I know I know. An old Panasonic Lumix 5 mega pixel point and shoot camera with a 10x optical zoom has no chance of getting a good close up picture of the Moon. But I've been looking at lots of Moon footage, pictures and video recently that has been taken with Nikon's and a Panasonic with excellent zooming capabilities, so its got me curious. I thought I'd see how close the Panasonic TZ1 could get. Just an experimental test. And the result. While laughable in comparison, it gives a little insight in to just how great the zooms are on the Panasonic FZ80 and Nikon big zoom bridge camera "P" series.
Picture: The Moon at full optical zoom, which is 10x. The Lumix TZ1 can go all the way to 40x zoom if digital is applied. But that wasn't used for this picture. Maybe next time when the sky Isn't so cloudy like it is tonight and there's a full moon I'll try. Digital zoom was off at the time of taking this pic, and it never even crossed my mind at the time to turn it on. It was late. The Moon @ 10x optical with the TZ1 just looks like a white ball of light. Hehe.
And I thought the FZ50 had a far zoom. Yeah, maybe 10 years ago, but technology has progressed massively in the camera world since then. So, how does the Panasonic FZ80 compare to some of the other big zoomers in the world of Bridge cameras, like the Nikon P900, P950 and P1000. Well, it actually holds its own quite well. The test video below shows the capabilities of the FZ80's zoom by closing in on the planets. The planets are the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. The clip quality or closeness isn't that great for anything other than the Moon. But when it comes to zooming in on the same planets, like Saturn etc, even though they have more reach, it's similar with the big Nikon's mentioned above.
None of those can pick up clear or close footage of Jupiter, Saturn or Mars either. It might just be a bit closer with the Nikon's, but not by much. Which is understandable given how far away the planets are claimed to be away from the Earth. But when you consider the price difference, and also the difference in the zoom range length between the FZ80 and the Nikon's [Lumix 60 x optical Vs Nikon big three 83 - 125 x optical], the FZ80 is quite impressive. And its considerably smaller in size. But I should add. Looking at some of the birding sample images on the Imaging-resource.com website, I can't help but notice how bad they are. Lot's of noise. I know they were taken at far zoom lengths, but I expected much better quality than that. In RAW and JPG.
First off, an incredible, well built portable mirrorless camera with a truck load of excellent features. I know where you can find it for sale. It's no mystery. Although there has been some talk of the model being discontinued, I think that was only in Japan. The GX9 is a few years old so that could have changed. I believe its no longer in production. This model can still be bought online though in brand new and also used condition.
Find it here: https://amzn.to/3zd39o5 [Available in USA, UK and Canada with lens or body only in Black or Black with Silver trim]. Or here with the hand grip / 32GB SD memory card bundle: https://amzn.to/3uUeDtY
Macro with the GX9
The GX9 is capable of recording video, then taking a single still image from that video, the part you require, and turning that into an 8 mega pixel 4K image. For those who love black and white photography Panasonic have put special monochrome features into the camera. So black and white pictures will potentially look more like what was produced by the film cameras of the old days.
Landscape style
Shooting at night and in low light conditions has also been given a boost, too. Several new features are available for night photography, including enhancing / lighting up the display screen for very darkly lit scenes, and better manual focus assist. This has the ability to be much more accurate when focusing on objects in the sky at night, such as stars, planes and even UFO's. These are great features for those into astrophotography.
Birding with the Black Bird
Some Quick Lumix GX9 [DC-GX9MK] Specifications
20.3 Mega Pixel MOS Sensor with targetted three dimensional colour control to determine hue, saturation and brightness for the best outcome
5 Axis Dual I.S. and an O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)
In Body Image Stabilization [I.B.I.S.]
2760K dot Live View Finder is tiltable to 80 degrees with almost 100% colour duplication and 100% field of view
49 Focus Points plus Custom Multi Auto Focus setting
3 Inch touch screen
4K 30p video recording [4K is limited to a recording time of just under 30 minutes]
Video @ 4K Ultra High Definition @ 2160P
Bluetooth = Yes
WiFi = Yes
The only area which I have seen slightly criticized is the battery life. So, while this is an excellent camera for those who travel or go out for long periods hiking / doing street photography etc, it would be wise to buy a second battery.
Although this can be rectified somewhat due to the fact that the GX9 can be charged by a micro usb cable [battery can remain in the camera], so the use of an external power source is an option [like a power bank / battery pack]. Albeit, a heavier one than purchasing a backup / second battery. Is this still a good camera today? Without a doubt, yes. Check out the video "Panasonic GX9 Long Term Review" below.
Other than lenses [see a list of compatible lenses here: https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/gx9.html], there's also some other add-ons available like the MW-EC5 Eyecup, which offers more comfort and less light leakage, and the DMW-HGR2 Hand Grip. Add to that also the many full and half cases available for the GX9.
