Oh no! GH2 movie AF-Tracking Disabled in Firmware 1.0. (and Philip Bloom “begs” Panasonic to add 25p)
GH2 AF-Tracking (Thanks Dieter)
Panasonic representative from Germany has confirmed that the AF-Tracking feature in movie mode has been taken out of Firmware 1.0. Source: vimeo.com/groups/gh1/forumthread:235149
The Gh2 (with Firmware version 0.2) had the AF-Tracking feature in movie mode enabled. But according to a german GH2 owner that feature has been removed with the official firmware 1.0. He had a talk with a Panasonic representative: “The good news is, that I got a call from the Panasonic manager who I talked to yesterday. The bad news is, that has confirmed information from Japan, that this feature has been taken out of Firmware 1.0.”
Meanwhile Philip Bloom updated his “Which… Video DSLR to buy?” post and added the GH2 which he highly recommends: “So all in all a big improvement over the Gh1 but PLEASE we NEEED 25p!!!!! If 25p is irrelevant to you this is simply one of the best “DSLRs” on the market for shooting video. The stills mode is pretty good too!”
Now let’s make a short GH2 in Stock status (as usual feel free to add your links to help other 43rumors readers to get the GH2 as soon as possible!):
US
In three days we saw two third party retailers selling the GH2 via Amazon (Click here). So keep checking. You might be lucky!
Other stores like Samys, Simplyelectronics sold out their (very few) GH2 cameras.
P.S.: At least the new Panasonic 100-300mm for $599 at Amazon (Click here)
Europe
Many stores do have the GH2 in Stock. As you can imagine in Europe we have dozens of online stores for every single country. That’s why I give you only a few link to the biggest known stores: Amazon.de, Pixmania.fr, Amazon.co.uk, Pixmania.it, Pixmania.pl, Pixmania.es.
Asia
A few friends from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong mailed me to say the GH2 is in Stock almost everywhere at local retailers.
Thanks all for keeping me up to date with all deals! I want to see your unboxing videos as soon as possible 
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Recent comments
Comment from Face Detection?: RichT: Was your camera in AF-Tracking or...
Comment from RichT: Hmm, I tried using follow focus in video...
Comment from Panasonic GF2: Panasonic provides announced the Lumix D...
Comment from zinanga: the firmware is 1.0 and the lens firmwar...
Creatingdvds4u.co.uk
2 years ago |What are Panasoinc doing now, whats the point in adding a usefull feature and then disableing it. W….T….F! comes to mind Panasoinc- guess we better watch out for firmware updates that may make our Panasoinc GH2 have less features.
Like Philip Bloom says add 25fps in and stop messing us around. Dont make the mistake like the politician have and go off and do things without listening to the people that use the camera in the first place.
tgutgu
2 years ago |Seriously, why the anger? It is much better that a feature, which does not work to the quality standards a vendor has, is taken out (perhaps until it could work with a firmware update) instead of creating a lot of angry users, which complain about a not properly working feature, and getting bad press reports about it. The firmware from the pre-production GH2s at photokina were 0.2 !
Even without the now missing feature the GH2 is a very competent camera. And it is much better that Panasonic comes out with real existing products, than Olympus teasing us with vaporware and weak announcements, such as the likelihood of pro m4/3 bodies.
panasonic
2 years ago |you asking me? lol please sue me
burnardo
2 years ago |Did they remove that feature by accident? I just bought that camera BECAUSE of that feature!
Helge Hackbarth
2 years ago |I think that the 1080p25 is not such an issue. As I understood so far, the 1080i50 mode of the GH2 is actually (internally) a 1080p25 video which is stored as 1080i50 in order to be compatible to the current FullHD specifications. Many tools (e.g. ffmpeg using the -deinterlace option) are able to create a clean 1080p25 video from that. For my purposes I created a cmd-file which converts the mts-files from the camera to a 1080p25 MP4 file with h.264 compression, which is much smaller without a visible loss of quality.
I will post a description on 3D-Kraft.de soon…
Peter J. DeCrescenzo
2 years ago |My understanding is that what Philip Bloom and others want is for the GH2 to support 1080p25 at 24 megabits/sec, in addition to the 17 mbs/s “FH” mode it has now. Essentially, add a “25H” mode. This might be something Panasonic can add via a firmware update. I hope they do this very soon.
Could it work after all?
2 years ago |http://vimeo.com/groups/gh1/forumthread:235149
According to Bruce Dale, follow focus works in his GH2 camera with firmware 1.0 and 14-140mm lens with 1.4 firmware.
steve
2 years ago |Maybe the lens needs to be updated to enable the feature.
Angry Olympus Owner
2 years ago |Focus tracking and follow focus(AFC) are different
thomas
2 years ago |Just to make sure I understand, it’s only the follow-focus feature that might have been disabled not the continuous AF. Correct?
mpgxsvcd
2 years ago |I think some people are confusing Continuous focus with focus tracking. Focus tracking is where the camera determines if the subject has moved relative position in the video. It then realigns itself to hold focus on that subject. I definitely could be wrong on this but I am not aware of any m4/3s camera that can do that with video. All of the Panasonic ones can do that with stills.
