[williswall]

When my Panasonic LX100 crapped out last November, I basically agonized over a replacement. After much consideration, I opted for the new Panasonic G9 despite its size and weight, adding the Leica 8-18 lens to the purchase. I can also use my older 45-200 and I have a walkaround lens, the very compact Lumix 20mm/1.7. So far I'm quite satisfied with the results. The 8-18 makes for good wide angle shots, rendering a nice foreground, and the older 45-200 allowed me to get the eagle and whale shots. The rapid fire options are sweet, using mechanical, electronic shutter or 6K option, and I've found the 4K video to be of very high quality. I'm including some sample photos to help those who have expressed interest in this camera (still M43). For this size sensor I find the detail good enough for my purposes. The sample photos have all been cropped or rendered at lower quality for posting, but you get the idea. I have done little post processing, only adjusting exposure....the color rendering is straight out of the camera. I find one of the best aspects of this camera is the in body stabilization...especially combined with Leica lens stabilization, one can get up to 6 stops. The hand held waterfall shots were at 2 second exposures, and video shot even at max 200mm (400mm equivalent) is incredibly stable.

Whale Tail

Wave Line2

Waterfall2 (hand held)

Tree Ice (cropped)

The Curl

Sunset Reflections

Sky King

Ruffling the Feathers (cropped)

Rock Flinging

Pike Place Market 3

Pike Place Market 2

Pike Place Market

Low Tide

Life is Good

Hendrick's Martini

Heidi with Stick

Foreground

Eagle on Eagle (cropped)

Eagle in Flight

Downtown

Details (cropped, non macro)

Deception Pass Bridge

Danger

Cool Dude

Bird on a Log

Bee at Work (cropped)

Amazon Sphere

Eagle Details (cropped)

The shots I took of the eagle in flight reminded me of the 787, perhaps an instance where engineering imitated nature....notice the upcurved wingtips.

787 and Eagle

[monorail]

Great photos! If you're looking to minimize bulk and weight, I strongly recommend the miraculously compact 35-100mm (70-200mm equivalent) f4-5.6 lens. I use this with my GX7, and it all fits easily into my jacket pocket. I'm quite happy with the image quality. B&H appears to have that one on sale: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1082159-REG/panasonic_h_fs35100_lumix_g_vario_35_100mm.html

[boot up]

A lens that I find I use a surprising amount of the time is the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. Lens which was the kit lens that came with one of my panasonic cameras. I figured it was a toss away, but at only 3.88oz/110gm I keep tossing it on my G85 when I want to minimize weight and size for carrying mtn biking and kayaking or just minimal size. Since it was only a $100 lens when bought it with the camera, I don't feel I need to baby it as much and don't even put a UV filter on it, just a lens hood. I am guessing you could pick up one really cheap, as a lot of people got them as a kit lens and never explored their potential. Really holds its own for image quality, at least until I pull out the heavy (11.29oz) panny 12-60, or my "photos always get good remarks" wide angle Oly 9-18 (5.47oz) When I want to go long on the lens, I really like the Panny 14-140 (9.36oz) which has about as much zoom as I need, but is a lot more versatile at the low end. Albeit a bit soft at 140 (280 equivalent) . Carrying a 70mm equivalent minimum at the low zoom with that 35-100 would drive me crazy. But everyone is different for preferred zoom range. Big thing I like is M4/3 are always more compact and lighter than their APS/C equivalent, and I have built up my collection of M4/3 lenses over the year and over several camera bodies, while maintaining compatibility.