Panasonic Lumix G95 Third wurst kamra of 2019 ? 17 January 2020

Last month  Chris Nicholls and Jordan Drake from DP Review TV presented their light hearted and moderately intoxicated opinions as to the best and “wurst” “kamras” of 2019. Although they clearly did not expect this little piece to be taken seriously I was intrigued to see what they selected as their  “wurst” three ‘kamras”.

The one which rated “wurst” of all was the “Cannon” Rebel SL3 a.k.a. EOS 2560D a.k.a Kiss X10 (Panasonic is not the only one using incomprehensibly confusing regional names).

It got this dubious award for doing what has become a Canon trademark in recent years; removing features and capabilities from update models.  If any manufacturer wants to find a way to alienate their customers here it is.

While they were at it Canon removed the electronic first curtain shutter (EFCS) option from the EOS-M6 Mk2, having provided this by default on every previous Canon mirrorless interchangeable lens model. EFCS is a key technology for preventing shutter shock in mirrorless cameras. Already there are reports on user forums of shutter shock with some lenses at some shutter speeds on the EOS-M6 Mk2. So why would Canon remove this feature ? I have no idea.

Second “wurst” prize went to the very strange “Sigmah” fp.  Apparently “fp” stands for piano fortissimo which might be some kind of hint as to how connected to photography the creators of this thing might be. Anyway it consists of a little box with a sensor, processor, monitor screen and lens mount and nothing else.  There is no shutter and no viewfinder although you can get a kind of giant loupe thingy which fits over the monitor screen. It looks to me like the latest in a series of eccentric cameras from Sigma. It might be OK for video when rigged with all the extra stuff required to make it functional.

So I think those two cameras deserved their “wurst kamra’ rankings.

But now we come to the Panasonic lumix G95 which Chris and Jordan selected as their “third wurst kamra”.

Why ? Well that’s a bit unclear but apparently because

a) it’s not a G9, which is a strange criticism because it is not pretending to be a G9 and

b) “it’s boring” which left me wondering what that was supposed to mean.

I have noticed that some reviewers were very critical of the G95 on its release. The main issue seems to have been that in some markets the G95 has been at various times pitched close to the G9 in price, depending on what deals and discounts are in play at any time.

One reviewer expressed the view that the G95 is the stupidest camera ever made, or words to that effect, basically for the reason given above.

DPReview was critical of the G95 because it applies a crop to 4K video (but not to FHD).

I own both a G95 and a G9 so am in a position to have a view on this. 

I also have a historical perspective having owned and used almost every Lumix G series camera since the original G1 of 2008. (I missed the G10 which was a G1 with reduced specification, and the G2).

Basically I see the G95 as the practical fulfilment of the promise held out by the original G1. This was for a high quality photographic system using smaller bodies and lenses than were available on the DSLRs of the time or on subsequent mirrorless ILCs with larger sensors.

It took ten years but Panasonic eventually got there.

The size/mass/price/capability ratio is very appealing to the enthusiast photographer.

All the main bugs of the first few iterations have been ironed out.

The control layout and user interface are now excellent, in fact among the best available on any camera. It is a pleasure to hold and operate. Control of the firing solution (aperture/shutter speed/ISO/Exposure compensation) is among the best and most streamlined in the business.

Control of the position and size of the active AF area is also one of the best in the business. Having used the G9 and G95 side by side I prefer the G95. It lacks a thumb stick but the lower/rear dial/cursor keys put all actions needed to control AF area size and position in one place right under the thumb.

Image quality is about as good as it gets in the MFT system which is good enough for just about any photographic purpose given the right lens. I have recently been comparing picture quality of the G95 compared to the Nikon Z6 and finding that in anything but very low light the differences are subtle at most.

Shutter shock is just a memory, albeit a nasty one.

The G95 has an excellent viewfinder and monitor, both of which can be configured to look exactly the same for a seamless segue from one to the other.

It is very quiet even with the focal plane shutter.

Is there anything not to like about the G95 ?

As far as I am concerned no, not really.

It is perhaps not the first MFT body I might select for fast sport/action work. That would be the G9. But the G95 is only slightly slower with live view on each frame and does a good job of following focus on moving subjects.

Panasonic does need to implement  Sony style ISO-auto-min-SS across the entire Lumix range.

The G95 has a built in flash and does  very nice in camera auto panoramas which the G9 cannot do.

And the G95 gives the user access to the huge range of excellent MFT lenses which include everything from ultra wide to ultra telephoto and everything inbetween with budget, mid price and high spec options available across the range.

The G95 is a camera which gets just about everything right and hardly anything wrong.

Is that boring ? 

I suppose it might be if one is a professional camera reviewer with nothing much about which to complain.

Maybe the way it implements face/eye AF is not quite as technologically advanced as that found in recent Sony interchangeable  lens cameras. But when it comes to actually using the device I find the Lumix much easier to operate.

The Lumix G95 gets my vote as the most under-rated camera of 2019. It copes with most photographic tasks very effectively and is a pleasure to use.

It seems to me that some reviewers these days ignore the real capabilities of most cameras, preferring to castigate the maker for minor failings which really make no difference to the pictures or user experience, for instance:

OMG  It only has one card slot !  

OMG  It can’t fire at 20fps with live view on every frame !!  (not many cameras can and not many users actually want or need this kind of performance)

OMG  It crops 4K video !!  So……………….?

And so on………………