After using my Japanese GH1 for over a month, 20,000+ photos, and a few hours of video, I've found it to be a very solid camera / HD camcorder.
Very briefly, some major points I would emphasize about the camera:
- Very easy to use (especially with the auto mode, face detection and continuous auto-focus in video mode). Would be a great camera for someone transitioning into DSLRs from a point and shoot, except its current price is much too high.
- Very good EVF / Live View LCD, though those used to optical viewfinders will not be impressed. They compare very well to camcorder EVF/LCDs, though.
- Would be good for amateur videographers who want interchangeable lenses on a budget (especially if they are also interested in getting into photography).
- HD quality is very good, though there may be a bit of the jelly effect around the edges when panning very quickly, and sensor noise is noticeable in still, low-light shots (less obvious when panning or the subject is moving). I've only noticed the rolling shutter effect in videos I shot in full manual mode (with non-optimal settings), but am not sure it is totally absent in auto mode.
- Sound quality is very good (pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, stereo, 1536 kb/s), though an external mic with a real wind guard will be much better than the built-ins with the software wind-cut.
- The articulating LCD makes composing and shooting shots at different angles much easier and less tiring (e.g. holding the camera at waist-height or putting it on the ground instead of kneeling or lying down).
- Build quality is very good, though the body appears to be sturdy plastic instead of metal, and not everyone will like the texture of the camera (skin oils show well on the black version).
Hundreds of photos: / (if the link does not show, search for user "retroleum" on Flickr)
My much more in-depth review: (if the link doesn't show, visit blog [dot] lucylou [dot] info and search for "GH1 review")
Date:
2010-05-05 - 09:18:25
Author:
R. Alorro
Rating:
Excellent Camera
As a videographer, I obviously did not buy this camera for it's still photo capability. It was most certainly for it's 1080/24 and 720/60 video functionality. And let me tell you, it is awesome. Many have reported about the "mud" that you receive when shooting 1080/24 because of the AVCHD codec. I have seen this but only when I was shooting with a fast shutter because I was out in bright daylight. But when I switched to 1/30 and stepped up my aperture setting the video seemed to look fine even during fast pans.
No live video or audio monitoring. But this was never meant to be a prosumer camera so what do you expect for only $1500. However, these are certainly things that Panasonic can fix with a firmware upgrade. The only thing I question may be it's low light performance. But even at ISO 1600, the noise to me is much more tolerable than the noise that my old DVX100 would get even though you probably could see more with the DVX100 in the same low light conditions.
But I would not attribute the low light performance to the camera but to the slow kit lens it comes with. However, that doesn't mean this kit lens is a bad one. It still is pretty good because it is very quiet when it auto focuses and the OIS stabilizer is pretty darn good too. Oh yeah, it's a 10 zoom lens so its 140 mm focal length gets you pretty good shallow depth of field, which is something that many older prosumer video cameras (such as my DVX100) could not do.
Bottom line is I am a very happy camper with Panasonic's Lumix GH1. Hopefully, my second one comes in soon because I have a couple of gigs in which I'll need a B camera.
