GF2 - Welcome to the family! (It's official)

H

HHL

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http://www.dpreview.com/news/1011/10110405panasonicgf2.asp

"The LUMIX GF2 shoots professional-quality full High Definition (HD) videos as well as handling still photography. The LUMIX GF2 can record 1920 x 1080 videos at 60i or smooth HD 1280 x 720 movies at 60p in AVCHD. For those looking for better compatibility with computers, the LUMIX GF2 can also record HD Motion JPEG in 1280 x 720 and QVGA, VGA and WVGA. A dedicated video record button makes it easy to start shooting videos, and high quality sound is recorded with the stereo microphone for Dolby® Digital Stereo Creator. Panasonic’s iA mode extends to video recording, with the following features: Optical Image Stabilizer, Face Detection, Intelligent D-range Control and Intelligent Scene Selector."
 
dpreview said:
• PAL:
Full HD: 1920 x 1080, 50i (sensor output is 25p) 17Mbps or13Mbps
HD: 1280 x 720, 50p (sensor output is 25p) 17Mbps or 13Mbps
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LOL, the GF2 has the 1920x1080 25p recording mode that the GH2 lacks!
 
panasonic really are a bit schizo when it comes to frame rates... why can't they just standardize or offer us everything we need (108050i,60i, 108024p, 25p, 30p , 72024p,25p,50p,60p)???
 
Yes, because its easy to turn 25p in a 50i wrapper into true 25p which looks filmic, where as 50i from 50p looks like video and can't be turned into 25p without loss of quality.
 
You didn't noticed one thing - they copied NEX from top to bottom.
Same menu icons, same menu structure, same buttons.
Same "background defocus" instead of aperture.
Release data made up by idiots (Panasonic camera related marketing department must be fired long time ago, as they do not do their job).

And do not anticipate good 1080p25. As I expect big rolling shutter at 1080 modes.
 
Hopefully the same marketing team doesn't kill future GH series. Literally they just killed GF series. NEX is popular not because of the small size. It's still not pocketable. But it has competitive pricing, better high iso performance, tilting lcd with higher resolution, sturdy builds, and more fancy features. The biggest selling point of GF1 is better usability. I see none in GF2.
 
Vitaliy Kiselev said:
And do not anticipate good 1080p25. As I expect big rolling shutter at 1080 modes.
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Well I for one wish they'd stop calling 17Mbps AVCHD "professional" , as in
... The LUMIX GF2 shoots professional-quality full High Definition (HD) videos as well as handling still photography ...
Click to expand...
Do we know if it will even have B-frames?
 
I hope GF2 brings more new customers to beef up m43 user base so that Panny has more money to research on future GH series. But I'm getting neither GF nor Pen.

If Panny wanna copy, they should copy the auto lens cap from S95 to LX5. That was the biggest complaint from my wife so I'm getting S95 for her. Good job Panny. Good job.
 
svecher if it makes you feel better, one of the top directors here where i live was explaining to me that the p in 720p and 1080p meant professional, and that the i was intermediate. I swear on my life. He of course dp's his own work. I was conducting a small survey on whether or not super-8 would fly in my neighborhood, and i got a lecture, followed by that gem.
 
43rumors polling shows 66% don't want GF2. Anyone watched "Love Letter" movie from Japan?

"Panny... daijoubu desu ka? are you doing fine? I'm doing fine~~~~"

220px-Love_letter_dvd.jpg
 
The GF2 announcement surprised me. Based on the GH2, I thought Panasonic would push things further with the GF2 over the existing GF1. Instead, they repositioned the GF series downwind, with consumery gimmicks and no real performance improvements. Beyond the claims of a cleaner sensor, the new camera is more of a deluxe LX5 than a more polished GF1.

It's as if Panasonic realized they'd mistakenly made the GF1 too good to differentiate it from the GH series, so they dumbed the GF2 down to give the GH2 more breathing room. I haven't examined one in hand yet but I wouldn't be surprised if the GF2 was built in China with a similar build quality to the GH and G models, heavy on the plastic, instead of the Japanese GF1's ingot-like metal body.

