S9 Arrived

[CharlesH]

I got the S9 today and have just started to play with it.

S9 Jet Black, with Sirui Handgrip and Sigma 24mm f/3.5

 

[pdk42]

I got the S9 today and have just started to play with it.

S9 Jet Black, with Sirui Handgrip and Sigma 24mm f/3.5
View attachment 5882

Cute!

 

[Pete_W]

Perfect! Looks fantastic.

My intention is to get the jet black version too. I have the Sigma 35mm f2 and 45mm f2.8 contemporary lenses and recently ordered the 24mm f3.5.

 

[Lsake]

That lens is a good match. It’s on my Christmas list for sure. If I was in the market for an S9 I’d probably get the green one so I could pretend it was an SL2-S reporter edition.

I’ll be Interested to hear how you get on with it, It’s definitely a nice size to have a full frame sensor in.

 

[Richard Wong]

Your combo looks nice! I would love to hear your thoughts and experience as well

 

[Oíche]

Cute!

You ordered yet?

 

[Oíche]

Perfect! Looks fantastic.

My intention is to get the jet black version too. I have the Sigma 35mm f2 and 45mm f2.8 contemporary lenses and recently ordered the 24mm f3.5.

Definitely get a cokoured version, if you're out in the bush or anywhere asking nicely for portraits a cokoured camera can make you look less serious and marginally help put people at ease...

If using an S5ii or any black camera they will change behaviour with them thinking 'I have to pose' or possibly more intimidated, a coloured camera could perhaps change the atmosphere and you could get a more natural photo as it is more casual.

It will help if your camera looks more like a P&S versus a pro camera and a coloured one does this with a small lens.

I'm talking from experience doing pub photography, the more casual or toy looking camera the better! If it's not black it's not pro and it's more acceptable. Stick a S5ii or similar camera in someone's face they'll duck... This has not been talked about but it's an advantage of S9

 

[CharlesH]

Some comments so far.

I had purchased both the SmallRig handgrip and the Sirui handgrip. The Sirui is bigger and heavier, but it has a much better feel, more like the cameras we are used to. I ended up using the Sirui.

The S9 has a front control dial for the aperture, and the shutter speed is controlled by the rear control dial. This rear dial has four cursor buttons as well, so it's possible to hit one of these buttons while adjusting the shutter. The Sigma lens I'm using has an aperture wheel, which I like, and fortunately the S9 can be configured to reverse the control dials. So I have the shutter controlled by the front dial, and I set the aperture directly on the lens, and this works well.

The LUMIX Lab app hooked up okay. it doesn't have camera control yet, remote shutter etc. For this you would still need to use LUMIX Sync. They will be combined eventually, but not yet. But LUMIX Lab has the geotagging function. Geotagging still has the same issue as with LUMIX Sync. I need to turn off Sleep Mode to keep geotagging running when the phone or the camera goes to sleep.

I spent quite a while setting up the Quick menus, and they are modified from what I use with the S5II/S5IIx because of the differences in the S9. I have an initial set, will try them for a while and maybe modify them. If I get to something that makes sense I'll post it. Other than that I went through and changed the menu settings to be mostly the same as for the S5II/S5IIx.

I had to try Hybrid Zoom. This is really cool. Sony has had a thing called Clear Image Zoom for video for years. But the Panasonic version is much better because it syncs the physical zoom with electronic zoom. I used the 20-60mm lens, both for photos and for video. For video it smoothly transitions from full width to APS-C while the lens is being physically zoomed, and for 4K the net zoom range is 60-93mm, with no loss in video quality. I can see using this. It is a little wilder for photos; it doesn't stop at APS-C, but keeps on cropping, for a zoom range of 20-187mm. Of course I had to try the 70-300mm lens, and got a zoom range of 70-937mm. (I did not look at picture quality, etc., will get around to that.)

I put the Expert Shield anti-glare screen protector on the monitor. Because I'd done this with the S5II screen a while back, it went on easier this time. This was late in the day, and I'll take it out in the sun tomorrow.

Finally there isn't an Adobe RAW converter for S5 files yet, so I'm using RAW+jpeg. I do look at RAWs with SILKYPIX Developer Studio 8 SE, the latest version of this free program supports S8 RAW.

