera a great deal.

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But yet if you don’t get the camera almost in focus to start it is a problem on small birds

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I concede that pre focusing helps but I have always put that down to being a mirrorless camera issue rather than a Panasonic issue. If I point my G9 at a bird in the sky there is a good chance, that because it has an EVF, there is a good chance that I can't find the bird because the EVF is unfocused. I have often wished for an OVF at times like this. This is not a problem with auto focus it is a case of finding the bird. Now maybe wrongly I have assumed that all cameras with an EVF will have exactly the same problem. Are you saying that with an EM1 or another mirrorless camera this problem doesn't exist. I don't understand how this can be because there will be a difficulty in finding a bird with any unfocused EVF.

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You set a focus limiter range the camera does not go all the way zero to infinity so it finds it much faster and if it does not you know you were not interested in that shot

It works better despite the lack of detection as it finds it quicker

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Interesting. I often wished for a focus limiter and this shows it could be beneficial. This is definitely a bigger problem for me than focusing.

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I am balanced in my statements and I shoot many different things unlike some people that write here and don't actually do even 10% of what they talk about

The focus limiter option is useful as it shortens the time to focus and this is important for the Panasonic camera

The 100-400 has an option full or 5 to infinity but what you need is 0 to 50 meters or better 20 to 50 meters for example

The 200mm has limiter and you can preset a focus distance and therefore is the best lens for the job

ursamajorRO said:

Interceptor121 said:

there are instead many things the G9 has that the EM1MKII doesn’t have. The EM1MKII is now really dated after the last g9 2.4 firmware and following

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If EM1.2 is dated, G9 is outdated, but it's not the case for both cameras. I'm not a consumerism fan and I can see the reality.

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well you clearly have not stayed up to date on the updates for the G9 and you seem to live in your own reality

ursamajorRO said:

When I decided to upgrade my EM10.2 I wanted to buy another MFT body and I had to choose between G9 and EM1.2, both in my budget. A photographer friend of mine, owner of a G9 (I tested it for a while) who adviced me to take EM1.2 instead of G9. And because I know his capabilities in the field of photography/cameras I believed him.

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that ‘s laughable

H arold

Harold66 said:

ursamajorRO said:

If EM1.2 is dated, G9 is outdated, but it's not the case for both cameras. I'm not a consumerism fan and I can see the reality.

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well you clearly have not stayed up to date on the updates for the G9 and you seem to live in your own reality

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What to update to a feeble hardware (ie, lack of PDAF)? You can update it 999 years from now, you'll never make it better focusing/tracking. Probably, the firmware team of G9 already squeezed the last drop of performanceof the hardware.

Harold66 said:

Harold66 said:

When I decided to upgrade my EM10.2 I wanted to buy another MFT body and I had to choose between G9 and EM1.2, both in my budget. A photographer friend of mine, owner of a G9 (I tested it for a while) who adviced me to take EM1.2 instead of G9. And because I know his capabilities in the field of photography/cameras I believed him.

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that ‘s laughable

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You read but you didn't understand...

Nothing about 9fps? In fact real 3 (good) fps.

Enjoy your G9, but be more objective. But I doubt you can.

ursamajorRO said:

Harold66 said:

ursamajorRO said:

If EM1.2 is dated, G9 is outdated, but it's not the case for both cameras. I'm not a consumerism fan and I can see the reality.

Click to expand...

well you clearly have not stayed up to date on the updates for the G9 and you seem to live in your own reality

Click to expand...

What to update to a feeble hardware (ie, lack of PDAF)? You can update it 999 years from now, you'll never make it better focusing/tracking. Probably, the firmware team of G9 already squeezed the last drop of performanceof the hardware.

ursamajorRO said:

ursamajorRO said:

When I decided to upgrade my EM10.2 I wanted to buy another MFT body and I had to choose between G9 and EM1.2, both in my budget. A photographer friend of mine, owner of a G9 (I tested it for a while) who adviced me to take EM1.2 instead of G9. And because I know his capabilities in the field of photography/cameras I believed him.

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that ‘s laughable

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You read but you didn't understand...

Nothing about 9fps? In fact real 3 (good) fps.

