My 1st trip out with my 4 day old G9 ( on a 9 hour cruise) I had a red flashing battery icon after about 100 shots! Luckily I had a battery pack and cable, so just had to plug it in for 30 mins to get 70% power back to continue shooting albeit more conservatively. One of the reasons to purchase G9 was be able to charge on the run. Excellent vid on run down of battery saving tips. 👍🏼🍷❤️📷
To go with your rotate your spare batteries tip, I have a total of 5 batteries for my G9, the original and 4 Wasabi 3rd party, which I have labeled 1 thru 5, so all of my batteries are used equally.
I already more by luck than judgement utilise many of the tips you advocate, the exception being AFC to AFS which I’ll try. I hardly ever use the LCD screen out in the field as I’m old school and prefer a viewfinder. I find this is a huge saving and I currently get at least 700 to 1000 shots per battery. Great videos, keep them coming.
Thank you, Andrew. I’ve been having battery issues and found your video at the perfect time. I will close my screen to help with battery life. I number my batteries to help with rotating them, but haven’t found a tip for shooting when it’s cold. Cold weather seems to drain the batteries at an accelerated rate. I love my G9 and with your tutorial help will learn to take better photos that I can love!
Great advice again thanks Andrew, rotating the batteries is very much a top tip for cameras I have found. So useful to have these things in mind when you are travelling and battery life becomes even more important between charging opportunities.
Thanks for these camera tips; good to know!. I have been reviewing the G9 and the Olympus EM1 MIII; as you know there is a huge difference in price especially now. The physical size of the G9 compared to the EM1 III has given me much thought as I moved to MFT because of size.
The Panasonic menus are much easier then the O lympus I've been using Olympus sense the E3 I have extra large hands but both cameras are very comfortable you can hold on all day long I've been on a 10 hour hike no problem holding the camera
I am using a G85 (but looking at the G9 for better autofocus and file resolution, as I do a lot of motorsport) and get approximately 2200 photos Fromm battery shooting burst and AF-C. Which honestly shocks me as everything I saw said around 300! I have screen closed, EVF on eye sensor only, and there were some settings for standby I think, that I switched on. I have 2 batteries which yields more than enough photos to sort through from a days racing. Good tips, and yes I use back button exactly as you described. Great video, I wish I’d seen it when I first got my camera 😊
And, of course, these batteries take just over 3 hours to fully charge. Spot on regarding the burst buttons. Burst 1 is ok but burst 2 just takes so many (same) shots and DRAINS the battery. My trouble is remembering to switch back from single shot to burst in time for any action - and (as I have found recently) on bitter cold days it's not easy to move the switch because one's hands are so cold. This coldness also affects one's sensitivity when touching / holding the shutter down too. I always have my screen OFF unless I just want to review a picture or two - I can review them at a later date. I find there's an unnecessary temptation to review all these shots at the time. I understand that with any camera battery they are affected by any cold weather so will not last as long when out on cold days. Another great video - many thanks. Who needs camera clubs and workshops when we have your vids!
I’ve been using the G9 for the last 4 years and have generally doing what you suggest. The G9 is a great camera and in combination with the Leica 100-400 lens its jus fantastic. I’ve used the combo in Yellowstone in February, temperatures down to -25 F and also in the Himalayas February 2022 shooting snow leopards and other animals. Temperatures down to -20 C and altitude upto 4500 meters. The camera and lens worked without any problem.
As ever, good commonsense tips and much appreciated. I use a GX9 and the battery life is very poor. I am instigating your tips and will see how I get on next time I go out for a morning shoot.
I was wondering if the electronic shutter uses less power than mechanical. Perhaps you could extend the whole idea with a custom setting that generally changes settings to lower power use options. Could be handy for a long day out.
To be honest I have wondered about that myself but have never really looked into it. I am now getting so many photos from a fully charged battery that I have not had to revisit the subject. And your idea of custom settings is a good one...although most of the options I outlined in this video are set up pretty permanently on my camera anyway. Thanks for the comment and some great ideas.
