Camera Labs

UPDATE 12 JULY 2009 - FULL REVIEW NOW POSTED WITH HD COMPILATION!

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panas ... x_DMC_GH1/

UPDATE 15 JUNE 2009 - HIGH ISO NOISE RESULTS! Versus Nikon D90 and Canon SX1 IS.

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panas ... oise.shtml

Hi everyone, Panasonic announced its second Micro Four Thirds body today at PMA: the Lumix GH1, complete with HD movie recording and the G VARIO 14-140mm kit lens. Panasonic briefed me under NDA, and I'm pleased to present a preview / news analysis here:

Panasonic Lumix GH1 preview!

Gordon

I would love to get my hands on a G1 or GH1. Too bad I can't find one in the Houston area.

Maybe the prices of the G1 will go down even further with the release of the GH1. It might make the G1 more appealing for those considering high end compacts such as the LX3 and G10.

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Olympus E620 | 25/2.8 | 50/2 | 12-60 | 14-42 | 14-54 | 40-150 | 70-300
Olympus E-P2 | Panasonic GH2 | 20/1.7 | 14-42 | 14-140
Leica M7 | M9 | 21/4 | 35/1.4 | 50/2.5 | 50/1.5 | 70/2.5 | 90/2
Sony NEX-3 | 16/2.8| 18-55
My FlickR!

I am very happy to see this new model out. I have been wanting to get the G1. But, I wanted to see the one with video before buying anything. I'm still torn between the 2. the G1 has gotten rather great reviews. You can also get it for around $600. I'm dreading to see the gh1's pricing. I'm also hoping they will atleast give the release date soon! I am also very happy to see that panasonic has made good with there promises. I didnt want to buy a g1 until the atleast came out with another lens for it. Also i personally think the lens for the gh1 is a little big. 14-75 3.5-5.6 or what not would have been Great! But if i were to get the gh1. i dont know if i would feel like im wasting my money getting a 45-200 mm. Ive been doing a WAY to in dept study on which i would like to get. Im sold on the g1(i have read and seen every review). but NOW the gh1 had to come out! i just dont now. I have a feeling the price for the gh1 will be 1500-1700(i hope im wrong). Which would be out of the question.

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Ryan

Hello!!! Could you possibly review the GH1 ASAP! PLEASE!

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Ryan

the best comparison would be a full review of Panasonic G1-H versus Olympus E-620!!!

CameraLabs and its forum are fantastic!

Hi combatmedic870 and Silvanoe, welcome on-board!

Yep, I will be reviewing both the GH1 and the E-620 as soon as they're supplied to me by the manufacturers - I have no idea when that will be though!

I was wonder how the G1 stacks up again the canon xsi AFTER the firmware upgrades to the g1. the firm ware is supposed to improve the noise at high iso's (i was told quite a bit). i was wondering if you new anything about it!

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Ryan

My G1 tests were done with the new firmware - see the intro page of the G1 review...

The timing of the release of the GH1 is interesting, in that
it may point to what Olympus will do with it's eagerly
anticipated m4/3 model/s. So giving us a glimpse as to
what to expect in terms of spec. Although the design concept
will be quite different.

I'm looking forward to the GH1 review.

Gordon, you write in your preview:

"The GH1’s sensor actually has 14 Megapixels, allowing it to accommodate wider aspect ratios without cropping and compromising the field of view. This is a neat implementation, but of course with two extra Megapixels crammed into the same surface area, there’s understandably concerns over increased noise levels..."

This is not correct; there are no additional pixels crammed onto the same surface area. The GH1's sensor is larger than the G1's standard 17.3x13mm, 4/3 sensor: the additional 2 million pixels are all outside the area of the conventional 4/3 sensor. Thus the pixel pitch of both sensors is the same.

I've made a comparative diagram of the two sensors:
http://www.pbase.com/viztyger/image/109862835/original

Kind Regards,

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Björn Utpott

Hi Björn, welcome on-board!

Where are you getting your sensor dimension information from? Panasonic Japan supplied me with the information I used in the preview.

I agree there could be some ambiguity in the figures, but that's how they explained it to me. Let's get to the bottom of this, and if necessary I'll correct the preview.

Well I am very interested in this camera. On the DSLR front I own an Olympus E-520 at the moment and quite frankly high ISO on it is chronic.

So first off I can't wait to see some test shots taken this new Panasonic which cover the whole ISO range. Added to that I am curious if the live view will accomodate remote capture from a PC. I used to use it alot on a 450D and a 50D with the Canon EOS Utility software and it was brilliant for this.

Finally and probably the deciding factor will be - yes, the price.

Hi Gordon,

I appreciate the welcome.

Both the G1 and the GH1 produce 4000x3000 pixel (4:3) images within the same imaging circle. In order for each MFT lens to have the same zoom range on each camera body, the diagonal has to be the same length. In other words, the 12 megapixel, 4:3 images have to cover the same sensor area on both cameras.

That means that the GH1 sensor's additional 2 million pixels have to be outside the area covered by the 12 million pixels on the original G1.

The horizontal pixel dimensions of the GH1's 3:2 and 16:9 crop support this - both are greater than 4000 pixels. And they would have to be, as the diagonal always has to touch the imaging circle, otherwise the different aspect ratios can't have the same focal length.

Thus, on the GH1, the 14-45mm lens will have exactly the same zoom range at each aspect ratio: a 35mm equivalent range of 28-90. On the older G1, the equivalent zoom range varies from 28-90 at 4:3 to 30-97 at 16:9 (from EXIF data).

Hopefully I've explained my reasoning in a relatively clear manner.

There's also a graphic on Panasonic's site which shows the corners of the new sensor being outside the standard MFT lens imaging circle:
http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemca ... image.html
(see section on Multi-Aspect Ratio)

I hope this makes sense.

Kind Regards

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Björn Utpott

Hi Bjorn, I have heard back from Panasonic Japan and although they won't disclose the dimensions of the sensor, they do confirm it's larger than the Four Thirds standard to accommodate the different aspect ratios without compromise. I have updated my preview with the following paragraph. Thanks for your posts...

The GH1 accommodates these different aspect ratios without compromise by using a sensor that's physically slightly larger than the Four Thirds standard. When set to 4:3 mode, the active area matches the 17.3x13mm of other Four Thirds sensors, which means the GH1's 12.1 Megapixel resolution matches the pixel-pitch of the G1. When using wider aspect ratios though, the active area extends beyond the 17.3mm width to exploit additional pixels at the sides of the sensor. Note the GH1 also offers a 1:1 aspect ratio which records images with 2992x2992 pixels.

Hmm, will that be a vignetting issue for any of the current four-thirds lenses, I wonder?

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.