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no idea what you are talking about .. but what do you photograph which needs 9fps anyway ?

ursamajorRO said:

Enjoy your G9, but be more objective. But I doubt you can.

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Maybe I suggest that you take a look in the very outdated EVF of the Olympus cameras currently available ...

or try to explain to a non Olympus user how to set the BBF button

did you get your em1.2 new ? Because new the em1.2 still seems to sell for more than the G9

Harold

Oly has got PDAF, it is better for fast stuff, its quicker also.

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

It's an excellent and incredibly feature-rich camera. Just prepare to manual focus if you want to use it for video.

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Not true

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Maybe you've had better luck than the rest of the photographic community, but I found it hunted too much for my tastes in C-AF. It was pretty easy to rectify though with manual focus and sufficient depth of field.

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I use the camera since a few years focus hunting is not an issue more than it is on any other camera

if you use a single area and place it on a white wall lr a black object every single camera on the market will hunt including sony olympus canon

Most people do not understand that there needs to be something on the focus points at all times or the camera will refocus

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Nah, I mean simple videos like when I was at an outdoor venue in Toronto (oh how I long for those days...) and the lens was steady on a singer. It would constantly go in and out-of-focus on a person who was not changing the depth she was at. You also see it too for stills photography using C-AF. Trying to track my dog and you'll see the focus in the viewfinder constantly pulse in and out. I have no such issues with the E-M1 III, Z7 or A7R III.

That doesn't mean the camera is unusable, but I found myself less willing to trust the C-AF of the G9's DFD.

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How long ago was that?

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About two years ago and then I tried again with firmware 2.4. The pulsing, even with the PL 200 f/2.8, was just never confidence inspiring.

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The G9 has many autofocus settings of all forms and shape I would recommend you try to learn how it really works. If you set it to single area and there is something to focus on the single area it works like any camera really

I shot this when the 2.4 firmware came out to see what it was detecting I have not really spent time to see the pulsing but actually I do not see much of it.

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

It's an excellent and incredibly feature-rich camera. Just prepare to manual focus if you want to use it for video.

Click to expand...

Not true

Click to expand...

Maybe you've had better luck than the rest of the photographic community, but I found it hunted too much for my tastes in C-AF. It was pretty easy to rectify though with manual focus and sufficient depth of field.

Click to expand...

I use the camera since a few years focus hunting is not an issue more than it is on any other camera

if you use a single area and place it on a white wall lr a black object every single camera on the market will hunt including sony olympus canon

Most people do not understand that there needs to be something on the focus points at all times or the camera will refocus

Click to expand...

Nah, I mean simple videos like when I was at an outdoor venue in Toronto (oh how I long for those days...) and the lens was steady on a singer. It would constantly go in and out-of-focus on a person who was not changing the depth she was at. You also see it too for stills photography using C-AF. Trying to track my dog and you'll see the focus in the viewfinder constantly pulse in and out. I have no such issues with the E-M1 III, Z7 or A7R III.

That doesn't mean the camera is unusable, but I found myself less willing to trust the C-AF of the G9's DFD.

Click to expand...

How long ago was that?

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About two years ago and then I tried again with firmware 2.4. The pulsing, even with the PL 200 f/2.8, was just never confidence inspiring.

Click to expand...

The G9 has many autofocus settings of all forms and shape I would recommend you try to learn how it really works. If you set it to single area and there is something to focus on the single area it works like any camera really

I shot this when the 2.4 firmware came out to see what it was detecting I have not really spent time to see the pulsing but actually I do not see much of it.

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That's pretty much a single plane. My issue is when at dog shows or shooting my dog in the wild, it would pulse like crazy and lose her if she was running on the Z-axis.

Harold66 said:

ursamajorRO said:

Nothing about 9fps? In fact real 3 (good) fps.

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no idea what you are talking about .. but what do you photograph which needs 9fps anyway ?

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Look at the table I posted earlier. I even use 18fps. Like I said, if I only needed still pictures, I already had E-M10.2. No G9 needed.

Harold66 said:

did you get your em1.2 new ? Because new the em1.2 still seems to sell for more than the G9

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200 actuations, perfect condition, you can say new.

660 euros, even cheaper than a G9.

