PANASONIC LUMIX G9: Firmware Update 2.4 Field Tests and First Impressions
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- June 2021 saw the arrival of a new firmware update 2.4 on the Panasonic Lumix G9. Here's my first trial of some of the new and upgraded features. Enjoy, and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE!
If you have learned something from my videos, you can thank me with a coffee: www.buymeacoff...
If you haven't updated your firmware yet, start here: www.panasonic....
Thanks to Celina Diefenbach: Instagram @powercell_insta
I sold my G9 for a R6. This has seriously got me considering whether or not to go back. The 600MM f11 isn’t cutting it for me, and is larger than the Panaleica 100-400 + G9 combo.
I find myself with a huge 100MM Laowa 2x Macro on the R6, when I much preferred using the Oly 60MM on the G9. Plus I find the R6 + 50 f1.8 too much for an every day use camera, I could bundle the GX9 and a small prime along with the G9 and still be quids in!
Seeing this just makes me remember all the positives from M43 versus a huge FF setup…
So glad Panasonic put some effort into this, and I really hope it’s a sign of things to come. I’d love a G9 follow up as a sister camera to the GH6.
Thanks for providing such a coherent review of the firmware update, how to install it, and how it works.
I have used the G9 with the PL 100-400mm lens for wild bird photography.
Panasonic has finally improved its autofocusing system. Having a smaller sensor and subpar autofocusing is a deal breaker in today's market with all of the stiff competition.
I actually have bought more lenses for my G9 in the past month so I had not really given up on the Lumix system. This firmware update goes a long way in improving the system.
I live in Coastal North County San Diego. I join dozens of photographers in photographing the mating, nesting, and fledging of the Peregrine Falcons in La Jolla Cove and Torrey Pines State Reserve. I often see guys with $20k or more of new equipment to the right or left of me.
I am always tempted to jump ship on brands as I have since 1967 when I began being a photographer.
I will likely always keep and use the G9. I may well buy a full frame camera body with those heavier lenses, but my aching back will never forgive me. I'm going on 74 and my backpack is already a bit heavier with my new lenses.
Thanks again, Andrew!
Took me a while to update. Now I’m on 2.5. Took it outside with my 100-400, put it on autofocus with human/animal detect, and instantly started nailing every shot of the birds in my back yard. Incredible! Watching your video, I see that there are more techniques I can learn to do even better.
Great review, out of more than 20 reviews of new firmware, only yours and of another person did a real comparison between old and new version with examples, shoots and movies, but your film is addressed in the best manner with a lot of new functionalities details, great work👏 PS: very nice photo with osprey in afternoon :)
Was waiting to hear your opinion on the new firmware
Best test video and description of test results for Autofocus feature. Good job showing how well the G9 performs. Thanks!
Those last two (and that third one 👌) were my favourites. This bodes well for the future. Thanks a million.
I can't say enough how good the G9 is now.
Thank you, finally a positive review on the 2.4 update. Good job Andrew
Very well done, one of only 2 reviews that demonstrate the difference between old and new.
I've been around cameras for a long time, and never heard of "front button" focus. :) Cheers... thanks for the enlightening review.
Thank you Andrew, look forward to the next video. Last two pictures, were spot on.
Great video again Andrew...
The AF performance is now just â impressive as your photos are...
I love all creatures you take such beautiful photos of ..
But must add that this particular creature in this video looks very lovely 😘🤩😉
I regretted selling my G9 and considering picking up another one. Great shots and that new firmware is a winner.
When shooting your model you might try increasing the auto focus area. When she was on the edge of the small box it lost focus. It will not lose it with a large focus box.
Thank you. Yes that did occur to me afterwards and I almost mentioned it in the video, but then decided I not to say anything without testing it. Still not sure in the long term whether I will be using that feature or just sticking with Human/Animal Detect.
Thank you for taking the time to put this together, I've updated to 2.4. Haven't used it yet, as the weather here in Adelaide has been really wet.
G9 is weatherproof, so don't let the rain stop you.
Thanks, this is what I've been waiting for. Hopefully will see another video in detail for bif
Thanks for doing all the testing for us. The update really makes me pick up my G9 + 100-400 more often since I usually prefer smaller cameras.
