GH1 vs. GH2? What are the pitfalls?

[galenb]

Hi everyone,

I have a chance to pick up a Panasonic GH1 body for $350 (US). I already have lenses from my other cameras so I'll just use an adaptor. I'm wondering what the major differences are between the GH1 and GH2? Is it still a viable choice?

From what I've gathered, the color is a little less saturated and it's not as good in low light. Any other features that I might miss from the GH2?

Also, I noticed that there are not as many patches available for it. Is that just because the GH2 cut off the GH1 patch development or is it because the GH1 isn't as hackable?

Thanks for you help guys, I really appreciate it!

[XXX]

Just a general note: Photokina is starting at the 18th of this month, we´ll most likely see a GH3 there, so GH2 (used or new) prices will fall too.

[galenb]

This is true. However, I'm not so sure I'll be able to get a GH2 for $350 after the show. ;-) I'm sure in time the GH2 will drop in price and the GH1 will come down even more but I have a feeling that wont happen right away. There's even a that this will just be an announcement and then we'll have to wait for 2 or 3 months till it's release. And, there's even a strong chance (from what I've been reading at least) that the GH3 will be more expensive and cause the GH2 to hold it's price for a while. What would be really disappointing is if they also came out with an in expensive replacement for the GF2 that had more of the higher end video features of the GH2. Now that would suck... or I mean, would be cool but would suck for me. ;-)

I did some more research and was able to find out something that's kind of disappointing about the GH1 but not a deal breaker: HDMI out only works for playback. So, no external monitoring for me.


I think I'm just going to do it. Right now I just need to get a camera that shoots better quality movies then my video camera so I can start shooting stuff for myself. I haven't been able to find a GH1 for less then $400 on the internet so I think this a pretty good deal.

Does anyone else have anything to add?

[Zach]

[quote name='galenb' timestamp='1346609652' post='17176']
This is true. However, I'm not so sure I'll be able to get a GH2 for $350 after the show. ;-) I'm sure in time the GH2 will drop in price and the GH1 will come down even more but I have a feeling that wont happen right away. There's even a that this will just be an announcement and then we'll have to wait for 2 or 3 months till it's release. And, there's even a strong chance (from what I've been reading at least) that the GH3 will be more expensive and cause the GH2 to hold it's price for a while. What would be really disappointing is if they also came out with an in expensive replacement for the GF2 that had more of the higher end video features of the GH2. Now that would suck... or I mean, would be cool but would suck for me. ;-)

I did some more research and was able to find out something that's kind of disappointing about the GH1 but not a deal breaker: HDMI out only works for playback. So, no external monitoring for me.


I think I'm just going to do it. Right now I just need to get a camera that shoots better quality movies then my video camera so I can start shooting stuff for myself. I haven't been able to find a GH1 for less then $400 on the internet so I think this a pretty good deal.

Does anyone else have anything to add?
[/quote]

At that price, you really have nothing to lose. It would be a great way to get your feet wet with DSLR video, and if you come to find out you truly just hate it, you can always sell it for the same price or possibly more. Nothing to lose, I say go for it!

[galenb]

Cool, thanks Zach. Yeah, I was just thinking that eventually I'll be getting a more expensive camera at some point (BMCC or something like that) and I'll just keep this as an extra "B" cam.

[Julian]

Sounds like a good deal to me, have fun with it!

[Fly-Catchers]

That was largely filmed using a GH1 looks good to me :)

[url="http://vimeo.com/43625636"]http://vimeo.com/43625636[/url]

[galenb]

Yay! I love Slesicki's work!

[galenb]

I just got it. It's pretty great. I have to figure out though why there is so much rolling shutter in my footage but not in footage that I see on the net. The weird thing is that looking at the screen while in not in record mode, the problem is diminish quite a lot. But as soon as I hit record,it goes all jello vision on me. Also, I've hacked it, cracked it and packed it with high bit rate love from Vitaliy and friends but it's just not giving it up for me. I mean, other then the rolling shutter, the footage looks great... But, looking at it in two different bit rate analyzer programs, the best I ever get it 12-16 Mbps. And I've installed 100 Mbps Max latitude patches! At first I thought it wasn't taking the patches so I loaded up the Anamorphic patch and recored a little bit in MJpeg. Sure enough, there it was after I recorded it; 1920x720. So I know it's at least taking hack. I really don't know what's going on. If anyone knows whats going on please let me know. :-)

[galenb]

Buy the way, I think I may have found out what the issue is with rolling shutter on the GH1. I've read that the faster the frame rate, the less rolling shutter you have. Initially, I thought it was related to shutter speed but the tests I've run show no difference at higher speeds. So I've been looking into it and it seems there might be a high bit rate patch that uses the original 60i>24P wrapper. Or even just shooting in 60i and converting to 24P seems like it will yield better results. I'll let you guys know what happens. I was also thinking of just shooting in PAL @ 50 fps and converting to 25P. It seems like the difference between 24 and 25 is really negligible. Does anyone foresee any issue with that? I'm shooting in the US so I guess there might be issues with light flicker...