Getting in Contact with GH-1 Team

E

e-steve

Well-known member
Hey guys,

Now I don't want this to turn into a thread that attacks Panasonic for the really bad handling of the release of the GH-1 -- but I think maybe we can find some way to develop a some sort of communication channel with the product team or product manager, if we are nice about it. I'm not sure if anyone has thought of this yet or not, but I believe the product manager for the GH-1 is David Briganti.

Now if we all decide to try to email him and complain about many things, it probably will do us no good, so let's try to maintain some self control even if we're waiting on a camera still, and try to work together to get some meaningful information about the camera's availability as well as plans for firmware updates.

I've been trying to figure out what the panasonic email address format is, so that perhaps we can have a board moderator contact him to get maybe a mini FAQ from the source going. Does anyone know what the Panasonic email format is? I think if we knew what Jan's email address was, we could probably figure out what David's was.

Just an idea -- any thoughts?

It is harder when we just don't know anything about what's going to happen and when we might see the cameras we ordered...
 
Good idea. How did you know about this David Briganti guy?

Anyway...I think we should keep in mind, any argument we put to them has to make business sense for Panasonic otherwise they'll simply ignore it. Yes we could go on about bug fixes...but rather than repeat that until they get fed up, how about repeating theories (in a constructive way) on how it will lose them customers.
 
What about trying to contact Jan and ask her? She has done this forum a HUGE service.... maybe she can get David (or whoever the product manager is) to do the same.
 
It usually makes good business sense to set consumer expectations rather than to hide -- so at least we know what they are working on, or struggling with, and what the real timeframes are. Right now, everyone just guessing when their camera will arrive I think is worse for their customer morale.

I think if we come to them as an enthusiast community that made the DVX100 even bigger, they can hopefully see the benefit in establishing a strong relationship with us. It really depends on the specific person, and this Briganti guy may not think that way. Who knows.

I don't think Jan is going to jump at the chance to talk about a product line that in some ways competes against hers...but you never know.

I just did a search of Panasonic GH-1 Product Manager, and found David's name associated with a lot of these camera releases. I'm pretty sure he's part of the product management team.

Worst case scenario -- they ignore it. Is that any different than where we are currently? :)
 
Yep Steve, agree with managing expectations.

Did some 'research', on Google :) That David guy is a marketing manager. I don't think he has control over a product's development, just a spokesman.

It's bad form from all these big companies - they do ignore the enthusiastic fans of their product and concentrate on the mass market opinions that so shape their consumer products - easy, megapixels, thin, colourful, sexy.

Blah. Gets them nowhere.
 
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any help?

www.linkedin.com sign up then see below

“Since redefining the traditional DSLR category last year with the LUMIX G1 – which eliminated the internal mirror and thus dramatically reduced size of the camera body and lenses – Panasonic has been working to expand its award-winning LUMIX G Micro Four Thirds System line. Panasonic wants to offer increasingly innovative products and features that make photography fun and easy,” said David Briganti, Senior productm manger, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “The introduction of the LUMIX gh1, allows photographers of all levels to take superior quality photos and shoot HD video with a more compact, easy-to-use camera that provides increased creative capabilities.”
Dave Briganti

Senior Product Manager at Panasonic

http://www.linkedin.com/ppl/webprof...thType=name&trk=ppro_viewmore&lnk=vw_pprofile

or others, below is just a few, there are loads more


Tom Hantson

Senior National Product Manager at Panasonic


http://www.linkedin.com/profile?vie...authToken=9BLB&authType=name&trk=ape_f000001a



Michael Timar

Director of Product and Solutions Development at Panasonic Communications Company of North America



http://www.linkedin.com/profile?vie...authToken=yrT-&authType=name&trk=ape_f000001a
Henry Hauser

National Product Manager at Panasonic



http://www.linkedin.com/profile?vie...authToken=EOj5&authType=name&trk=ape_f000001a
Erica Martinez

Product Manager at Panasonic


http://www.linkedin.com/profile?vie...authToken=sVuh&authType=name&trk=ape_f000001a
 
FYI: Philip Bloom has made the Lumix GH1 team aware of the bitrate issue already at the European launch where he showed off the demo films he made for Panasonic.

Now I spoke to the main man at Panasonic Lumix division about what I want to see in the camera. I said 24mbps. He said all Panasonic camcorders record at 17mbps due to something about dvd backup for consumers? I said then keep 17mbps and have an HQ mode for pro use of 24mpbs. He said OK and will look into it.
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http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/05/21/eu-launch-of-gh1-and-new-gh1-short-joshua-tree/

And Barry Green here has mentioned bringing up this same thing to his connections at Panasonic Broadcast.
 
The word has been put out there and I wrote to David Briganti a few weeks ago. They know about the petition and the grumblings around the bitrate. It's just a wait and see game now.
 
I don't think we should be "attacking" anyone....at least until it's time to get us a firmware update :)

I've been emailing back and forth with one of the PR people from Panasonic (from the GH1 press releases) and so far I have received polite empathy and answers to most of my inquiries, as far as was known or checkable by the person.

Lets not be attacking people. Thanks.
 
I'm not sure where in this thread there was anything about attacking anybody.

I personally think it's a better approach, to ask first, what is the plan, before "telling" them what we want. That way we can get straight answers on what is on the horizon without fears that they will upset consumers with their answers. Petitions in my opinion can put companies on the defensive before they've had a chance to roll a product out and give us information without worrying about angry consumers.

I was only suggesting that someone who is articulate and level headed from this board could politely email David and just ask for a few bits of information so that the community isn't guessing at what's on the horizon. In that sense, we can first find out what their plans are, before complaining about too much.

