Panasonic GH1 video with 20mm f/1.7 lens

Light (our cat) from kiyuri on Vimeo.

kiyuri made this nice video with the Panasonic and the new Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 Aspherical Pancake Lens.
He writes:
Just a simple video of our cat, Light. Nothing humorous. He’s sleepy, but does a little grooming. He is a red point bi-color Ragdoll and is just over 1-year old.

Recorded with a Panasonic LUMIX GH1 and 20mm “pancake” lens at F1.7. Camera is set to continuous autofocus, and with the shallow depth of field you can see it go in and out of focus slightly at times.

The original is 1280×720 at 60fps, but I slowed it down to 30fps so it plays in slow motion. I think it’s more relaxing to watch this way. =)

Another GH1 review – photographyblog

The review comments on video but doesnt provide any analysis or samples, although there is a good collection on it’s video page. I haven’t yet read the whole review, but from the conclusion, “Colours are accurate when using the default Standard setting, with lots of scope to adjust the JPEG output to suit your own tastes, and the auto white balance is spot-on in most lighting conditions”.

In terms of handling, “It delivers a near-seamless Live View experience which doesn’t feel as though it has been literally forced into the overall design, as with the Live View function on the majority of DSLRs. The combination of the high-resolution, swivelling LCD screen and the outstanding electronic viewfinder is a joy to use.”

For more, read the review: http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_lumix_dmc_gh1_review/

The review is pretty much summarised by his closing comment:

“The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 is the best attempt yet at implementing video recording on a DSLR-like camera. The combination of high price, compulsory kit lens and so-so image quality in low-light conditions won’t make it suitable for everyone though.”

I am personally quite disappointed that Panasonic are crippling their product by not making it available to everyone. It may end up creating ‘tiers’ within the Micro FourThirds camera hierachy, something for users of the cheaper cameras to upgrade to.

Panasonic GH1 sample images at dcresources

Dcresource is close to finish the GH1 review. In the meanwhile they posted some image samples. Some of them are made with the 7-14mm lens which I really like more from day to day…

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_gh1-review/gallery

Oh, there is a new Canon 5DII firmware which allows to have manual control of the aperture, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity equivalent when shooting video. Interesting if you go to imaging-resource to read the news the image of the 5d is smaller than the advertising of the Panasonic GH1… LOL!