Thursday
Oct222009
The Ballad of the GH1
Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 11:59PM Come and listen to a story about a guy named John,
Likes shooting vids, set to buy a GH1.
The day it showed up he shot some 24p,
And played it back big on his plasma TV.
16:9 that is. Widescreen. High Definition.
Well, the first thing he sees is big nasty blocks,
Color smear and compression knocked off his socks,
Then he tried to edit that 24p,
But transcoding out the pulldown kept him too busy.
3:2 that is. Interlaced. Redundant frames.
John packaged up the GH1 and sent it out the door,
Never got that shallow depth of field, the lens was just f/4.
Couldn’t abide the compression, it was so nasty,
He’d have to look elsewhere for his pocket HD.
Camera that is. Maybe a 7D. Maybe a Scarlet.
Y’all come back Panasonic, y’hear?
Reader Comments (65)
At least the 7D takes decent photos. The same cannot be said for the GH1. I was getting ready to buy one a GH1 and ultimately decided I would be seriously disappointed with it. Now I'm in wait and see mode. I might get a 7D because I can always use it for photos.
You guys slamming the GH1 in the last few posts (not Stu's song, which is funny) are ridiculous! Like every camera, the GH1 has some issues to work through but it does a lot very well. Look around for the broadcast footage being generated from it on the DVX forum, etc. Sheesh! How many of you own the camera?
And one can hand hold a GH1 just fine without the amount of wobble in that torture test.
I don't care about brands, I care about what works for prices that we can afford in Central America. I was interested in the Scarlet Announcement, which was post-poned. I may get a MKII when the firmware update comes, and I would like an EX1 someday. But I have a GH1 instead of a 7D and I'm glad of that choice for a number of reasons. It's a great little camera, in many ways one of the best HDSLRs for video. Mud does not cripple it, and it suffers from less of the other artifacts than the 7D.
Hi, I've actually bought the GH1, putted some adapter for M42 lenses. The result is beautiful and the lenses are cheap, and if you pick the right ones, you can also have quality for an unbeatable price.
About the compression, that is true that it exists. But I actually watched a video projection of a test footage compressed in apple pro res, and it simply looked great on big screen. I'm actually planning to make a feature movie out of the GH1, and I don't care about little glitches. In the times of 16mm movies, the picture wasn't as perfect as 35mm. People watched these movies anyways. I enjoyed dv movies as well on big screen.
I think the compression of the GH1 is very acceptable for the price. I think that as long as the movie is good, people watch.The sound is important too, the actors are important too. no camera has any built-in "make a good movie" button.
I agree with the last poster a lot. Likewise, I bought the GH1 a few weeks ago primarily for video. So far all I can say is it seems to take pretty sweet pictures people go Wow over when I play it back on, for example, an Apple 30"
I'm not crazy about the compression, but realistically, if you start shooting uncompressed, just how much will you be spending for RAID etc. in post anyway. I wanted to go that way but things started getting real expensive--and real complicated for a non-videographer--fast
That said, I have shot stills for years. I am a writer, storyteller--and am interested in doing specific projects, indie films, now.
And with the converter so I can put on my beloved leica M lenses without any added glass...well, they have samples by others on vimeo, and those shots sure look unbelievably sharp to me? Am I missing something? Please, not a sarcastic comment, I am trying to figure out the technology, which is not trivial...so many alternative settings for video, etc.!
The only thing i hate is that the stabilization is not in the body, but hey...if I want it stable buy a stedicam or whatever they call em. Or use a tripod. And just realize that I can't use a leica RF lens when I am walking with the camera...and shooting wildly handheld.
Yes, the lens it came with looks a bit soft to me, but frankly, every zoom I ever used for still photography looked soft to me, cause I am a leica RF purist (or rollei twin lens, ok also)
I also find it a very, very comfortable camera and small, easy to handle discretely, like my old leica RFs. I mean I can stand 2 feet from someone with the little camera running on a strap around my neck and take useable video of someone sitting at a cafe table...and they have no idea the thing is even running. it allows video that has that intimacy that only RF still cameras could get you...not even slrs. Think Eugene Richards. I just wouldn't get that any other way...
As for price...I owned film leicas. It was never about the money...
