My heartfelt, plain-English review of the Panasonic Lumix GH1

One month and over 20,000 images later, I’m ready to say a few things about the GH1 that’s sort of like an actual review. (And note that for simplicity, I will just refer to the GH1 as a DSLR, though I realize it technically is not one without the mirror mechanism.)

It is not the best DSLR and not the best camcorder… but still may make you fall in love with it.

At $1500 US for the 14-140mm lens kit (or around $900, body-only), it costs almost twice as much as an entry level camera from Nikon or Canon, but can’t even match those in still image quality because it rivals both the price and quality of mid-range SLRs from Nikon and Canon, despite the fact that its Four-Thirds sized sensor is 30-40% smaller than the APS-C sensors those DSLRs (edit note: I stand corrected!). It also has a total of 4 lenses (as of May 2009) that work without an adaptor. But add on one of the many adapters available, and you not only have access to the new Four-Thirds lenses from Olympus, but many inexpensive old lenses from Canon, Nikon, and Pentax’s film days, as well as the top quality, legendary lenses of Leica’s rangefinders (none of which work on the mirror-mechanism, larger sensored DSLRs from Nikon, Canon, etc.). And the ability to shoot full 1080p HD video through some of the best lenses in the world is enough to make some people salivate uncontrollably (just check Flickr for some of the amazing results).

But even then, its video is not perfect. It has traces of the “rolling shutter” effect (where it looks like your whole scene is lit by a flickering fluorescent bulb) and the “jelly” effect (where the edges of the frame seem to wave and jiggle during panning and action-filled shots), which will make those serious about video quality cringe. Even so, amazing results can come from working within the GH1’s limits, as professional filmmaker Philip Bloom demonstrates in his videos.

However, for the “expert” point-and-shooter, this may be your dream camera.

As someone who is used to the limited manual settings and video mode on her point-and-shoot, I’ve personally found the GH1 to be pretty freaking awesome to work with. The Intelligent Auto mode is great for candids and snapshots where you don’t want to think about camera settings. The camera will automatically detect if you’re shooting a close-up or a night landscape or a portrait and adjust settings to suit. The face-tracking AF/AE also makes sure human faces in your shots are properly focused and exposed. It doesn’t work perfectly (it fails of faces are turned downwards, upwards, or otherwise away from the camera, and I haven’t gotten it to detect more than 3 faces at once in candids), but does a good job of detecting even profiles of people, especially if they are smiling.

The rest of the settings are as you would expect on any DSLR. Though I should note that the Movie Mode on the mode dial is actually full manual movie mode. Inexperienced shooters should stick to shooting video in Intelligent Auto or aperture priority mode. The “record” button on the thumb rest lets you easily record a movie in ANY shooting mode… a minus to some with bigger thumbs who may accidentally press the button, or to more serious photographers, but a great ability for the snapshot/candid/documentary shooter, who can now decide on a whim whether to take a photo or record a video.

The rotating screen is one of my favorite parts of the whole camera, since it opens up endless shooting possibilities without the need to shoot blind or guess what your shot will look like. It really encourages you to experiment and get up into places you might not normally go when you’re limited to an optical viewfinder or back-mounted LCD display.

At the same time, it’s also pretty small as DSLRs go. It never feels heavy around my neck and so it’s pretty easy to carry around. Of course, it’s not as tiny and compact as my old point-and-shoot, but it makes the transition to a bigger camera much easier than, say, a Nikon D90 (which is an HD film enabled DSLR around the same price).

Add all that to the plethora of external mics (anything with a standard 3.5mm stereo mic jack) and lens possibilities, and you’ve got quite a bit to experiment with, in a format that invites experimentation by even inexperienced users.

But pro DSLR / camcorder users will probably want to stick to their dedicated rigs.

While I personally think this is a great camera for amateurs or beginners in both digital video and DSLR photography, the price tag tends to scare away most beginners, which is a pity. The camera has a lot of limitations that, as I’ve said before, will make pros cringe.

