GH1 $950 at Amazon!
 

If you've been on the fence now may be the time. This deal, via J&R Music, may sell out quickly.

Unless of course this indicates that the GH2 is around the corner, which may suggest that now is the time to wait for developments :-)

Possibly, but the GH2 (or whatever they will call it) could still be months away -- September, end of the year, early next year... There was a special offer on Panasonic's site that offered the camera for $995 a month ago to limited people. Then it went back to $1495. Right now Panasonic is offering a $150 discount.

No telling what the GH2 will offer, cost, or how it will come packaged either.

$950 fro teh body only
 

B&H has it for 1179 shipped with the lens. I am still debating weather to wait fro GH2 or go GH1..

The $950 ones are gone and it's back to $1,180 now.

The GH2 is still an unknown, the hacked GH1 is darn impressive and may even surpass the GH2 depending on what Panasonic does with it. The GH2 can come out at a higher price, with a different kit lens -- read that the kit lens with the G1 is better than the one with the G2 for example. On the other hand the GH2 could be awesome if it has some of the improvements and features on people's wish list. One's a known the other an guess...for a while longer.

Thanks Dave
 

Thanks. I will keep reading but the GH1 may be what I may get. I have many Nikon lenses for my D300 so I may get the adapter fro Nikon as well. I figured the the GH1 with the Kit lens and 20 1.7 is as much as what a body of D300s. will cosy

GH1 is $950 at Amazon again
 

The GH1 is $950 again at Amazon via J&R Music:

I've read on another site that not all GH1s are hackable. Would be a shame to buy one of these only to find out it doesn't have the GH13 potential.

Any ideas?

Cheers

It may be a waiting game on some to see if the firmware in some of the newer versions can be hacked. Heard that the ones from B&H are still hackable. the ones from Amazon/J&R may or may not be. Some people are still doing incredible work with unhacked ones. All depends on your needs/budget.

Needs are broadcast news/doc. From what I've read GH13 much better in many regards in terms of image quality (also useful for me to add PAL framerates).

$200 savings is great ... but if it can't be hacked it's not worth the savings.

Is there any definitive way to know if they can be hacked or not? Some suggest serial numbers/firmware version will tell you. I wonder if J&R has received any calls about this?

Thanks Dave

Cheers Dave.

From what I've read on the other site, looks like the short answer to my question is "nobody knows."

Yep. Several people are expecting the ones they ordered from the last sale on Monday and will probably post their findings. Trouble is that the last sale only lasted 1-day then, so by Monday the sale will be over.

You could order the camera and if it's not hackable you might be able to return it -- may or may not be that easy from where you are. You could sell the camera on eBay (or split it and sell the body and lens separately) and maybe make a slight profit -- based on what they're selling for now on eBay.

The only place that is know to be shipping hackable cameras is B&H and that could change any second as they deplete their stock and start with new stock.

It's an assumption that the newer ones will be hacked, too, just no timetable.

Just saw a note saying:

"There was a post on here a few days ago that someone got theirs from last week when they ran the lower price and it was hackable."

No guarantees.

Saw a post from someone looking to buy a hackable version from anyone willing to sell theirs.

Just got off the phone with J&R sales guy. He said from what he could see on his databse, the cameras have firmware 1.3.

Yep. Saw your other post -- I forum bounce, too. :-)

Wait a sec. version 1.3 came out in May and is on the Panny website and I think (check, don't go by me) is hackable. It's 1.34 that's the hassle version.

Note: I have been wrong before.

Thanks Dave.

Put in the order. I'll pick it up in a few weeks at a friend's in California on my way back home and will see hackability.

Have heard various reports about the GH1's suitability for docs/news features - some good, some bad. A number of people said I should be using a Canon Rebel/5D/etc, but the longer record times, improved moire, viewfinder, AF on kit lens, etc have convinced me this is a better choice to EASE myself into the world of cinematic journalism.

If nothing else it will give me an idea what the AF100 might be like image-wise, and whether larger sensors work for the kind of work I do. It's a pretty low buy in to experiment ... and I'm sure I could sell for cost or a little less ...