That was a great short video Andrew on the new firmware update and a good little test on the focusing ability 👍👍
Thanks Andrew for a great test on the new firmware. Looking forward to testing how the new autofocus handles keeping surfers in focus as the previous versions did seem to struggle. The shot of the distant backlit Osprey was a good test, I am often shooting early mornings here on the Sunny Coast and the sun is always a problem.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Looks all good,
Installed the 2.4 update in my G9 last week. I appreciated seeing this review. I've always used BBF. My front upper fn button I have as the near focus shift & the lower fn one as the far focus - I often use them. I've added a thin soft stick on pad on the back where my thumb goes for a bit more comfort. I now use the M. Ziko 12-200mm as my walk around lens & plan on getting the M.Ziko 8-25mm f4.0 pro lens in July. Thanks
Great video as always!
I did a test for vlogging and found the single area with human detect works really good. Thanks for testing the AF for birds! I hope to find the time for some birding soon.
Thanks Andrew, nice review, I'm looking forward to trying this out now
Great video really showed off the improvements with this firmware upgrade. Im yet to test them all out on my G9 but what i have experienced is a good improvment. No need for a G10 yet :)
Great update love using it with 100-400mm tracking birds is way easier
Wow I want to see more photos with captures with firmware 2.4 and more impressions
greetings
Thank you for the great tutorial. I think that in the single focus point mode you have more success if you expand the focus area box to be very large. even thought the box will cover unwanted background , the "detect" will fix on subject. I am finding 2.4 to be very good for BIFs etc, however the implementation is very confusing....No one on the forums and videos seems to know exactly how all the options work. There is much trial and error.
Thank you, other people also suggested a larger focus area and I actually thought of that myself after shooting that part of the video. But then it makes me wonder what is the advantage of simply switching Fn1 to Human/Animal Detect mode, which now works much better. And yes the new upgrade has brought improvements but it has also created new options, so it is going to take everyone a while to figure out what works best for them.
Celina is beautiful!
Another great review Andrew, thanks for the effort involved. Did you have a go at updating the firmware for the 100-400 lens as well? I am finding it won't update.
Glad you enjoyed the video. No I haven't done a firmware update on the lens, I only realised it was there a few days ago. I haven't yet quite figured out what the improvement is and whether I need it or not.
@@naturesimagephotography Thanks, I will be keen to see if you do have a go.
Why don't you confirm the subject by clicking on the joystick before shooting? It should improve the hook-up to the subject
Great video!!
Thanks my card reader doesn't work
Your the best
Hi Andrew very helpful video. When you say 400mm lens i assume that is m43 not 35mm equivalent? I have subscribed, u will watching keenly as I am trying to do some bird photography. Thanks again.
This is with the Leica/Panasonic 100-400mm lens. So 800mm equivalent.
Interesting you mentioned "continuous BBF". For some reason I was never able to use that although I really liked to. Problem is: with continuous BBF you keep the BBF button pressed continuously, probably with the thumb. During that time pressing the release button will not get recognized, at least not with my G9. So with fast action I end up trying to highspeed cycle back and forth between the BBF and release button. Which is of no advantage compared to the traditional halfway-press focus full-press release mechanism with standard release button.
I fully understand the benefit of BBF with static subjects: BBF, recompose, shoot.
On all other occasions I struggle to see the benefit of BBF. I'd really appreciate you covering that topic in an upcoming video, thanks 👍🍻
Interesting...as I made clear in the video I am still learning this myself. Did you disable AF on the front (shutter) button as well as enabling AF on the back button?
@@naturesimagephotography Yes, I did. No more focussing on the front button. Do you mind giving it a quick test? Keep the thumb on the back button for continuous refocussing (thats basically AFC during back button press) and hit the front shutter button the same time. Will that trigger a photo?
I have set BBF on my G9 for all situations because I found that the shutter button was so sensitive that I was often triggering the shutter when jut trying to focus. What I have found is that if you hold the back button you will not be able to fire the shutter until focus has been acquired (I have focus priority set) this can lock you out for BIF if the camera loses focus and occasionally if you move the camera rapidy from a close to a far object. I have firmware 2.4 installed but I have not had chance to form an impression as to its improvements.
joff, I'm not sure what's happening with your G9. you should be able to keep your finger pressed on the back button to continuous focus and simultaneously use the shutter button. otherwise, BBF would be not useable.. maybe some other setting is keeping it from working.