I bailed on the Sony EX 1 or 3, my other choices for the projects I have in mind mainly because they were big...next thing I know I would be dragging around a 50 pount tripod, tons of batteries, etc etc. and a crew (I don't do a lot of lifting anymore).
I looked at the Canon, but it was heavy, and near as I can tell, won't take my leica lenses without more glass. If you want to get sharp with the gh1 on a budget, you can go voigtlander too.
So am I nuts. Is the gh1 so bad, even though to my eyes, and the folks I play the vids for, they look good. And trust me, I have no idea what I am doing with the fine points of settings, etc. I just turned all that stuff off and shot on manual, like the guy at Abelcine posted to do.
I would appreciate any thoughts...especially about optimal settings...like I said, for me the big weakness is that a zoom lens is soft...and the image stabilization wont work for my leicas...of course with those on, I have managed to turn a $1500 dollar camera into a fully manual SLR, haha, but it is cheaper than a leica body, ain't it?
Yeh Stu I dont know hey , the GH1 is disappointing so is the 7D , I think I found out about the GH1 from you man! And I bought it! But I do still think it runs rings around the 7D for being a video camera.
The truth is nothing out there today is fantastic , but we will all just keep on working with whats there. We have mouths to feed and bills to pay...Hmmm maybe I should get a Mk1 to put beside my 7D and Gh1, dont laugh I probably will
Truth is some clips from all these cams look either great, good or bad...
mmm... I wonder why?
Its on the user end!
Illya: Somewhere I think I heard you say that removing the kit lens and its electronics frees up some processing power in the camera so that it can do a better job compressing the image. True?
For what its worth, I just traded in my GH1 and "upgraded" to the 7D. I am missing the flip out LCD view finder huge time, but other than that, the image quality for what I shoot is vastly superior, and the images do not suck.
That said, a client just got a GH1 + Focus Follow + PLMount rental kit for a shoot and the footage looks really nice, very clean and no mud or compression artifacts to be seen. However, they were shoot very low complexity scenes, with not a lot of fast motion.
The Gh1 is a usable tool in good hands with folks that know the limitations. But im really happy Im on a 7D now, complex, low light stuff looks much nicer, crisper, and with the picture styles you can get a lot of details in out from the image otherwise not available.
Anyway I'm a convert.
Well Stu heres a story about my new 7D
I read the reviews, it was good enough for me
And then one day I was shooting for some food
When the 7D got hot and turned itself off dude.
Overheating ...WTF?
This cant be right?
But thats ok cause I always have a plan
Never leave home unless I have another cam.
Im a little rattled but my families gotta eat
Imagine my face when the other 7D overheats...
Priceless it was , 28 degrees... Celsius....
So the clock is ticking and I really want to run.
Unload my truck and I get an XHA1.
The client is looking as confused as he could be.
To watch me swearing at another 7D.
Video he got.... 1080i..
Cant say I didn't try
:)
My God. It is about content not camera. I have a GH 1 and I love it. I bought it after the 7d became available. I have looked at hours of 7D footage. It all seems to have a yellow cast and most of it is out of focus. The cult of background blur has gone off their meds and are shooting everything out of focus...yea dude but the background is SWEET!
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here is my response.
http://www.vimeo.com/7449911
This is a trailer for my film shot on the GH1. At the risk of sounding arrogant, look at the images and try to tell me the GH1 is not a filmmaker's camera.
Please keep slagging the GH1 off, especially all the uninformed commentators. I have 2x GH1s and am getting plenty of work and respect for the results I make. If everybody knew how good this camera was or how to use it then damn, I might not be doing so well...
I really think you are getting pay from canon now or you misslead people into buying this camera or both, I bought this camera cause it was in your list of needables and now you telling us this, is true the compression format sucks but I still think is a great camera, about the shallow DoF is totaly false cause you can really get any fast primes mount into this camera and get beautifull footage thanks to the vast array of adaptors available for it and even the lens it comes with, is nice if the light is right.
I'm sorry Edgar, which is it now? Did I mislead you into buying the camera or is it a great camera? Because if both things are true, well, then I guess you did alright then.
Hi,
since there is a hack for the GH1 giving it a 70+Mbs mjpg data rate, what do u think about the cam now? Even 1080p seems possible now.