Only wish I didn't need to buy the Zoom, some sort of stabilizer, plus a few extra lenses. All of which are cheaper in the US than where I'm going (Canada). That said, shouldn't amount to more than an extra grand or so (I hope) ....

You may find some interesting items by going through this guy's blog. He seems to find some interesting budget gear:

CheesyCam DIY Video and Photography Projects

Also, haven't checked out his other videos yet but this was interesting:

YouTube - Canon 7D vs Hacked Panasonic Gh1 - 1080P 24fps versus comparison - Bundled lenses

Thanks Dave. The site looks very interesting!

Check out the Youtube video and look for the guy's other GH1 videos as he has some useful info/tips.

GH1 Hack
 

I have read elsewhere that Panasonic has re=written the firmware in the GH1's. I read that those on sale since June are not able to use the hack. I have one of the first ones out and it can but if you are buying with this in mind I would strongly suggest doing some research.

People getting GH1s as of early this week from J&R (Amazon deal mentioned) have reported getting firmware v1.2 (hackable). Some have gotten v1.34 but not sure of the source of those cameras. B&H is supposed to be still shipping hackable ones as well. Granted that can change any moment.

It's $999.99 (plus $11 shipping) right now at Amazon via J&R.

Is there any way to know beforehand? I'm itching to pull the trigger on this, but if the firmware can't be hacked to support the "upgraded" performance, I'm not sure I want to.

No way to know for certain before unless you go into a store and check. Should be returnable. Also, if the past is any indication, this deal will be gone tomorrow (Sunday).

Thanks for the quick reply, Dave. Has Panasonic really killed the hack with a new firmware, or is it just a matter of time before the new firmware is hackable? What, exactly, makes the new firmware useless for hacking?

There's a new version of the firmware, v.1.34 that no one has a copy of. Vitally, aka Tester13, the person that's done the hacks needs a copy of the new firmware in order to hack it. Panasonic isn't making it available. So, yes, while it is possible, it may or may not happen.

For a lot more info i suggest you go here:

GH1 Firmware Hack - DVXuser.com -- The online community for filmmaking

Thanks Dave.

I pulled the trigger and have my fingers crossed. However, it looks like the chances of getting a hackable camera are getting pretty slim. Hopefully a solution will become available before too long.

As expected, price is back to $1,180 this morning. Congrats and good luck! All the posts I've seen to date say they got hackable versions from J&R. Don't know where the firmware v1.34 ones are coming from. Not that many reported either.

From what I read, most of the 1.34's are in Asia, with some in Europe. There was a couple from B&H, and 1 reported from Amazon (but didn't say if it was Amazon itself or J&R).

I now have a much better understanding of how the hack works (at least I think I do). Much appreciated, and thanks for the good luck!

EDIT: Came across this tidbit - "In related 'hack' news, Panasonic have quietly changed the firmware of new cameras leaving the factory doors in Japan and China to prevent the hack being installed. Later Tester13 released an additional patch which solved this problem."

Is this actually true? (I mean that Test13 has solved the problem)

I will indeed post my results.

UPS just delivered my GH1 from J&R Music. Serial number suggests it is hackable. Body and Lens firmware are reported as 1.22.

However, I've been reading that hacking the firmware introduces nasty banding issues that some say go away with a "burn in" while others say the Chinese-made cams have bad sensors.

I dunno - I'm going to do some shooting as is and see what kind of results I get.

HTH

Play with it and see how it works for you. Look to the more experienced users for info though. I've read all sorts of misinformation -- some corrected, some not. My favorite are the people that sold theirs due to "problems" and then discovered it was user error and are scrambling to get another while they still can.

Wondering if it will go on sale again tomorrow as it has for the last two or three Saturdays.

GH1's $999 from J&R via Amazon
 

J&R seems to have more GH1's for sale. I think that all of the previous J&R purchased GH1's have been hackable, however that does not guarantee that these will be -- should be returnable if they're not hackable (later firmware). These sales usually only last a single day.

You have yet another chance:

Sale is over again and someone just reported that they just got one from J&R and it was firmware 1.34 which is currently un-hackable.

Granted, I liked the camera even before the hack, but now we might as well wait and see what the GH2 brings to the table or look elsewhere.