GH2 Rumors Thread

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Lumix warranty spring/summer 2009

Lumix warranty spring/summer 2009

If they don’t announce a “GH2” at the February photo show I’m going to order a GH1 with a three year warranty provided by someone beside Panasonic. I bought a DMC-ZS3 last spring and it developed a firmware problem with the display after about a month. In June of 2009 the warranty service from Panasonic was the worst I have ever encountered. It took them 20 to 50 minutes to answer the phone and after nearly a half dozen calls I found how to send the camera back for repair. The display screen became cracked in their shop and they wanted $200 to supply another camera because of my “abuse”. In September the situation improved (they started answering the phone and sent me a voucher for another camera) however all through that experience I thought what a bummer this was for my $350 camera but how I would have felt with the exact same service for a $1500 Lumix GH1. Panasonic warranty service on Lumix products may have improved but I’ll protect my investment.
 
cloudv said:
If they don’t announce a “GH2” at the February photo show I’m going to order a GH1 with a three year warranty provided by someone beside Panasonic.
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Pure speculation (isn't that what a rumors thread is for?), but I doubt they'll announce a GH2 at PMA. From a marketing standpoint, GH1 needs a bit more time on the market, and is still ahead of the competition in terms of video.

My money is on a slight successor to G1 (G2? G1s?). Which will basically be a slightly stripped down GH1 (for example might only shoot 720 videos) with a more affordable lens in the kit. They will try to compete with more affordable cameras, albeit with inferior lenses - Nikon D5000, Canon T1i, Pentax K-x etc.

I'm not sure if this is the right move though. At least one of the big boys will soon announce the second generation of video enabled SLRs, which will probably close the gap on the GH1. If that happens M43 will be a harder sell.
 
The GH1 has two major issues. Mud and low light banding. Therefore the two things that panasonic has to improve is these. The shutterless rumor that is going around makes me think that they are working on faster sensor readouts, meaning that for the same fps the quality will increase. If they do that with an improved back illuminated sensor technology then they are going to create something really good.

m4/3 is my format, I now have two lenses and I do need a device to create acceptable quality movies and be my stills camera, so Panasonic is my hope
 
stav1606 said:
m4/3 is my format, I now have two lenses and I do need a device to create acceptable quality movies and be my stills camera, so Panasonic is my hope
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The GH1 can do all of that. If *you* can't get it with the GH1, the problem is not the camera. Sorry, but that's just the truth. Every camera has strengths and weaknesses and the GH1 is no different, but it's strengths are super-strengths if you utilize them properly. For what this camera costs, it delivers unbelievable quality and if you work within its strength-set, it can deliver amazing results.

Have you even seen GH1 footage straight out of the camera? If all you've seen are the mud and low light banding tests done on vimeo or youtube, you just haven't seen what the camera can do. The compression that is added to these clips really accentuates the issues that do exist, but can be worked around. You need to add light in the really dark parts of the frame at high isos, you need to properly set exposure, and you need to not whip the camera around like crazy. For what this camera costs the quality is so far beyond "acceptable" it's almost offensive to hear people say otherwise.

The GH1 can't create "acceptable quality movies?" really? A number of folks have posted stuff from the GH1 on here that is of extremely high quality and intercuts with RED footage in a way that is practically indistinguishable (when it is shot well).

It sounds like you want good results while shooting recklessly, and no camera can give you that.
 
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thisisapocalypse said:
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It sounds like you want good results while shooting recklessly, and no camera can give you that.
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Oh no no, dont get me wrong. I did not say it is unusable. Its just that the technology nerd inside of me wants a camera that will be more robust. Thats all. I want it to be less difficult to mess it up. Thats all I am saying.
 
Is it just me or is the most important factor for anyone in here the fact that the GH1 was so low in price for what it offered? I hope for reasonable improvements when upgrading to the GH2 (native 24p, 24mb bit-rate with sensor improvement, audio monitoring with no AGC), but personally I am already very happy with the camera as is. I hope the leap from the GH1 to the GH2 is not too great, because this will create a great leap in the cameras price bracket.

Now if Panasonic can create a giant step in quality (shutterless rumor plus all the above mentioned) and only a baby step in price, then I will be even happier, but looking at marketing history, this has never happened and wouldn't make sense for Panasonic to do. What would be the incentive for them to make their prosumer cameras (HVX/HPX and so on) null and void?
 
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