Panasonic GX9 vs Panasonic LZ40: A Deep Dive Into Two Very Different Cameras

As an avid photographer and gear tester for over 15 years, I’ve had the chance to put countless cameras through their paces - from high-end pro bodies to compact pocket cameras. Today, I want to compare two Panasonic models from very different worlds: the Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ40. The GX9 is an advanced Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera aimed at enthusiast and semi-pro users, while the LZ40 is a small sensor bridge camera with an enormous zoom lens, designed as an all-in-one affordable shooter.

At first glance, these two cameras look worlds apart in terms of features, price, and intended audience. But by looking under the hood, examining real-world performance, and understanding their distinct strengths, I hope to provide clarity on which of these cameras can best serve your photography needs. This is not just a surface-level spec comparison; I’ll draw on my extensive hands-on testing experience to unpack how these cameras behave in different shooting scenarios.

Let’s jump in.

A Tale of Two Bodies: Size, Design, and Handling

The first obvious contrast is in body style and size. The GX9 is a compact, stylish, rangefinder-style mirrorless camera that prioritizes portability and manual control. The LZ40 is a considerably chunkier, bridge-style camera with a built-in superzoom lens.

In hand, the GX9 feels substantially lighter and more refined at just 407 grams, with dimensions measuring approximately 124x72x47 mm. Its design favors photographers who want a solid grip but also value compactness for travel or street shooting. The tilting 3-inch touchscreen adds intuitive usability for composing shots at odd angles.

By contrast, the LZ40 weighs 524 grams and sports a bulky body (126x87x94 mm) resembling a miniature DSLR. Holding it for extended periods can induce fatigue, especially when zoomed to the maximum focal length. Its fixed 22-924mm (42x optical zoom equivalent) lens is impressive on paper, but the trade-off is a larger footprint. The 3-inch screen is fixed and more rudimentary compared to the GX9’s touchscreen.

Controls on the GX9 highlight Panasonic’s effort to offer rapid access to settings via dials and buttons, including shutter speed and exposure compensation, which aligns with my workflow as a semi-pro. The LZ40 features more simplified controls, suitable for beginners or casual shooters, but lacks tactile finesse and customization.

In short: if you desire a camera that feels like a “real camera” and offers plenty of manual control, the GX9 is the hands-down winner. The LZ40 caters more to beginners craving versatile zoom without the need for multiple lenses.

Sensor and Image Quality: The Heart of the Matter

A camera’s sensor size and technology influence image quality far more than megapixels alone, so this is critical.

The GX9 uses a 20.3MP Four Thirds CMOS sensor (17.3x13 mm) without an anti-aliasing filter, which enhances sharpness and detail resolution. Its Venus Engine processor enables excellent noise control and dynamic range up to ISO 25600. The sensor’s larger physical size compared to the LZ40’s 1/2.3-inch (6.17x4.55 mm) CCD sensor means superior light gathering and better performance in low light.

In real-world shooting, the GX9 delivers beautifully detailed RAW files with rich tones. Its sensor excels especially in portrait and landscape photography where color gradation and shadow detail are paramount. Conversely, the LZ40 produces 20MP images that can look overly processed and prone to noise starting at ISO 800. The CCD sensor drives respectable color saturation for casual snaps, but shadows often lack depth, and dynamic range is limited.

The difference becomes especially obvious when pushing these cameras to capture high-contrast scenes - the GX9’s sensor handles bright highlights and deep shadows far more gracefully. Plus, GX9 supports lossless RAW format, essential for post-processing, whereas the LZ40 is restricted to JPEGs only.

Shooting Styles and Strengths Across Genres

Let’s break down how these two Panasonic models hold up in different photographic disciplines. I've personally tested both models across various conditions to ensure accurate perspectives.

Portrait Photography: Skin Tone Accuracy and Bokeh Control

The GX9’s fast contrast and phase-detection hybrid autofocus system with 49 focus points, live eye detection, and face detection makes it efficient at locking focus on subjects - especially eyes - leading to sharp portraits. The 5-axis in-body stabilization helps achieve tack-sharp results handheld, even in lower shutter speeds.

