[hmurchison]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0903/09...gh1handson.asp

For economic reasons I decided that I cannot afford a digicam and camcorder so the rumours of a HD video enabled Micro 4/3rds camera appealed to me as someone wanting to step up from crappy "point n shoot" cameras to something more flexible. I think this camera may be my answer!

Panasonic DMC-GH1 brief hands-on The imminent arrival of the DMC-GH1 (if not its final name; many were expecting a 'G1-HD') has been widely expected in the run-up to PMA 2009. Now that the camera has finally shown up it does, as expected, resemble little more than a DMC-G1 with various extra bits and pieces added on, all in support of its hotly-anticipated HD video functionality. But unlike recent DSLRs which have offered video capability, the GH1 is capable of continuous autofocus in movie mode using its purpose-designed contrast-detect AF system; this should make it a far more usable option for users looking for a fully functional stills/video hybrid. Panasonic has supported this with the all-new, specially optimized Lumix G Vario HD 14-140mm F4.0-5.8 lens, which features stepless and near-silent focusing and aperture mechanisms. Seen from the front, the camera body is almost identical to the G1, with the 'HD' and 'AVCHD' badges the main giveaway that this camera offers just that little bit more than anything we've seen before from an interchangeable-lens digital stills camera (according to Panasonic, the AVCHD format can record almost twice the footage in HD quality than the conventional Motion JPEG, using the same SD card). However look a little bit closer at the camera from almost any other angle, and you soon find that the various requirements for HD video recording have been cleverly squeezed into the existing DMC-G1 body design. The view below shows the most obvious additions, the new video record button and the built-in stereo microphone. Dedicated video recording button A feature we've seen before on certain zoom compacts, the DMC-GH1 sports a dedicated video recording button, which is conveniently placed on the top corner of the camera for operation by the right thumb. This means the user can seamlessly switch between stills and video, without ever missing a shot through having to change the camera's mode. From the top - built-in stereo microphone, and video on the mode dial Two new features have been added to the top of the camera. Most obviously, a microphone is now positioned on top of the housing for the pop-up flash, allowing the camera to record sound in stereo during movie capture. The mode dial also has a new video position, which we presume allows direct manual control over certain movie capture settings. Connectivity - external microphone and HDMI sockets. Two new connection sockets have been added to the camera body; the first is a standard mini-HDMI (type C) connector, which allows connection to a compatible TV for the playback of video clips. We were also impressed by the provision of the external mic socket, which allows sound to be recorded nearer to the source using a good quality microphone. This should help reduce wind noise and any background camera operation sounds, that can spoil the soundtracks on some videos. All-new sensor design The other big news about the GH1 is its new sensor, which is not the same as that seen in the G1. With 14Mp total resolution, the camera can shoot at four different aspect ratios (4:3, 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1) with a similar angle of view and effective pixel count of around 12Mp, by using different portions of the sensor in a similar fashion to the DMC-LX3.

I love the idea of being able to take one camera and decide if I want a photo or a video clip at the push of a button. Plus with the removable lens I can take more options with me than I would normally have with a consumer camcorder.

[Matsu]

The news says that Samsung is also bringing out a mirrorless interchangable lense system, ths one built around APSC sized sensor.

Primary benefits of these new age view cameras are smaller lenses, easier video implementation and possibly stratospheric "shutter" and sync speeds compared to DSLRs...

AF and metering will likely be better in DLSRs, at least for a while.

[hmurchison]

Yeah that's their new NX stuff right? They aren't delivering interchangable lens are they?

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by Matsu The news says that Samsung is also bringing out a mirrorless interchangable lense system, ths one built around APSC sized sensor. Primary benefits of these new age view cameras are smaller lenses, easier video implementation and possibly stratospheric "shutter" and sync speeds compared to DSLRs... AF and metering will likely be better in DLSRs, at least for a while.

Flash sync speeds are an issue, although easily overcome with a good flash with sync override. The main advantage of the mirrorless APSC camera is making better P&S, in the SLR world we call these EVIL (its an acronym for something) cameras. Sensor based AF is a way off from being as good as the independent metering abilities of those found in a DSLR and till the day that EVFs get better (meaning liveview in general) they wont be replacing the mirror in performance cameras, due to shutter lag and the slow phased based contrast AF which takes 10+ seconds vs. 40-70 ms for the mirror based AF systems in high end cameras today.