GH2 impressions

[Tesselator]

Just to mention: The system I used belonged to a camera salesman here in Japan. Good photographer too. Everything was already set up with any adjustments that were needed - if any were. The AF was flawless but I shot 1/2 the time in MF anyway because I am usually better than any AF system - for most kinds of photography. The OVF was superb. The K5's DR and colors were just simply stunning! This is a camera I could shoot all day with and at the end of the day not have to do almost anything in post. And that's probably the biggest difference between most cameras (worth considering) to those proficient in post processing - the time spent in post.

 

[Rich M]

placing you camera on a tripod and pointing it at this image displayed on your monitor or printed will allow you to dial in the focusing. The AF sensor will lock onto this pattern exceptionally well:

...and you won't even have to go outside.


.

Oh my GOD.......this reminds me of MY 1960's x-country bus ride.

I think......

R

 

[Tesselator]

Oh my GOD.......this reminds me of MY 1960's x-country bus ride.http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/images/editor/menupop.gif

I think......

R

Naw, needs more colors and some paisley.

Oh, wait, that was my bus ride...

 

[Sapphie]

Hmn, what a spooky image ... Never thought of taking pics from my computer monitor. Anyway, initial impressions are are that my 43 ltd on my K5 is back focusing. Totally unscientific tests show (by focusing on a web page showing Steve Huff's review) that I need to dial in +5 or so for it to be right. With that, my cat's left eyeball is pretty sharp at ISO 3200 in low light tungsten environment. With 0 compensation the cushion on her favourite chair is sharper than her eyeball. I shall 'go figure'.

More to come; I will get the tripod out and test the kit kens too but at the moment the K5 looks like it might be staying - I would say that the camera is quite superb if I could be confident about the focusing. My instincts are that the kit lens is front focusing. Maybe I have a sub-par K5 body. I will report back, it may be a few days though ...

Sorry - I know this is a GH2 thread. Not meaning to be hijacking it.

Anyway, take this as a frivolous endeavour so far - as I have tunsgten lighting, no doubt, reflecting off the screen, and I was bracing myself on the back of a chair rather than using a tripod. More 'scientific', or at least 'controlled', tests to come.

So maybe 'faffing about' (as I put it earlier) is worthwhile after all ...

Lee

 

[RichA]

Here some of the first shots I took in Shanghai tonight, decided to do this as video export from LR3.3 - not highest quality because of compression, but I can assure you the RAW files are!

Anyway I hope it gives you a feeling about what you can do with that camera. And YES, it is small and light enough to carry around.

I start to love that camera. Most of the night scenes were shot at ISO3200.

Enjoy

http://gallery.me.com/ptomsu#100021

Peter

Only Apple would require you to download and install software to view a web-resident video. What a company...

 

[Leica 77]

placing you camera on a tripod and pointing it at this image displayed on your monitor or printed will allow you to dial in the focusing. The AF sensor will lock onto this pattern exceptionally well:

...and you won't even have to go outside.


.

Hi Tesselator,
OMG! This reminds me of a stay at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Carmel in the 1960s.

 

[Amin]

Try and look into the screen, about 1 foot behind it, and there is a message there!

 

[jonoslack]

Try and look into the screen, about 1 foot behind it, and there is a message there!

Doesn't work for me - I even tried a tab, and it still didn't work . . is my AF system buggered?

 

[emr]

placing you camera on a tripod and pointing it at this image displayed on your monitor or printed will allow you to dial in the focusing. The AF sensor will lock onto this pattern exceptionally well...

Provided you're not pulling a leg here, how exactly is that pattern supposed to be used in the AF fine tuning? I assume shooting straight in to the display instead of at an angle like on some paper made tuning helps? And do the aliasing artefacts tell me somehow whether my camera's front or back focusing?

 

[biglouis]

My take on the GH-2 after owning it for 24 hours and upgrading from a GF-1.

No surprises: well built, light, good ergonomics, easy to understand controls without using the manual(!).

Improvements: EVF is amazing - my only experience to date is the add on EVF for the GF-1 but this one is like looking through an optical viewfinder. In fact, I would go so far as to say the optical viewfinder is dead. Like the additional contril buttons like the dedicated AF select and focus knob. Much better balanced in the hand than the GF-1 - possibly because of the grip.

The proof is in the pudding. If you click through to my Flickr stream then you can pixel peep at the full size images.

Processing: imported RW2 into LR3.3, cropped to get similar area, adjusted white balance to clock face, then transferred to CS3 to be changed to 8-bit jpeg. Resized by Flickr. No additional sharpening or other post processing.

