Shopping CartPanasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 16.05 MP Live MOS Interchangeable Lens Camera with 3-inch Free-Angle Touch Screen LCD and 14-140mm HD Hybrid Lens (Black)
Date : January 13th, 2012
Review : 3 Reviews
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Price : $ 1,499.95
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Tags : 14140mm, 16.05, 3Inch, Black, Camera, DMCGH2, FreeAngle, Hybrid, Interchangeable, Lens, Live, Lumix, Panasonic, Screen, Touch
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 16.05 MP Live MOS Interchangeable Lens Camera with 3-inch Free-Angle Touch Screen LCD and 14-140mm HD Hybrid Lens (Black)
- 16.05-megapixel multi-aspect Live MOS Sensor; Micro Four Thirds format camera
- Kit includes 14-140mm HD Hybrid Lens; high-quality photos in 3D with optional lens
- Full HD video capability; Fast Light Speed AF for quick, clear photo capture; Advanced iA (Intelligent Auto) mode
- 3-inch Free-Angle Touch Screen LCD for intuitive touch-control shooting
- Compact, lightweight design for ease of use and portability
- 16.05-megapixel multi-aspect Live MOS Sensor , Micro Four Thirds format camera
- Full HD video capability , Fast Light Speed AF for quick, clear photo capture , Advanced iA (Intelligent Auto) mode
Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-GH2 is the latest member of the New Generation System Camera Lumix G Micro System. Fully compliant with the Micro Four Thirds System standard, the Lumix G Micro System combines a downsized body with advanced functions that achieve both high performance and operational comfort.Featuring an intuitive touch control, the new DMC-GH2 boasts its world’s fastest level Light Speed AF of approx. 0.1 second to capture the subject in spur-of-the-moment in sharp focus 1. The key components, including the sensor and the image processing engine, are totally refined to achieve even higher performance of the camera to render a stunning image with high resolution, beautiful gradation and high sensitivity.
Best All Around Camera On The Planet,
Now I know that is a bold statement and I intend to back it up. However, before I do I need to explain what I mean. I am not saying this camera is the best at everything or even anyone thing. Cameras that are the best at something are usually specialized beasts that can really only do that one thing well. What I am talking about is a camera the is so good in so many categories that it can joyfully be used for just about and photographic or video graphic purpose you may have. The GH2 is that camera.
Now that is out of the way we can get to the meat and potatoes of the review. I shoot mostly Nikon and Panasonic and I primarily shoot stills. I dabble in Video but do not proclaim myself any sort of an expert. I can say if you are looking for the best handling combo/cam with the most features then the GH2 is the one you want. Panasonic went out of its way to make this a video camera so that was its primary focus with this camera. However, there are lots of payoffs for the stills part of this camera so this is the best m4/3 stills camera by a long shot also. I will also say that the hard core video market is a niche market compared to the stills market because shallow depth of field video is hard to shoot properly and hard to edit. The average home user has neither the time nor inclination to properly storyboard and shoot this type of video. However, with that said, it is really nice to be able to shoot stills and video. And basic home videos are a snap to shoot with this camera; much more so than any other DSLR with the exception of the Sony SLT A55/33 which at least has a fast auto focus also. To shoot nice home movies, put the mode dial to iA, press the red button, and you are shooting video.
This camera is the next generation of cameras as it successfully blends the advantages of Point and Shoot cameras with the benefits of DSLRs and creates and incredibly small and powerful camera. Listed below are some of the benefits and weakness you get from this next gen camera.
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The handling on the GH2 is bar none the best handling “DSLR” on the market. WIth smart controls, great layout, fast autofocusing, swivel screen, full time double live view, etc. Even with how good the D7000 is, it still feels clunky after using the GH2. I get into most of the details of this down below so I don’t want to repeat the info here. What I will say here is that you can do things with this camera you couldn’t hope to do with DSLRs and you can generally set up your photo parameters much faster with this camera. The menus on the GH2 are not very good. However, the actual camera controls are so good you will rarely even need to use the menus.
Program Shift – Forget using Aperture priority with this camera. You can leave the camera in Program mode. With program shift you can change the aperture setting and thus the shutter speed while in program mode. To do this you press the shutter release button down half way to set the exposure. Then if the numbers are in yellow you just rotate the rear dial switch to change aperture. Want a shallower depth of field or faster shutter speed, then dial in a bigger aperture (smaller number). If the numbers are not in yellow then you are currently in exposure compensation mode. All you have to do is click the rear dial switch and then rotate it. Snap. What a neat feature.
Extra Tele Convert (ETC) Mode in Video – If you shoot video you are going to love this. This is even great for home/casual video shooters. The GH2 has a 16mp sensor but like every other consumer combo/cam shoots 2K video. That means the picture is usually down-sampled to make it 2K. This has some pluses and minuses. Enter the GH2. With the ETC mode the camera uses only 2K of the sensor. This gives you an extra 2.6x crop factor. Which means your total crop factor is now 5.2x. So that brand spanking new 100-300mm you just got is now 520-1560mm with no light loss. If you put a Nikon 135mm f2 then you now have a 702mm f2! lens for video. There are some drawbacks for using ETC also but they are pretty negligible.
Auto focus – the auto focus on the GH2 is twice as fast as the GH1 and the GH1 was the fastest of previous generation. I have seen some very knowledgeable photographers saying it is as fast as mid-level DSLRs. While I think it is supposed to be a complement I don’t think it is a very good comparison. I find the focus speed of DSLRs has most to do with what lens you have on. There are some lenses that focus slowly on even a D3. All of the lenses I have used on the GH1 focus very quickly except the 45-200mm. That lens tends to be my slowest. Non of the lenses I have focus as fast as a 70-200mm f/2.8 but the rest of them focus as fast if not faster than any of the other Nikon lenses I own. The best I can say about this is that you won’t notice the focus speed on the GH2 as it is fast…
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|Excellent camera,
I have recently owned the Panasonic G1 and GH1, been very pleased with them, and thought that getting the GH2 would be ‘just another upgrade’. Not so. The ergonomics give a camera that is an absolute joy to use. The touch screen totally transforms macro and tripod shooting, while the buttons, knobs, dials, and switches bring every major photographic parameter to your finger-tips. I agree with the earlier 5-star reviews here, but must say that on my camera, I find the knob action is firm (much firmer than G1 or GH1) and will never be accidentally knocked into a different setting, and that the other switches are adequately robust. I have found the Olympus flashes (FL50, ring, twin) all work perfectly with the Panasonic. I’d recommend the 14-140 lens, its a great all-rounder and takes 80% of my shots, even though I have the 7-14, 14-45, 20, 45-200, 45 macro, and 100-300 in my bag.
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|The best interchangeable lens hybrid HD video/still camera yet !,
I was going to get the Canon 60D body to use with my Pentax K mount lenses from 6.5mm to 2350mm but after seeing the first reviews comparing it to the new GH2 I decided to get the GH2 instead and wow they were right. After I charged the battery I shot a 1080p24 HD test video in 24L 17mb/sec mode and was shocked at how much better it was to the other HDSLRs in sharpness and detail. I bet in the higher 24H 24mb/sec mode it would match my Panasonic HDC-TM700 3MOS camcorder in 1080p60 mode when viewed on a large monitor or HDTV. With Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 it is the best DSLR type camera for shooting HD video in low light today IMHO.
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