GH2 Did Francis Ford Coppola really prefer the Gh2 at the Zacuto shootout

Panasonic just posted on their Facebook page the following:

"Francis Ford Coppola along with a majority of those in attendance chose the GH2 as his top pick in the Zacuto Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout. Pretty cool for a camera that's almost 100 times cheaper than some of the competition."

http://www.facebook.com/Panasonic

No mention of the firmware being hacked on the GH2 that was used in the Shootout of course.

Randy
3 GH2's and counting...
 
Oh, cool, so they're paying attention.

Now how hard will it be for them to take the obviousness of these results and do something about it?
 
Panasonic's marketing has been as interesting as any other story with this shoot out and the whole hacking community.

Canon DSLR shooters outnumber Panasonic shooters by like 50 to 1 around here. In fact, I've never seen a GH1 or GH2. I've seen tons of Canons.

If many in the audience were so surprised and shocked that it could perform like it did, whose fault is that? Why didn't Panasonic market it better and try to steal some of that user base during the DSLR uprising? I really don't understand it. Instead of embracing this test and Philip Bloom's earlier test... they seem to ignore it.
 
DBP said:
If many in the audience were so surprised and shocked that it could perform like it did, whose fault is that? Why didn't Panasonic market it better and try to steal some of that user base during the DSLR uprising? I really don't understand it. Instead of embracing this test and Philip Bloom's earlier test... they seem to ignore it.
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U R Preachin 2 the Choir my brotha-from-anotha-motha!!
 
Kholi said:
Now how hard will it be for them to take the obviousness of these results and do something about it?
Click to expand...
In terms of a successor to the GH2, what that would require are two steps that I suspect would be rather painful for Panasonic to take:

1. Improve GH2's AVCHD encoder: Unlike the AF100 and most DSLR's, the GH2's AVCHD encoder uses no hardware assistance and is implemented completely in software. While that helped keep manufacturing cost low, it made the unhacked GH2's motion picture quality uncompetitive with Canon and Nikon DSLR's, as well as Panasonic's professional video cameras. In my estimation, Panasonic could potentially eliminate that quality gap by boosting the GH2's peak bitrate to around 50Mbps. However, that would require them to act on my next recommendation:

2. Abandon the AVCHD standard: AVCHD is a curiously self-inflicted straitjacket that Panasonic has chosen to cohabit along with Sony. As long as Panasonic remains willingly bound to its inadequate bitrates, AVCHD will continue to constrict the image quality of both the GH2 and the AF100. Technologically, there's no reason Panasonic couldn't upgrade their video cameras to use higher bitrates via ISO-standard H.264 profiles. But to do so would require bold marketing changes that Panasonic seems unlikely to make.
 
I would add that a third could be a simple proprietary port that connects to a P2 external recorder OR an non-proprietary that allows you to use an external recorder of choice.

DR has to go up, as well.
 
DBP said:
Panasonic's marketing has been as interesting as any other story with this shoot out and the whole hacking community.

Canon DSLR shooters outnumber Panasonic shooters by like 50 to 1 around here. In fact, I've never seen a GH1 or GH2. I've seen tons of Canons.

If many in the audience were so surprised and shocked that it could perform like it did, whose fault is that? Why didn't Panasonic market it better and try to steal some of that user base during the DSLR uprising? I really don't understand it. Instead of embracing this test and Philip Bloom's earlier test... they seem to ignore it.
Click to expand...


What I loved was the guy who couldn't believe "B" was a GH2 because he didn't see any 'aliasing or moire'. He knew so little about the camera that he tarred it with the same brush as the Canons, which is all he has ever seen, heard about or read about. Sad performance by Panasonic marketing. They should have been trumpeting their video advantages over the Canons from the rooftops for the past two years. Hard hitting comparisons with Canon might have increased brand awareness and sales (among professionals, at least). I try to help them with my blog and on these boards, but it's hard to fight an infantry battle without airpower.

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution
 
DBP said:
Panasonic's marketing has been as interesting as any other story with this shoot out and the whole hacking community.

Canon DSLR shooters outnumber Panasonic shooters by like 50 to 1 around here. In fact, I've never seen a GH1 or GH2. I've seen tons of Canons.

If many in the audience were so surprised and shocked that it could perform like it did, whose fault is that? Why didn't Panasonic market it better and try to steal some of that user base during the DSLR uprising? I really don't understand it. Instead of embracing this test and Philip Bloom's earlier test... they seem to ignore it.
Click to expand...

The GH2 is barely a year old, and at this point Canon is entrenched among shooters as the go-to DSLR video brand. I know a lot of shooters who wouldn't even consider a D4 or D800, much less a GH2.
 
Well, to Panasonic's credit, they didn't make an active effort to stop GH2 hacking like they did with the GH1, so they've made some progress. I think Vitaliy is still far from even a tacit endorsement, but I think Panasonic is slowly realizing these hacks are causing more good than harm.
 
