Panasonic Talks GH1
Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 3:52PM Digital Photography Review has an epic interview with Mr. Ichiro Kitao, General Manager of Panasonic's DSC Product Planning Group. DPReview asks some good (if gramatically malformed) questions, including "What's the reception been in the camcorder division been to the GH1?" (sic). In general I love DPReview and admire how they ask tough questions when they get these interviews, but there's one point on which I disagree with them:
We're not big fans of the dedicated movie button. Would it be possible to allow the main shutter release to optionally be used to stop and start movies?
No, but we will consider this option for the future.What happens if you press the shutter button when recording a movie?
It activates a one shot AF operation.
Panasonic's design sounds spot-on to me. Of course, I haven't used it, but the GH1's dedicated video start/stop button strikes me as preferable to having some kind of mode switch, and using the shutter button as push-to-focus seems ergonomically perfect to me.
Stills folks might be predisposed to place too much importance on the ergonomics of the video start/stop button. I guess if you're not planning on editing your video, you might want hairtrigger control over video recording—but I would much rather have my index finger hoving over something that is of use while I'm recording, like focus.
In stills, capturing "the decisive moment" is all that matters. In motion, precisely when you began recording is meaningless—but managing your dynamic composition during a take is everything.
Reader Comments (10)
the more i hear about this camera, the more i like it, not enough to make me ditch my canon and the EF lens collection i've accumulated, but enough to make me contemplate it.
I agree with you.
Interesting interview overall. Apparently there are no B Frames in the output of this camera? It'll be interesting to see how that affects the compressed image quality. Also interesting that they're using the same CA compensation that they've started to use in their big cameras (HPX line). The payoff is probably a lot bigger in a smaller and less expensive camera.
Crosshairs on the GH1.... important things for me are big DOF, minimal skew/jello, fast lens availability (1.4-1.8), and maybe we can get 4:2:2 directly thru the HDMI port to a Blackmagic card (tethered setup) like the HV20. The thought of tethering a hoopty rig along has always seemed ridiculous... but it would be cool to actually create something that people may mistake for being done with high end pro gear.
Every time I hear about this little Bastard I love the things I hear. Damn, I can't wit to get my hands on one of these.
GPSchnyder
It'd be awesome if an actual filmmaker gets head to head with the GM. I have so many questions and suggestions to them.
Two things I wonder :
Can you output uncompressed video through HDMI during shooting.
Is the sound level adjustable. If it's only automatic it's useless.
So no word yet on the video compression?
Stu,
way off topic but fits you ( I think) check out:
www.norrkross.com
look for the app called "Norrkross Movie". It does nodal!!!! Heck check out an app called "Flux" by the escapers.
www.theescapers.com
it does nodal too!! and it is a web design app.
be well
Laurence
Thanks for the links Laurence. Norrkross Movie looks pretty sweet! A $60 app that contains features I wish After Effects had.
Stilll Off topic with the Norrkross but the robo voice over thing they used with text to speech is one way I've temped out voice overs. Is that Rebel or just lazy?
Back on topic. I'm just waiting to see more of the next generation of handheld image ingestion engines.