panasonic g9 question.

[stevegixer]

I am thinking about getting a panasonic g9.
But I don't want to get rid of my main canon gear.

So the question is has anybody used a g9 with canon lenses ?

 

[the black fox]

I’m a Olympus user and I bought one last year and putting it simply it was nowhere near as good as a omd1-mkii so sent back ...as for the other part of your question ..you should be able to use your canon lens with adaptors on the g9 or Olympus bodies but usually without a.f etc though I believe there are some expensive adaptors that allow this ?
In all honesty though you will far superior performance by using own brand lenses and also enhanced functions within the cameras

 

[tijuana taxi]

Depending what Canon gear you have and what you intend using with the G9 you might not notice a great difference in size.
On the other hand its a superb camera photo wise and build quality is excellent too.
Don't hear of failing control wheels and grips falling off like some of its m4/3 competitors.

I use mine mainly with an Olympus 12-100 and Panasonic 8-18, covers me for pretty much everything I want.
No idea what its like with Canon lenses, never felt the need to try, but you will likely lose af and other functions too.
What do you intend using it for, only asking because there might be more suitable m4/3 cameras to recommend.

 

[woof woof]

Golly. Canon AF lenses? There are AF Canon to MFT adapters and if no one here has used them maybe Google for some reviews and feedback. Canon FD MF lenses are no problem though and the adapters are cheap

You do realise that MFT is a x2 crop system so your focal lengths will be effectively x2? I wonder how much bulk and weight this will save? If this is the way you want/need to go then I hope it can work out for you but have you considered Canon mirrorless?

 

[the black fox]

What I was trying to say is that while adaptors will allow the use of third party lenses . You will lose some of the camera functions ..

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

The G9 suits me well but I only use it with the 100-400mm. I actually went out to buy the lens but the salesman put it on the G9 to try and I bit! I had a Canon outfit at the time but it never occurred to me to put those lenses on the G9, given the inconveniencies it would have caused. Overall, the G9 / 100-400 is one of my better buys...

 

[Cagey75]

I used Canon AF lenses with the G80, should be no different on the G9. The adapter I used was a Viltrox EF-M43. I used the non focal reducing one and it worked just fine, I had full control over S-AF and aperture, all exif data was present and correct also. Not so good in C-AF. AF speed was a little slower on some lenses than native might be so wouldn't recommend for sports or action. But for portraits, birds in your garden, landscape, casual shooting - you could do a lot worse. Some very cheap EF-S lenses out there

Be warned though, if you wanted to try a focal reducer EF-S lenses don't tend to work because the glass element in the reducer impeded the movemnt on the rear of some lenses like the 55--250 or 10-18mm

 

[Cagey75]

Found this in my old phone pics, G80 with an adapted EF 50mm 1.8, this one worked better than I'd expected. It was fun to try out other lenses, I stuck to the cheap and cheerful ones I just wanted to try out, also the 85 1.8 USM [as I got it on CJ at the time for £150 in good nick] and the 55-250, which was the main reason for me getting the adapter. Combined the adapter and lens new were cheaper than the Pany 100-300 used!

 

[yzfmike]

I’m a Olympus user and I bought one last year and putting it simply it was nowhere near as good as a omd1-mkii so sent back

I'm looking at Olympus OMD mk II vs Panasonic G9 at the moment. Can you expand on your criticism, please? This is a serious question BTW, I'm not trolling.

 

[tijuana taxi]

I'm looking at Olympus OMD mk II vs Panasonic G9 at the moment. Can you expand on your criticism, please? This is a serious question BTW, I'm not trolling.

I would say one thing if you are buying an Olympus, be aware their repair facility is in Portugal and suffering severe Brexit related issues.
I've had Panasonic and Olympus cameras and still have the G9, pretty much says how I feel about it.
Jeff had issues I believe with the G9 viewfinder, seems strange given its considered the best of the m4/3 cameras.
All comes down to personal choice and apart from the ergonomics I don't like the Olympus menu system.

Always good to get both sides of the argument and no doubt Jeff will be along to disagree with me soon.

 

[stevegixer]

I use a canon 1dx but also have a canon m5 that I am thinking of selling to get the g9.

 

[the black fox]

I'm looking at Olympus OMD mk II vs Panasonic G9 at the moment. Can you expand on your criticism, please? This is a serious question BTW, I'm not trolling.

