Lumix G9 Firmware Update: Auto Focus

[@rayjenkins2754]

I find with flying birds that have a landscape for a background - that the camera will get confused by - is to turn on ' Near Focus ( bias ) ' so the camera will not focus on the threes in the background but my subject - the bird. I also turn on ' Animal Detection ' which seems to improve as it's used & I also find that ' One Shot ' autofocus adjusted to it's largest frame size works well. AFC with Focus Release Priority & the ' Stabilizer ' set for panning. Metering = Center Weighted. Mechanical Shutter with Burst at high. There are some Auto Focus Sensitivity levels that I've increased. Enjoyed your video.

[@ImageMaven]

Wow Ray! Thank you so much for sharing all of your excellent user settings. I'm sure it will really help others. I'm going to copy your tips into a file so that I can find it easier if anyone asks me. Cheers.

[@rayjenkins2754]

As you often advise your viewers, " Take the camera & try things - different settings - related to what your shooting. " It took me quite some time of trial & error as well as looking at different KZbin places - such as yours and the fun part is I'm constantly learning.

[@ImageMaven]

@@rayjenkins2754 I've pinned your comment to the top of the list Ray. Thanks again.

[@Reyfox1]

Simple, clear and easy to follow instructions! Thanks! Looking forward to more videos on the new/updated features of the 2.0 firmware update.

[@ImageMaven]

Thanks Anthony. I’m probably getting near the end of these firmware update videos but there’s always something to learn and teach on the G9. Cheers.

[@rayjenkins2754]

On my G 9 I've assigned the two function buttons next to the lens - top for near, bottom for far. With the back-button-focus the even pressure from front & back balances out. Half press release on the shutter. The focusing time seems faster. Your info was helpful.

[@ImageMaven]

Well isn’t that smart! I gotta test that for myself. Thanks for sharing Ray.

[@VaguePlan]

Thank you, Marlene. I've set up with far bias on the AF/AE Lock button, and near bias on FN4, (front of camera, where your middle right finger would easily fall). The idea for me is push to go far, and pull to come near, at least that's how I can remember it. I still have "Shutter AF On", on the shutter release so if I focus far and don't hold the button down the camera may refocus to somewhere I hadn't intended. If I hold the near or far button down while releasing the shutter, the camera will stay locked. Works well in brushy / wooded areas.

[@ImageMaven]

Interesting! Thank you so much for sharing your very practical set up and experiences. I've learned so much from everyone's comments on this video. Cheers!

[@aribier]

Thank you Marlene! You videos are amazing and I love learning more about my camera from you!

[@ImageMaven]

Thank you Arvid for your very kind words. :)

[@andrealeblanc4434]

Thanks! Did it and updated the lens firmware too! Now see there are other updates for my GX8 .... who knew!? I will watch your channel for more insights about the G9!!!!

[@ImageMaven]

Great to hear! Cheers.

[@iamwz]

New G9 user here and your videos have been extremely helpful!! Thanks alot Marlene!

[@ImageMaven]

Thanks for stopping by. Your comment tells me there are still people who need G9 education, so I'll keep making G9 videos for awhile.

[@iamwz]

@@ImageMaven Please do! It would be greatly appreciated. Im actually wondering if theres a way for G9 to have widescreen guidelines like on the gh5?

[@mikekay6288]

Thanks, as always, for focussing on keeping us 'gee niners' up to date. Mike in Oz

[@ImageMaven]

Thanks Mike 😉 Gee niners. Love it. Something like that might make a good tshirt slogan.

[@clintjohnson5914]

Okay---I surrender,,,I was perfectly happy with my 2 GX-8s,,I used your videos for instruction on using Panasonic features to expand my capabilities-- but after watching all your G9 catalog,,,well,,, I started feeling like I was using pointed stick and bearskin tech,,, So,,, I now have that G9 inda house and will be going back through all of your excellent videos to get up to speed.. just like I just did with this one. Great job and keep going!!

[@ImageMaven]

LOL. Thanks for that "pointed stick and bearskin" comment, Clint. I hope you enjoy the G9 as much as I do!

[@ליהלי-צ8נ]

very useful explanation Marlene . Thank you

[@ImageMaven]

Happy to help!