 

[dirk]

Hi Charles,

thank you very much for the detailed first feedback! I am really curious about your experience with the anti-glare screen protector in the sun. Maybe there are differences between different brands too?

The Hybrid Zoom sounds very interesting, if the loss in image quality is not to strong. Especially for city trips it could be very useful, if you can leave a tele zoom at home for the 100-200mm range.

Although, the compression effect will still not be he same as with a real tele zoom, right?

I will drive today to a small dealer event. Panasonic and others have a both there. I really hope that they have an S9 available to test it a little bit.

 

[Pete_W]

Definitely get a cokoured version, if you're out in the bush or anywhere asking nicely for portraits a cokoured camera can make you look less serious and marginally help put people at ease...

I went into my local camera store today to take a look at the S9 and hold it. They had one of each colour on display and the store, and the manager got the jet black one out for me which had the 20-60mm lens mounted. I asked if he had many of each colour in stock and he said they only had two copies of the jet black version - he said the coloured ones display were just dummy bodies! Apparently inventory of the coloured models is scarce.

Anyway, I really like the size. It's essentially the same as my GX85 but a bit thicker. It felt quite light with the 20-60mm mounted so will be even less with a small Sigma contemporary lens.

I asked the manager if he would accept trade-in of my m4/3 gear (GX85 and a number of lenses) and he said they would. I just have to take them in for assessment/valuation. So if I get an opportunity to do that during the coming week I will do so.

I like the idea of having a small L-mount body with the same IQ as my S5II, that uses the same battery and my existing lenses.

 

[Oíche]

937mm

I'd get excited but it's just the same as cropping. Of course it's better you see this in realtime rather than later, it can allow you to see something you might miss, help composition and check focus is spot on.

Surely they are bringing this to S5ii as it's a more photo centric camera and more suited to big lenses. This functionality is good for enhanced sales.

~1850mm with Sigma 600mm

 

[Oíche]

I asked the manager if he would accept trade-in of my m4/3 gear (GX85 and a number of lenses) and he said they would. I just have to take them in for assessment/valuation. So if I get an opportunity to do that during the coming week I will do so.

Trade it and be done with it. I don't like owning much gear, I once owned 30+ lenses and started hating photography trying to decide what to bring and then changing lenses, it made no sense for the photography I do. Now I just bring either the 24-105 or 70-300, no thought required.

It may be worth waiting for the small 18-40 and a S9 combo deal on it. Wex UK are doing a combo with Smallrig and Sigma 24mm f3.5 for £1699, £200 extra for then lens and Smallrig so I expect similar deals with the 18-40 as it is designed for the S9.

That is if you can live with wide angle, I couldn't personally.

 

[dirk]

If you are really sure that you want to sell your MFT gear, you will always get higher prices on the free market.

I am in the other camp and would rather keep the MFT gear until you really know when and at what price the GX10 will come. There was a reason why you bought in the past MFT. Did your use cases change since then?

 

[dirk]

I was today at a dealer event and Panasonic had a booth there too. I played with the S9 for 2 minutes to get a feel for it.

First I was surprised how small it felt. It is obvious smaller than my S5ii, but it felt smaller than the difference is in reality. That was a positive surprise.

The other point I wanted to check was the screen in harsh sunlight. Unfortunately it was a rainy day again and the 2 minutes the sun came out inbetween was not enough to verify it. But the screen appeared to be very bright. I was a little bit astonished. But I did not have my GR3 with me to compare both screens.

The sales rep said that there is a setting in the menu to maximize the brightness of the screen and he did that for me.

Maybe @CharlesH can check this with his S9.

All in all it was a positive first impression. Better than expected.

 

[CharlesH]

thank you very much for the detailed first feedback! I am really curious about your experience with the anti-glare screen protector in the sun. Maybe there are differences between different brands too?

Expert Shield is well know for camera shields, and with my brief search I did not find a higher rated brand. But there well could be some. The purpose of the anti-glare shield is to stop reflections off the monitor. I tried this anti-glare shield in the bright sun today, and it blocks the reflections, as expected. This is good enough you can operate the camera okay and frame photos in bright sunlight. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, this works even better if used in conjunction with a sunhood.

