GH1 for indoor shooting?

Thanasis Grigoropoulos

Thanasis Grigoropoulos

New member
Hi there!

I am planning to shoot for the next 7 months the preparations for the birth of my child (yes, this means I'm going to be a father :beer:). Shooting will be for fun, memories and experimentation. I will cut the material in short, fun, documentary type 'episodes'. If I enjoy this too much, I might upload them on my blog.

There is no scenario (obviously) and the camera should be pretty much available at any time to grab and start shooting immediately to "capture the moment". Given these conditions, here's what I think is essential:

  1. very good low light ability (live colors, little grain)
  2. very good autofocus (essential)
  3. good stabilization
  4. very small size (essential) and
  5. image as good as possible
I live in PAL land and I was wondering whether you guys think the GH1 could fit this bill. I am looking for a cam, preferably HD, with PD170 low light capabilities in a very small form factor. Your thoughts?

Thanks,

Thanasis
 
I've never been particularly impressed with the image from the PD170...

1. Yes but the stock lens doesn't do as well as fast primes, if you have some open windows or crank the ISO you can get a decent image as long as it's not too dark.
2. Yes, with the stock lens...catch 22 with low light :)
3. Yes, with the stock lens...also with any kind of stabilizer...I recommend just adding a handle to the bottom or something to keep small size...things get a little shakey but the OIS on the stock lens is great!
4. Yes it is very small.
5. Amazing image despite the weaker codec, but definetly perfect for what you're looking at.
 
Hi Ben!

Thanks for your quick reply.

1) Do you know of any fast primes that will work with GH1's AF? I read about the new Lumix 20mm/F1.7 but I am not sure when this is going to be available. I have an inflexible deadline :)

2) When you say "catch 22", do you mean that AF in lower light is not really usable?

3) The reason I mentioned PD170 is because of its very good low light ability. Do you have any direct experience with it? If yes, if 170's low light was 8 on a scale from 1 to 10, how would GH1 fare in low light with stock lens?

Thanks again!

Thanasis
 
Before anybody goes left field on this subject I can say that I have been using this perfectly for the very same situation. I have a month old Daughter and have been using the hell out of the GH1. I can't begin to say how perfect the HDSLR's are for this sort of thing. You can switch between great photos and great HD video at a split second. The GH1 takes about 5 seconds to turn on and you are rolling. The AF works great when trying to follow your Wife holding your little one or in any situation you can think of.

As far as low light you can see pretty well in the dark with the GH1 it just depends on what kind of noise you are willing to live with in a dark room. All depends on the ISO you use. If it is just home video of the little one then that really isn't too much of a concern.
 
Low light = a couple of 40W to 60W lamps at 1 to 2 meters distance from the subject, not pointing directly at it. Cosy home environment at night.

PD170 could record pretty acceptable video in this setting but its way too big and heavy and intimidating and SD and definitely not 'fun' :)
 
Ooops!

Sorry Nitsuj. I was typing as you post.

Thanks for the reply! Do you use only the stock lens, or other lenses as well? Do you know of any fast lenses which will work with GH1s autofocus?

Congrats for the baby!

Thanasis
 
Stock lens and I am pretty sure no other lens uses autofocus. I think there was talk of a faster lens to be available with AF from Panny. But not sure.
 
Or the soon to come Panny 20mm f/1.7 pancake (do note that it does not have the IS module and has manual focus and AFS but not AFC)
 
The stock lens is really slow for low light. You will have to raise the ISO to higher levels. And at some point the max 1600 isn't enough for the proper shutter. I too need a fast lens but for now I gotta make do with what I got.
 
It's funny how we all have different interpretations of what is large versus small and what is low-light versus normal-light. Yes the GH1 is much smaller than the PD170, and smaller than most SLRs, but it's still pretty big in this day and age when most families are using pocketable cameras or even their cell phones to take pictures. And compared to most compact cameras (and all cellphone cameras), the GH1 is great in low light because its image sensor is so much bigger and more sensitive even though by professional standards its f4.0 lens is not fast.

I've only had my GH1 for a few days now, but I've managed to take some stills of our children that have made my wife's jaw drop and some 1080p24 movies that are beautiful enough to make my wife cry. Young children (between the ages of 2 and 8) are continually in motion so it can be challenging to get good shots of them with the GH1. The GH1 has a shallower depth of field than most (all?) compact cameras, and the automatic settings prefer low ISO slow shutter settings which means that many indoor shots I take with the automatic settings are blurry. Outdoors is no problem, but for indoors I need to use shutter priority or sports mode to get good shots of our children.

Personally, the PD170 would be impossible for me because there is no way my wife or my children's teachers would let me carry such a monstrosity to my children's schools, and no way that the other parents would be comfortable having their own children around such a large camera. So if you plan to take stills or movies of your children in semi-public settings (school, sports, other children's birthday parties) you can't carry anything bigger than a DSLR and even then you will be pushing social boundaries. Compact cameras are best because everyone else has them. About the only place you could use a PD170-sized camera without enraging all the other parents would be at your own kid's birthday party.
 
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