I prefer B when I watched the whole doc on a PC. But when I re-watched it again a-day-before-the-announcement on a 42" LED TV, I changed my pick from B,F,A/C to C,F/A,B due to the "DIGITALNESS" of the image. However, being a long fan of youtube and vimeo on a PC screen, I truly understand why most people choose B when they first watched the Doc.
 
hendosan said:
The GH2 is barely a year old, and at this point Canon is entrenched among shooters as the go-to DSLR video brand. I know a lot of shooters who wouldn't even consider a D4 or D800, much less a GH2.
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I think it was released in late 2010, so it's creeping up on two years now. Plus they had the GH1 wave to ride in on. It'd be one thing if the market share was Canon majority by like 70%, but around here it's more like 99.99%. No one I knew even heard of the GH2. You can't buy it anywhere here.

It may be my area. I'm not exactly in a major center. I've just never seen a product that's sold at the same pricepoint, performs (arguably) better, yet has such limited market share.
 
I have tried to talk multiple people (who came to me for camera advice) into going GH2 over the t2i or t3i (and I'm a Canon shooter) with ZERO success.
 
Kholi said:
Oh, cool, so they're paying attention.
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Or maybe.... Oh crap! They're paying attention. Now they'll dumb down the GH3 so they don't kill higher end AFxxx.

Edit:

Let me also add that I think the big reason why Canon DSLRs are so popular is this: SDKs are available - as in http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/standard_display/sdk_homepage - which really open the cameras up to all sorts of powerful things.

I so wish Panasonic would release and SDK for the G/GH lines. I bet that would win it a ton of market share.
 
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Kholi said:
Ignorance and lack of experience doesn't make the alternative better.
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No, just a comment on the "market share" drift the thread had taken. All quality talk aside, Canon has destroyed them on the marketing side. Most entry level people taking a class or a person who does just superficial research on "I'm gonna get me one of those DSLRs that shoots video" have never even HEARD of the GH2. It's should I get a T2i or pay the extra money for the new T4i. They can't hardly be convinced otherwise.
 
Sensor size certainly wasn't an issue in the Zacuto Shootout, which is a good thang.

Randy
3 GH2's and counting...
 
Cavemandude said:
Panasonic just posted on their Facebook page the following:

"Francis Ford Coppola along with a majority of those in attendance chose the GH2 as his top pick in the Zacuto Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout. Pretty cool for a camera that's almost 100 times cheaper than some of the competition."

http://www.facebook.com/Panasonic

No mention of the firmware being hacked on the GH2 that was used in the Shootout of course.

Randy
3 GH2's and counting...
Click to expand...


Oh no. It's the death of my secret advantage in NYC. Very few people here had hacked GH2s and now B&H shall be under siege.

Now I shall have to kill everyone!
 
lpowell said:
In terms of a successor to the GH2, what that would require are two steps that I suspect would be rather painful for Panasonic to take:

1. Improve GH2's AVCHD encoder: Unlike the AF100 and most DSLR's, the GH2's AVCHD encoder uses no hardware assistance and is implemented completely in software. While that helped keep manufacturing cost low, it made the unhacked GH2's motion picture quality uncompetitive with Canon and Nikon DSLR's, as well as Panasonic's professional video cameras. In my estimation, Panasonic could potentially eliminate that quality gap by boosting the GH2's peak bitrate to around 50Mbps. However, that would require them to act on my next recommendation:

2. Abandon the AVCHD standard: AVCHD is a curiously self-inflicted straitjacket that Panasonic has chosen to cohabit along with Sony. As long as Panasonic remains willingly bound to its inadequate bitrates, AVCHD will continue to constrict the image quality of both the GH2 and the AF100. Technologically, there's no reason Panasonic couldn't upgrade their video cameras to use higher bitrates via ISO-standard H.264 profiles. But to do so would require bold marketing changes that Panasonic seems unlikely to make.
Click to expand...

Lol I just wrote something similar to them on their facebook page. If they are going to bother with a GH3 make the damn thing have your normal avchd as a dial setting then avchd-H or name it whatever you want so you don't break the rules but make a hack setting on the damn dial that allows you to adjust all these things in menu no need to hack.

But really who cares we already have image quality that is so good it will last a while... GH4K H with no rolling shutter is the next time I upgrade.
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
I have tried to talk multiple people (who came to me for camera advice) into going GH2 over the t2i or t3i (and I'm a Canon shooter) with ZERO success.
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I've had the opposite experience, and have talked 3 co-workers and 2 departments where I work into switching to GH2s - 9 cameras so far, and this was before the 2012 Zacuto Shootout. Another friend compared his 7D footage to my hacked GH2 footage and he's ready to switch as well.
 
I have recently been debating selling my T2I (with magic lantern firmware) and getting a GH2 and that was before the shootout. I'm really thinking about it the only thing that would stink is getting new lenses. OH well I'll at least wait to see what happens with the GH3.
 
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