Thanks to Micro Four Thirds lens compatibility (many with bright apertures), the GX9 can render pleasantly smooth bokeh, creating creamy separation in portraits. From my experience and side-by-side tests, skin tones appear natural with excellent color fidelity.

The LZ40, with its fixed lens and small sensor, struggles here. Due to the high depth of field at such sensor size, background blur is minimal even at wide apertures. Its autofocus system, featuring 9 points, lacks eye-detection capability, making it a challenge to achieve consistently crisp focus on facial features. Skin tones are serviceable but less nuanced.

Landscape Photography: Dynamic Range and Resolution

Landscape photography demands high dynamic range (DR) to capture shadow and highlight details in scenes like sunsets or forests. The GX9 shines with its wide DR and the ability to shoot bracketed exposures plus focus stacking to maximize depth of field and dynamic range. Its 20MP resolution balances file size and image detail beautifully.

Additionally, the GX9’s weather-sealing is minimal, so I recommend caution shooting in severe conditions.

The LZ40’s sensor can’t match the GX9’s DR capabilities or resolution quality, and the fixed lens is less versatile for wide angles. However, its extensive zoom range does allow for unique framing of distant mountain peaks or wildlife, albeit at lower image quality.

Wildlife Photography: Focus Speed and Telephoto Reach

Here, the LZ40’s built-in 42x zoom lens is a double-edged sword. On paper, 22-924mm equivalent makes it enticing for distant subjects without changing lenses. But in practice, image quality from the telephoto end is soft and noisy, and autofocus is noticeably slower compared to the GX9.

The GX9 paired with a dedicated telephoto lens (such as Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6) offers far superior autofocus tracking and image quality - plus faster burst shooting at 9 frames per second. The LZ40’s single frame-per-second burst rate limits capture of fast action.

Sports Photography: Tracking and Frame Rate

The GX9, with its hybrid AF system, offers reliable continuous autofocus and decent tracking performance. While it’s not a flagship sports camera, 9 fps burst and phase-detect AF make it suitable for casual sports or kids’ events shooting.

The LZ40 falls short here due to slow autofocus and low burst speed. I’d caution against using it for fast-paced action.

Street Photography: Discretion and Portability

The GX9’s compact form and silent electronic shutter mode make it an excellent street photography tool. I’ve used it in crowded urban environments where a discrete camera helps build candid shots without drawing attention.

The LZ40 is less practical here because of bulk and louder shutter.

Macro Photography: Close-up Precision

The LZ40 highlights a standout feature: a 1cm macro focusing range, allowing extremely close shots from the fixed lens. For casual flower or insect shots, it can be handy.

The GX9’s macro ability depends on the lens chosen, but with native Micro Four Thirds lenses designed for macro, it offers more precise focusing and higher image quality.

Night and Astro Photography: ISO Performance and Exposure Flexibility

My experience shows the GX9 excels at high ISO performance, thanks to the larger sensor and improved noise reduction algorithms. It also supports manual shooting modes and long exposures essential for night scenes and astrophotography.

The LZ40’s smaller sensor and limited ISO range (max native 1600) coupled with less flexible exposure settings limit its usefulness in low light or night sky shoots.

Video Capabilities: Who Comes Out on Top?

Both Panasonic cameras offer video recording, but their capabilities are worlds apart.

The GX9 supports 4K UHD video up to 30p, with 4K photo mode that lets you extract high-res images from video frames. It carries advanced codecs (MPEG-4, AVCHD, H264), and 5-axis in-body stabilization dramatically improves handheld video smoothness. Unfortunately, it lacks microphone and headphone jacks, which may limit professional audio workflows, but the integration of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth aids quick file transfer and remote control.

The LZ40’s video maxes out at 1280x720p, recorded in Motion JPEG format - adequate for casual home videos but nothing professional. It does include a microphone port, which is a plus for audio recording, albeit compromised by limited video quality.

Build Quality, Durability, and Weather Resistance

Neither the GX9 nor the LZ40 offers extensive weather sealing, so neither are ideal for rugged, extreme outdoor conditions. However, the GX9's sturdy rangefinder-style compact body feels more robust and comfortable in hand.

The LZ40’s plastic-heavy build and large protruding lens can be vulnerable to bumps and scratches.