[@TottiBln]

Thank you for the discription, i'm looking for! Greetings from Germany, Berlin

[@agrafernando]

Cool Video. Another sweet update is that focus peaking is now available in all AF modes, not only MF. BBF (AF near on AF Lock , AF Far on the front custom button + AF-C + Focus Peaking ...is now my go to for sports and wildlife. Really juicy update from Lumix

[@ImageMaven]

Yes, very juicy update! I found that out about focus peaking too! That is a sweet feature. I like how you have it set up. Thanks for sharing. I learn so much from people who comment on my videos.

[@MrBillleeds]

Love your explanations. Thank you!

[@HermesDoubleDutch]

Thank you Marlene! For your videos I learning more about my camera from you!

[@ImageMaven]

Awesome! Thank you for watching.

[@HermesDoubleDutch]

@@ImageMaven I have just a question :-) wich kind of focus do you prefer for wedding video? Thanks :-)

[@ImageMaven]

@@HermesDoubleDutch I don't shoot wedding videos, or wedding photos. There are many options though. And it may depend on how much light you have in the scene. I say, test it out at the wedding rehearsal.

[@MarkoKoskenoja]

You have the best instructional videos Marlene 👍 The G9 animal detect AF works very well for wildlife photography in forests. Tree branches use to be such a problem with my G85 and GX85.

[@ImageMaven]

Good to know about the tree branches! Thanks for sharing. 👌I love when people add their tips and experiences to the conversation.

[@nore8141]

Great video and commentary. Great for g9

[@travelingtrekez7034]

Wonderful Explanation!

[@ImageMaven]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

[@knowyouryoga]

Thanks for publishing all these videos of G9. Can you please do a comparison on 10bit and 8bit video of G9? Thanks in advance!

[@ImageMaven]

I’ll see what I can learn about that and do some tests. Thanks for the question.

[@mohamadalrihawi7429]

معلومات قيمة و رائعة و مفيدة شكرا جزيلا ...

[@ImageMaven]

Thank you Mohamad

[@segrad1]

Good video as usual Marlene. Guess who's the owner of a Panasonic G9 now?!? (I also picked up the Canon EOS R as well) I am stlll reading my G9 manual because there are a LOT of features, wow! I bought the Olympus 12-40mm. Enjoy your day. PEACE from ATL ✊🏾📸😊

[@ImageMaven]

Oh ya!! Congrats on the new gear. You’re going to be very busy testing everything out over the holidays. And of course reading those camera manuals 😉 Enjoy!

[@Bantammenace1903]

My experience of near far bias is that it might be better called nearest and farthest. It can be useful when fine tuning with manual focus of birds in trees for instance.

[@ImageMaven]

Ah, thank you for sharing this, Kevin. Good to know! Sadly I haven't had enough time, or good enough weather recently to test this one out in the real world.

[@ogg66o]

Hi Marlene. I've been trying the post focus setting and using continuous focus on a wee dachshund running towards the camera, ears and tongue flapping.... Results are not great , shutter speed at 2000 and f5.6. Failure rates very high in the sequence of frames as dog runs towards camera thru losing focus.Is this normal on a G9?

[@ImageMaven]

Post focus? That's not ideal. I'm not surprised your'e getting a high failure rate. Try the Animal Detection setting instead. Try it in AFC (Continuous) as well as AFF.

[@cynthiabrown7134]

which setting do you have fn 1 set to? No matter what I do I cannot get the AF mode screen to come up. Currently fn 1 is on AF-on on

[@ImageMaven]

Not sure exactly what you mean but perhaps try scrolling through the DISP settings and different items will show on the LCD.

[@Romrom54]

Hello Marlene, Thanks for all tour videos and tips. Those are very helpful and pleasant to watch. I have a question but related to manual focus. When I set the camera on mf and I turn the focus ring on my lens, I have this red and write line. Can we avoid this red part to appear? This seems to make me loosing the infinity (focus). Any idea plz :-)? Cheers

[@ImageMaven]

Where does the line appear? On your photos? Or on your preview? Hmm, is it your focus peaking? What kind of camera?

[@Romrom54]

@@ImageMaven Thanks for your answer. So this is, to be exact, with the G9 + 15/1.7 (but this is the same with the 35-100/4..). My concern is may be too obvious for such a knowledgeable person like you, but nothing about picture or peaking. This is the white line with red "extremity" which show that you are at the shortest focus point or the other extremity with a flower on one end and a mountain on the other one (haven't checked but I think you've got the point). Then when I turn to the "mountain" side, the end is in red but seems to be "After" infinity. More clear ? Any idea to stop thé focus at the white part. Thanks for your help anyway ;-)

[@ImageMaven]

@@Romrom54 Ah yes, you can change how that looks. Go into the camera settings (wrench with a c). Then choose Focus/Release Shutter. In that menu are the controls. It's called MF Assist. There are two settings, look for the menus called MF Assist, and MF Assist Display. You can set it up however you like, or turn it off completely.

