Deal | Panasonic full-frame compact camera with IBIS gets $400 off in Amazon deal but there's a catch
The Panasonic Lumix S9, for all its flaws, is an impressively compact full-frame camera, delivering the image quality, light gathering capability, and bokeh associated with the bigger sensors in a bod smaller than many Micro Four Thirds cameras. It's often seen as a pocketable full-frame camera — when paired with the correct lens — that can pull double duty as an everyday-carry travel photography and videography hybrid camera.
At the time of writing, the Lumix S9 is on sale at Amazon, with a 27% discount slashing the price by over $400 to $1,097.99. The only catch is that this deal is only available for the pink Sakura colourway if you want the body-only deal. There is a sizeable 20% discount on the black body, and the vintage-styled red colourway can be had for $1,497.99 with an 18–40 mm kit lens.
Panasonic Lumix S9 specs and feature highlights
As mentioned previously, the Lumix S9 is largely intended as a hybrid camera for social media creators, travel photographers and videographers, and a compact camera for people who like to have something more powerful than a smartphone camera at all times. Compared to the Sony ZV-E10 II we reviewed not too long ago, the Lumix S9 is just 5 mm longer and taller and more than 7 mm thinner.
Lumix S9 basic specs:
- Sensor: 24.2 MP, full-frame BSI CMOS
- Lens mount: L-Mount
- Dimensions: 126 × 73.9 × 46.7 mm
- Autofocus: AFS, AFC, with subject tracking and recognition for humans, animals, cars, and motorcycles
- IBIS: 5-stop, 5-axis in-body image stabilisation, extendible to 6.5 stops with Dual I.S lenses
The Lumix S9 is also intended to bridge the gap between more basic smartphone photography and video and more advanced use cases. As such, it has a number of built-in features, like the Real Time LUT, which allow photographers to define presets to apply to the images they take in-camera, eliminating much of the need for editing and post-processing — much like Fujifilm's film simulations.
In terms of video features, the Lumix S9 is capable of recording 6K and 4K open-gate video at up to 30 fps, with frame rates going as high as 120 fps in a dedicated slo-mo mode.
With much of the Lumix S9's feature-set aimed at those just starting down the path of photography with a "proper" camera, it also has a number of convenience features, like the ability to wirelessly connect to smartphones using a Wi-Fi connection and the Lumix Lab app. There's also an automatic transfer feature that sends photos and videos to your smartphone gallery as you shoot. You can also use the app to create and download LUTs for use with the dedicated LUT button on the camera.
The biggest criticisms levelled at the Lumix S9 are its lack of a hot shoe and EVF, with image previews left to a 3-inch, 1.8 M-dot, articulating OLED display. The display is touch-enabled, making it a familiar experience compared to the smartphones it's meant to replace. There's also the lack of a physical shutter that will somewhat limit image quality when photographing and recording fast-moving subjects — although reviews reveal that this is only an issue in certain circumstances.
Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.