On my GX7 I have turned off the automatic switching between EVF and screen and when I am not shooting, but need the camera to be ready, I switch to EVF and keep the sensor away from anything that would trigger the EVF to turn on. This is one way I save power. On some theatrical performance shoots I have gotten about 700 shots per battery with my old camera - a lot of shooting and less reviewing helps is quite more efficient.
I use mostly AFS. I use AFC when shooting burst which is something I avoid because I've had memory card content corruption while shooting burst (in RAW mode). I use 6K photo mode instead but then don't have the benefit of RAW editing and reduced resolution to 18MP. In 6K photo mode, I continue to use AFS because video records with continuous autofocus. I often switch to manual focus mode and use the manual focus assist functionality (assigned to a button on the back).
@@naturesimagephotography So true that technology today provides so many options, often creating a very complex system which needs to be mastered. I've always try to break complex software or systems down to the things I need, starting with basic and moving on to more complex usage scenarios. And standardizing on usage, with repeated patterns, it becomes second nature which is what needs to happen with these marvelous cameras so that we can concentrate on capturing content. I enjoyed your video to make sure I maximize on battery life.
Great video. FWIW I shot a time-lapse on a fully charged battery today and had the video composed afterwards all in camera of 1200 pictures in total!!! Video was of the highest possible resolution they offer. Battery showed 50% usage in all. Am I daydreaming? Or does shooting TLs use less energy ? It might, as AFC wasn't working hard, I'd say... but again? Does it make any sense? Batteries were rather old (2-3 years+) and some don't usually last long. I was surprised myself too, but I only realised the magnitude of what I experienced after watching your video. Keep up the good work!
Certainly an interesting result. I haven't done any time lapse so I can't compare with your experience. I suppose if the camera is not having to refocus for each new image, and if you are not reviewing each individual image after shooting (which I assume you couldn't even if you wanted to) that would signficantly reduce the battery usage.
@@naturesimagephotography It does refocus though each time and displays the image for a few seconds for review but I only use the EVF for this. I also had your experience that when I shoot normally the battery seems to drain faster.
This goes against most of what you say but I always have auto review on. I always have constant preview on, I always have the LCD on. I shoot a lot of the time in burst mode(M) and occasionally use SH1 and very occasionally SH2. Despite all this it is not unknown for me to get more than 2000 shots in a single session providing the session lasts less than 3 hours. If I only shoot 200 shots my battery life still rarely exceeds three hours. As far as I can see time is the only really relevant criteria although all these other things may have some minor impact. If this all sound disbelievable try it. Go out with the intention of getting 2000 pictures in less than 3 hours. I bet your battery will last.
On occasions when you shoot so many photos in such a short time, would that mostly be in SH1 and SH2? I am wondering how much difference it makes using the electronic shutter vs. mechanical shutter. But I have not done a serious test for comparison so I did not include this in my video.
In the advance manual, it is said that battery life is slightly longer using the screen than the LVF , BUT, with the eye sensor, LVF go off when you remove your eye from it, so i guest it use less power than have the LCD screen always on.
Hi Andrew, enjoy watching your channel. I considering switching from Fuji medium format to Panasonic S1, but after watching your video on the G9 and the choice of lenses, now I’m considering going M4/3 with Leica glass. My only issues, is low light performance, 80 of my times is in good light condition but sometime I need fast focus in low light. Will this system perform well under those condition?
I have not had a problem with fast focus and the G9 is renowned for very fast autofocus. However re low light performance, look into noise. The 4/3 cameras, having the smaller sensor, produce more noise than larger cameras once the ISO gets up to 1600 and beyond. It is not terrible and I have not found it too bad at all compared to my Pentax K3ii which has a two-thirds crop sensor. But if you are moving from a medium format you might want to do some research on that issue...if you expect to be doing a lot of high ISO work. I am finding if my ISO is up, by exposing to the right I can get pretty good noise performance.
