For photographers and videographers seeking great specs in a small body, the new Panasonic Lumix S9 could be just the ticket. This mirrorless camera packs a 24.4MP full-frame sensor into the first compact design in the Lumix S series, coming in at only 0.89 lb. The S9 also includes Panasonic’s advanced Phase Hybrid autofocus system, in-body stabilization, and 6K video codecs. For people looking to step up from a smartphone or downsize from a bulkier body, the S9 should check all the necessary boxes, especially when paired with the new Lumix S 26mm f/8 pancake lens.
The S9’s sensor is equivalent to the one found on last year’s popular Lumix S5 II, and many of the specs and recording formats found in that camera have carried over. To slim down the size of the body, we’ve lost the viewfinder, but the S9’s 1840k-dot free-angle flip-out monitor should suffice for framing and settings adjustments. You can charge the camera’s battery via the USB-C port on the body, and Panasonic has specifically designed it to play nice with portable power banks. A full battery gets you a reported 470 shots in standard conditions. Panasonic is aiming this camera more at content creators than large professional crews, so we’re down to one SD card slot and no cooling fan, but sacrifices were necessary to make a full-frame camera that can fit into a coat pocket.
If you preorder through Panasonic, they’re throwing in the 26mm f/8 pancake lens for free…which has me thinking why not? But maybe couple it with an adapter and use some M lenses for something a bit nice and compact.
hlansing wrote:
If you preorder through Panasonic, they’re throwing in the 26mm f/8 pancake lens for free…which has me thinking why not? But maybe couple it with an adapter and use some M lenses for something a bit nice and compact.
Actually the z30 seems like a better alternative, when paired with the 24mm f1.7, at least from a photo pov and it has a mechanical shutter and you can use flash.
No flash(hot shoe), no viewfinder and no shutter. I was interested in this camera but these killed it for me. I been looking for an small EDC. I'll just wait to see what else comes down the pipe.
I would have been excited about this if it had a decent EVF on it....and maybe a joystick of some sort. I don't think it's rocket science to make a compact FF camera and it is continually surprising that no one seems to get it right (a7c series seems close, but the EVF is allegedly weak). A small ZF, a small S5ii...something photocentric though....c'mon already.
formula4speed wrote:
I actually don't hate it, but since I'm already in the Sony camp it would be really hard to choose this over the A7C line.
I prefer the A7C line mainly because of the integrated EVF. However, this new camera is a great addition for L-mount shooters, especially since most cameras in this system are quite large. (except for the Sigma fp)
It definitely has some +'s vs my Sigma FP for my use case as a secondary body to my S5 or S1. IBIS, PDAF, vari-angle screen. But the more I think about it for me, if I wanted to use those full featured specs, I might as well just use my bigger system cameras.
The FP still allows me the option to put on my EVF if I want to use my M-mount lenses and the new S9 would not be suitable with this given no external EVF. Then I can also still keep it small and put on the smaller Sigma I lenses I also have.
This is a portable video camera, not really a stills centric camera. I don’t think Panny can or is interested in being competitive in the stills segment. Judging/being annoyed by this for it’s lack of photo features doesn’t really make sense. The Sony EV-E1 is the same. You wouldn’t use that as a still camera either unless quite secondarily.
hlansing wrote:
If you preorder through Panasonic, they’re throwing in the 26mm f/8 pancake lens for free…which has me thinking why not? But maybe couple it with an adapter and use some M lenses for something a bit nice and compact.
Manual focusing M lenses with a back screen is not a fun idea.
The absence of EVF is quite bizarre. Any chance an external one would work ?
(Leica makes external EVFs that can be mounted on a hot shoe, but I do not take compatibility as granted since there is no standard for that, as far as I know)
Xavier Rival wrote:
The absence of EVF is quite bizarre. Any chance an external one would work ?
(Leica makes external EVFs that can be mounted on a hot shoe, but I do not take compatibility as granted since there is no standard for that, as far as I know)
There is HDMI out, so certainly an external monitor could be attached; if any EVFs can run on an HDMI signal that might be a solution. That said, I have no idea if that's possible.
