Ordered a GH1 today, about a year late, but hey! :-)

Peter J. DeCrescenzo

Peter J. DeCrescenzo

Veteran
After about a year of dithering, researching & "occasionally" whining [grin], I finally went and ordered a GH1 from Amazon today. The cam, and various related bits from B&H, will arrive over the course of the next several days.

What pushed me over the edge was:

1) The weather is getting nice & I want to start taking pix & vid.

2) The GH1 has a very nice EVF & LCD, and for me I think I'll prefer that combination to the alternative of frequently switching back & forth between an optical VF & a Zacuto loupe on the LCD of a T2i (very nice as that is).

3) The GH1 will eventually become my "B" cam for the "GH2" when it becomes available in the US (guessing late 2010?), and might serve as a B cam for use with other cams I rent, too. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to shooting various stuff with the GH1.

4) Barry's article comparing the 7D & the GH1 really hit home for me. Even though the lower price of the T2i made it a tough call, I'm more of a video guy than a cine guy (if that makes any sense), so the GH1's video cam-ish-ness seems like it will be a better match for me.

My initial kit is the GH1 & its standard 14-140mm zoom & accessories, plus odds & ends like a HDMI-to-HDMI-mini cable, an allegedly compatible extra battery from SterlingTek (if it doesn't work I'll return it), the BlackRapid R2 safety ring for the tripod screw hole, a Hosa GMP-467 3.5mm to 2.5mm stereo audio adapter & Cables Unltd. AUD-3010 3.5mm stereo to dual mono audio adapter (so I can experiment with using my wireless mics & SoundDevices MixPre mixer [danger, danger!]), a circular polarizer (I'll get a Fader ND later when I get some fast lenses), and some 4GB Class 6 SDHC cards (for easy 1-to-1 data backups to multiple DVD-Rs).

Since my old slow G4 Mac can't run modern software, I'll replace it with a MacBook Pro when the new models come out (should be soon-ish). In the meantime I'll have fun shooting instead of editing. I might get Toast 9 so I can do some basic manipulation of the files & burn some to SD DVDs.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to actually using the GH1 instead of reading & writing about it. You know the old saying, "Familiarity breeds content." Or something like that. :happy:

(Among other things, there's a nesting pair of bald eagles living less than a mile from downtown Portland on Ross Island in the Willamette River, and I'm hoping to get some pix & video of them. One of them was sitting in a tree about 40' above my head a few weeks ago -- and I didn't have a camera with me -- ack! Lesson learned ...)

EDIT: Here's a weird thought/question: I wonder if a GF1 or the new G10 (or, for that matter, one of the cheaper Panasonic P&S cams?) connected to a HDMI monitor can serve as a relatively inexpensive "playback deck" for 1080p videos recorded on SDHC cards by a GH1? It probably makes more sense to use something like a BluRay player that has a built-in SDHC slot?
 
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Enjoy it. I would have a GH1 right now if it weren't out of stock last Summer when I ordered. Let's see some footage soon.
 
Congrats, Peter. You're going to enjoy it very much. Start looking for old manual SLR lenses next. Craigslist and eBay are great. Some have good luck at estate sales and pawn shops. The camera is very nice, but it shines when you put on fast glass. The kit lens is awesome, but as you know it's slow as molasses. And, yes, you'll want to get a Fader ND sooner than later. Even with the kit lens, you can get some pretty shallow-ish DOF shots for interviews, etc. Not 50mm 1.4 shallow, but still nice compared to a typical video camera.
 
Thanks for the comments. I'm looking forward to the new toy arriving.

JLEO: Thanks for the links. I ordered a HDMI-to-mini cable from B&H, so I'm set for now. The "playback deck" idea/question was just me thinking out loud about semi-cheap ways to play original-quality GH1 shot footage on my 1080p TV w/o always using the GH1 itself. One of the things I'll test is using my soon-to-be replaced current Mac & Toast 9 (or some other software) for playing back files. Or maybe the BluRay player with SD slot idea, etc.