I have to agree with @turkrich's reply. I have had the chance to do a couple of tests and as far as I can see, the continuous focus works as I expected on the back button. You can hold your thumb down and the focus keeps doing it's thing, meanwhile I can choose my moment to shoot. Focus continues when my finger is off the shutter button and when it's on.
Single area. Human Detect works great when doing run and gun video shots with several people around…. If you can keep the single area box on the subject it works great. So for B Roll of people it’s almost flawless.
Yes so far that's the only real reason I can think of for using the 1-Area option instead of just using Human/Animal Detect. Thanks for that, it looks like you are confirming what I was thinking.
@@naturesimagephotography
These are rough spontaneous experiments
I was waiting for my wife and her girlfriend to finish shopping and started testing things at low light. ISO 1600 f2.8
ua-cam.com/video/d2xAR35CFdc/v-deo.html
My wife at her nieces graduation lunch... notice how it exposed on her and not the whole frame once she was in the box. Exposure set to multi metering and shot aperture priority. I lost focus when she moved out of the box.... ua-cam.com/video/0dPU6uC42Rs/v-deo.html
At the Apple store. Again lost focus when he moved out of the box. The whip pan worked great. I keep the box pretty small. ua-cam.com/video/misLcpWkLD0/v-deo.html
Awesome, thank you! I just wish they would bring out an update for my crappy g90´s autofocus..I´m struggeling..
Interesting video, did you ever use center joystick button to lock tracking on the subject box? It has to increase AF tracking performance both stills and video a bit. 👍🙂
Thank you, you are the second person to suggest that. I plan to try it out next time I get the chance.
Hi Andrew many thanks for your very informative info on the firmware update. Just a question however, does this update cover the lens as well or is that a different exercise? Cheers Ian
Hi Ian, I'm sure the lens update is a separate action, but I have not looked into doing that at all yet.
@@naturesimagephotography Thanks very much for your reply.
Very helpful, thanks. For the birds in flight, are you using single-area focus with animal detect on? Prior to the update, I'd been using custom multi-area for birds in flight. But now I'm thinking it might make sense to use single-area so that I can use animal detect - albeit with a larger single area than I use for still photos. I use BBF for both.
Hi Aaric, no just using the Human/Animal Detect (first item on the Fn1 options). So far finding it pretty good...although as I mentioned in the video, my sample size is pretty small so far.
@@naturesimagephotography got it, thanks. I'll try that and see how it compares to single-area focus with animal detect turned on. I'm particularly interested in an option for BIF that works better. My perched birds come out well typically, but I'd like to increase keeper-rate for BIF for sure. Thanks again.
I thought learning BBF would be difficult. Surprisingly, I switched and it took no more than ten minutes.
I don't know what happens, with any camera. how things go with BBF and wireless remote.
Thanks so much for posting your review of the nre firmware. Forgive my ignorance, but what is the benefit to back button focus that you demonstrated in the last minute or so? Thanks
It separates the focus function from the shooting function, so you focus with one button, shoot with the other. I am still working on it myself so I am not the best person to explain it right now...but you will find plenty on this online, not just for the G9 but for all cameras.
@@naturesimagephotography thanks for the reply. Yeah I understand the principle, but was curious of the benefits. I'll look forward to seeing your future videos if/when you discuss it more. 👍🏻
Hi so im curios have you tried any of the AF focus sets 1-4 or do you just stay on set 1
Someone else asked me this recently and I honestly didn't know, I had to go and check my own menu for the answer. I have it on SET 3 but that's not to say I recommend it. I must have done it a long time ago and probably because someone else suggested it...and then just never switched back. I can't say I have every really tested the different options to compare.
@@naturesimagephotography yea its hard to tell which is better sometimes i think set 1 is better for objects not really moving very much and set 3 seems good for fast moving but ive been going back and forth hard to tell which is better
Thanks Andrew; one question. How do I get to AF Mode showing the options with 'Animal detect'? When I press the Fn1 button I just get a rectangle with with an arrow on each side. Hope you can help.
Mike in Oz
Hi Mike, it sounds like your camera is on Manual Focus. That's what happens when you press the FN1 button while in MF.
@@naturesimagephotography Thanks Andrew; right in one.
👍🏻👍🏻
Can you post your bif settings please?
I posted most of them already. Do you mean the back button focus ones? They were ISO 400 / F-5.8 / 1600th sec