A few thoughts from PMA

[Terry]

I played with the GH1 and 14-140 today. Really aside from the new video buttton you really wouldn't know that it is any different. OK, time to lose credibility but I liked the gold (champagne colored) body.

I don't know anything about video so I'm not really equipped to do any evaluation of it. I think it will take people some practice zooming while shooting. I know I wasn't particularly steady.

The 14-140 feels pretty good. As you can imagine it is larger than the 14-45 probably about as long as the 45-200. The difference is it wider and takes a 62mm thread not a 52 like the first two lenses. It focuses quietly and fast. I put it on my G1 and took some shots. I will look through them when back in SF and post what I can.

Yes, they had a Leica M adapter mock up there. Not clear and they weren't saying when or IF it would be available. I was told if they launch an adapter, you can be sure they will sort out the issues about blurred corners on wide angle lenses.

They know people want the 20mm lenses. A coulp of people who were there were surprised they did the 7-14 first. I could not play with the 7-14mm

They read the forums and know all of the "scoop" on the camera and lenses being used. This includes the engineers.

Finally, I think Panny has to figure out who the camera is for. Surely they want to market to that demographic of women thy show in their ads but both Guy and I agree that other than iA mode the camera has an awful lot of stuff that can make it very confusing for someone with a little bit of knowledge that want to learn more. Message received and I got from that conversation was look for new cameras or software to address the issue.

Ok toooo long for iPhone and I'm falling asleep. More later.

 

[Brian Mosley]

Hi Terry,

did you get any idea of the high ISO IQ? is the CDAF improved?

did you discuss speed/ease of MF assist?

Just interested in whether the message is getting through...

Kind Regards

Brian

 

[Terry]

High ISO IQ:
I don't have a precise answer. I can relay this. They definitely say there is something going on before A/D conversion. I don't know specifics. I know the guys I were speaking to said the engineers looking at the output at pixel level can pick out which camera was used (G1 vs GH1).

CDAF improvement I didint have any problem quickly getting focus with the GH1. My lighting wasn't gear or bad.

I will say there were a couple of times with the Oly 620 and kit really hunted where it went all the way of of focus and then one didn't come back and the other time did manage to get focus.

Next up we stopped at Sony and played with the speedy A900.

However, I walked away from the DP2 after holding up the camera about 10 time to get focus and just said this is waaay to slow. My comment to guy was "I can pick up the G1 focus then pick up the Oly and focus and almost pick up my M8 and manually focus it before the DP2 is finishing. Even if they say 25% increase in time it was still slowww.

Finally, when I asked the question about firmware for manual focus the one guy know exactly what I was talking about and clearly knew we asked for something seemed to explicitly know what was suggested. It left me without a final answer but feeling positive.

 

[monza]

Impressive posts for iPhone and thanks for the info. I have a sneaking suspicion the GH1 is going to have some neat tricks for still photography...there is some serious processing power in that package.

 

[Diane B]

Really interesting Terry. I like first person views.

I agree with you and Guy about who its marketed toward--right now the message received from the advertising and then the camera and future lenses themselves seems rather schizophrenic--or at least the understory of the marketing. I mean by that--the somwhat complicated usage of the G1 (for a newbie) and the intro of the GH1 with its seeming appeal to the videographers and hybrid users with a good bit of knowledge--and the actual advertising. I can't wait to see how they'll handle this in the future--as you say, perhaps another camera, software to address it.

Diane

 

[LizaWitz]

Thanks very much for the first hand account!

Were the Zoom and Focus rings on the GH1 easy to turn, or stiff?

 

[wjlapier]

Thank-you for your impressions and for asking questions we're interested in. All from an iPhone--cool.

I'd like to know more about the af in the lens and zooming while making a video. That is a feature that will sell me on the new G1.

 

[Terry]

Hi Liza,
I actually sent you an email with a picture of the boom mike as I'm not sure there were any pictures posted where it is tilted and not just flat.

The focus ring and zoom are easy to move however I'm not sure how steady I could hold the camera that is recording a video and zoom at the same time while avoiding motion from the zooming. I don't do video so I'm not the best resource for that but I'm thinking maybe a monopod would give some camera support to make it easier to zoom while shooting a video. It would allow one hand to be on the monopod while the the other is using the zoom.

The AF in the lens is meant to be able to continually autofocus while you are shooting. There is also focus tracking so you can pick what you want to make sure the camera keeps in focus. The new Panny cameras have face recognition and priority. I'm not sure if it is in the G1 but, you can store in the camera the face of a person and make it a priority. When face recognition is on and it "sees" that face, the camera makes that face the priority to keep in focus. If it is there for the GH1 and works as advertised this could be great for parents trying to film their kids. Here is a video clip of the technology....watch the video for the TS1

http://www.imaging-resource.com/EVENTS/PMAS09/PMAS09VIDEO.HTML#

 

[Terry]

Also, here are a couple of shots with the new $10,000 Leica Noctilux (f0.95) on the G1

F2.8
View attachment 13194

Wide open
View attachment 13195


View attachment 13196

 

[Brian Mosley]

Finally, when I asked the question about firmware for manual focus the one guy know exactly what I was talking about and clearly knew we asked for something seemed to explicitly know what was suggested. It left me without a final answer but feeling positive.

Thanks Terry - this is VERY promising!

Kind Regards

Brian

 

[LizaWitz]

I actually sent you an email with a picture of the boom mike as I'm not sure there were any pictures posted where it is tilted and not just flat.

Thanks! It will be interesting to see what the controls on the side of the mic turn out to be...

The focus ring and zoom are easy to move however I'm not sure how steady I could hold the camera that is recording a video and zoom at the same time while avoiding motion from the zooming.

Yeah, wouldn't want to try to do it without bracing... don't think I ever use shots with zooms in them, but will shoot while zooming and cut the zoom out later. Wanted to make sure that turning the zoom wouldn't change the camera position on a tripod, or be too hard to do on a monopod like you suggest--- or using the modo steady setup as a shoulder mount.

The autofocus recognizing faces is great-- if the actor has their face to you. In the G1 there's a mode where you can set it to follow something, even wihtout a face, and it will keep it in focus (like, say, a car)... but that doesn't seem to be implemented in movie mode, for some reason.

Thanks again!