High Resolution Mode 2 - initial thoughts on this feature issued with the Panasonic G9 firmware 2.0

The release of the firmware 2.0 for the Panasonic Lumix G9 saw the introduction of many new features and in the words of many it felt almost like we were getting a new camera.
One of the new features is the High Resolution Mode 2. This new mode is supposed to be able to adjust for moving subjects when taking photos with High Resolution Mode.
I've often been asked if I used the High Resolution Mode on the G9 and what I thought of it. In the past my answer would generally go something like... It's a nice feature but most landscapes have moving elements and I don't generally carry a tripod on multi-day hikes so it's not really for me.
My usual method of shooting landscapes is to select the appropriate focal length for a portrait orientation and shoot a series of photos stitching them later in a software. Because of the excellent IBIS of the G9 and the more robust options for landscape photo stitching available now a days
this method works very well.
So how will this new High Resolution Mode 2 compare to my usual method?
Is it a game changer or just a gimmick?
Let's find out.

[@ExistToCreate]

I have been wondering how HR mode 2 would work in those conditions. Thank you for doing the leg work! Despite these disappointing results, I have to say that HR mode works amazingly well for product photography. Maybe in a future update they will make it as equally impressive for landscape shooters.

[@PaulBawby]

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences, it's what this channel is all about, photographers sharing/helping other photographers. I was kind of sad that I couldn't make the Mode 2 work on a consistent basis, I was really hoping that it would work as well for landscapes as Mode 1 can for product photography. I'm not giving hope, I'm sure Panasonic will eventually be able to fix the issues either in another firmware or model. Cheers

[@Acornoa]

I agree that the HR2 mode doesn't give consistently better results. I did however try it (handheld) on a rather stationary perched bird and compared it against regular shot mode. On my G9+100-300 I found I was able to get a sharper image with HR2, and had more crop flexibility. I think I will use it when my subject is not moving and I need the extra "reach" in post.

[@PaulBawby]

Hi Aaron, Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences with the HR2. It's always appreciated to have feedback from other users. Using HR2 for wildlife instead of shooting flags, now why didn't I think of this before? I'll have give it a try... Cheers

[@kemerthomson]

First of all, I really value your testing. Even if it wasn’t a G9, this kind of objective testing and honest evaluation is both of interest, and valuable. Secondly, your observations on the effectiveness (or relative lack of) of features like this is a real timesaver. I never grasped the point of Mode 2. I’ve had some great luck with single-shot Mode 1. Finally, I found all of your panoramas are real inspiration. But, having majestic mountains are the optimal application of panoramas.

[@PaulBawby]

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences. It's always appreciated to hear that viewers find value in the videos I make because a lot of work goes into the making of them, but more importantly because it's very helpful to be able to tap into the wealth of experience and wisdom of the other photographers out there in KZbin land. I have to agree with you, yes mountains are a true inspiration but unfortunately I live far away from any real mountains. It's always a special treat for me when I can hike in the mountain. Cheers,

[@jiffijoff9780]

Hi Paul, thanks for your report and the tests of the G9 HighRes modes. What I was wondering: since the HighRes mode generates four times the size of a standard mode image, its (obviously :-D) considerably larger. But your side-by-side comparisons show the exact same framing or "zoom-level" of 400%. To do so you must have either pre-shrunk the HighRes shots by 50% or pre-scaled the standard shots by 200%. Could you elaborate on how you made sure the images have the same size and do you think this might have an impact on the overall comparison results? (regarding resolution gain) In my personal tests I kept the HighRes photos at the original resolution and just scaled the standard resolution photos by 200%, either by nearest neighbour or better bicubic sampling. The side-by-side comparison showed huge improvements of the HighRes mode, on almost every test (all on tripods!). Downside was a visible blue-ish color cast in the shadows of the HighRes photos, processed in DxO Photolab 3. Thanks, Bass

[@PaulBawby]