Skinny/Chris: I was referring to Barry's conclusions in his 7D vs. GH1 article. For the reasons he describes in the conclusion of the article, I'm hoping the GH1 will be a good "fit" for me; TBD.
http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/article.php/26

Ron: For sure, I've had my eye on some fast primes for quite a while, but I want to spend some time using the cam as-is first, and then pick & choose add-ons gradually. As has been discussed here many times, certain lenses (mounts, etc.) can be better long-term investments than others, especially if they can be adapted to multiple cameras & formats. On the other hand, the small, sharp & fast Panasonic 20mm 1.7 is very possibly my next major purchase, even though it's "only" for m4/3.
 
Congrats man! I recently bought one because of my school stuff, but I personally love it and am glad I've got it.
 
Ha…yeah I understood what you were saying right away because I totally agree with it. After having the 7D for a few months now (and loving it) I don’t think anyone could pry it away from my fingers…but…I really, really miss ‘some’ of the convenience that a traditional camcorder has to offer. Those features are basically in the GH-1. So, based on what you said earlier I think you made a good choice. And like Isaac if it were not for the difficulty last year on folks here in the states trying to obtain a GH-1 I probably would have bought that first. But for my current needs I think I made a great choice. You can't go wrong either way.
 
Thanks, Ian. The killer was the new reality brought on by the T2i. It really made it a harder choice. As we all know, the GH1's lack of live video (& audio) out during recording, and the GH1's "interesting" codec implementation, not to mention the T2i's relatively low price -- I mean the force is strong with that little "Rebel". ;-)

But it's all good. Did I mention the GH1 will be a huge step up from my current 5MP P&S (POS?) digicam? Like yeah!
 
LOL... I don't think any of us can "really" complain about gear any more. It's just pick your poison and shoot. I've seen some really amazing things done with these cams in the last year or more.
 
Peter J. DeCrescenzo said:
2) The GH1 has a very nice EVF & LCD, and for me I think I'll prefer that combination to the alternative of frequently switching back & forth between an optical VF & a Zacuto loupe on the LCD of a T2i (nice as that is).
Click to expand...
Does not the T2i have a relatively large 900 kpix LCD?

Ron Rodenmeyer said:
Peter, thanks for using the word "interesting" over "crippled". If I hear the "C" word one more time...
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...you will throw your GH1 against a brick wall?
 
Cranky said:
Does not the T2i have a relatively large 900 kpix LCD?


...you will throw your GH1 against a brick wall?
Click to expand...

No, I'll throw the user of the term against a brick wall (Just kidding of course).

I agree as much as anyone that the codec could stand to be beefed up, but I have just not seen evidence that it's so lacking as to be "crippled". There is plenty of good footage out there to back this up, and I have not had any issues with it. Underexposed stuff sometimes gets the banding, which looks simply awful. The Canon cameras show moire on some shots, which also looks awful. We figure out what works and what doesn't, and we deal with it.
 
Cranky said:
Does not the T2i have a relatively large 900 kpix LCD? ...
Click to expand...

Hi Cranky: The T2i has a fabulous LCD (e.g.: its specs are better than the GH1's LCD specs), but I think I'll prefer the GH1's combination of relatively hi-res EVF & medium-res LCD more than the T2i's no-VF approach when recording video.

Adding a Zacuto or other loupe finder to the T2i, 7D, etc. is a great solution, but for my first foray into "DSLR" video I'm more interested in size, weight & stealthiness rather than total control/ultimate solution.

It might just be a personal ergonomic preference; other folks might want it the other way around, or for certain kinds of work one combination makes more sense than another. It's all good.

Again, I think Barry sums things up very nicely in his very fair 7D vs. GH1 article.
 
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SWEEET!! welcome indeed!! Should be NEAT!!!! Funny how the change in weather will cause you to just buy stuff, (meanwhile I know you've been eyeing these cams over the last year and have been quite vocal so- cheers to you Peter- enjoy!) -----show us some footy dude

Z
 
I just got a GH1 this last week...after owning all the Canons and Nikons available (almost :)) I am actually much happier with it over all and I am more motivated in shooting my short films than I ever have been. It has some great features that almost make me refuse to believe that video was an afterthought in this camera.
 
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