Nature's Image Photography Workshops And Tours thank you appreciate your times. With my medium format focus is very slow in low light, the GFX50R is not that great in the high ISO realms either, but the dynamic is great! For me it’s size factor, the G9 paired with smaller lenses is a big plus. Thank you
I turn Eye Sensor AF off. Not sure how much power it saves but I find it unnecessary. From the manual “If [Eye Sensor AF] in the [Custom] ([Focus / Release Shutter]) menu is set to [ON], the camera automatically adjusts the focus as the eye sensor is activated. The camera does not beep when focus is achieved with [Eye Sensor AF].l
Thanks for more great info. Just a question though. At around the 1:48 mark you show your 2 spare batteries and they have a protective cover over them. When I purchased my spare batteries (both Panasonic at a big cost over imitations) neither came with a cover, and I couldn't see on the Web where to purchase some. Did yours come with the batteries or did you get them from somewhere else? I like the thought of covering the back for extra safety.
My spare batteries are Hahnel Brand. About half the price of the genuine article and I was advised by my trusted camera store that they are just as good. And they came with the cover.
Having had my g9 only a short time these videos are very interesting and enjoyable , thanks
My 1st trip out with my 4 day old G9 ( on a 9 hour cruise) I had a red flashing battery icon after about 100 shots! Luckily I had a battery pack and cable, so just had to plug it in for 30 mins to get 70% power back to continue shooting albeit more conservatively. One of the reasons to purchase G9 was be able to charge on the run. Excellent vid on run down of battery saving tips. 👍🏼🍷❤️📷
To go with your rotate your spare batteries tip, I have a total of 5 batteries for my G9, the original and 4 Wasabi 3rd party, which I have labeled 1 thru 5, so all of my batteries are used equally.
I already more by luck than judgement utilise many of the tips you advocate, the exception being AFC to AFS which I’ll try. I hardly ever use the LCD screen out in the field as I’m old school and prefer a viewfinder. I find this is a huge saving and I currently get at least 700 to 1000 shots per battery. Great videos, keep them coming.
Thanks for the tips! Using on my G7.
Thank you, Andrew. I’ve been having battery issues and found your video at the perfect time. I will close my screen to help with battery life. I number my batteries to help with rotating them, but haven’t found a tip for shooting when it’s cold. Cold weather seems to drain the batteries at an accelerated rate. I love my G9 and with your tutorial help will learn to take better photos that I can love!
Great advice again thanks Andrew, rotating the batteries is very much a top tip for cameras I have found. So useful to have these things in mind when you are travelling and battery life becomes even more important between charging opportunities.
Thanks for these camera tips; good to know!. I have been reviewing the G9 and the Olympus EM1 MIII; as you know there is a huge difference in price especially now. The physical size of the G9 compared to the EM1 III has given me much thought as I moved to MFT because of size.
The Panasonic menus are much easier then the O lympus
I've been using Olympus sense the E3
I have extra large hands but both cameras are very comfortable you can hold on all day long I've been on a 10 hour hike no problem holding the camera
I am using a G85 (but looking at the G9 for better autofocus and file resolution, as I do a lot of motorsport) and get approximately 2200 photos Fromm battery shooting burst and AF-C. Which honestly shocks me as everything I saw said around 300!
I have screen closed, EVF on eye sensor only, and there were some settings for standby I think, that I switched on. I have 2 batteries which yields more than enough photos to sort through from a days racing. Good tips, and yes I use back button exactly as you described. Great video, I wish I’d seen it when I first got my camera 😊
Thanks Andrew. Have only just got my G9 and was surprised as well on my first outing about the battery life. Will try your tips.
I had the same issue with my batteries on this camera and I used your suggestions. Thank you so much!!!
And, of course, these batteries take just over 3 hours to fully charge.
Spot on regarding the burst buttons. Burst 1 is ok but burst 2 just takes so many (same) shots and DRAINS the battery. My trouble is remembering to switch back from single shot to burst in time for any action - and (as I have found recently) on bitter cold days it's not easy to move the switch because one's hands are so cold. This coldness also affects one's sensitivity when touching / holding the shutter down too.