The electronic viewfinder will be very awkward for the seasoned DSLR shooter (though very familiar to the filmographer), and while the manual focus is very good, it’s slow and less intuitive compared to a conventional DSLR and will take some time to get used to. The image quality, especially in low light and high ISOs, also cannot compare to similarly priced dedicated DSLRs. And I’ve already mentioned its weaknesses with video quality.

In addition, movies are recorded in AVCHD format and limited to as long as your memory card can handle (6/11/09: please see my notes about video recording). Converting these videos, however, will often take longer than the length of the videos themselves. On my 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro with 4GB RAM, a 3 minute video takes around 5 minutes to import, and exporting takes at least double that time.

So where’s that love I was talking about?

When all is said and done, I DO love this camera. My own creative process as an artist is about embracing the limits of a medium and finding creative solutions to still make stuff look pretty dang good. For me, it’s more important to have a camera that is super portable and does both stills and videos well enough, while being both flexible and expandable.

So if you aren’t reliant on having the best image or video quality (you’re better off with $5000+ specialized rigs if you are searching for either), but just want to pursue your creative outlets in a pretty easy and efficient way, you may want to consider the GH1. For everyone else… you’ll probably want to wait for better reviews.

Thoughts about the GH1 so far

Short version: I love it.

Long version:

• Ease of use: It was personally quite easy to pick up and use it for me. I’ve been messing up my pictures by fooling around with the aperture, shutter, ISO, and white balance settings on my point and shoot for years. In preparation for the GH1, I actually went and read up on how to NOT mess up pictures with those settings, so I’ve been feeling pretty good outside of auto mode.
• Shooting pictures: If I am baffled by what to do (or am in a hurry), I can just throw it in auto mode and hit the shutter. It usually does a good job of it. Even detects and tracks faces!… Though I haven’t actually got to test this yet, being a hermit and all. Auto focus is super fast (manual is another story), the little jog wheel is pretty awesome (I thought it would be annoying, but it isn’t), and of course all the other controls available right on its surface as physical buttons and switches means I’m setting up and shooting much faster than with my point-and-shoot (which required some digging through menus).
• Shooting movies: Also really easy with that movie record button right under your thumb, though I’ve been clicking the dial to movie mode and using the shutter button. The camera automatically focuses as you zoom, but you can still half-press the shutter and spot focus if you want. Beyond that, I am quite clueless about all the features (my previous film repertoire includes various puppet shows and Real World spoofs made for school projects… and they were all hideous).
• LCD screen: I freaking love the swivel LCD screen. After all the Sony Handycams we’ve owned, using it is like second nature. Oh, and the detail on the LCD is just awesome. It can also auto-dim based on how much light is going through the lens.
• Electronic viewfinder: I first thought it was shitty, because the flickering of my fluorescent lights showed up crazy horribly in the EVF, but looked a little better on the LCD. But after getting used to it, the EVF is pretty dang good. Haven’t had a bit of problem using it in low light, though I hate that my face oils get all smudgetastic on the camera when I’m looking through the EVF. However, the automatic eye detection feature (that switches the LCD to EVF when it senses your face is there) thing is super annoying. It thinks I’m looking through the viewfinder when I’m only leaning in to see the LCD in the sun. I’ve turned it off. The camera automatically switches between EVF and LCD depending on whether or not the LCD is opened, and that’s been working very well for me (since it is exactly like how a video camera works). Despite all that, though, I’d still say the lack of an optical viewfinder is one of the most unsettling aspects of this camera for me. I’m fine with it (I’d already come to terms with having no viewfinder with my last point-and-shoot), but a lot of people won’t be.
• Handling: It does not seem that small in my tiny, childlike hands, but it really is quite compact… if you ignore that ginormous lens. It’s quite possible to shoot with one hand, though the HD lens makes it rather tiring because the weight is all in front. The button layouts are very nice in my opinion… but I never have problems with buttons because my fingers are just so dang small. The soft-touch texture feels very nice, but like I said before, body oils show up awesomely well on the camera’s surface.