Panasonic G9 - La review

“ 1. There is some pincushion regardless of the EVF size, but it is minor and I don't see it in any way outweighing the quality of the EVF. I have recently been using an A7r3 and the quality of this EVF is (to me) subjectively better; colour, contrast and sharpness particularly (also, on the A7riii when acquiring focus the EVF noticeably went lower quality - this has not been reported, but it was obvious and annoying when I used it, and it did so way, more than the G9). The A7riii did not have the pincushion, and that was subtly noticeable as better in comparison, (because I am looking and because people have mentioned it) but I would rather have the overall EVF and the pincushion of the G9, than the A7r3 EVF.

2. The eyecup optics do cause some blurring at the extreme corners if you eye is not as close to the EVF as possible, but it is in your peripheral vision and I don't notice it - for me it blurs with my natural limits of my vision as I get anyway. To say it is blurred in the corners is a bit like saying "if I concentrate I can see my nose and the sides of my eye socket in my vision". You just don't think about it.

3. To labour the point of '2' it is not caused by the EVF but my the optics in front if it - you can tell because if you move the EVF to have more of the corner in your vision you see more of the distortion. Going to the smallest EVF size removes all the distortion (with me), the middle has a tiny bit less. But at the full size, the EVF is so huge it is less like looking through an EVF more looking through your own eyes with less peripheral vision (or a black perepheral vision).

4. The amount of distortion depends on how closely you put your eye to the EVF. If I really squeeze my eye to the EVF I cannot see any distortion, even when moving the EVF (unless I make the corner take up half of the view, which is silly).

5. Dunno if it is a plastic optic or not, but I think - though don't know - that if this could have been 'solved' with better optics they would have been very advanced. But, dunno if it could have been, in a cost effective way and I do not think there is anything to solve.

In summary, if this puts your off the EVF and you think the Em-1 ii EVF is a better bet, you are bonkers (I have owned the EM 1 ii and the G9 EVF is a generational leap).

Is it perfect? No. But in my view it is sigificantly better than the EM 1 ii EVF and marginally better - to a useful degree - than the A7r3 EVF. If you hate any pincushion or distortion at extreme edges you might be a bit disappointed, but my instinctive response to the EVF was "wow this is like IMAX, compared to a normal cinema".

p.s. I'll add it to the initial impression thread, but the G9 is superblywell built; like an Em1 ii without the slightly wobbly door, and the best Panasonic buttons ever „

“ I have mine for three weeks now. I don't see the issue about smearing. Actually it's one of the sharpest EVF's I have seen so far (I've seen a few and was an EVF hater). Other reviews also mention this sharpness. It's so sharp that you can actually see lens flaws easily.

With the 12-60 you tried you can actually see in the EVF how much less sharp this lens is in the extreme corners at open aperture. So don't blame the EVF too fast.

The slight pincushion distortion is there, but it's personal I guess whether or not it bothers you. I don't mind when I'm looking at the actual image, which looks fantastic.

And finally it is good to realize that all view finders (OVF and EVF) are designed to produce an optimal image only from the ideal viewing position. That's dead center and eye close to the rear lens. When wearing glasses the image already deteriorates and when moving your head/eyes relative to the viewfinder all kinds of aberrations can become visible.

If I look for instance through the OVF of my FF DSLR and move my head I introduce vigneting, darkening and chromatic aberration at the edges of the screen. So I guess viewfinders have their limitations. „