I always have my screen OFF unless I just want to review a picture or two - I can review them at a later date. I find there's an unnecessary temptation to review all these shots at the time.
I understand that with any camera battery they are affected by any cold weather so will not last as long when out on cold days.
Another great video - many thanks. Who needs camera clubs and workshops when we have your vids!
I put a number on the back of my batteries (with a Sharpie). When I rotate them, I use them in the sequence of the numbers, so they get equally used.
I’ve been using the G9 for the last 4 years and have generally doing what you suggest. The G9 is a great camera and in combination with the Leica 100-400 lens its jus fantastic. I’ve used the combo in Yellowstone in February, temperatures down to -25 F and also in the Himalayas February 2022 shooting snow leopards and other animals. Temperatures down to -20 C and altitude upto 4500 meters. The camera and lens worked without any problem.
Great tips! Thanks again for sharing!
Auto review is one of the most important features. No way I would turn it off.
As ever, good commonsense tips and much appreciated. I use a GX9 and the battery life is very poor. I am instigating your tips and will see how I get on next time I go out for a morning shoot.
A really useful video! Well done mate!
I was wondering if the electronic shutter uses less power than mechanical. Perhaps you could extend the whole idea with a custom setting that generally changes settings to lower power use options. Could be handy for a long day out.
To be honest I have wondered about that myself but have never really looked into it. I am now getting so many photos from a fully charged battery that I have not had to revisit the subject. And your idea of custom settings is a good one...although most of the options I outlined in this video are set up pretty permanently on my camera anyway. Thanks for the comment and some great ideas.
I only have one battery. I tried to rotate it, but it wouldn't fit into the slot. What am I doing wrong? Just kidding. Great video. Thanks!
On my GX7 I have turned off the automatic switching between EVF and screen and when I am not shooting, but need the camera to be ready, I switch to EVF and keep the sensor away from anything that would trigger the EVF to turn on. This is one way I save power.
On some theatrical performance shoots I have gotten about 700 shots per battery with my old camera - a lot of shooting and less reviewing helps is quite more efficient.
All very helpful information thanks.
Very useful tips. Thank you for sharing.
I use mostly AFS. I use AFC when shooting burst which is something I avoid because I've had memory card content corruption while shooting burst (in RAW mode). I use 6K photo mode instead but then don't have the benefit of RAW editing and reduced resolution to 18MP. In 6K photo mode, I continue to use AFS because video records with continuous autofocus. I often switch to manual focus mode and use the manual focus assist functionality (assigned to a button on the back).
Technology today gives us so many options. Always interesting to see how different people use their G9. Thanks for the infol
@@naturesimagephotography So true that technology today provides so many options, often creating a very complex system which needs to be mastered. I've always try to break complex software or systems down to the things I need, starting with basic and moving on to more complex usage scenarios. And standardizing on usage, with repeated patterns, it becomes second nature which is what needs to happen with these marvelous cameras so that we can concentrate on capturing content. I enjoyed your video to make sure I maximize on battery life.
Great video. FWIW I shot a time-lapse on a fully charged battery today and had the video composed afterwards all in camera of 1200 pictures in total!!! Video was of the highest possible resolution they offer. Battery showed 50% usage in all. Am I daydreaming? Or does shooting TLs use less energy ? It might, as AFC wasn't working hard, I'd say... but again? Does it make any sense? Batteries were rather old (2-3 years+) and some don't usually last long. I was surprised myself too, but I only realised the magnitude of what I experienced after watching your video. Keep up the good work!
Certainly an interesting result. I haven't done any time lapse so I can't compare with your experience. I suppose if the camera is not having to refocus for each new image, and if you are not reviewing each individual image after shooting (which I assume you couldn't even if you wanted to) that would signficantly reduce the battery usage.
@@naturesimagephotography It does refocus though each time and displays the image for a few seconds for review but I only use the EVF for this. I also had your experience that when I shoot normally the battery seems to drain faster.
