Panasonic DMC-GH1 - The Holy Grail?

[bdrake529 0]

Was told about the GH1 this past weekend by a guy who's got a lot of experience with professional photography/broadcast video and he claimed that it is the dream-come-true, an HD video camera that takes 12mp stills (or a 12mp still cam with HD video, depending on your perspective).

I don't know squat about stills, and not much about what makes a quality video cam, so looking through the specs online, I can only take his word for it.

He said, from personal experience, that the video is the quality of the RED camera, since Panasonic also makes the chip for that camera, so it's high-end video and high-end stills all in one unit.

It's $1500, but that's bound to come down eventually and if it performs as he claimed, that seems like a reasonable price.

Anyone have any first-hand experience with this? Any comments on the specs? Any counter-arguments to the "the all-in-one solution has arrived" claim?

Brian Drake

[DSE 5]

Damn, that was GOOD!
To suggest it's the quality of the RED Mysterium because the same plant makes that chip?

RED is a 12 bit logarithmic color grade stored as RAW data coming from a 1" Bayer'd imager. Then there is the Mysterium X.
Anyway...the GH1 is merely Panasonic's answer to Canon's 7d. It's the same recording format, same bitrate, same everything for the most part with inferior glass.

The compression alone is significantly different from the RED. It's AVCHD. No first-hand experience, outside of a LOT of experience with AVCHD and a lot of experience with RED. It ain't just the megapixels, and that's probably the point of ignorance from where your friend comes.
It ain't just about the compression either, but that's a huge part of the topic. It isn't just about the sensor either, but that's a big part of the topic.
Simply put, you trade bandwidth for speed, and speed for quality. That's before we talk about sensors, glass, quality of compressors.

Ford makes bottom end cars, and top end Formula One racers. A 5k gas-saver isn't a Formula One car simply because the manufacturer is the same. Panasonic doesn't make the Mysterium, the same manufacturer provides imagers to both companies.

Panasonic is GREAT at hype, no one better, but this is the best I've heard. Ever.
An "all in one solution" won't arrive for a long, long time for reasons of glass, relationship of glass and sensor, relationship of pixel addressing and compression hardware, compression formats, storage speeds, and heat distribution.

[PhreeZone 20]

I won't touch the Red topic but its either Stills or video mode, you can't take both at the same time on the camera. The 7D, 5D mkII, Ti1, etc all have this same ability with out being that stupid 4:3 form factor.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[DSE 5]

Then there is that, too.
Plus, the 7d records a true 29.97 video sequence vs 30p/slow animation that the 5d, T1i, etc shoot.

[bdrake529 0]

Well, that's why I posted here instead of dropping $1500.

When someone I just met speaks with an authoritative tone about a subject I have very little knowledge about, I'm not going to call them a liar to their face. Of course I'm not going to just blindly take their word for it either.

So I checked here and since I know you know what you're talking about, Spot, I take it that either enthusiasm led to some embellishment, or my new friend was also speaking from some ignorance.

And though I appreciate the Ford analogies for us dumb folk, I'm not so simple-minded to think that since Panasonic makes the GH1 and the chip for the Red, they must be the same. I should have clarified in my post. He was claiming it was the SAME chip made by Panasonic for both.

Are you saying I can't outswoop a Velo with my Navigator? They're both made by PD.

Brian Drake

[g3ninfinite 0]

so is the 7d perfect for an all in one action cam?

[PhreeZone 20]

Once again, the 7D will either shoot video or shoot stills - It can not do both at the same time. If you want to make the last second decision to swap from video to stills in the plane then something like this might work but for everything else you will need to still use two separate cameras.

The ability to have a video camera that still will shoot 10mp photos on good glass at the same time is years and years off.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[DSE 5]

Quote

Well, that's why I posted here instead of dropping $1500.

When someone I just met speaks with an authoritative tone about a subject I have very little knowledge about, I'm not going to call them a liar to their face. Of course I'm not going to just blindly take their word for it either.

So I checked here and since I know you know what you're talking about, Spot, I take it that either enthusiasm led to some embellishment, or my new friend was also speaking from some ignorance.

And though I appreciate the Ford analogies for us dumb folk, I'm not so simple-minded to think that since Panasonic makes the GH1 and the chip for the Red, they must be the same. I should have clarified in my post. He was claiming it was the SAME chip made by Panasonic for both.

Are you saying I can't outswoop a Velo with my Navigator? They're both made by PD.

I'd say your new friend was mostly speaking from ignorance. Sorry to have sounded so condescending, it's just....outlandishly funny. Panasonic makes some good products, but one thing absolutely, for certainly, positively will tell you is that the Mysterium and Mysterium X imagers aren't found in anything made by Panasonic.
One additional reason that thought would be ludicrous at the most very basic lefel is that Panasonic publically eschews CMOS, and even goes so far as to call their still cams "MOS" vs CMOS, because they solidly are camped in the CCD world, and market themselves heavily in that world, as they're the only ones left making cameras with CCD as a staple. Mysterium/MysteriumX (RED imager) is CMOS, and they're very proud of that fact. In other words, at opposite ends of the same circle.

Lumix series are decent cams, no doubt, but it's still AVCHD at low bitrate, and more importantly, it's still an electronic shutter.
As Phree said, we're a LONG way off (I wouldn't say years and years), from seeing great stills and video from the same cam at the same time.
When you get here, shoot my EX and XDCAM for a few mins. They get HOT and that's just vid. High compression to cards is data phat, and without adding more compression (read-SRaw, etc) we're not going to see this easily happening. And...focal length for good video is also still an issue for the most part (distance between glass and imager). Can't be well done in compact form (yet).

[bdrake529 0]

Blah blah blah.... glad I could give you a reason to geek out, but that's all over my head and beyond my interest

Short answer, my friend doesn't know what he's talking about and now I've got to deny a $1500 charge on my credit card. "B&H? Never heard of them..."

Brian Drake

[g3ninfinite 0]

Hey DSE would you say the d7 shoots video as well as a cx100? I have a ways to go for skydiving video but I do have use for a two in one even if its not at the same time.

[DSE 5]

The 7D shoots better video than the CX100, period. Even with the crappy 18-55 lens. But it's three times as heavy. If your profile is correct, trust me when I say you'd be MUCH better off waiting til after May of 2010.

[g3ninfinite 0]

yeah jumping a camera is still a ways off. That's not what the purchase would initially be for. Something coming out next year that is lighter? Also not to hijack the thread but do you happen to know the model that is supposed to replace the cx100?

[billvon 3,006]

Seems like every year there's a new holy grail. It seemed like only yesterday that the CX100 was the Big New Thing. It can shoot stills through the lens! It's small and light! Solid state storage! It's the all in one solution!

At least until the next Big New Thing.

[howardwhite 6]

FWIW.

HW