Capturing the special moment

Panasonic Lumix G 9 II ₹TBA

- Hoshang Billimoria

Panasonic pioneered the Micro Four Thirds mount which promised smaller, lighter bodies and lenses albeit with smaller size sensors. The onslaught of Full Frame cameras in the last few years from all the camera majors (including Panasonic) did raise doubts about whether the smaller formats would survive. The troubles at Olympus, a Micro Four Thirds proponent, gave fuel to the critics. However, the signatories to the Micro Four Thirds mount keeps on increasing and now, after a gap of five years, Panasonic has launched a new camera in the G series viz the G 9 II. SP had the new G 9 II on its test bench. See how it fares.

Design & Build Quality

The G 9 II feels solid and of good build quality. Magnesium alloy has been used and the body is also dust and splash resistant. The design is typical Panasonic and is close to the G 9 except that there is no top screen. The flap doors that cover the ports on the side of the camera however felt a tad flimsy. The G 9 II body weighs 658 gms and measures 134.3 x 102.3 x90.1 mm. For a Micro Four Thirds camera, the G 9 II is a tad bigger and heavier than its predecessor, the which weighs 579 gms.

Key Features

The G 9 II uses a brand new powerful 25.2 MP non stacked Digital Live MOS sensor. An updated processing engine supports the sensor. This makes the G 9 II the most powerful in the G series. A Hi Res pixel shift mode is available to create a single 100 MP Raw or jpeg file.