November 1, 2019. I wanted a mirrorless ILC for family videos, ryanair traveling and introducing my kids to photography. My "basic" demands are weatherproofness, separate dials for shutter and aperture, usb-charging, decent low light AF, in body IS, easy video shooting and a mic input (in case I get serious with video). Comfortable handling, logical UI and flipping/tilting screen are expected. Of course it had to be smaller and lighter than my Nikons D800/810. My budget was about $1500.
For the last years I looked on all new releases and thought: If only it had this or that feature I'd readily buy it. Of course I also waited for Nikon to deliver. Sony and Fuji didn't fit because similarly featured cameras are more expensive and also because their zoom lenses are quite big. Olympus em5 has bad ergonomics and terrible menus. I liked a lot the GX80 and then the GX9 but both aren't sealed and don't have a mic port. The G80 is fantastic but isn't in body usb charged. I had an opportunity to shoot with all of them and neither was disqualified for picture quality.
As soon as the G90 (G95 in some regions) was announced no excuses were left so I bought it as soon as it arrived locally. I was lucky the store could upgrade the 12-60 3.5-5.6 kit lens to the Leica 12-60 2.8-4. I also bought a Kenko adapter for Nikon lenses just in case I'd want to fiddle with my Nikon lens collection, especially the 85mm pce and the planar 50mm. The whole package cost me $1700.
Update 06/11: This is a great camera and a great lens. Very intuitive and highly configurable menu, great ergonomics. Suddenly low light handheld shots (Hooray dual IS!) as well as lightnings and light trails (Vivat Live Composite!) became pieces of cake. Shooting video with eye AF is also very easy. After 20 years with Nikon I don't miss it at all!
The only con to mention is that there's no way of separating stills and video settings. For example I may shoot stills at a home gatherings with a speedlight at ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/160s, WB Flash Preset. When I move to video without any external light I must change the settings to ISO1600, F/2.8, WB Automatic. After several cuts I want some stills and have to quickly change all the settings back. Maybe I just didn't find yet how to do it. After all I'm new to Panasonic.
For the last years I looked on all new releases and thought: If only it had this or that feature I'd readily buy it. Of course I also waited for Nikon to deliver. Sony and Fuji didn't fit because similarly featured cameras are more expensive and also because their zoom lenses are quite big. Olympus em5 has bad ergonomics and terrible menus. I liked a lot the GX80 and then the GX9 but both aren't sealed and don't have a mic port. The G80 is fantastic but isn't in body usb charged. I had an opportunity to shoot with all of them and neither was disqualified for picture quality.
As soon as the G90 (G95 in some regions) was announced no excuses were left so I bought it as soon as it arrived locally. I was lucky the store could upgrade the 12-60 3.5-5.6 kit lens to the Leica 12-60 2.8-4. I also bought a Kenko adapter for Nikon lenses just in case I'd want to fiddle with my Nikon lens collection, especially the 85mm pce and the planar 50mm. The whole package cost me $1700.
Update 06/11: This is a great camera and a great lens. Very intuitive and highly configurable menu, great ergonomics. Suddenly low light handheld shots (Hooray dual IS!) as well as lightnings and light trails (Vivat Live Composite!) became pieces of cake. Shooting video with eye AF is also very easy. After 20 years with Nikon I don't miss it at all!
The only con to mention is that there's no way of separating stills and video settings. For example I may shoot stills at a home gatherings with a speedlight at ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/160s, WB Flash Preset. When I move to video without any external light I must change the settings to ISO1600, F/2.8, WB Automatic. After several cuts I want some stills and have to quickly change all the settings back. Maybe I just didn't find yet how to do it. After all I'm new to Panasonic.
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