Emily Lowrey has a review of the new Lumix G9ii m4/3 camera (due out in November) at her Micro Four Nerds channel:
Once you're at her channel look for the followup: a comparison of the Lumix G9ii and the OM System OM-1. Spoiler alert: she prefers the Lumix (especially for its video capabilities), even though she says that you can't wrong with either camera.
As to OM System(no S!!!): the company has released the TG-7 (shipping at the end of September), which seems much like the Olympus TG-6 with a few extra bells and whistles .. which isn't a bad thing, but one could have wished for more of an upgrade. No real reviews yet except for spec videos.
Re: New Lumix G9ii m4/3 camera
Posted: 15 Sep 2023 07:56
by Siegfried
It's fascinating to see the main points Panasonic wanted promoters to repeat. Each video I saw repeated the same Panasonic lines word for word. This helps us to see which competitors they like to target and who their main competitors are...
Take the focus on the G9 II's speed as a great example. Almost all modern sensors are based on the CMOS architecture. The Standard CMOS sensors in Canon cameras and the Panasonic S5 are the most basic and oldest format of the CMOS sensor. The Live MOS sensor introduced huge efficiency benefits, and the BSI variant gives the ultimate sensor efficiency. This means the effective sensor area increased from the Standard CMOS (70%) sensor to the Live MOS (85%) to the BSI (+95%) sensor. This mainly benefits the sensor's sensitivity and ability to capture shadow details.
The only sensor type with higher readout speeds (electronic shutter) is stacked BSI sensors like the OM-1 and the A1 from Sony. Standard CMOS and Live MOS sensors have slower readout speeds that could impact BIF with the "rolling shutter" effect. In other words, I would buy an OM-1 for high-speed or BIF photography... The OM-1 and A1 electronic shutters are close to mechanical readout speeds...
Noise is a function of sensor design because all sensors have a noise floor. To master native ISO values, DR, and SNR, see the photons to electrons graph discussed on my blog. Don't allow promoters to sell you the "size and capture" theory...
Why would one expect to see more noise with the G9 II? Live MOS sensors mean each group of 4 pixels uses the same control wiring. Adding 25% more pixels means more control wiring. Each electronic component in the sensor adds more noise to the noise floor. The Hybrid Shooter illustrated noise at the 2.40 min point of his G9 II preview. Is this a concern? It's difficult to say because he gave no info about the sensor's saturation level (histogram) in the shadows...
I believe the IQ of almost all digital cameras from 2015 onwards is excellent to superb...
The choice of which camera suits my needs is determined by how well they answer my specific needs.
Olympus has always been good at expanding the functionality of its cameras to enable photographers. Video functions do not enable photographers. The Live Composite function or Live ND does enable photographers...
It will be interesting to see how Panasonic improved the G9 II to enable photographers more.
I hope these points will help readers evaluate the G9 II amongst all the wild claims we already see...