(I have the third Panasonic MFT camera with something like 10 years practice, so I guess I did not make a beginner's mistake)
The last shots I made with my DC-G9 was focus stacking with a tripod, manual focus and a 2s delay (via timer). When I wanted to make a shot today, I turned the dial to normal mode (no timer delay) after I had turned on the camera, and I changed the setting to auto-focus.
That was the introduction, now the problem:
When I make a shot that should have some exposure time like 1/15th of a second, the display goes black for several seconds, like the exposure time was 3-6 seconds. As the problem did not go away, I put on the external flash, but still even more strange:
When I want to shoot, the flash fires, the display goes black gain for a few seconds, and then the flash fires again, and the final shot is made. Absolutely repeatable with the exposure time displayed is 1/60th of a second (So my guess is the fist shot is something different).
When the display is black I see a red dot blinking. I suspect that there are some remainders of focus-stacking active, but in the menu focus stacking is definitely turned off. I'm clueless, sorry.
Here are the EXIF data of the last shot I took:
I:\DCIM\104LXG9_>exiftool -e _1040530.JPG
exiftool -e _1040530.JPG
ExifTool Version Number : 12.08
File Name : _1040530.JPG
Directory : .
File Size : 6.3 MB
File Modification Date/Time : 2022:05:28 14:14:58+02:00
File Access Date/Time : 2022:05:28 00:00:00+02:00
File Creation Date/Time : 2022:05:28 14:14:58+02:00
File Permissions : rw-rw-rw-
File Type : JPEG
File Type Extension : jpg
MIME Type : image/jpeg
Exif Byte Order : Little-endian (Intel, II)
Make : Panasonic
Camera Model Name : DC-G9
Orientation : Horizontal (normal)
X Resolution : 180
Y Resolution : 180
Resolution Unit : inches
Software : Ver.2.6
Modify Date : 2022:05:28 14:14:58
White Point : 0.313 0.329
Primary Chromaticities : 0.64 0.33 0.21 0.71 0.15 0.06
Y Cb Cr Coefficients : 0.299 0.587 0.114
Y Cb Cr Positioning : Co-sited
Exposure Time : 1/60
F Number : 8.0
Exposure Program : Aperture-priority AE
Sensitivity Type : Standard Output Sensitivity
Standard Output Sensitivity : 200
Exif Version : 0231
Date/Time Original : 2022:05:28 14:14:58
Create Date : 2022:05:28 14:14:58
Offset Time : +02:00
Offset Time Original : +02:00
Offset Time Digitized : +02:00
Components Configuration : Y, Cb, Cr, -
Compressed Bits Per Pixel : 4
Exposure Compensation : 0
Max Aperture Value : 2.8
Metering Mode : Multi-segment
Light Source : Cloudy
Flash : On, Fired
Focal Length : 60.0 mm
Image Quality : High
Firmware Version : 0.2.6.0
White Balance : Cloudy
Focus Mode : AF-S
AF Area Mode : 1-area
Image Stabilization : On, Body-only
Macro Mode : Off
Shooting Mode : Aperture Priority
Audio : No
Data Dump : (Binary data 24584 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Flash Bias : 0
Internal Serial Number : XXXXXXXXXXX
Panasonic Exif Version : 0415
Color Effect : Off
Time Since Power On : 00:00:41.03
Burst Mode : Off
Sequence Number : 0
Contrast Mode : Low
Noise Reduction : Standard
Self Timer : Off (0)
Rotation : Horizontal (normal)
AF Assist Lamp : Enabled but Not Used
Optical Zoom Mode : Standard
Conversion Lens : Off
Travel Day : n/a
Battery Level : Medium
World Time Location : Home
Advanced Scene Type : 1
Faces Detected : 0
JPEG Quality : High
Color Temp Kelvin : 6300
Bracket Settings : No Bracket
WB Shift AB : 0
WB Shift GM : 0
Flash Curtain : 1st
Long Exposure Noise Reduction : On
Panasonic Image Width : 0
Panasonic Image Height : 0
AF Point Position : 0.48 0.5
Num Face Positions : 0
Lens Type : OLYMPUS M.60mm F2.8 Macro
Lens Serial Number : XXXXXXXX
Accessory Type : NO-ACCESSORY
Accessory Serial Number : 0000000
Lens Firmware Version : 0.1.2.0
Faces Recognized : 0
Title :
Baby Name :
Location :
Country :
State :
City :
Landmark :
Intelligent Resolution : Standard
HDR Shot : Off
Burst Speed : 0
Intelligent D-Range : Standard
Clear Retouch : Off
City 2 :
Photo Style : Standard or Custom
Shading Compensation : On
WB Shift Intelligent Auto : 0
Accelerometer Z : 236
Accelerometer X : -12
Accelerometer Y : 106
Camera Orientation : Normal
Roll Angle : -3.5
Pitch Angle : -24.2
WB Shift Creative Control : 0
Sweep Panorama Direction : Off
