It’s happened. Panasonic has announced the G9 II (buy here) and finally brought phase detection autofocus to its Micro Four Thirds line of cameras. No longer should it hunt 10ft behind your subject or get confused if they move or blink.

The G9 II comes with a 25.2MP Live MOS sensor, 779-point hybrid AF system, 7.5 stop IBIS, 60fps burst shooting with continuous AF, 4K video up to 120fps, and dual UHS-II SD card slots. And it costs less than $1,800.

Focus Pocus: The Magic of Phase-Detect AF

Let’s tackle this one first to get it out of the way.

The autofocus performance of Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds cameras has historically been pretty bad, particularly when shooting video. And I’m saying this as somebody who owns six Panasonic MFT cameras specifically for video use.

In the past, I’ve just stuck with manual focus lenses or half-pressed and then locked the focus with AF lenses when shooting video. Now, though, we don’t have to do that with the Panasonic G9 II. And hopefully, not with future Panasonic MFT cameras, either. We still can if we want to, and I think many people will continue to do so. But, it’s available when we need it.

Phase Detection Autofocus was first introduced into Panasonic cameras with the full-frame L-mount Panasonic S5 II (buy here). They were the last of the major camera manufacturers to implement it. It was a pretty big deal then, and it is perhaps an even bigger one now.

Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses are often much smaller than their full-frame equivalents. The cameras are smaller, and the 2x crop factor means you can get the same field of view with half the focal length.

They’re commonly used, even by those who shoot full-frame in their main work, as travel cameras due to the smaller overall size. They’re also used a lot by vloggers as the cameras weigh much less than many full-frame models, and there are a plethora of lightweight Micro Four Thirds lens options out there suitable for vlogging.

For general filmmaking, Micro Four Thirds has the advantage (yes, you heard me, I said what I said) of now having such a shallow depth of field at wider apertures. This means you can help keep your subject in focus without turning the background to complete mush under lower light conditions.

Stills over Thrills: The G9 II Prioritizes Photo

The original Panasonic G9 (buy here) was primarily focused towards stills. It’s logical to assume that the G9 II is also going to be a stills-oriented camera. In some ways, it’s similar to the video-centric GH6 (buy here), such as its 25.2-megapixel resolution sensor.

25.2-megapixels isn’t a super high resolution these days. 24-megapixel APS-C and full-frame DSLRs have been around for about a decade now. But compared to the Panasonic G9’s 20.1-megapixel sensor, it’s a nice step up for those looking to upgrade from its predecessor.

Side note: If the 2x crop sensor were expanded out to a full-frame format, this would equate to 100.8-megapixels. This is an extremely high pixel density. It is higher than any full-frame camera currently on the market.

The Panasonic G9 can shoot raw still images at up to 60 frames per second. You also get continuous autofocus while shooting the entire burst. With the addition of phase detection autofocus, this should result in a lot more keepers for sports and wildlife shooters with fast-moving subjects.

Without autofocus, you get up to 75 frames per second. This is ideal for those with locked-off cameras pointing at fast events a fixed distance away. Its 7.5-stop IBIS with Dual I.S. 2 will also help ensure that your shots are sharp and rock steady even when you’re not on a tripod.

The Panasonic G9 II has an upper native ISO limit of 25,600, which isn’t terribly high. But given the pixel density of the sensor and the needs of most people who might use such a camera, it’s still a respectable number.

Video Capabilities of the Panasonic Lumix G9 II

The Panasonic G9 was a stills camera with some video capabilities. It was later enhanced and brought close to, but not quite as good as, the Panasonic GH5. After various firmware updates for both cameras, they were essentially stills vs video counterparts to each other – much like the Panasonic S5 II and S5 IIx (buy here) are in the full-frame L-mount world.