Perhaps Isaac's email to David will be answered, but I'd rather see an open dialog created where he can give us at least some info on what is going on with the product. If we say, here's our petition, we may never get an answer. Something like:

"As part of a very large Panasonic filmmaker community, we were hoping to get just a few pieces of information on the release of the GH-1, so that we can have some idea of how this camera will fit into our production plans. Would it be possible to answer just a few questions for us?

1) Availability and release timeline:

2) Firmware update plans? Can things like bitrate and audio gain be adjusted from firmware updates, or do you see these features as staying the same due to hardware limitations?

3)...

Maybe no more than 3 or 4 major questions?

It's amazing that these cameras are just popping up somewhat randomly and there's no true word on when the camera will actually come out for everyone. It's amazing to me with all the leaks out there for other products that it's so silent about the GH-1!
 
It was the same with the HVX 200 release. With the usual complains from people that go it first that there was something horribly wrong with it, in that case the noise issue. There is nothing new with the Panasonic procedure for the realease of a highly hyped new camera. We just have to wait our turn, that's all.

I don't understand what they were thinking limiting the $1500 GH1 to the same data rate as the $400 TZ7 / ZS3.
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Good, the data rate seems to be working pretty fine then. Panasonic must be on to something. Maybe we were fooled by the masters of the industry into believing that higher data rates were needed for better quality in order to sell more expensive cams. The footage that has been well shot so far with the GH1 seems to hold up very nicely. Did anybody forget that for $1500 we get a chunky sensor, 1080p, 720p60, 720p30, a very nice lens and 12mp stills?
 
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I personally think it's a better approach, to ask first, what is the plan, before "telling" them what we want. That way we can get straight answers on what is on the horizon without fears that they will upset consumers with their answers.
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We already know what the plan is. We have the manual, and after three weeks of picking apart footage we know the camera's strengths and weaknesses and what to ask for.

Petitions in my opinion can put companies on the defensive before they've had a chance to roll a product out and give us information without worrying about angry consumers.
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The petition is worded very respectfully, did you read it? The purpose of the petition was to show the number of working professionals that would purchase the camera if they introduce some necessary missing features. 249 have signed, almost 400,000 dollars of profit that Panasonic can make by adding simple necessities like video out and 24P MJPEG.

I was only suggesting that someone who is articulate and level headed from this board could politely email David and just ask for a few bits of information so that the community isn't guessing at what's on the horizon. In that sense, we can first find out what their plans are, before complaining about too much.
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David has no obligation to answer my email or even make an appearance here. It's VERY unusual that Jan Crittenden has such a visible presence here and takes the time to be helpful and patient. In fact, people here have taken Jan for granted and have been downright disrespectful at times in addressing her. Most companies have zero direct dialogue with the consumers. Sony doesn't, and Canon doesn't really either with their camcorder division. It would be great if we had a contact here to address our concerns to, but I actually wouldn't want that. Just looking at some of the venting going on it would be even worse if it were directed at a product manager.

There's nothing stopping people from contacting Panasonic directly. I think it's better if they hear more feedback.
 
Isaac_Brody said:
Most companies have zero direct dialogue with the consumers. Sony doesn't, and Canon doesn't really either with their camcorder division. It would be great if we had a contact here to address our concerns to, but I actually wouldn't want that. Just looking at some of the venting going on it would be even worse if it were directed at a product manager.

There's nothing stopping people from contacting Panasonic directly. I think it's better if they hear more feedback.
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Here's the thing about what "most" companies do. There may be a precedent set - by I never would make such a generalization without every giving it a shot. In every aspect of life we can assume people will act based on what has been done historically, but I choose to believe that if we can address each individual rather than each company in such a way as to initiate a dialog, this is not about what companies "typically" do.

I've had occasions where I've emailed a celebrity, CEO or government official and gotten a direct response. So this was only a suggestion based on my experience in doing so. Most often it doesn't have as much to do with what the company policy is or what most companies do, but instead, how we choose to communicate.

It was only a suggestion. You can choose to think it was a bad one, or one that won't do any good.

Sorry that I haven't read the petition yet - I guess I'm not familiar with how effective they've been in the past for this community in getting responses and having things actually changed. I wasn't assuming it was disrespectful, I was assuming that perhaps another way to get some information (it seems pretty silent to me on GH-1 news), might be to communicate with someone specific. I was unaware that you had already contacted David via email. It would be interesting to hear what you asked him and how it was worded...

Just trying to be a be proactive :)
 
e-steve said:
Just trying to be a be proactive :)
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Want to be more proactive? Send some emails. Talking about it here is not gonna acccomplish much.

In case you missed the petition in my sig.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/LumixGH1FirmwareRequest/index.html

I wrote a specific note to David that touched on some of these firmware points and also linked to the petition.

Again, the more notes they get the better. Give it a shot and write to them. You might get a response. It took me ten days to get a response. This was after sending the same note everyday.
 
I thought I was being proactive with this thread :/

To send an email, you must first have an email address! I found it on my own and sent him a note.

Got an autoresponder that said he's out until Thursday. Thanks killacam -- that's what I was after in the first place. :)
 
DvxHerb said:
I don't understand what they were thinking limiting the $1500 GH1 to the same data rate as the $400 TZ7 / ZS3. I want to say it is almost borderline offensive.


For $400 the TZ7 looks great; does 25p. Download these to see:
http://www.vimeo.com/5054871
http://www.vimeo.com/4473632
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If you add it up the video mode is essentially $400.00
Body G1 costs $600.
Lens costs about $500
Video mode $400.00

Gh1 total $1500.00

Do the math.
 
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