That is irrelevant as DFD would refocus and introduce a movement even when the focus jumps from subject to subject or the subject enters and exit the frame

So you are saying you have something coming towards you it is always in your focus area (so you are not using multiarea but a single area) and you get a wobble?

I don't if there is

if there is anything that is painful is the EVF blackout which is the reason I do not even shoot 10 fps. 6 fps is enough blackout to be distracting for me

I cannot see any human being able to see a wobble while the EVF is blacking out in CAF burst mode unless it goes hunting and fails to focus but that is a different issue altogether

--
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Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/interceptor121
Underwater Photo and Video Blog http://interceptor121.com
Deer Photography workshops https://interceptor121.com/2021/09/26/2021-22-deer-photography-workshops-in-woburn/

Interceptor121 said:

That is irrelevant as DFD would refocus and introduce a movement even when the focus jumps from subject to subject or the subject enters and exit the frame

So you are saying you have something coming towards you it is always in your focus area (so you are not using multiarea but a single area) and you get a wobble?

I don't if there is anything that is painful is the EVF blackout which is the reason I do not even shoot 10 fps. 6 fps is enough blackout to be distracting for me

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I shoot at 18 fps most of the time on the eShutter because I'm confident in the AF performance (when the subject is large enough).

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

That is irrelevant as DFD would refocus and introduce a movement even when the focus jumps from subject to subject or the subject enters and exit the frame

So you are saying you have something coming towards you it is always in your focus area (so you are not using multiarea but a single area) and you get a wobble?

I don't if there is anything that is painful is the EVF blackout which is the reason I do not even shoot 10 fps. 6 fps is enough blackout to be distracting for me

Click to expand...

I shoot at 18 fps most of the time on the eShutter because I'm confident in the AF performance (when the subject is large enough).

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So it does not bother you the EVF is dark for most of the time but you complain about a wobble?

Sorry I don't follow this.

Even at 7 fps there is so much going on with blackouts that is impossible to notice any wobble

You made two statements that are not really meaningful

First you talk about video autofocus but I have the impression this is not your field of expertise second you talk about wobble which really you can;t even see as the EVF is blacking out maybe at 2 fps you can but definitely not at 7 let alone 10 etc

Do you own a G9?

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

It's an excellent and incredibly feature-rich camera. Just prepare to manual focus if you want to use it for video.

Click to expand...

Not true

Click to expand...

Maybe you've had better luck than the rest of the photographic community, but I found it hunted too much for my tastes in C-AF. It was pretty easy to rectify though with manual focus and sufficient depth of field.

Click to expand...

I use the camera since a few years focus hunting is not an issue more than it is on any other camera

if you use a single area and place it on a white wall lr a black object every single camera on the market will hunt including sony olympus canon

Most people do not understand that there needs to be something on the focus points at all times or the camera will refocus

Click to expand...

Nah, I mean simple videos like when I was at an outdoor venue in Toronto (oh how I long for those days...) and the lens was steady on a singer. It would constantly go in and out-of-focus on a person who was not changing the depth she was at. You also see it too for stills photography using C-AF. Trying to track my dog and you'll see the focus in the viewfinder constantly pulse in and out. I have no such issues with the E-M1 III, Z7 or A7R III.

That doesn't mean the camera is unusable, but I found myself less willing to trust the C-AF of the G9's DFD.

Click to expand...

How long ago was that?

Click to expand...

About two years ago and then I tried again with firmware 2.4. The pulsing, even with the PL 200 f/2.8, was just never confidence inspiring.

Click to expand...

The G9 has many autofocus settings of all forms and shape I would recommend you try to learn how it really works. If you set it to single area and there is something to focus on the single area it works like any camera really

I shot this when the 2.4 firmware came out to see what it was detecting I have not really spent time to see the pulsing but actually I do not see much of it.

Click to expand...

I can't help noticing the shot you take at 1:33. You have the 1-Area with animal detect box over the bird, the camera detects it (yellow box), indicates that it's in focus (green box), but then clearly focuses on the foliage behind the feeders when you press the shutter. It then ignores the bird and mistakenly detects an animal in the background leaves until you refocus.

I know that's nothing to do with the point you were making about AF pulsing. It's just interesting to see such a clear illustration of why I gave up on using the G9's animal detect feature.