The GH-2 capture was taken today but the other two were taken some time in 2008 and 2009.

GF-1 Lumix 20 f2 iso200 1/40

GH-2 Lumix 20 f2 iso400 1/100

Leica M7 Fuji Pro400H lux-35-asph - probably f1.4

 

[ptomsu]

@biglouis

Great proof of the advancements and improvements! Nothing to add!

I am still VERY happy with the GH2!

 

[deckitout]

louis
Glad your enjoying the GH2
So is the GH2 EVF a big improvement over the G1. I thought the VF2 on the EP2 was superb

 

[ptomsu]

Here some more shots from Nanjing using the GH2 with 14-140. I have set the iISO instead of AutoISO and this works that way that the camera tries to keep ISO as low as possible (in a somehow intelligent way). I was pretty happy with the results again and had actually NEVER failing AF, although the 14-140 is a not too fast lens and sometimes light was really bad!

I meanwhile am using all the 3 Custom Modes (filled with presets I like) and almost exclusively the EVF, which tells how good it is!

The las one is Konfuzius in the Konfuzius temple and this was at almost no light, but AF and everything else just worked like a rocket!

I meanwhile cannot thing of any better alround travel camera.

 

[biglouis]

louis
Glad your enjoying the GH2
So is the GH2 EVF a big improvement over the G1. I thought the VF2 on the EP2 was superb

I can't compare the EVF with the G1 as I've never owned/used one. All I can say is that the EVF in natural light is, to me, like looking through an optical viewfinder.

LouisB

 

[ptomsu]

I can't compare the EVF with the G1 as I've never owned/used one. All I can say is that the EVF in natural light is, to me, like looking through an optical viewfinder.

LouisB

The EVF of the EP2 was (is) MUCH better compared to the EVF of the GH1.

The EVF of the GH2 is another big step forward, as it not only increases quality IMHO, but also produces much less nervous pictures due to its higher refresh rate compared to the older EVFs.

Thus I call the EVF in the GH2 stellar!

Is there no room for improvement? Sure there always is and a pro camera would need an even better EVF (again more MP and larger image) I would say. But for now I can live with that EVF as it is in this type of camera very comfortable and this was never before the case with any other EVF (and camera combination).

Hope that clarifies things ....

 

[kit laughlin]

Peter,

Thanks: excellent user's review. I still have the G1 and the 20/1.7, but feel that µ4/3rds has legs yet. cheers, kl

 

[deckitout]

Thanks, GH2 is getting tempting

The EVF of the EP2 was (is) MUCH better compared to the EVF of the GH1.

The EVF of the GH2 is another big step forward, as it not only increases quality IMHO, but also produces much less nervous pictures due to its higher refresh rate compared to the older EVFs.

Thus I call the EVF in the GH2 stellar!

Is there no room for improvement? Sure there always is and a pro camera would need an even better EVF (again more MP and larger image) I would say. But for now I can live with that EVF as it is in this type of camera very comfortable and this was never before the case with any other EVF (and camera combination).

Hope that clarifies things ....

 

[kit laughlin]

Is the GH2 body alone for sale anywhere; all the ones I have seen include zooms. TIA, kl

 

[Tesselator]

Kit,
Not until people figure out that they can make money by buying kits and reselling the lens and camera as separate. That was realized and taken advantage of early on here in Japan with the GH1. The Western country peoples still aren't doing it. If they /get it/ on the GH2 there will be body only buy-now auctions like in Japan. Others may know more.

biglouis,
Those comparison images are absolutely 100% meaningless in every single way. They seem to be nothing more than lighting, WB, and aperture differences. The GF1 looks like it was taken at about F/4 or F/5.6 while the GH2 image is clearly around f/16 or so. The focus point for the GF1 image seems to be in front of the clock while the GH2 was focused on the clock. Camera sensors do not exhibit differences like that. Please don't take this in any kind of personal way tho.. it's just a comment on the images.

ptomsu,
Very cool images! Nice!

 

[Terry]

panasonic.com in the US sells body only. It is $899 don't know if they will ship to AU but check and see if Panasonic AU has an online store.

Kit,
Not until people figure out that they can make money by buying kits and reselling the lens and camera as separate. That was realized and taken advantage of early on here in Japan with the GH1. The Western country peoples still aren't doing it. If they /get it/ on the GH2 there will be body only buy-now auctions like in Japan. Others may know more.