Marc Garman

Ay Caramba. Lovely and very expensive (worth it?) stills camera...looks like a total video fail though. The Nikon D5200 Andrew reviewed recently shoots far better video unless there was some problem rendering the Leica footage or etc. Why Leica chose Mr. Overgaard (who has an open hatred of video) to shoot this is a bit of a mystery indeed. He does seem to embody the attitude one encounters with a lot of devoted Leica shooters: ALLERGIC TO MOTION. I know Nikon shooters who are the same way, but Nikon seems to be rapidly catching up in the video department...their next generation might give Canon and Panny real competition...and more choice for us!   With the relationship Leica has with Panasonic, wonder if they consulted with Panasonic engineers on the video aspects of this camera? Seems unlikely. But then again my anecdotal impression is that most Leica shooters don't give a damn about video anyhow.    Perhaps Leica should stick with stills. But hell...$seven grand for a body is out of my league anyhow. I'll stick with my hacked GH2 for now...or maybe GH3 in the near future. Even the D5200 might be an interesting cam for a different flavor and a lot of bang for the buck.   Thanks again Andrew for all the work keeping the blog going. Look forward to your GH3 review! 

Sound sound sound has always been a consistent weakness with dslr and ilc cameras etc. Here's are a couple ideas a little outside the box...and probably total fantasy, but would be great 1) Get rid of that sub-mini microphone jack. Really weenie! and put a 3.5 mm (This is the obvious improvement) 2) Integrate a mic input and audio out into or near the hot shoe while keeping the (new) 3.5 mm jack as well 3) Create an adapter/extender for the hotshoe that will have a 3.5 mm jack AND a headphone jack for monitoring with a cold shoe on top for a mic. OR 4) A battery grip that serves as a battery grip and also plugs into an audio interface on the underside of the camera and allows 1 or 2 XLR inputs and a headphone jack. Sort of a modular approach that would keep size down when you want to shoot light or naked (Not you. the camera.) Also...peaking would be lovely. I shoot a lot of news and chaos with my GH2. The shimmery thing the screen does works well for focusing, but when there is chaos, bright sun, smoke from a fire or other distracting factors, peaking would still be helpful. Example of chaos: http://youtu.be/M5Eb1ijszNg