I'd really like to think that the GF1 and GH1 and the firmware hack weren't just flukes, and that Panasonic isn't backing away from moving m43 further into Canon/Nikon pro DSLR turf instead of just settling for "better than compact point and shoot". Because that's the stink all over the GF2 intro. It's all about dumbed-down consumery gimmicks like touch screen controls and shaving off the dimensions slightly (has anyone ever held a GF1 and thought damn, if this thing was just 18% thinner..)

I genuinely thought the GF2 would be better than the GF1, maybe not my hacked GF13 but certainly a stock GF1. Beefier, maybe even heavier, possibly even weather-sealed. More badass. Instead, they're positioning the GF2 as the LX with swappable lenses, and not good glass like the 20mm pancake (unlike the GF1, they're not even offering a bundle with it), but rather, their gimmicky toy crap like that POS 3D lens that everyone's going to buy and no one's going to use after the first day.

I'm surprised, let down, but oddly happy. Because now I can stop worrying about upgrading from my GF13. Are you kidding? Now that I've seen where Panasonic's decided to take m43, I'm going to buy another two or three hackable GF1 bodies and some Pelican cases with about a foot of foam surrounding them so they'll last me well into the GF5 era when the new model's as thin as a Casio Exilim and has virtual gesture-based controls and 4K video -- interlaced, of course.
 
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stonebat said:
Hopefully the same marketing team doesn't kill future GH series. Literally they just killed GF series. NEX is popular not because of the small size. It's still not pocketable. But it has competitive pricing, better high iso performance, tilting lcd with higher resolution, sturdy builds, and more fancy features. The biggest selling point of GF1 is better usability. I see none in GF2.
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Precisely! And...

How do you think that the GF1 owners feel when the see the "upgrade" is now an entry level P&S camera? How would you feel if you invested into an AF100 and a bunch of lenses, and then Panny brought out an AF200 "upgrade" the did away with all of the wonderful manual features that videographers got with the AF100? Hmmm??? There's nothing like buying a dead-end camera. Would that make you feel warm and fuzzy about Panasonic?

I'm still going to buy a GH2, but I'm starting to wonder if Panasonic is losing it's understanding of customers.

Regards,

Dan.

p.s., I like some of the new LCD-based features in the GH2 (which are also in the GF2). But... I damn-sure don't want to lose even one tiny bit of the GH2's manual functionality. I want to use the nice auto-features when I choose to and not have them shoved down my throat!
 
the camera has been in progress way before the hack lets not try to get presumptuos here

for me i see it as getting more to the mass market. which where the money is. this is their line up
G series - dslr type entry level
F series - "fashion"
H series - HD video
(No, i didnt made this up)

its not surprising their dumbing it down more. they want conusmer level use at professional level quality

i honestly want to buy one for casual use. its small and easy to carry anywhere and its m4/3.. i can reuse af100 lenses

P.S. gf2 didnt lose the manual controls.. it just lost the physical ones and delegated to the touch screen.
for what its worth, they should release a gf20 version with the gf1 physcial stuff still in it

now if they made a new series like a GR1 or something R for a "rangefinder" (which they had a patent somewhere of m4/3 with viewfinder) this one could be the weather sealed bulkier body. F is obviously for casual use and if you dont like it you're not the target market
 
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This could be the case of Panasonic repositioning the micro-four-thirds line as it is expanding. GFx is now set to compete with the E-PLx from Olympus and NEX-X series from Sony to capture P&S upgraders. GH2 is the top hybrid camera. AF100 the top video-cam. This move leaves a position formerly occupied by GF1 open, a prosumer/enthusiast hybrid cam in quasi-rangefinder body. I will not be at all surprised if come spring-time Panasonic announces a Fuji X100 lookalike.
 
If you ask me, from pure economical view GF2 can smack down NEX series.
As it is just much cheaper to make.
But it is Panasonic, and they like to make good profit from their bodies.
And January sales date can be not only marketing failure.
Instead I suggst you to look at exchange rates. Yen could hit 75y/d towards Christmas, and with fixed dollar price it is not good.
So, they could miss big sales, but also miss some economic problems.
 
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