I often don’t buy cameras until they are five years old. That’s not because I’m tight with money but more because I’m cautious about how I spend it (oh, maybe that’s being tight with money). I also think that cameras that have been on the market for a few years are both safe buys and great value.
I chose the Lumix G9 because I have a Micro Four Thirds system (I also shoot full frame, so I’m no MFT zealot). In that system I have some Olympus Pro lenses which are frankly too large for the smaller Olympus bodies, and I’ve never found an OM-D E-M1 deal that looks tempting.
So from the start, my reasons are odd. I’m not buying a camera for its specs, exactly, but for its size and shape and handling.
The specs of the Lumix G9 are actually extremely good, even by today’s standards, with 4K 30/60p video, 4K and 6K photo modes, one of the best in-body stabilization systems around, a vari-angle LCD, a good, high-magnification EVF and fast burst shooting.
Obviously Panasonic MFT cameras have evolved since the Lumix G9 was launched in December 2017, but mainly for video – and the G9’s video is quite good enough already for what I need.
The thing that clinched it for me was the price. At £899 in the UK (about $1,083) and with a free Lumix 25mm f/1.7 lens, that was about half the original price. And if you stack the Lumix G9 up against a set of modern rivals, it easily holds its own for all-round specs and undercuts them massively for value.
Specs aside, I bought it for its handling with bigger lenses, and it handles brilliantly. It’s a big camera for an MFT model, but it’s the perfect size for pro MFT lenses.
There are a couple of sweet spots in any camera model’s production life. The first is the moment it’s launched, when it costs the most it ever will but is right at the cutting edge of camera features and tech in that sector. The second is where it’s near the end of its life and prices have fallen as low as they ever will before it’s withdrawn. It’s that second moment I like, because it means you can get a very good camera (even five years on) at a crazy price.