Moving from Sony EX1 to Panasonic GH1

Essami

Essami

Well-known member
Hi everyone,

Im on the fence with a decision and wanted to ask your opinions. I've been shooting with the Sony EX1 and the Letus Extreme for about a year now and Im very happy with it.

But, it was expensive and as soon as there's more of these DSRL's on the market the value will go way down. At the moment Im in a bit of pinch recarding money and Im wondering if this would be a good time to sell my EX1 kit and get the GH1 for the time being until I can get my finance into shape and maybe by that time there will be something similar for half the price.

I mostly shoot music videos and artsy short pieces. The footage on the web shot with GH1 looks like its pretty good and with a little work you can get great results. My work ends up on the web anyways and rarely goes beyond that.

Anyone else gone a similar route?

Thanks!

Sami
 
No.


Keep the EX-1, keep the Letus Extreme. That is an amazing camera especially when equipped with the Letus! You've already got a package that does everything the GH1 can and than some, and you're going to be taken much more seriously with it.

Seriously.

Signed,

A Proud GH1 Owner
 
http://www.letusdirect.com/

Just look @ the Ex-1 + extreme P. Bloom video on the front page....it made me drool, and reminded me of why at some point, I need to buy an adapter ring, borrow my friends Letus (Extreme for HVX) check out an EX-1 from the school or TV station....and shoot it up!

Anyway I guess I'll ask this. All things aside are you able to comfortably handhold your EX-1 + Letus? That, and the long setup/take down time, as well as the long time between being able to get each shot, is the main reason I prefer my GH1 over friend's HVX+Letus setup. Thoughts?
 
Hi Ben,

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm not worried about being taken seriously, I show my footage to a prospect client, not my big rig ;)

I'm ok with going handheld on the EX1-Letus rig. But as said earlier everything I do is short form. I wouldnt be able to do interviews or doc stuff on this rig. Setup time is never a problem either because of the kind of stuff I do.

Sami
 
Very true on footage, I made a similar argument in another thread for GH1.

You'd have trouble doing one-man interviews or doc stuff on a Gh1 because of audio stuff.

GH1 works well for me because I do lots of narrative shorts, similar to the kind of work you do, and am able to work around sound issues, etc. I think if the EX-1 does that for you and you're looking into moving into new ground, keep the camera, you know it, you like it, and it's probably better suited to it.

As for Doc stuff, you can always shoot sans Letus, the EX-1 stock lens won't give you the kind of DOF you might get with a Gh1 but it is still an excellent piece of glass and very versitle, perfect for doc work.
 
I think selling the EX1 for a GH1 is pretty wise, when it comes to the money. You can put some seriously nice glass on the GH1 for £500, and have enough left over to keep in a high interest bank account.

Then when the GH2 comes out, you can trade up. And in future generations too. Trade up each time.

In a few years, the G series will be serious pro tools. The micro 4/3rds form factor and sensor size is perfect for video. It just needs the pro bells and whistles adding. Those lenses you invest in now, will keep their value unlike the EX1 and Letus, and you can use them on subsequent generations of the G series.

If you make sure your audio needs are sorted with the GH1, there is nothing it won't impress your clients with, even against the EX1. DOF and the lenses are first rate for a video camera. DOF is right in the 'just right' bracket - not too shallow, not too flat, more than EX1.
 
....once again I agree with the commander.... If you are not going to miss all the bells and whistles of the EX-1 then this cam, and a but load of super glass, is a great investment which can be upgraded in the future.
 
Ok, so, these are the real issues I have, everything else like audio etc. I feel that I can workaround easily and would not be bothered with.

In favour of keeping EX1+Letus:
-Slow motion
-workflow with Sony Vegas 8, works perfect
-Image quality
-DOF (very important to me)
-no crop factor on lenses

In favour of getting the GH1
-money issues
-weight and size, would be so much easier to get to places and shoot
-can use my excisting FD lenses that I have a bunch

So I guess it comes down to image quality, slow mo, DOF, crop factor and workflow worries really. If you have opinions how drastic step down from EX1 this would be I'd love to hear.

I was kinda pushed into even thinking of making this decision after seeing this comparison test: http://www.vimeo.com/5981422. Still on the fence, but everyone is helping me make this decision ;)

Sami
 
Essami said:
Ok, so, these are the real issues I have, everything else like audio etc. I feel that I can workaround easily and would not be bothered with.

In favour of keeping EX1+Letus:
-Slow motion
-workflow with Sony Vegas 8, works perfect
-Image quality
-DOF (very important to me)
-no crop factor on lenses

In favour of getting the GH1
-money issues
-weight and size, would be so much easier to get to places and shoot
-can use my excisting FD lenses that I have a bunch

So I guess it comes down to image quality, slow mo, DOF, crop factor and workflow worries really. If you have opinions how drastic step down from EX1 this would be I'd love to hear.

I was kinda pushed into even thinking of making this decision after seeing this comparison test: http://www.vimeo.com/5981422. Still on the fence, but everyone is helping me make this decision ;)

Sami
Click to expand...