[@Romrom54]

@@ImageMaven it might be a normal behaviour... I have tried to switch all the assistance off, but I can't have what I am looking after... I think that this is due to the focus by wire (and Panasonic software design choice) because I don't see that while using a full manual lens. Thanks a lot Marlene and if I manage to do what I am looking for, then i'll edit this post/comment ;-). Cheers and take care

[@wakeywarrior]

Marlene does the continuous autofocus make it turn on and off in video when the lever is on the single focus settings, for photos? And if you set it to off, does it turn it off even when the lever is selected to AFC? Thanks.

[@jackjstrange]

Hi Marlene, When shooting videos have you ever used the touch screen to manually “pull focus?” For example from near to far and back to near. Would this help with CDAF’s focusing weaknesses in video? Thanks! PS... you’ve been quiet for a while. Hoping all is well. Jack

[@ImageMaven]

Good question, Jack! But no I haven't tried that. If I'm shooting skate clips I'm moving around a lot so I don't have a lot of use for that. And when I'm shooting KZbin videos I work alone so focus pulling is hard to do, but it's worth an experiment. Have you tried this?

[@lowlandcrofter9251]

Great video Marlene .I haven't updated yet as I was afraid that i might lose my custom settings if i do .Do you know if they will be overwritten?Thanks

[@agrafernando]

Nope. Your settings will not be effected. Def update

[@toxophillus72]

Hi Marlene, I hope you are keeping well. I've enjoyed your G9 videos, I think I've seen them all. Just an idea, to my knowledge no one has made a video about the A F custom Sets 1 2 3 4. With all the skate boarders at your disposal, it appears to me with all the ducking and diving they do, that you would be well placed to do such a review. What are your thoughts.?

[@ImageMaven]

Hmm, here's a fun fact: I use AFS 100% of the time for my skater photos. So I'd probably learn a lot from doing a deep dive into the AF custom sets. I'll do some research. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@toxophillus72]

AFS, is that coupled with multi point focus or face body tracking .? I'm intersted because I'm struggling a bit with my succes rate of action in focus shots. I've looked at all your vids by the way. Probably missed something I expect.

[@jimtillery1459]

Hi I'm wondering if I download the newest firmware 2.0 will it automatically download the previous firmwares or do I have to download them separately

[@ImageMaven]

I can't find older G9 firmware files listed on their website anymore so that leads me to believe that earlier updates are included with the v 2.0. (That goes for all their cameras)

[@ImageMaven]

Here's the list: av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/index.html

[@jimtillery1459]

@@ImageMaven Thank you so much for your help and thank you for your tutorials You are the first instructor I have been able to follow

[@ImageMaven]

@@jimtillery1459 Great to hear this Jim!

[@jonatanjimenez3819]

Which has better autofocus GH5 or G9?

[@ImageMaven]

No idea. I’ve never owned the GH5. Sorry. Check with a retailer.

[@bobcoco6047]

G9, slightly better & + reliable (on video notably), even though still nott enough for most. In photo, both are great anyway, but the G9 is supposed to be better, don't know exactly in which ways, but probably + reliable for fast shutter usage (9fps for sport, that kind of stuff)..

[@meditpc]

Thanks Marlene for your great videos. You’re the best. Really ! Being close to seventy y.o. I love to travel with my wife (whom I love dearly too), I love my brand new G9... but it’s a bit large and heavy. Any advice as to lenses to ease the burden ?

[@ImageMaven]

I agree, it’s a bit large for travel. I prefer my Lumix GM5 for that but it’s not super versatile. But that’s not what you asked..... If I could pick one travel lens it would be the 12-60mm. Did you get that one in your camera kit? I don’t have it myself. I have the 12-35mm, which is excellent, but sometimes you want a bit more reach. Also it depends on the kind of photos you like to take on holiday. Tell me more.

[@meditpc]

@@ImageMaven Thank you Marlene. We are going to Asia for two months, Myanmar, Thaïland, Singapour and we love markets, people, nature (landscape), food, street and video... And travel as light as possible !