This goes against most of what you say but I always have auto review on. I always have constant preview on, I always have the LCD on. I shoot a lot of the time in burst mode(M) and occasionally use SH1 and very occasionally SH2. Despite all this it is not unknown for me to get more than 2000 shots in a single session providing the session lasts less than 3 hours. If I only shoot 200 shots my battery life still rarely exceeds three hours. As far as I can see time is the only really relevant criteria although all these other things may have some minor impact. If this all sound disbelievable try it. Go out with the intention of getting 2000 pictures in less than 3 hours. I bet your battery will last.
On occasions when you shoot so many photos in such a short time, would that mostly be in SH1 and SH2? I am wondering how much difference it makes using the electronic shutter vs. mechanical shutter. But I have not done a serious test for comparison so I did not include this in my video.
Hi, thanks for tips. I'm hear somewhere that back LCD consume LESS than viewfinder
Dmytro that’s interesting, I was imagining it used more.
I’ve heard the same thing, but can’t recall where. It doesn’t seem to make sense, but it is electronics, after all.
In the advance manual, it is said that battery life is slightly longer using the screen than the LVF , BUT, with the eye sensor, LVF go off when you remove your eye from it, so i guest it use less power than have the LCD screen always on.
Great tips, thanks
I thought I read somewhere that the EVF drains more power than the rear LCD screen.
I'm not sure about Panasonic But for other cameras I read the same thing
I never realised the LCD panel automatically switched off if you close it, I guess that will be the same on my Lumix G80. ATB MMMD
I think the EVF uses more power then the back screen.
Use good batteries. The Lumix brand is good as well as Watson, but others seem to last only about 1/2 as long.
Hi Andrew, enjoy watching your channel. I considering switching from Fuji medium format to Panasonic S1, but after watching your video on the G9 and the choice of lenses, now I’m considering going M4/3 with Leica glass. My only issues, is low light performance, 80 of my times is in good light condition but sometime I need fast focus in low light. Will this system perform well under those condition?
I have not had a problem with fast focus and the G9 is renowned for very fast autofocus. However re low light performance, look into noise. The 4/3 cameras, having the smaller sensor, produce more noise than larger cameras once the ISO gets up to 1600 and beyond. It is not terrible and I have not found it too bad at all compared to my Pentax K3ii which has a two-thirds crop sensor. But if you are moving from a medium format you might want to do some research on that issue...if you expect to be doing a lot of high ISO work. I am finding if my ISO is up, by exposing to the right I can get pretty good noise performance.
Nature's Image Photography Workshops And Tours thank you appreciate your times. With my medium format focus is very slow in low light, the GFX50R is not that great in the high ISO realms either, but the dynamic is great! For me it’s size factor, the G9 paired with smaller lenses is a big plus. Thank you
I tried Fuji X it Menu is So complicated for me
So I'm switching back to micro 4/3
I've used Olympus for 43 years
Can you set the back button up for continuous auto focus and the shutter button for a single auto focus??????
Never considered it but I don't believe so.
I turn Eye Sensor AF off. Not sure how much power it saves but I find it unnecessary. From the manual “If [Eye Sensor AF] in the [Custom] ([Focus / Release Shutter]) menu is set to [ON], the camera automatically adjusts the focus as the eye sensor is activated. The camera does not beep when focus is achieved with [Eye Sensor AF].l
Thanks for more great info. Just a question though. At around the 1:48 mark you show your 2 spare batteries and they have a protective cover over them. When I purchased my spare batteries (both Panasonic at a big cost over imitations) neither came with a cover, and I couldn't see on the Web where to purchase some. Did yours come with the batteries or did you get them from somewhere else? I like the thought of covering the back for extra safety.
My spare batteries are Hahnel Brand. About half the price of the genuine article and I was advised by my trusted camera store that they are just as good. And they came with the cover.
@@naturesimagephotography Thanks Andrew, again, for the advice, I will remember that for any I need in the future.
Do you use 3rd party batteries or Panasonic ones?
I have both. I use the Panasonic one that came with the camera and I have two Hahnel brand spares. I find they all work equally well.
@@naturesimagephotography Thank you.