Backwards step? In some areas maybe, but in some areas it's actually a step up for less money! I struggle to see why you identify DOF, slow mo, workflow and crop factor as being disadvantages on the GH1 but advantages for the EX1. The crop factor only makes wide angle lenses more expensive, but then the EX1 has a fixed lens which isn't even very wide. The workflow is fine, transcoding from AVCHD to your chosen editing intermediate format is pretty quick if you have a decent memory card and computer gear, all the major editing apps support it.

And, well, the GH1 is better for DOF than the EX1, so no worries there! Depending on the lens (and there are MANY) it has it in bundles. Often shallower (more) than the EX1 can even dream of.

Image quality we know about. It hasn't got as solid a codec as the EX1 and it can give awful compression artefacts if mishandled, but image quality is usually stellar. Great dynamic range and low noise, due to the larger sensor than the EX1.

GH1 workflow is fine in my opinion. AVCHD is pretty common now.

Crop factor on the kit lens isn't an issue, it's plenty wide with a 10x zoom because it's range is 14-1400mm. That's wider than the EX1's lens (28mm equivalent in 35mm terms versus EX1 31mm). The FD lenses (like all lenses, incl. kit lens) will be 2x. The widest lens you can get is a 8mm or 10mm, circa £300 to £600 depending on if it's a Canon, Olympus or Panasonic. I believe the Olympus is cheapest.

You won't have a built in ND filter. But slow mo - you can have that. 60p 720p down to 30p or 24p works nicely on the GH1. Take a look at what Philip Bloom shot with the GH1 and it should convince you to make the leap.

Getting shot of my FX1 was hard when faced with replacing it with what looked like on the surface a toy digi cam with no pro video features, but my fears turned out to be (mostly) unfounded.
 
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Maybe you missed the part where he has a Letus?

Look if someone was asking: "should I buy EX-1 + Letus or GH1" I'd say GH1, but since you already have it, are happy with it, and have shot on it, I say stick with the EX-1 + Letus! It's a really excellent camera. As for money, if you managed to save up enough for the system in the first place I'd say don't resell it now and get a cheaper camera...because this technically is costing you money! You have a system that works great now, and you're going to have to resell it for less than you bought it for...it gives you more cash on hand but doesn't really make economic sense, and in the future you'll probably be missing the investment you made--both from an economic and filmmaking perspective.

We love our GH1s, they're amazing cameras, but that doesn't mean the EX-1 + Letus isn't as well. The only disadvantage that your setup has is size/weight, but you already said that was a non-issue for you, and I pointed out that if you want to do doc work you'll want the EX-1's audio functionality, and can always disconnect the Letus for run and gun...you don't want crazy shallow DOF for run and gun type shots in a doc anyway! Plus the stock lens in the Ex-1 can get decent DOF in a pinch zoomed in, and you have the Letus for everything else!
 
Just got my GH1 today. A few first impressions:

Good stuff:
-The size and weight are going to allow for so much more creativity. Small tracks and other accessories.
-Image quality seems to be on par with EX1 image, no complaints there.
-DOF is plenty shallow, also FOV did not change dramatically as you need to zoom in to the Letus a bit anyways. I'd say the crop factor for those who go from Letus to GH1 will be around 1.3.
-Vegas 8 handles the files really well. Id say the playback is slightly better then on EX1 mxf files even.

Bad stuff:
-Color correction will be slightly more difficult and you really need to nail your exposure
-Definately more jello, a lot more. This Im a bit worried about at the moment.
-Codec seems to break a bit on fast pans but since there is the jello I dont see myself panning much.

How do I find out what firmware I have?

Sami
 
It's likely not up to date. There's probably a place to check but the easiest way I can think of offhand is to go into 720/60p manual movie mode and see how slow a shutter you can get. New firmware supports as slow as 1/2 second.
 
Essami said:
How do I find out what firmware I have?

Sami
Click to expand...



  1. Mount a lens onto the camera body.
  2. Set the camera’s power switch to ON.
  3. Press the MENU/SET button.
  4. Go to the SETUP menu and select the "Version DISP", then press > button. (It is on the 4th page in G1/GH1, and on the 3rd page in L10/L1)
(from Panasonic Support page)
 
Ben_B said:
It's likely not up to date. There's probably a place to check but the easiest way I can think of offhand is to go into 720/60p manual movie mode and see how slow a shutter you can get. New firmware supports as slow as 1/2 second.
Click to expand...

Strange. My firmware says 1.1 but slowest shutter I get is 1/30th...
 
Interesting that you are finding Jello to be such an issue as others have found it comparable to cameras known for their lack thereof (RED ONE, etc.)...

Maybe firmware will help?
 
There's a setting somewhere to allow full manual control of shutter. Also you need to be in SHD mode not FHD mode.
 
keep the EX1

keep the EX1

I have both cameras now and use the GH1 for second/third camera angle. But it's no match for the fluid workflow of the EX1 in FCP, and audio is a huge factor for me. The next generation DSLR's will address audio better, but for now, it's about pretty pictures. No mud issues on EX1, either, so it's a better A camera on multicam shoots. I would think music videos would have a lot of fast movement--and the GH1 and d5 are not ready for that yet with the rolling shutter issue. Think hard before you unload your EX1, which is already a perfect camera setup for everything you do.
 
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