Continuous auto focus is where the camera continually refocuses based on one of the 3 focus type modes(Single, Area, or Face). Note that the 4th type(Focus Tracking) is disabled for video in every Panasonic camera that I am aware of.
Theoretically, Face detect focus could do focus tracking because it always tries to detect a face. If that face moves it will change the focus with it.
Your best bet for focus tracking is AFC + Face detection focus. I have tried that on my GH2 and it works pretty well with all of the lenses except the 20mm Pancake.
dracore
2 years ago |re: GH2 in Hong Kong,
I actually asked about this a few weeks ago at “Wing Shing” a well known camera store in MongKok area. The guy checked that they had stock so I figured it wasn’t selling like hot pockets. At the time I was quoted $6880 HKD for body only. Very tempting to buy it (no tax in HK) but decided to hold out for a north american version.
Young
2 years ago |Well that’s bad, John of “Wing Shing” actually quoted me HKD$7880 for a body-only GH2, glad I did not buy one, as there was only black models available, and I am already growing sick of it as I already have a black GH1 and a black G2, they look all the same.
Wonder if we are getting any Silver, PAL models at all?
Could it work after all?
2 years ago |Let me get this straight:
Panasonic had AF-Tracking enabled in VIDEO MODE in 0.2 firmware, but decided to disable it in final firmware.
Would’ve been a sweet feature to have.
AF-tracking in video mode = essentially automated follow-focus.
John
2 years ago |I’m in Taiwan and although it’s true that the GH2 is easily found, I’ve only seen the Japanese version, so language is still a problem. The retailers I talked to have no idea when (or even if?) a local version will be released with language options. Is anyone seeing non-Japanese versions in Asia?
grum
2 years ago |Vitaliy says it is possible to switch languages:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?223622-GH2-official-discussion-thread&p=2176988&viewfull=1#post2176988
However, he also said “Reputable dvxforum members could email me for instructions.”
So I hope you are a reputable dvxforum member.
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?223622-GH2-official-discussion-thread&p=2177415&viewfull=1#post2177415
compositor20
2 years ago |my olympus e-pl1 has focus tracking in video but with 20mm pancake it doesnt work very well and with 14-150mm i havent tested it in daylight (probably it can do it)
frosti7
2 years ago |perhaps they took it out to set it apart from the AF101, too bad, thats a really usefull feature
panasonic
2 years ago |without that feature still sell like hot cake. which is mean user not really care about it.
hey, i watch the video, cant really understand it, anyone could further explain. tq
Wut
2 years ago |so http://www.simplyelectronics.net/mainproduct.php?pid=12519 is showing it in stock again… for $1800?
Al Jimenez
2 years ago |My order from Amazon/The Price Pros is canceled:
Greetings from Amazon.com,
We’re writing to inform you that your order xxxxx from The Price Pros has been canceled.
Your credit card was not charged for this order.
If you’re still interested in this item, please search for it again on Amazon.com.
We’ve included your order details below for reference.
We value you as a customer and hope you will continue shopping on Amazon.com.
==================================================
ORDER DETAILS
==================================================
1 of Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 16.05 MP Live MOS Interchangeable Lens Camera with 3-inch Free-Angle Touch Screen LCD and 14-140mm HD Hybrid Lens (Black)
Rampart
2 years ago |My order from CameraWorld.com got cancelled too. I called and asked why, and they guy said because it wasn’t in stock. I pointed out to him that his website showed, at that moment, that they had it in stock. He then kindly hung up on me.
panasonic
2 years ago |I have visit Bloom blog. look like 60D is not that bad. and GH2 just disable the feature, look like my penny still can anytime go to Canon 60D
Abi
2 years ago |Hi admin, perhaps you interested in Lumix phone you mentioned earlier? http://ad.impress.co.jp/special/panasonic1012_1/
zinanga
2 years ago |Hi from Madrid!
I just retired my GH2+14-140mm from the fotoboom.com store here in Madrid, they told me they have around 20-30 more in stock.
Don’t ask me about features because the battery is still charging. I paid 1249€
zinanga
2 years ago |the firmware is 1.0 and the lens firmware 1.3 which I have to upgrade to 1.4 ASAP.
Panasonic GF2
2 years ago |Panasonic provides announced the Lumix DMC-GF2 Mini 4 Thirds camera. Any simplified model with the corporation’s GF1, Panasonic GF2 inherits the same flat-body layout but with revised handle layout and touch-screen manage.
You got a really useful blog I have been here reading for about an hour. I am a newbie and your success is very much an inspiration for me.
RichT
2 years ago |Hmm, I tried using follow focus in video mode the other day and it worked, I could see the little square move around with the person’s face while recording video. This is with Firmware 1.0 on a Japanese GH2 (English enabled – thank you Vitaliy!). Maybe they took it out of European/N American cameras but I’d swear it did if for me.
Face Detection?
2 years ago |RichT: Was your camera in AF-Tracking or Face Detection mode?