Panasonic brings an innovative camera that joins both worlds and offers, although in a compact package and smaller sensor than Full Frame (35mm eq.) what SO MANY PEOPLE are requesting for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II:

- Manual control in Video Recording Mode
- Full HD 1080 at 24p (didn’t they include 25p and 30p?, they Should consider it, although it’s a mass consumer camera, not a Prosumer/Pro)
- HD 720 at 60p
- AND a BIG BONUS: AutoFocus while Rcording (that seems to be much better than 5D Mark II’s)

Of course that those two cameras are for completely different segments, but the limit between Photography-only and “Hybrid” or “Combo” cameras is becoming narrower, and fast. And it will be faster indeed.

That said, there is still the question we ask ourselves SO many times:

1- Is Canon and Nikon really understanding the BIG importance the Movie/Video recording feature on DSLRs is going to have (and actually is)? Also for their sales…
2- Are Amateurs and Professionals understanding it too?

Our own answers, so far, are:

1- WE HOPE SO, because the competition will be much more aggresive in this respect (despite the economical world situation)
2- We think they are not understanding. Specially traditionalists photographers that keep stuck to “old” system devicess and fashions…

Fortunatelly there are lot of serious Amateurs and even Professionals that have wider perspective and even take advantage of the Full HD Movie capability that the current (Only one Full Frame & Full HD DSLR camera) Canon EOS 5D Mark II can offer (although with big limitations due to the lack of manual settings).

Hopefully (and better for its sales) Canon will “open” its huge potential, via Firmware Update, and give the customers the Full Manual Control they request, and some other improvements too (for what seems that was a rush release).

(It would be VERY nice (and useful for PROFESSIONAL use) to see TIME LAPSE Video recording function imcluded too, so you woulnd’t have to reduce the shutter cycle taking hundreds or thousands of pictures to make the time lapse video clip)

Specially considering Nikon is going to release a DSLR with Full HD capability soon, and will NOT skip those SO requested features/functions.

It is not too difficult to see what the trends of the mass market are.

Neither to “listen to” requests by Amateurs and even Professionals using FF DSRLs for Videography tasks… (easily visible, in the amateurs’ case, if you see the huge ammount of HD Videos that are being made and uploaded to many online sites that offer that service. To see Pro’s case you will likely need more direct contat to them or production companies)

Sorry, but I completely whiffed on the AF. I should’ve spent more time with the camera, but my guess is that it will be much improved over the 5D Mark II video AF, which simply blows.

Hopefully, I’ll get another shot at the GH1 with a production model soon and will spend some quality time learning the ins and outs of the video mode.

Eric, did you feel the AF while Movie recording was faster than 5D mark II ? (despite the “user error”) since I suppose it’s also based on contrast detection, isn’t it ?

Thanks a lot for your feedback and comments.

You can chalk that one up to user error. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time with it. You are right though, AF during video is a big advantage. In fact, the motor in the 14-140mm lens is designed to be silent so that you don’t hear it through the camera’s mic. It looks very cool indeed.