SteveY80 said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

It's an excellent and incredibly feature-rich camera. Just prepare to manual focus if you want to use it for video.

Click to expand...

Not true

Click to expand...

Maybe you've had better luck than the rest of the photographic community, but I found it hunted too much for my tastes in C-AF. It was pretty easy to rectify though with manual focus and sufficient depth of field.

Click to expand...

I use the camera since a few years focus hunting is not an issue more than it is on any other camera

if you use a single area and place it on a white wall lr a black object every single camera on the market will hunt including sony olympus canon

Most people do not understand that there needs to be something on the focus points at all times or the camera will refocus

Click to expand...

Nah, I mean simple videos like when I was at an outdoor venue in Toronto (oh how I long for those days...) and the lens was steady on a singer. It would constantly go in and out-of-focus on a person who was not changing the depth she was at. You also see it too for stills photography using C-AF. Trying to track my dog and you'll see the focus in the viewfinder constantly pulse in and out. I have no such issues with the E-M1 III, Z7 or A7R III.

That doesn't mean the camera is unusable, but I found myself less willing to trust the C-AF of the G9's DFD.

Click to expand...

How long ago was that?

Click to expand...

About two years ago and then I tried again with firmware 2.4. The pulsing, even with the PL 200 f/2.8, was just never confidence inspiring.

Click to expand...

The G9 has many autofocus settings of all forms and shape I would recommend you try to learn how it really works. If you set it to single area and there is something to focus on the single area it works like any camera really

I shot this when the 2.4 firmware came out to see what it was detecting I have not really spent time to see the pulsing but actually I do not see much of it.

Click to expand...

I can't help noticing the shot you take at 1:33. You have the 1-Area with animal detect box over the bird, the camera detects it (yellow box), indicates that it's in focus (green box), but then clearly focuses on the foliage behind the feeders when you press the shutter. It then ignores the bird and mistakenly detects an animal in the background leaves until you refocus.

I know that's nothing to do with the point you were making about AF pulsing. It's just interesting to see such a clear illustration of why I gave up on using the G9's animal detect feature.

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No it does not work like that when you move the focus area somewhere with the joystick the camera does not use that area until you press the joystick again which is happening at 1:39. It is not very intuitive and the reason for many missed shots in video.

I thought you can just move the area and the camera will use it but instead no you need to actually confirm otherwise it does not use it

For bizarre reason when you move it with the LCD with the touchpad it uses it immediately

On the GH5M2 they have removed the touchpad now you need to reconfirm each time you move the area.

--
instagram http://instagram.com/interceptor121
My flickr sets http://www.flickr.com/photos/interceptor121/
Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/interceptor121
Underwater Photo and Video Blog http://interceptor121.com
Deer Photography workshops https://interceptor121.com/2021/09/26/2021-22-deer-photography-workshops-in-woburn/

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

That is irrelevant as DFD would refocus and introduce a movement even when the focus jumps from subject to subject or the subject enters and exit the frame

So you are saying you have something coming towards you it is always in your focus area (so you are not using multiarea but a single area) and you get a wobble?

I don't if there is anything that is painful is the EVF blackout which is the reason I do not even shoot 10 fps. 6 fps is enough blackout to be distracting for me

Click to expand...

I shoot at 18 fps most of the time on the eShutter because I'm confident in the AF performance (when the subject is large enough).

Click to expand...

So it does not bother you the EVF is dark for most of the time but you complain about a wobble?

Sorry I don't follow this.

Even at 7 fps there is so much going on with blackouts that is impossible to notice any wobble

You made two statements that are not really meaningful

First you talk about video autofocus but I have the impression this is not your field of expertise second you talk about wobble which really you can;t even see as the EVF is blacking out maybe at 2 fps you can but definitely not at 7 let alone 10 etc

Do you own a G9?

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I sold my G9. I have an E-M1 III now.

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

That is irrelevant as DFD would refocus and introduce a movement even when the focus jumps from subject to subject or the subject enters and exit the frame

So you are saying you have something coming towards you it is always in your focus area (so you are not using multiarea but a single area) and you get a wobble?

I don't if there is anything that is painful is the EVF blackout which is the reason I do not even shoot 10 fps. 6 fps is enough blackout to be distracting for me

Click to expand...