While Expert Shield makes specific shields for various camera brands and models, they do not seem to make shields specified for Panasonic LUMIX cameras. I used the one specified for the Sony A6700, which has the same size screen.

 

[CharlesH]

The sales rep said that there is a setting in the menu to maximize the brightness of the screen and he did that for me.

Maybe @CharlesH can check this with his S9.

I always run my screens at maximum brightness, including backlight at +3, batteries be damned. The S9 has the same screen settings as the S5II, and the monitor brightness looks about the same.

 

[Pete_W]

Trade it and be done with it. I don't like owning much gear, I once owned 30+ lenses and started hating photography trying to decide what to bring and then changing lenses, it made no sense for the photography I do. Now I just bring either the 24-105 or 70-300, no thought required.

I totally get that. I have quite a few m4/3 lenses and would often procrastinate over what to take out. Less choice is certainly better. When I am going somewhere and want to take a smaller camera and lenses, the issue of IQ is on my mind with m4/3.

It may be worth waiting for the small 18-40 and a S9 combo deal on it. Wex UK are doing a combo with Smallrig and Sigma 24mm f3.5 for £1699, £200 extra for then lens and Smallrig so I expect similar deals with the 18-40 as it is designed for the S9.

That is if you can live with wide angle, I couldn't personally.

I like wide angle as well as tele, but you're right in that the 18-40mm could be worth waiting for in a combo. I don't need to rush, but the m4/3 gear is rarely used and sitting in camera bags. I think I'd be better off liquidating it.

If you are really sure that you want to sell your MFT gear, you will always get higher prices on the free market.

I am in the other camp and would rather keep the MFT gear until you really know when and at what price the GX10 will come. There was a reason why you bought in the past MFT. Did your use cases change since then?

Yes, that's true Dirk and selling them individually always nets a better result than selling them as a bunch, but having sold a lens on eBay in the past I don't really want the hassle of having a number of different potential buyers people sending questions about each lens and some wanting to inspect the lens. It wastes so much time.

I was thinking of waiting for the the next small m4/3 camera but I've decided I'd prefer to go all in on L-mount, one system of lenses and one batter.

I was today at a dealer event and Panasonic had a booth there too. I played with the S9 for 2 minutes to get a feel for it.

First I was surprised how small it felt. It is obvious smaller than my S5ii, but it felt smaller than the difference is in reality. That was a positive surprise.

The other point I wanted to check was the screen in harsh sunlight. Unfortunately it was a rainy day again and the 2 minutes the sun came out inbetween was not enough to verify it. But the screen appeared to be very bright. I was a little bit astonished. But I did not have my GR3 with me to compare both screens.

I've bought the SmallRig sun hood which can be used on both the S9 and S5II (and the hot shoe dead cat too). The sun hood folds flat so it will be easy to take that with me with either camera and use it when necessary.

 

[Oíche]

I like wide angle as well as tele, but you're right in that the 18-40mm could be worth waiting for in a combo. I don't need to rush, but the m4/3 gear is rarely used and sitting in camera bags. I think I'd be better off liquidating it.

If you're going to buy a new Lumix body it's an opportunity to get a lens you want for a huge discount. Maybe the store could give you credit so you can buy in September or something when I'm certain the S9/18-40 combo will be available or see what other lenses are discounted (with camera purchase) moreso for your S5ii if you need any?

And yeah after 25 years of Ebay I got a sickener from a buyer last year and I don't ever want to use it again.

The camera store gave me trade-in prices that roughly matched Ebay anyway without 12.5% fees etc. and the hassle and stress of potential scum buyers or scam buyers is not worth the supposed extra sales prices.

I just don't want hassle full stop about anything

 

[Pete_W]

If you're going to buy a new Lumix body it's an opportunity to get a lens you want for a huge discount. Maybe the store could give you credit so you can buy in September or something when I'm certain the S9/18-40 combo will be available or see what other lenses are discounted (with camera purchase) moreso for your S5ii if you need any?

Yes, the store may do that. I had a long chat with the manager who was quite a nice guy so when I go in again I will see what they can do.

 

[Markuswelder]

Anyone get the 26mm f8 bonus lens with the S9? Well, here in Aus it's a bonus anyway.