[@ImageMaven]

@@meditpc Sounds wonderful Robert. Have fun! And yes the 12-60 would be perfect for that. You will be quite close up to most of the action. If you don't have that lens, the 12-35 would work great too.

[@AverageatMostThings]

I upgraded My Lumix G9 to 2.4 Firmware and I read somewhere (can't remember where) that this update should have updated the default Lumix remote app that the camera used from Lumix Image App to the Lumix Sync App. Does anyone know if this is true or if there is some additional configuration that I need to do to get this to work? I use it primarly for photo transfer from my camera to my phone and for GPS tagging.

[@ImageMaven]

Hey Dustin, You can use both those apps. I do without any problem. The new app has more features. If you want GPS data on your photos, you need to go into the Bluetooth menu and set that up there. You can connect to your phone to the bluetooth via the new Lumix Sync app. Once it's set up you don't need the app launched to get the Bluetooth connectivity. You will see the GPS symbol on your LCD and also the blue light on top right of the camera will be lit when it's active. Hope that helps. It's also in the manual (pdf) under the Wi-Fi Bluetooth section. I've got a whole video in the new firmware 2.5 too. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmWbh2Z4nLqGfZI The latest user manual is in that video description.

[@andrealeblanc4434]

I am using a G9 and realize it is still on Version 1.1 Do I have to update each successive update in order before updating to v 2 ... or now the most recent v 2.1 or v2.2??? Or will updating to the most recent give me all the previous changes to that point? Thanks! Andrea

[@ImageMaven]

Hi Andrea, You can go to the most recent firmware update. There’s a brand new (minor) update too. Not even sure if you can actually get the previous ones anymore. Thanks for your question.

[@plegion]

Tim Cook ?

[@veganpotterthevegan]

I'm happy with the new animal detect, WHEN the lighting is good. I'm mostly photographing animals. When the lighting isn't good😬. Maybe I need better than f2.8 zooms. I'd love it if they made something akin to Canons 28-70 f2.0. It would be big but I doubt it would be much worse than the 10-25 f1.7 zoom

[@ImageMaven]

Have you tried upping your ISO in low light?

[@veganpotterthevegan]

@@ImageMaven I do but I max it out at 3200 with fingers crossed that auto ISO keeps it at 1600. Photos look very washed out to me at 3200. My dogs' fur looks like it's painted on with a spatula at 6400 and only a bit better at 3200. I love my G9 and m43 but I really do hope their next camera has some kind of magic in it for low light.

[@ImageMaven]

@@veganpotterthevegan I guess you'll have to photograph your dog outside in brighter lighting and lower ISO for better results.

[@veganpotterthevegan]

@@ImageMaven I'm not really doing what I'd call photo shoots. Just having fun on hikes. But it's similar when I'm skiing with friends. We can't really pick the weather.

[@ImageMaven]

@@veganpotterthevegan Outdoors though, you should be fine with 800 ISO and under. Even on cloudy days.

[@WhoIsSerafin]

I’ve come to love face and animal detection for street photography, but what I’ve noticed in that mode it gets really confused with Christmas lights when they far in the background. So I switch to single point focusing. Just bought the Panasonic Gx85 and sent of my G9 because it’s sucking battery power even when off so it should make a good replacement while waiting for it to return.

[@ImageMaven]

Great tip about the Christmas lights focus. Guess the camera thinks they are eyeballs. Lol. Never thought of using face detection for street photography. Thanks for sharing. 😀 Sorry to hear you’ve got G9 battery problems. Hopefully gets fixed quickly.

[@gcprost]

Come on, fix your audio. Wear a lav or use some software to remove the room echo.

[@ImageMaven]

Thank you for your constructive feedback. I appreciate it very much. Audio is my weakest link.

[@fotostock1]

I've had my G9 for almost 2 years. I use it mostly for shooting birds, some in flight, so I was excited to get the update. However, I have not found the animal detect at all accurate for mid-size or smaller birds that move around. I spent a couple of hours shooting an osprey flying high overhead. 90% of the photos were out of focus. I usually have a much higher success rate. I've given up on the animal focus and gone back to using continuous af or tracking. Disappointing. However, I like the near/far feature.

[@ImageMaven]

Thanks for sharing your experiences Ann. It will definitely benefit others looking to use this feature. Cheers.