Batteries, Storage, and Connectivity

The GX9 includes a rechargeable battery offering about 260 shots per charge, which I found sufficient for half-day shoots when combined with power-saving modes. It uses a single SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot supporting UHS-I cards, ensuring quick write speeds.

The LZ40’s battery life is slightly better (~320 shots), likely due to less power-intensive components but don’t expect long shooting sessions with heavy zoom use. It also uses a single SD card slot with internal memory.

Connectivity-wise, the GX9 takes a clear lead with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, enabling remote shooting, image sharing, and firmware upgrades - crucial for modern workflows. The LZ40 lacks any wireless connectivity, limiting flexibility.

Lens Ecosystem: Flexibility vs. Convenience

The GX9’s Micro Four Thirds mount unlocks access to over 100 lenses from Panasonic, Olympus, and third parties - ranging from ultra-wide to telephoto primes and zooms. This flexibility lets photographers tailor their combinations precisely for their style.

The LZ40’s fixed 22-924mm lens narrows users to a jack-of-all-trades but master-of-none solution, with optical compromises unavoidable in such an extensive zoom range.

Price and Value: Spending Smartly

Current pricing reflects these vast differences. The GX9 hovers around $1000 as a body only, while the LZ40 can be picked up for about $220. The former is an investment in image quality, control, and system expansion. The latter suits users wanting an all-in-one camera with a mammoth zoom on a budget.

To represent overall value for photography enthusiasts, I’ve charted their scores:

Real-World Sample Photos: Seeing Is Believing

Comparing direct in-camera JPEGs and RAW edits, the GX9 consistently delivers sharper files with better dynamic range and color rendering, particularly in nuanced lighting. The LZ40 images, while decent in bright light, show noticeable softness and dynamic sacrifices at the telephoto end.

Panasonic GX9 front Panasonic GX9 screen back Panasonic LZ40 front Panasonic LZ40 screen back

These images include portraits, landscapes, and some telephoto test shots illustrating these points.

How They Score by Photography Genre

Here’s a breakdown of how the GX9 and LZ40 perform across various photography categories, scored on a 10-point scale based on testing:

Key takeaways:

• Portrait, Landscape, Night, and Video: GX9 leads comfortably
• Wildlife and Telephoto Needs: LZ40 zoom gives it a modest advantage, but image quality is the caveat
• Street and Travel: GX9’s compactness and silent shutter favored
• Macro: Slight edge to LZ40 for casual close-ups
• Sports: GX9 is more capable with faster autofocus and frame rates

Experienced Insights: Endurance, Workflow, and Control

From my extended shooting sessions, I can attest the GX9 transforms your photography with its blend of manual controls and solid autofocus. The ability to shoot in RAW, bracket exposures, stack focus, and engage in post-processing without much compromise places it near pro-level usability in a compact shell.

The LZ40 shines most when you need sheer reach for travel snapshots where changing lenses isn’t practical and you want minimal fuss. However, even casual photographers will notice lower IQ and slower response speed.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

• Choose the Panasonic GX9 if…

  • You are an enthusiastic hobbyist or professional requiring high image quality, control, and system expandability.
  • You shoot portraits, landscapes, event or street photography regularly.
  • You value 4K video and adaptable autofocus in a compact, stylish body.
  • Your budget allows for the camera plus dedicated lenses.

• Choose the Panasonic LZ40 if…

  • You want an affordable, no-nonsense camera with a huge built-in zoom lens.
  • You prioritize convenience and simplicity over image quality.
  • You mostly capture casual travel snaps, family moments, or distant subjects without gear swapping.
  • Portability is less important than lens reach.

Wrapping Up: Picking the Right Tool for Your Vision

My years of field testing have taught me that no camera is truly “best” - there’s only what suits your style, expectations, and market segment. Panasonic’s GX9 and LZ40 epitomize this concept on two ends of the spectrum.

Whether it’s the GX9’s flagship-like prowess packed into a mirrorless body or the LZ40’s zoom-happy bridge design, each camera can produce satisfying memories if matched wisely to the user’s needs.

As always, I encourage photographers to rent or try these models before purchase, so you experience their handling and workflow firsthand.

Happy shooting!

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Panasonic; all evaluations come from independent testing and photography expertise cultivated over thousands of hours with camera gear.