DIDN'T EXPECT THAT!! Sony A7iii vs Pansonic G9 Face Tracking AFC in 2020 

thank you for this ! i love my G9 and i think is one of the BEST cameras out there right now, i have about 2-3 months with it and it has been a blast using it ! i just feel that the G9 is a VERY underrated camera, which is kind of sad but good at the same time

Great video. I'm a G9 owner and often shoot indoor sports (one of the most challenging tasks for a camera of this type). I've also shot the Sony A7III for the same task. Although there should be no question that the Sony is a better camera with its bigger sensor and phase detect autofocus, in the real world I didn't find my hit rate to be radically different between the two cameras. This was before the G9's firmware upgrade btw. The new firmware on the G9 presents a massive improvement over the previous versions. Less hunting and much faster CAF IMHO. Although I'd love the bigger sensor (and the pixels that come with it), I can't justify the move to Sony. The price-performance over the G9 just isn't there. The Sony would triple, maybe even quadruple, the cost of my kit. And the equivalent glass would do the same to its weight. In addition, the ergonomics of the Sony are nowhere close to that of the Panasonic. Now, if Panasonic would add phase detect to their next M43 offering, they might just have a perfect mirrorless camera.

I changed my A7RIII for the G9. RU-vidrs always talk about AF, video perf, image quality and forgot ergonomics. With the G9, all you need is at your fingertips. Menus are intuitive. Handling is fabulous. All this is at least as important to make good pictures. Not to mention lenses weight.

Just a small point. On the G9 Face/Human/Animal Detect is /not/ tracking. Tracking is tracking. AFC is Continuous AutoFocus and "Continuous-AF" is a movie menu setting, of which there are two modes; both it and AFC should be thought of as follow-focus in movie mode, not tracking. If you want it to focus on a 'product' you have to interrupt its focus lock; it will try to stay on the subject even though it has lost it for a moment. The Human/Animal Detect will correctly find a face within the designated focus area you have set, and will follow it out of its boundaries. If you want it to detect products more quickly, turn Human Detect off. Even without face detect, it will choose the blob in front of the camera. Sometimes the Human Detect is a curse. If the subject area is more confusing, like a playing field, then the detection goes on. In Movie mode Panasonic have deliberately slower focus and electric (PZ) zoom response for smoother transitions. The faded image is down to the choice of Photo-Style. Cinelike D is with gamma curve parameter making it look like a cinema (D-range is prioritized.), this can look bland without post-editing. On the other hand, contrast is prioritized in Cinelike V. Both can be fiddled with in the Photo-Style settings or you can increase exposure. For 25fps rule of thumb is 1/25 second. Personally I prefer degree/ISO set to 180° - GH not G9 though. Panasonic does have the most authentic colour gamut of any camera - in 'Standard' Photo Style and can see colours some cameras ignore; it tends to look a little bland and rarely used. The background is 'noisy' because it is out of focus and blurred. The Pan 25 f/1.7 likes to be stopped down to f/2. The Zeiss is also blurring the background but being 55mm has blurred it out more. The G9 is a stills camera that has some movie functions. But not the full range of movie functions. That is left to the GH-series. The G9 is a wildlife photographer's dream. The old G7 is a better static vlogging camera.

Thanks for putting in the time an effort into demonstrating their real world use. G9 / 25mm 1.7 proved itself impressively capable at a significantly lower price point. This is helpful content.

I guess you did not really find the adequate pair of lenses for this comparison. Zeiss 55mm is a pro ($1000) category lens while Pana 25mm is a basic one for $200. It's not fair and it doesn't show us the real differences between the capabilities of these cameras.

I think the Sony didn’t focus on the phone due to the minimum focus distance of the lens.

Considering how RU-vid reviews normally give a binary “Sony AF = all good” vs “Panasonic AF = all bad” this test shows the differences to be relatively small. It reminds me of how DPreview pronounced the G100 AF to be cr*p, while MarkusPix showed its AF working brilliantly. I suspect that this Panasonic is bad is more about RU-vid narratives and clickbait than objective reality. It is true that there is a learning curve with getting the best out of the Panasonic, while the Sony system is less picky, but I get the feeling that too many reviews are less about an informed opinion than a first impression of a camera the reviewer is relatively unfamiliar with and doesn’t have the time to learn the gear.

The image looks so much cleaner on the G9. The full frame bokeh look is so ghastly in video. Having the face half in focus, eyes in, nose and ears out, makes me feel like I have grease on my screen or sleep in my eye. It looks goopy and amateur to me.