While the Panasonic G9 II is also targeted primarily towards stills, it also looks like a pretty formidable beast when it comes to video, offering 4K video at up to 120fps. At the time of writing, its full video capabilities have not yet been published, so we don’t know exactly what bit depth, bit rates or colour sampling it uses, but we’ll update this post when we find out.

Update: They have now been published, so here they are!

Internal Recording Modes

• H.264 ALL-Intra/H.265 Long GOP 4:2:2/4:2:0 8/10-Bit
• 5760 x 4320 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97 fps [200 Mb/s]
• 5728 x 3024 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/48.00/50/59.94 fps [200 to 300 Mb/s]
• 4352 x 3264 at 47.95/48.00/50/59.94 fps [300 Mb/s]
• 4096 x 2160 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94/100/120 fps [150 to 600 Mb/s]
• 3840 x 2160 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94/100/120 fps [72 to 600 Mb/s]
• 1920 x 1080 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94/100/120/200/240/300 fps [20 to 400 Mb/s]
• ProRes 422/ProRes 422 HQ
• 1920 x 1080 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/50/59.94 fps [121 to 454 Mb/s]

External Recording Modes

• 4:2:2 10-Bit via USB
• 5728 x 3024 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97 fps
• 4096 x 2160 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94 fps
• 3840 x 2160 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94 fps
• 1920 x 1080 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/50/59.94/200/240 fps

What’s telling, though, is that the Panasonic G9 II sports a pair of UHS-II SD card slots, without a CFexpress slot in sight. So, at the very most, that means 90MB/sec transfer rates or 720Mbps.

This is lower than the maximum video bitrates on the Panasonic GH6, suggesting that the specs won’t be quite as high. So, I think the resolutions and frame rates will be quite similar to the GH6, although at lower bitrates and perhaps 4:2:0 instead of 4:2:2 colour sampling.

Confirmed: The highest bitrate is 600Mbps for 4K 120fps, so you’ll need V90 (720Mbps) cards for that. For most other stuff, a V60 card (480Mbps) will work just fine. It does, however, offer 10-Bit 4:2:2 as well as 4:2:0 in 10 and 8-bit.

It may very well offer significantly higher quality through its HDMI socket to external recorders like the Atomos Ninja Ultra (buy here), but we’ll have to wait and see how it stands up to the GH6 once we can see the two compared side by side.

Update: There’s still no word on its HDMI output, although the specs seem to suggest it offers 10-bit 4:2:2 over USB.

Panasonic G9 II Specs

Sensor	25.2-megapixel Micro Four Thirds LIVE MOS
Lens Mount	Micro Four Thirds
Max resolution	5776 x 4336 (standard) / 11,552 x 8672 (in-camera pixel shift)
ISO	Photo: 100 to 25,600 (Extended: 50 to 25,600) / Video: 100 to 12,800 (Extended: 50 to 12,800)
Crop Factor	2x
File format	RAW, JPG
Stabilisation	5-axis IBIS with Dual I.S. 2
6K Video	5760 x 4320 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97 fps [200 Mb/s] 5728 x 3024 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/48.00/50/59.94 fps [200 to 300 Mb/s]
4K Video	4352 x 3264 at 47.95/48.00/50/59.94 fps [300 Mb/s] 4096 x 2160 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94/100/120 fps [150 to 600 Mb/s] 3840 x 2160 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94/100/120 fps [72 to 600 Mb/s]
HD Video	1920 x 1080 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/50/59.94/100/120/200/240/300 fps [20 to 400 Mb/s]
Focus type	Autofocus (Phase Detect, Depth from Defocus, Contrast) and manual focus
Viewfinder	6.8m-dot OLED EVF
LCD	1.84m-dot 3″ articulating touchscreen TFT LCD
Connectivity	WiFi, Bluetooth
Dimensions	134.3 x 102.3 x 90.1 mm
Weight	575 g (Body Only) / 658 g (With Battery, Recording Media)
Launch price	$1,897.99

Price and Availability

The Panasonic G9 II is available to pre-order now for $1,897.99.