Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
On October the 8th Panasonic had a new live-stream where they announced a new kit lens for the S9 and the long awaited firmware update 1.1.
Panasonic Lumix S 18-40mm f/4.5-6.3 lens – new kit lens for S9
The new 18-40mm full frame lens for L-mounts is a compact small zoom lens designed as a kit lens for the Panasonic S9. Despite being a kit lens, it is well constructed, weighs only 155g, has a collapsible design and is partially weather-sealed. It does not have image stabilization, the only “button” is a AF/MF switch with a smooth operating manual focus ring.
Its retail price is around 500$/500€ which might be a bit steep for such a slow lens – other faster L-mount prime lenses might be a better choice for vloggers/content creators.
Panasonic Lumix S9 new firmware ver. 1.1
The new firmware (ver.1.1) for Lumix S9 brings one major update that has been asked for by the Lumix S9 community – the recording restrictions can be now turned off in the menu! This is a huge update, frankly this option should have been present since the release of the S9, as recording restrictions (10, 15 and 20 minutes, depending on resolution) on a camera targeted for vloggers/content creators is a letdown and was an additional reason for the poor first impressions of this camera. With this new update, you can go into the menu and turn off the restrictions manually – by default they are still present.
From the initial tests done by some content creators, it seems that Panasonic has been overly cautious with the recording restrictions, as the recording times in 6K open gate and 4K 24/25/30 are well over an hour, at room temperature, in studio conditions. At 4K 60 the tests did show that the camera shut down after 50 minutes, but still that is more than 3 times the recording limit. All in all, this was something the community wanted and Panasonic implemented, which will make this camera more viable for many potential buyers.
The other welcomed feature is that you can have up to 3 frame markers at a time, which is partially useful when shooting in 6K open gate, so you can frame your shots precisely for 16:9, vertical and other useful ratios. The markers are not fixed and can be moved in the frame, optimal for precise creative composition.
The last update to the autofocus, where enhanced AF detection modes have been added (you can choose which part the camera will focus on) as well as additional detection modes for airplanes and trains.
The Lumix Lab app has also been updated with new features: remote shooting, shutter remote control and transferring images selected on camera.
New S9 colors!
Panasonic just announced on their blog that starting in November 2024, the S9 will be available in 9 nine bold, vibrant colors which are: Smokey white, Sakura Pink, Orange, Mint Green, Crimson Red, Dark Olive, Dark Silver, Jet Black, and Night Blue.
On their livestream they did mention that some of the newer colors would be available only in a certain region – with the Mint green and Sakura Pink available for North America – which seems a bit odd and has received negative feedback from the Lumix community. In their blog post, they also mentioned that you will be able to easily swap skins, for a small fee, and that more information on how to change the skins will be available closer to launch. So in November there will be a color revolution for the S9.
Final thoughts on the S9 updates
It took Panasonic 4 months to release this firmware update, substantially improving the value of this full frame camera. While the pricing is still a bit high, particularly for young content creators, it does provide some excellent features that competitors lack at the moment.
I am looking forward to new firmware upgrades that will make the S9 a perfect camera for vloggers, content creators and still shooters.