I'm busy trying to buy a camera and I thought this video was great. The format is fantastic! Thank you.

I like this video. So many comparison videos are so fast paced it’s almost impossible to see for myself what the narrator is describing. Well done.

Sad that you used probably the cheapest lens in Lumix G line up and compared it with such a premium lens by Zeiss. Test the G9 with the Leica 25mm f1.4, the look will be completely different.

Fantastic detailed comparison and I'm loving how you are breaking the comparison down into different vids for different subjects instead of a generalised approach. Great detail and a good honest video without the sheep like nonsense that happens I other videos. Thanks for taking the time to do this and look forward to the next one. Steve

I think if anything the weak point for the G9 is the 25mm f1.7 lens. That's the slowest focusing lens I have and using Cine D with contrast turned down probably won't help contrast based autofocus. G9 kills everything for the price.

It's interesting how your head and face shape are totally different from one camera to another. I love the A7III but G9 is great and you can buy lenses with the money you save. I'm learning a lot. Thanks for the video. Cheers

I am just waiting for the G10, hope it is even more improved. I wish micro 4/3 caught on a bit more.

i think that you've done a pretty good test. The fact is that with either camera one can make incredible video.

The G9 did noticeably pulse to 'focus check', but tracking was pretty identical. The look of the background is surely, and inevitably, down to sensor size? But lets also not forget, the G9 is very nearly half the price of the Sony, making it a remarkable camera for the money.

My brother... In testing the tracking of these two great cameras side by side in this way - the test would have been more fair if you had used the Pana-Leica variant 25mm f/1.4 lens and set the Zeiss lens to f/2.8... The background blur would have been the same... AND more importantly the quality of the glass is more comparable... Still... Good job at making the point... I have the G9 and although I have the Pana-Leica 15mm, 25mm and 42.5mm - I actually use the little Lumix 20mm f/1.7 (which many people under rate) for my presentations. This focal length allows me to be near the camera and still wide enough to give enough background for my requirements whilst not distorting facial features... Because I am not moving around much I haven't found that there is any significant "hunting"... If there is a lot of backlighting then setting the lens to f/2.0 and changing to manual mode is a near perfect solution (not to mention a very affordable set up) for video presentations...

In my experience, the G9 is terrible to grade for CineLike D. I was gonna get V-Log but people have been having skin tone issues with it (see Matti Haapoja's review of V-Log L). I started using it's standard picture style to shoot casual non-commercial stuff and as a result, gave up on grading and thats how I've gotten the best skin tones out of it. The Panasonic colour science isn't bad if you let it handle everything in camera and you don't try to shoot flat for later grading.

A7 nicer bokeh, a little faster, better color rendition on the Phone. G9 nicer skin tones.

ooh both cameras performed brilliantly, and were very close, which is pretty amazing considering you were using a 31k lens on the song and £150 lens on the G9. Great video and presenting style, that doesn't attempt to copy anyone

Honestly I feel the difference between these 2 cameras is simply the quality of lens being attached to them. Zeiss is pretty much always going to give a superior images whether slightly or gigantically.

55mm vs 25mm ... thats a huge difference in hyperfocal distance... which is also the reason why you have less bokeh on the same eqv. focal lenght on a m43 sensor. but however... nice review. A7III for me :)

Hey man, thank you for the quality video. I am extremely bent between the two and my biggest concern is the low light capabilities. I really prefer the G9, but I know it can't match the A7iii for low light. The problem is, I don't know exactly how much worse the G9 is in low light and I can't find a decent description anywhere on RU-vid. Low light is important for me because I aim to shoot gigs when all of this is over. I would really appreciate some more insight on the g9 low light capabilites. Thank you!

I have to give it to Panasonic that they stuck stubbornly to their guns and work with dfd autofocus system and are getting somewhat usable AF. IT WAS TERRIBLE. Gh3 gh4 g80 gx80 some of my MFT cameras. I could newer rely on AF after all this time. now I am waiting for my G9 ,bought used on for £720! and with all new updates it looks like I am getting better GH5 than GH5 itself! Thanks for test ... Looks promising. Did you set up AF in any special custom way?

I’m not a video guy, would love to hear your thoughts on photography side between the two cameras about the G9.

This is very helpful. Thanks for putting this up

Hi Connor, would be great if you could repeat this test after the G9's firmware update 2.4! Thanks.

Currently rediscovering my G9. With the 2.0 fw upgrade it is a very capable hybrid camera. Wished they would remove the recording limit though. What do you think is the best prime lens for video for the G9 in the range of 15-60 mil ?

