Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

AFS & pressing the shutter button halfway does not work when recording at 24p in Creative Movie Mode. I haven't tried any other mode as I always use 24p. Even in AFS (Auto Focus Single) when Continuous AF is set ON in the Motion Picture menu it in fact still does continuous AF & focuses on whatever is in the centre of the screen (provided the AF mode dial is set to 1-area-focusing). As you move the camera it focuses on different objects that are in the centre of the screen but only while recording. If you are not recording then you can press the shutter button halfway to achieve focus.

Am I missing some menu setting that will enable focusing by pressing the shutter button halfway while recording?

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

I set the top dial to M with the camera icon, right next to C3. Then in the menus
CREATIVE MOVIE MODE set to 24p Cinema
MOTION PICTURE go to Continuous AF and turn it OFF.
CUSTOM go to Shutter AF and turn it ON.

should work in standby or rec.

That should work. And as Jim says, careful with that half depressing the shutter thing, develop a nice touch. Touch screen is good too if you like touch screens. I have trouble with them.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

Nigel, I cannot remember how to do what you want, I once I turned off all focus related options off in the menu, and turned them back on one at a time, to see what behaviours changed and thereby kind of learning what did what. Unfortunately I've already forgotten it all, as I had to reset the camera and never re-did the experiment.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

Before I waste more time fiddling about in the GH2 menus can someone please confirm that it is indeed possible to focus by pressing the shutter button halfway while recording?

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

I confirm it and additionally can report that the camera will record the reflected infrared focusing light if you are close to the subject in very low light. I turned it off because of this.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

Nigel, see page 131, top of the page of manual. It works for sure. Camera comes with this on by default.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

Nigel, is it working out for you?

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

Yes & no. Thanks for the pointer to the manual but I just discovered in my testing that this PRE AF setting on the CUSTOM menus does not work in 24p Cinema in Creative Motion Picture Mode which is what I use all the time for best image quality. In fact it appears that it doesn't work in any Creative Motion Picture Mode either but it does work if you select M & then use the red record button to start & stop as you can press the shutter button halfway. If you are in Movie Mode the shutter button operates exactly as the red record button & pressing it halfway does nothing & pressing too hard stops recording. Is some other menu setting that I am missing? There are so many little irritations about this camera that I am sure could all be fixed in a firmware update if Panasonic were interested.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

It does work in Manual Movie mode, I think, doesn't it? I don't think the shooting mode affects focus modes, but I might be wrong.

Something sounds wrong/off. You might have to try using the reset button in the menu, see if that restores things.

Which lens are you using when trying this? And you are in AFS or AFC mode right?

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

I did some more testing. Evidently for press the shutter button halfway to focus you need CONTINUOUS AF set to ON in the MOTION PICTURE menu. Unfortunately this means that the rather poor continuous AF will hunt for focus in between you pressing the shutter button halfway to focus. Unless of course there is yet another menu item that I missed:-)

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

If you're in AFS mode (using the dial on top of cam) the continous focus won't bother you, so you should be good to go!

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

I have it in AFS mode but that doesn't help. With CONTINUOUS AF set to ON in the MOTION PICTURE menu it still does continuous AF when in Creative Motion Picture Mode either Manual Movie or 24P Cinema even when the dial is turned to AFS. It's just the same as if you turn the dial to AFC. Turning the dial to MF does disable continuous AF but also disables pressing the shutter button halfway to get focus.

I am testing with the 14-140mm Panansonic lens that is apparently the one that is best optimised for video recording.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

Hmmm, I thought the hunting stopped in AFS, I might be mistaken. I use so many different types of lenses, most do not work with the continuous focus, but do with the shutter focus, so it is not a huge problem for me. I'll try and play with it later.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

I just checked with the 7-14mm F/4 Panasonic lens & that also does continuous AF in AFS mode if CONTINUOUS AF is set to ON in the MOVIE menu. It's difficult to know whether these quirks are bugs or intended behaviour.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

If you turn off continuous focus on the menu does it stop the shutter focus from working? They are separate settings, I would hope they would work indpendently of each other, maybe not.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

PRE AF in the menu should be OFF, you camera won't hunt if it's off.

Re: GH2 good for low light 2 plus hour shoots?
 

Thanks! I seem to have it all working now just as I want with no continuous AF but with focus when the shutter button is pressed halfway. I have PRE AF set to OFF & CONTINUOUS AF also set to OFF. My only complaint now is that the focusing is not as quick or precise when you press the the shutter button halfway while recording. In standby the focusing locks & beeps instantly but while recording the focus hunts a little going back & forth before settling. It's quite precise when it gets focus & I suppose that I can cover the hunting with a cutaway shot from another camera.