Hi Bass, That's an excellent question. A detailed answer is in order. The short version: I agree and most of my comparisons are always done in either Photoshop or Lightroom (mostly because I'm most familiar with these and don't want to introduce an outside factor...) and yes when you compare you need to scale them. In my test, like you, I usually and scale the standard ones by 200%. The long version complement: I do a fair bit of landscape photography, especially when travelling and love to print big size prints (30x40) so I was wondering can the High Resolution Mode 2 deliver better results than my usual landscape photo-stitching approach? Initially I spent a whole afternoon on a cold day taking various shots different landscapes and an evening of taking shots of the moon and was all excited about how well the Mode 2 could deal with moving subjects (from looking at the rear screen of the camera). When I transferred to photos to my computer I was very much disappointed. Yes the moving subjects were ok but a fair number of the High Resolution Mode 2 photos had issues (color separation, softness, slight image shifting like ghosting,...). So I went out on numerous other occasions, with different lenses, tripods, to test and retest everything and still I couldn't the High Resolution Mode 2 to deliver consistently good results. I can't tell how much time was spent into field testing this. Even tough High resolution Mode 2 requires a tripod I guess I really wanted to be able to say it worked (even if I rarely, if ever, hike with a tripod) . Well after all these tests I couldn't get it to work reliably so I couldn't even compare it to my usual landscape photo-stitching approach. I didn't want to make a "it's not a good feature" video, just because I couldn't make it work reliably so the video turned into a "here are the challenges I faced while trying it out... do you guys have any suggestions?" type of video. Because of all the difficulties I had, I decided to simply compare High Resolution Mode photos to regular mode ones and in the process of making the video I got a little careless in explaining the scaling by 200% factor thing prior to importing into the video software. I guess what I'm trying to say is that from my initial testing there too many issues with that mode that the final IQ results don't matter that much for me, because I can't get it to work reliably. If anyone can help me make it work I'll gladly make another video explaining what I was doing wrong and sing the praise of this feature ;-) I hope this makes thing a little more clear. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences, positive feedback in a respectful way is always appreciated as I always value any opportunity to learn and grow. Cheers

[@MarceloLangame]

Thank U for this useful video.

[@PaulBawby]

Hi, Thanks for your positive feedback it's always appreciated to know that viewers find value in my videos. Cheers

[@toxictabasco]

Great field demonstration with some very nice content on the HiRes modes of the G9. And, awesome hand held skills on the Canada Flag (1/400 at 800mm equivalent with amazing results). I rarely use the HiRes modes on the G9. Like you, I prefer multi-shot/multi-row panoramas for landscapes with auto stitching. Reason is the unlimited composition ability with various focal lengths. Perhaps Lumix can add a Hand Held High Res mode with another firmware update. Anyway, thanks for this great video.

[@PaulBawby]

Hi, thanks for your positive feedback. I agree with you, for me so far, multi-shot panoramas are the best approach creativity wise and if need be you can even do a bracketed one.

[@toxictabasco]

@@PaulBawby Yes... I often do hand held bracket exposure Panoramas for smaller resolutions of 2 or 3 shot panoramas.

[@garybrown9719]

Whats your preferred lens for panorama images????

[@PaulBawby]

Hi Gary, At the present time I have a the Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm and the Panasonic Leica 12-60mm. I did a video comparing both lens (kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipfUpXuFjbufm7c) and based on a sample of only one copy of each (I'm not sponsored and have a limited budget) I generally prefer the 14-140mm because it's sharper and it has a nice range. Just because I like a lens doesn't mean it will work as well for all other photographers, bottom line: we all have slightly different needs. BTW my quest for the perfect landscape lens is still ongoing. Cheers

[@BernardBrunet]

Hi Paul, thank you for video well done. Are you the Ottawa region? I’m also a photographer from this region, Aylmer to be more precise. I’m getting the G9 soon with the 12-60mm and 55-200mm, ditching the big brother S1 for a more smaller package and cheaper! Looking forward to go out and about for some landscape and wildlife photography, and who knows we might bump into each other! Cheers, and you get a new sub.