You may get a better color rendition if you use superior lens on the g9 no no it is obviously better on the pl 25 1.4 glass than the 25 1.7 g lens. The evidences are out there in many comparisons between these two lenses.

Thank Conner, I have a G9, yet somehow I felt I was missing a lot compared to the a7iii, so I've considered buying one, I would love to, but the price of the lenses will hurt.lol. I appreciate your video impressions. I believe I will stay with my G9 a little while longer, I had not thought about selling it as an option. I am a bit partial to Lumix cameras. Thanks again. BTW, how much of a difference would a PLeica 25mm lens be?

Thank you for sharing, helped me immensely.

For the lens is not Apple to apple, on G9 try using panaleica 25mm f1.4

I'm wondering about the lighting you used here. Great vid and comparison by the way.

I have a G9 - love it

wow i missed this video before. I love this comparison

if only there was a 25mm f0.9 with af, then the exposure and bokeh would have matched better. Pretty impressive for the G9. (I'm planning on getting a G9 some time soon.)

Hi Connor. Perhaps you can help me? I currently own a Nikon D5600 with some primes( to be replaced by a mirrorless), Ricoh GR3 and a GoPro 7. I am SO torn between the Sony A7III, Panasonic G9(or90) and the upcoming Fuji X-T4. What I want in a camera is amazing natural colors both in pictures and video straight out of the camera. I do not want to shoot in RAW or log and spend time with color grading. I actually prefer 1080p but it has to be very good AF, crisp picture, punchy/natural colors and not shaky(IBiS), great low light performance. I want to have the best possible hybrid camera in a fairly small package. Sony has best AF and low light performance with wonderful bokeh but no flippy screen, average iBIS and bad menu system. Panasonic best IBIS, small cheap lenses, great user interface and software, wonderful video colors but bad low light performance, not best AF, less bokeh. The new X-T4 looks very promising...maybe best of both worlds. What do you think I should go for? I am a hobby photographer.

Love my G9

Very fair and thorough .

Comparison starts at 1:39

AF it's good on G9 with latest firmware, it's a photography oriented camera but how to change the basic AF speed during video recording? 🤔

Hmmm... let's compare the prices. (current prices in Canada) A7iii body: 2399$. Zeiss 55mm f1.8: 1249$. Total: 3648$. G9 body: 1499$. Panasonic 25mm F1.7: 249$. Total: 1748$. Hey that's totally fair! It's like comparing the performance between a base Corolla and a Civic Type R...

smaller sensors will give an advantage due to naturally more depth

I have a G9 body and variety of lens and I am not sure if I should get a second G9 body or go for a Sony A7111 and have two systems? I shoot equestrian photography

My opinion is that the Sony a7III looks better in overall quality and sharpnes of the picture. But the Lumix G9 is a crop version, and need more light for footage. But I think that you have chosen a not very good lens (cheep). But the Lumix G9 costs two times cheaper than Sony a7III, I think it's not bad price for the money. Thanks you.

I think it's a great test, thanks! But would be good to see the same kind of test in low light. The Panasonic should be struggle much more to focus, because the lack of contrast in a low light environment, at least that's my experience with the GH5. Just to be clear I'm not talking about noise and low light performance, I'm talking only about auto focus. Do you share the opinion?

Hi, thank’s for that video, i was very pleased to see the good G9 AF-C.i have the g7 and i m also pleased with the AF. What about your opinion with the use of speedbooster + canon lenses (i have many of them) , is thé AF-C as good as in your vidéo ? Not the case for me, the AF-C is not good, not stable ,the Lens is pumping without raising the optimal focus :-( i m wondering if i will not sell all my canon lenses because of that and go to panasonic lenses ...or perhaps FUJI (because of the bigger sensor)

Clear winner.

Great video!

Whoa whoa whoa. What do you mean... you people?

Can’t wait for GH6.

Thank you for this.

All Connors from Ireland have the same pronunciation :D Just fun fact!

I think that the hunting focus process in the Lumix cameras is annoying.

Both fantastic cameras but the auto focus seems really slow compared to my Olympus OMD-E-M5 MKIII

very accurate comparison. what about gh5 vs g9?

G9 and the price :-)

Man, that result is due to the lens. You are comparing a $1,000 lens (Zeiss 55mm F1.8) with a $148 lens (Panasonic 25mm F1.7), prices from Amazon.com. Place in both cameras a SIGMA 16mm 1.4, and let's see what happens!

Отлично!!!