Feature Requests
 

Just in case Panasonic is following this forum, here's two things I'd like to see:

1. Ability to use Intelligent Exposure in video mode
This one is pretty simple. The G1 (and presumably GH1) has this mode that allows it to capture more detail in shadows without clipping the highlights. With video, this would be beneficial for shadow detail (which will probably be hit the hardest by the video compression,) and it would be useful for color correction. Similar to the DVX100's cine gamma.

More info on IE here:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Review: 21. Photographic tests: Digital Photography Review

2. Ability to sample from a smaller portion of the sensor (for video)
This one is not as obvious, but since we have a huge amount of excellent C-mount lenses that are easily adaptable for this camera, why not have a mode where the video is sampled from a square the same size as that of 16mm film? Or a 2/3" chip? We're already using a sensor that is more than 4000 pixels wide to create a 1920x1080 picture, so we could use as little as half of the sensor and still create a full 1080p image. Yes, most of the time we'd want to use the full sensor for the DOF and less noise, but this would great for cine c-mount lenses that show vignetting/smearing when used normally.

Anyone got any others?

I think it’s almost too late for Panasonic to add anything new since it’s going to be released in Japan at the end of April.

The part about using a smaller part of the chip is something I would have wanted as well but for a different reason. If they had an option to use only 1920x1080 pixels, the zoom range would be gigantic.
Offer a 30p mode.
Last but not least. I’m really hoping you can take high res pictures while your shooting video without any delays.

I'm sure these features won't make it into the shipping product if they're not there already, but everything mentioned so far seems like it could be added with a firmware update.

Joe,

Seems these functions are fully or partially available, according to the marketing material

1) seems to be a given:
See Light detection / intelligent exposure at the bottom of the HD Movie page here:

http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/syste...gh1/movie.html


2) Did you see this section on the Panasonic GH1 pages:

"The DMC-GH1 provides Extra Optical zooming, which increases the optical zoom power (recording at a resolution that is less than the maximum.). For example, when shooting in S-size (3-megapixel) with a 4:3 aspect ratio, the Extra Optical Zoom function can "cut out" an image area at the Live MOS sensor's center equivalent to 3-megapixel (of the total 12.1 mega effective pixels). This increases the zoom power with minimal deterioration. The DMC-GH1 also offers 2x and 4x digital zooming."

from DMC-GH1 | PRODUCTS | LUMIX | Digital Camera | Panasonic Global

Not certain if this is available in video mode, though. Would be interesting to give some of my 16mm cMounts a second life.