Lumix S9 Review — The Perfect iPhone Upgrade?

Every September, the same conversation happens. Apple drops the new iPhone, everyone talks about the camera, and a significant chunk of the population starts mentally calculating whether this is the year to upgrade.

This year, I opted out. Instead of putting that money towards an iPhone 17 Pro, I bought a Panasonic Lumix S9. And I want to make the case that for a certain type of person, that's actually the smarter call.

What kind of person am I talking about?

You already own a reasonably recent iPhone. The camera on it is genuinely excellent — better than most dedicated cameras were five years ago. But you've started to feel the ceiling. You want a bit more control. A bit more look. You shoot video as well as stills, and you've noticed that "cinematic" is harder to fake on a phone than the ads suggest.

You're not a professional. You're not buying a cinema rig. You want something you can actually carry, that doesn't require a degree to operate, and that produces results that look obviously different from phone footage.

That's exactly the S9's target audience. And it delivers.

The headline spec that matters

The S9 shoots 6K open-gate and records V-Log internally. It has built-in LUT support, which means you can apply a look in-camera and shoot something that already has a filmic quality straight out of the box — without needing to grade in post if you don't want to.

For photographers, it shares the same sensor as the Lumix S5II. So the stills quality is properly there. This isn't a video camera that happens to take photos. It's a genuine hybrid.

The no-EVF debate

The S9 doesn't have an electronic viewfinder. This is the thing people argue about online, and I want to be honest about it: I don't miss it.

I shoot street photography. I'm not putting the camera to my eye on every shot — I'm often shooting from the hip, checking the flip screen, using the S9 the way most people actually use compact cameras. The EVF omission is what keeps this thing light. It's what makes it pocketable (almost). That trade-off is worth it for me.

If you're a stills shooter who shoots primarily through the viewfinder, this might not be your camera. But if you're a hybrid shooter or a video-led creator, the EVF was never your priority anyway.

As a travel camera, it's hard to beat

I've been running the S5II as my main body for a while now, and the S9 slots in beautifully as a B-camera and a walk-around companion. On a trip where I'm shooting run-and-gun — street, travel, a bit of vlogging — I don't want to carry the S5II all day. The S9 is the camera I actually have with me.

Size matters more than people admit. The best camera is the one you bring.

So — is it the perfect iPhone upgrade?

It depends on what you're upgrading from and what you're upgrading for.

If you want a better selfie camera and smoother integration with your apps, buy the iPhone. No camera will beat it for convenience.

But if you want to step meaningfully up in image quality, gain serious video chops, and own something that you'll still be shooting on in five years — the S9 is a much better investment than a phone upgrade. The gap between a two-year-old iPhone and the new one is genuinely marginal. The gap between any iPhone and a full-frame mirrorless with V-Log is not.

I haven't looked back.

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I use affiliate links where I can — if you're thinking about picking one up, the S9 is here. Doesn't cost you anything extra, and it helps keep the lights on.