43 Rumors

$399 is very reasonable for this camera. I use it with Samyang/Rokinon 85mm.1/4 and Zukio 50mm f2.
The 35-100mm F2 is to big to practically use with the GH1, unless its on a tripod, even then it still feels weird.

Manual focus is very easy to use, especially when using focus assist.

Even without focus assist I can get a better focus faster and easier with the GH1 compared to my E3. This is because of the digital viewfinder on the GH1, when you get the subject in focus they become so sharp you start to see the pixel edges form around them and aliasing/moire on patterns when the subject is in the focus plan. This helps alot.

One annoying thing with the camera is that in order to get to focus assist you have to hit the left arrow button which then shows the preview box of the area to be cropped, then press the select button in the middle to actually crop it.
This can be done with out taking eye off view finder, but its alot of fiddling.

You can NOT set the fn button to Focus assist so there is no way around it.

With the GH2 it is possible to get into focus assist with one click of the wheel on the back of the camera. That one less button click makes a big difference if you use manual lenses alot.

Its small(expected) and feels a little cheap. I held a EP2 at a local camera store and it had metal on the body and felt a lot more solid then the GH1.

Though it is smaller then the E510, the GH1 a little easier and comfortable to hold in the hand. A vertical grip would make it a lot more easier to use though.

EVF works fine for me. In low light it get slower FPS but it is not that bad, not nearly as bad as some make it out to be. It has to be REALLY dark for it to become unusable.

I shoot RAW only.
Image quality and ISO performance is surprisingly good. It performs noticeably better then my E3. 800-ISO photos look great when compared. Im so trained to not pass 800iso due to using the E3 for so long, it feels refreshing to have more headroom to go as high as 1600 and have decent photos after little post.

The multi-aspect ratio options realy do come in handy when trying to get a wider shot to include more subjects. I always have it on 3:2 and use 16×9 when I need extra width. Rarely use 4/3 any more.

Menu and functions are easy to use for me.

I would recommended this camera to any one shopping for a good all around camera with video at a good price. The the GH2 is WELL worth the extra $500 with all the extra features, but the GH1 still has a very great value to it.

Great Camera

This is a no-fuss camera. Construction is fine, there are plenty of controls and customization options to make it work just like a DSLR or a compact. You can really do anything with it, it behaves like a mid-range DSLR.

Video is perfectly implemented and its quality, along with the Tester 13 Hack, is splendid. No focus issues, only slight rolling shutter, and other IQ aspects are very well controlled.

It is a quite compact form factor, which is one of the reasons for the system to be. The downside is that the grip and the buttons should be bigger to be more comfortable. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if I had a m43 that is as big as a small SLR, because I know size isn’t the only advantage of the system.

Image quality-wise, you come very close to APSc in terms of detail and noise. Sadly, dynamic range is a bit let down in the Panasonic sensors, there is not much headroom.

Note to the price rating: currently you can get the GH1 used for little money, making it excellent value.

I just want to add that 10 MP would probably have been sufficient for the GH1. The GH2 went too far in MP terms. Who knows, a greater pixel depth could have given us APSc comparable DR?

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