Yep I shoot wildlife exclusively at the time I had the P/Leica 100-400 so it in theory should have been a better match with a g.9 ... I found the a.f was slower not by much but enough to notice , it was generally slower to lock on to ,but the worst thing for me was the EVF ,remember that due to lockdowns I was shooting at the same place/s with the only difference being camera bodies so when i was shooting at the local estuary I simply could not pick up on single birds in flight the e.v.f was terrible compared to the Olympus ..
It’s not user error either as I had previously owned a g80 which I found far superior in that respect I thus also knew the menu systems so it wasn’t a menu input error . Have a look in the Olympus section on here there’s plenty of samples of my stuff judge for yourself

 

[yzfmike]

Thanks for that, Jeff - much appreciated.
I use a D500 for sport and wildlife, and a D800 for most other subjects (that don't move around quickly!)
I'm looking to add something smaller and lighter that I can leave in the car for ad hoc shooting but that can offer sufficient quality for an a3 print if I capture something worthy. I'm aware of the limitations of 4/3 and, under normal circumstances, I'd make the 1.5 hr trip to Wex in Norwich to handle the alternatives - I've bought pretty much all my gear there and they've always been very helpful. I don't like buying before trying so, I guess I'll have to be patient for a few more weeks. I'll pay particular attention to your critique when I try the alternatives. Do you think Panasonics depths from refocus system is the problem with the EVF?

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

It’s not user error either

It's interesting that your experience is so different from mine. I find the G9 to be entirely adequate to my needs with the 100-400.

 

[mikew]

Horses for courses, i found the EVF on the G9 far better than the Olympus, the Olympus was possibly quicker for focusing on BIF but for most things no different.

G9 sample

P1003194 by electric.mike, on Flickr

 

[the black fox]

Look I was asked for my opinion I gave it honestly , as I also said I rated the g80 and never experienced the problems with that model that I had with the G9... at the time of purchase last year the G9’s specs were in fact superior to the Olympus ,one of the reasons for buying it ..but in practice it for me anyway simply didn’t live up to the spec ... plus since then firmware updates to the Olympus make it a even better camera imho ... and the introduction of the zuiko 100-400 have been a total game changer..

Also with any of this please take into account that all these advanced camera models have very complex menu systems and even one minor change can make a enormous difference in performance . As can the fact that I wear specs which impacts on getting close enough to the EVF and I think some of the problems may well have been to do with extraneous light due to this .. I did buy a extended eyepiece but it arrived after I had sent the camera back so I never got to test it

 

[tijuana taxi]

I have owned Olympus and Panasonic cameras, both have their pros and cons.
If you ever take video Panasonic are undeniably the leaders for that, wildlife and sport Olympus seems to get the vote.
My uses are mainly travel and architecture so things like tracking are immaterial and the G9 is my choice.
This is because of the overall handling especially the joystick for AF points, bigger/ brighter evf and for me the much better menu system.

No right or wrong and yes handling the cameras would be ideal, very different feel to them.
Lenses are interchangeable, but the IS Sync doesn't work across the two makes and some other minor features are lost too.

 

[the black fox]

Very good point there made by rich .. when I bought my new Olympus 100-400 and tried it out my instant gut feeling was it had made the camera come to life ,where as I didn’t get that same feeling with the PL lens on the g9 ..
Also it’s what your intended use for the camera / lens combo will be .

 

[woof woof]

I use a canon 1dx but also have a canon m5 that I am thinking of selling to get the g9.

Why are you looking at a Panasonic G9 if you have an M5? Doesn't the M5 make more sense to use Canon lenses on?

 

[tijuana taxi]

Very good point there made by rich .. when I bought my new Olympus 100-400 and tried it out my instant gut feeling was it had made the camera come to life ,where as I didn’t get that same feeling with the PL lens on the g9 ..

Totally agree, was hoping the E-M1 iii would make my Olympus 12-100 really shine with the combined ibis/ois.
Unfortunately it didn't and that's why I retuned it, all very subjective and no substitute for physically trying them out.

One camera that gets forgotten is the G90, smaller and lighter, but very nice to handle and some excellent features.
Quite often throw that in a bag with the new small and light Olympus 12-45 attached, liking that combo a lot.
I was interested in the Olympus E-M5 iii, my daughter had the ii and liked it a lot, but the design changed.
Strangely they went for a plastic body and smaller battery, read some reports of the baseplate cracking so not for me.

 

[stevegixer]

The m5 just isn't fir me tbh. To small & slow

 

[woof woof]

MFT cameras tend to be very responsive but you will very possibly lose out a bit with AF performance when using adapted lenses.

And you're going from APS-C to MFT which may worry some people but could be countered by looking at real world performance and image quality.

If you're sure this is a good way to go, good luck and enjoy. I've been with MFT since almost the beginning with the GF1 and it is IMO a system well worth looking at.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

No right or wrong...

Yes. It's all opinion.

The original post was a simple question about using a G9 with Canon lenses. Somehow this elided into a vociferous claim that the G9 wasn't as good as the equivalents. It's a shame when threads get hijacked in this way but that's the internatter for you!