GH2 official discussion thread

billh said:
I made a couple of quick AF tracking tests with the GH2 the other day, and I thought some of you who have wondered how it works might like to see them.

High school basketball game, GH2, 14-140, ISO 2500. I was shooting stills at ISO6400 and f2.8, but I brought the GH2 along and took a few minutes of video to see how the camera worked in these conditions. I used 24P, 50th sec and ISO2500. I think the 30 fps, or 720/60P would be better for this much motion, but the AF seemed to do a good job, and the video is amazingly clean at ISO 2500.
http://www.vimeo.com/18138884

Running dogs tax an AF system more than any subject I know. I have not tried birds in flight, so that may be a rival, but no human sports even come close to presenting the AF tracking challenge that fast moving dogs present. That said, the greatest difficultly comes when they are running straight at the camera, because their heads are moving all over the frame, and if their eyes are not in focus, the image is unusable. Here there is more lateral movement, but they are still moving toward and away from the camera.
Dogs playing, 720/60P, 14-140 mm, ISO 800,
http://www.vimeo.com/18137872
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That was very impressive Bill. This is a big deal to me in wanting the GH2. The dogs were constantly moving and the camera seemed to follow them perfectly.
 
dvxjiro said:
This is a big deal to me in wanting the GH2. The dogs were constantly moving and the camera seemed to follow them perfectly.
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It was important to me too. I know “real” video people use only manual focus, and many decades ago I did too as a newspaper photographer, but for subjects like these, with a GH2 and slow lens, I doubt that is possible without an awful lot of practice. I found the single focus area works best with continuous AF (same on my D3/D3s), and I place it about where I want the subject’s face to be. For stills, I followed helpful suggestions on this list and set the fps to M (3 fps), and this makes it possible to keep the subject visible in the viewfinder. The very slow lens (aperture-wise) requires using very high ISOs on the GH2 with a shutter speed of a 1600th or 2000th - it isn’t the greatest for stills, but works well for video. The camera is so small and light that carrying it along requires no effort, even when I have a larger camera with me, and that is really why I wanted it.
I tried the Sony a55, and it has fast AF, but the nanosecond the focus area shifts from the subject, the focus changes, and it shut down because it overheated when I was taking several video clips in a row, outside on a very cool, breezy day. Also, their better, faster lenses were quite large and heavy. That said, I would love to see a faster zoom in the 14-140 range. The 100-300 seems to keep a wider aperture (f4.0 vs f5.8) much farther into the focal length range, but mine is still very stiff and difficult to use quickly and smoothly. Hopefully it will “wear in”. The lens is surprisingly sharp. I did a quick test with it, the 14-140, 20 f1.7, 25 mm f0.95 (excellent - I love that lens) and several Leica M lenses. Surprisingly (to me) the 100-300 hung right in there with the best of them (I was looking at resolution and contrast - apparent image quality at 100 percent).
 
Where to buy a GH2 in the US?

Where to buy a GH2 in the US?

I wish to buy a GH2 immediately after January 1, 2011. Any suggestions where one could be found in the US? Most people appear to be on backorder. Thanks for any pointers.:grin:
 
Hello all. Happy holidays! I'm considering ditching my 7D in favor of the GH2... anyone have thoughts on this?

Also, on the GH2, is there any sort of "focus assist" mode when using manual focus lenses? TIA!
 
Boz said:
Also, on the GH2, is there any sort of "focus assist" mode when using manual focus lenses? TIA!
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Yes - you can press the dial (or set a Fn button) to zoom in, and then move the zoomed area around or zoom in further to help focus.
 
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How to tell if the if the model is PAL

How to tell if the if the model is PAL

jonnytsunami said:
Got my GH2! Got it in Hong Kong, how can i check if its PAL?
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This is the table for GH1. Check the last two letters of the model code on the box.
Should work the same way for GH2.

[FONT=&quot]a) DMC-GH1K (Japan domestic model) NTSC Japanese Year/Month/Date[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]b) DMC-GH1KPP NTSC English Month/Date/Year[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]c) DMC-GH1KEB/EC/EG/GC/GH/GN PAL English Date/Month/Year[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]d) DMC-GH1KGK PAL Chinese (simplified) Year/Month/Date[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]e) DMC-GH1KGT NTSC Chinese (traditional) Year/Month/Date
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So it looks like only models with codes PP, or GT are NTSC in addition to tthe Japanese domestic model, where the code is blank.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Good luck.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
 
Boz said:
Hello all. Happy holidays! I'm considering ditching my 7D in favor of the GH2... anyone have thoughts on this?

Also, on the GH2, is there any sort of "focus assist" mode when using manual focus lenses? TIA!
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I ditched my 7d to get a GH1 so I imagine that the GH2 will be a better decision. Never regretted it for one moment,.
 
Thanks tyampel ^ ^ my Panasonic GH2 model is DMC-GH2EG-K, but for some reason i cant find how to change from 24 to 25...loving the GH2 though its a beast!!!
 
jonnytsunami said:
Thanks tyampel ^ ^ my Panasonic GH2 model is DMC-GH2EG-K, but for some reason i cant find how to change from 24 to 25...loving the GH2 though its a beast!!!
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Well, the reason would be that the "PAL" GH2 doesn't offer 25P ... only 50i. Discussed in lengthy threads, and in the manual.
 
bgpixelman said:
I wish to buy a GH2 immediately after January 1, 2011. Any suggestions where one could be found in the US? Most people appear to be on backorder. Thanks for any pointers.:grin:
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Both the GH2 black and silver body only models are now available from Panasonic Direct. Estimated shipping is 3-5 days on black model and 1-3 days on silver model. I ordered a silver body only GH2 from PD on 12/17 and received it on 12/23 payed for expedited shipping.

Also, Adorama online seller seems to get them in stock periodically but immediately sell them. Amazon has been shipping their recent stock so watch them as well.

TP
 
trentdp said:
Both the GH2 black and silver body only models are now available from Panasonic Direct. Estimated shipping is 3-5 days on black model and 1-3 days on silver model. I ordered a silver body only GH2 from PD on 12/17 and received it on 12/23 payed for expedited shipping.

Also, Adorama online seller seems to get them in stock periodically but immediately sell them. Amazon has been shipping their recent stock so watch them as well.

TP
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Anybody else notice the price increase from $630 to $675? You'd think they could throw in a power cord or something else for the extra $45...
 
I don't have a GH-2 yet. Can anyone check if the EXT Tele Mode can be assigned yo a function button? So you can switch between regular and zoom without fumbling through the menus?
 
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