[@PaulBawby]

Bonjour Bernard, Yes I'm from Ottawa-Gatineau region. I know Aylmer very well as I've lived there for a number of years and I have some favorite spots for wildlife photography in Aylmer. The G9 is a great camera, its main downside as far as I'm concerned is its Autofocus. Although the AF is fast, sadly it can struggle in lowlight, low contrast or backlit conditions (but you may already have experienced this with the S1). If you can live with those limitations, it offers great reach (when paired with the PL 100-400mm for instance) in a small, compact, light weight package that makes it wonderful for wildlife photography when hiking or one multiday backpacking trips in the wilderness. Rumors have been surfacing lately, about a possible successor to the GH6 with much improved AF. I don't quite know what to make of them, there's often a grain of truth to them but sometimes things are just made up... If our paths do cross please say hi, as I'm always happy to meet fellow nature photography enthusiasts. Cheers

[@BernardBrunet]

@@PaulBawby thanks Paul, I see you commented on my Channel but unfortunately your comment was deleted by mistake! For the DJi Osmo Action, I just hold the mini tripod with my hand. I also have, on my helmet, a GoPro mount that I sometime will use for longer ride and B-roll. Thanks again for the Sub and comments on the G9.

[@oneeyedphotographer]

I don't see the relevance of 400%. If you used ND filters, you would have longer exposure and I expect the colour separation would vanish.

[@HokKan]

How many photos do you need to take in portrait to stitch into one high res 16:9 picture?

[@PaulBawby]

Hi, It's a very good question. Because the G9 sensor is 5184 x 3888 pixels if you're shooting in portrait mode you would need 4 photos to reach your desired ratio considering that you need a 30 to 40% overlap between photos for most software to do a good job of stitching the photos together. I usually shoot more photos than I think will be necessary giving myself some leeway. I generally stitch all the photos together before deciding what ratio work best for the panorama from a creative perspective. I hope you found this useful. Cheers

[@HokKan]

@@PaulBawby thank you I can't wait to try that out

[@PaulBawby]

@@HokKan Another thing that helps is if you can maintain a straight horizon while panning with your camera. I find that turning on the level in your EVF is very helpful in that respect. I hope you have lots of fun shooting some cool panoramas! Cheers

[@al404]

@@PaulBawby do you have a video on that? you take only on 1 row not top / bottom like 5 but in 2 row??

[@PaulBawby]

@@al404 Hi Alain, Sorry but I'm not quite sure what you question is. If your question is do I have a video on how I shoot panoramas the answer is no, but if you search youtube you should be able to find a few good ones this topic. If it's not your question please le me a comment below with perhaps a bit more details. Cheers

[@stevenhoward3358]

Useful information Paul thanks :) You might want to take a look at the spelling of your copyright in the video though...

[@PaulBawby]

Hi Steven, Thank you for for your kind words its always appreciated to know that viewers find value in my videos. As for the spelling of the copyright, thank you for taking the time to share your concerns but no need to worry I got the spelling right on the copyright (my ancestors came to Canada from France in the mid 1600s). Unfortunately someone already has reserved the usage of a KZbin channel with the correct spelling of my name so I had to modify slightly my KZbin channel name (same thing happened for Instagram and twitter). Cheers

[@tdail47]

Your videos are great. However, superimposing the entire script is really a major annoyance and makes me want to move on. Think about it. Would you watch a full-length movie with the script superimposed on it? Your narration is excellent more than enough for the viewer. Please. Can the script on screen.

[@PaulBawby]

Hi Terrance, Thanks for taking the time to share your constructive criticism, I’d much rather that someone would leave me a positive comment like yours than just give me a thumbs down without any feedback. Because I’m sure that most people are not so interested in seeing a boring video of me talking to a camera, I put background images instead and add narration. I carefully select the background images so that they are peripheral to the topic but not central. The images that are central to the topic have very little text or no text on them. Because a lot of photographers are more visual and maybe because I was concerned that my narration skills might not be the best (English is my second language) I've taken to writing down on the screen most of what I'm saying in the video. But your point is well taken I may have overdone it, I will keep this in mind and try to strike a better balance for the next videos. Again thank you for not moving on and for your comment, Cheers!

[@tdail47]

@@PaulBawby Your English is excellent. Your content is first-rate. To me, it looked almost borderline PowerPoint. I don't think that's the look I would want on KZbin. Just my observation. Keep up the good work.

[@patriqcnewman275]

Why Olympus look better in high resolution

[@jiffijoff9780]

Unfortunately it does not: www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63497190 Check the dpreview forum thread "E1X + PL10-25 first picture".

[@PaulBawby]

Hi, It could be, but I can't attest to it, as I've not be able to do similar tests on a E-M1 or E-M1X yet and compare them side by side with the G9. Let me know if you've had the chance to compare both and if what are your thoughts. Cheers,