Sweep Panorama Field Of View : 0
Timer Recording : Off
Internal ND Filter : 0
HDR : Off
Shutter Type : Hybrid
Filter Effect : Expressive
Clear Retouch Value : undef
Touch AE : Off
Monochrome Filter Effect : Off
Highlight Shadow : 0 0
Time Stamp : 2022:05:28 12:14:58
Video Burst Resolution : Off or 4K
Multi Exposure : Off
Red Eye Removal : On
Video Burst Mode : Off
Diffraction Correction : Auto
Focus Bracket : 0
Long Exposure NR Used : Yes
Post Focus Merging : Post Focus Auto Merging or None
Video Preburst : No
Lens Type Make : 0
Lens Type Model : 12 10
Sensor Type : Standard
ISO : 200
Monochrome Grain Effect : Off
Time Lapse Shot Number : 0
Maker Note Version : 0155
Scene Mode : Off
Highlight Warning : No
Dark Focus Environment : No
WB Red Level : 2375
WB Green Level : 1024
WB Blue Level : 1840
Text Stamp : Off
Baby Age : (not set)
Sub Sec Time : 028
Sub Sec Time Original : 028
Sub Sec Time Digitized : 028
Flashpix Version : 0100
Color Space : Uncalibrated
Exif Image Width : 3888
Exif Image Height : 3888
Interoperability Index : R03 - DCF option file (Adobe RGB)
Interoperability Version : 0100
Sensing Method : One-chip color area
File Source : Digital Camera
Scene Type : Directly photographed
Custom Rendered : Normal
Exposure Mode : Auto
Digital Zoom Ratio : 0
Focal Length In 35mm Format : 141 mm
Scene Capture Type : Standard
Gain Control : Low gain up
Contrast : Normal
Saturation : Normal
Sharpness : Normal
Gamma : 2.2
PrintIM Version : 0250
Compression : JPEG (old-style)
Thumbnail Offset : 30208
Thumbnail Length : 5983
About : uuid:d874e788-25f8-4d1d-947a-6e77822b5d6a
Rating : 0
MPF Version : 0100
Number Of Images : 2
MP Image Flags : Dependent child image
MP Image Format : JPEG
MP Image Type : Large Thumbnail (full HD equivalent)
MP Image Length : 573435
MP Image Start : 6057984
Dependent Image 1 Entry Number : 0
Dependent Image 2 Entry Number : 0
Image Width : 3888
Image Height : 3888
Encoding Process : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample : 8
Color Components : 3
Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling : YCbCr4:2:2 (2 1)
Sample Stills from a Video showing rather exact Timing
(With only two hands I held the smart phone in one hand to record a video, and the camera in the other hand to make a shot. So forgive the poor quality; specifically the smart phone ran out of focus when the display was black)
I extracted significant point in time from the video that got timing code "burned in" for timing reference.
First here is the display immediately before the shot (button down):
Then comes the "dark phase" with just a blinking dot about 1/10s after starting the exposure:
Next frame was captured immediately before the shot being made is displayed:
Eventually the shot being made:
Note that the shot is terrible and I blacked out my own ugly reflection on the display (as the smartphone "gained up" on the black display), but there was nothing else to be seen.
Finally note that the black display is not long-time noise reduction, because in that case a text message would be displayed on the otherwise black screen.
The blue you see in the pre-shot display is the "focus peaking".
For your convenience I'll also decode the relevant display info:
- *A is Aperture mode
- STD. is the standard film mode
- (no flash)
- (Video mode)
- 16:9 format, medium resolution with the option for lossless digital zoom
- high quality JPEG encoding
- AFS is "Autofocus Single" (non-following)
- square focus area (green box)
- battery rather low
- PEAK H Focus Peaking enabled
- (shaking hand) long exposure time warning (steady hand required)
- GPS, (bluetooth symbol): Camera will try to get GPS info from smartphone via bluetooth
- multi-zone exposure measurement
- 2.8 is aperture
- 30 is 1/30s exposure time
- ±0 is exposure compensation
- 200 ISO should be obvious (set manually)
- (cloud) white balance, no cloud storage ;-)
- (two arrows) using two memory cards to save files
- r82 (so so): That's odd; it should be the number of shots remaining; should be a number like 771 actually, but as it is a video, there may be things visible for a fraction of a second that the eye won't notice.
The last still (4) shows that the image is saved to memory card 1.