I shoot at 18 fps most of the time on the eShutter because I'm confident in the AF performance (when the subject is large enough).

Click to expand...

So it does not bother you the EVF is dark for most of the time but you complain about a wobble?

Sorry I don't follow this.

Even at 7 fps there is so much going on with blackouts that is impossible to notice any wobble

You made two statements that are not really meaningful

First you talk about video autofocus but I have the impression this is not your field of expertise second you talk about wobble which really you can;t even see as the EVF is blacking out maybe at 2 fps you can but definitely not at 7 let alone 10 etc

Do you own a G9?

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I sold my G9. I have an E-M1 III now.

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And when was that?

Interceptor121 said:

And when was that?

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2019. Then I re-purchased one on a whim in 2021 in hopes that FW 2.4 improved the AF and I sold it. I am in Canada so I can't access my NAS, but here's a few proof shots from 2019 that are sitting in my Prime Drive. I suppose I could post the invoice if you're really that paranoid. I've also had a GX85, GX8, GX9 and I still have my GM5 and GF2. I really like Panasonic cameras, but after tasting reliable PDAF...

Edit: I also know they are slightly OOF, but I was testing subject detect with those.





Edit: Here's your 2021 purchase proof and yes, I used FW 2.4.

Your images look well in focus with what appears to be an Olympus 60mm macro a lens that not only does not support DFD but also hunts a lot

So which panasonic lenses did you have problems with out of interest?

Interceptor121 said:

Your images look well in focus with what appears to be an Olympus 60mm macro a lens that not only does not support DFD but also hunts a lot

So which panasonic lenses did you have problems with out of interest?

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Both the PL 50-200 f/2.8-4 and PL 200 f/2.8 when trying to track my dog running at the camera or the herons in flight here. Once I get back to Germany, I can pull the RAW files from my NAS and you can see that easily half the sequence is OOF. This is with single point, 9x9 area or animal detect and Focus Priority.

Interceptor121 said:

Olympus 60mm macro a lens that not only does not support DFD

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And that is a large part of the problem with DFD.

unhappymeal said:

Interceptor121 said:

Your images look well in focus with what appears to be an Olympus 60mm macro a lens that not only does not support DFD but also hunts a lot

So which panasonic lenses did you have problems with out of interest?

Click to expand...

Both the PL 50-200 f/2.8-4 and PL 200 f/2.8 when trying to track my dog running at the camera or the herons in flight here. Once I get back to Germany, I can pull the RAW files from my NAS and you can see that easily half the sequence is OOF. This is with single point, 9x9 area or animal detect and Focus Priority.

Click to expand...

I have taken the same shots with the same camera and lens it is not generally a problem situation. I suppose you meant single area as pinpoint does not work in CAF and 9x9 area does not exist on the G9 either, animal detect is dangerous as it may focus on any part of the body of the animal which is not an issue if you have the DOF but may be an issue if you don't so generally is not a good idea on fast moving subjects

I usually check with a lightroom plug in where did the camera focus

I get on average 1 shout out of focus out of c100 but I use 7 fps. Most of my shots out of focus is when the single area was somewhere else on the frame. I do not use higher frame rates because I don't like the EVF blackout and I never use the 20 fps mode as I spend too much time deleting images I do not use. The 10 fps mode and higher uses predictions even when you set on focus priority so I do not use them.

I even shot a nocticron at f/1.2 with kids running to me and it was in focus because some saddo here asked for it

Birds in flight on clear sky are actually more of an issue as sometimes the camera never reaches focus but a heron is very easy to shoot with any camera is a slow bird

Problems start with starlings and smaller for me because I am not able to keep them in the focus area at least with a mirrorless camera blacking out and those birds do need at least 10 fps so I just don't bother

Your EM1MKIII does not have any detection mode and I presume you use it in 5x5 and smaller like most people do. So the comparison is with the G9 with a single area of the same size. The two cameras behave identically focussing on the closest patch that has contrast despite it is called PDAF. What the EM1MKIII can do is higher frame rate if you can still track the dog while the EVF is blacking out

I can't see shooting a dog even small and fast and a heron as a problem scenario for me