about to buy GH2: couple of quick question

[Federico Perale]

hi everyone, as a 5D owner I am fascinated by the GH2, and its capabilities

although the image might be slightly less magical than with a 5D, there are other big advantages

so onto my questions

1) does the GH2 allow you to autofocus only with select Panasonic lenses, or will other autofocus lenses allow for this? (I refer to this video Skate. Shot with a Panasonic LUMIX GH2 - YouTube at 4:24 where they talk about one specific lens)

2) is hacking the only way to get 1080 25p?

3) how does this camcorder work with Canon full frame (L) lenses and old Nikon lenses? any compatibility issues?

4) does the GH2 have any stabilization, or you have to rely on a specific stabilised lens (does it have to be Panasonic?)? most of the lenses I see as recommended don't have OIS, why I ask this questions, as I only main shoot with IS lenses with the 5D.

thanks a lot!!
Fed

[Thomas E. Smith]

I'm no expert, but I can answer a few of your questions:

1. Any Olympus or Panasonic micro 4/3 lens will autofocus. Most 4/3 lenses will autofocus with a Panasonic DMW-MA1.
2. AFAIK, yes.
3. Should work fine, as long as you don't mind manually focusing all the time.
4. There's no IBIS (in-body image stabilization) in Panasonic cameras. So if you want IS, you'll need to buy an IS lens (or get a stabilizer). Olympus lenses don't have IS, so you'll have to pick up a Panasonic or a Canon/Nikon with an adapter if you have to have it.

[Bob Richardson]

Old Nikon lenses work fine (I've tried three, all fully-manual lenses). The cheaper mounting adapters have mixed reviews and may not fit as fully snug as you'd like.

Canon lenses are more complicated as you'll need an adapter that has an iris, or gives you electronic iris control.

[Federico Perale]

Originally Posted by Thomas E. Smith

I'm no expert, but I can answer a few of your questions:

1. Any Olympus or Panasonic micro 4/3 lens will autofocus. Most 4/3 lenses will autofocus with a Panasonic DMW-MA1.
2. AFAIK, yes.
3. Should work fine, as long as you don't mind manually focusing all the time.
4. There's no IBIS (in-body image stabilization) in Panasonic cameras. So if you want IS, you'll need to buy an IS lens (or get a stabilizer). Olympus lenses don't have IS, so you'll have to pick up a Panasonic or a Canon/Nikon with an adapter if you have to have it.

thanks. I cannot find any precise information about 25p.
because I would need to intercut footage from the GH2 with 25p of the 5D, it's quite crucial that I can achieve it

[Dave Mercer]

I do not think 25p is possible on GH2. There have been rumours of a firmware upgrade, allowing 25p in .mp4 wrapper.

GH1 does 25p though ...

[Federico Perale]

Originally Posted by Thomas E. Smith

I'm no expert, but I can answer a few of your questions:

1. Any Olympus or Panasonic micro 4/3 lens will autofocus. Most 4/3 lenses will autofocus with a Panasonic DMW-MA1.
2. AFAIK, yes.
3. Should work fine, as long as you don't mind manually focusing all the time.
4. There's no IBIS (in-body image stabilization) in Panasonic cameras. So if you want IS, you'll need to buy an IS lens (or get a stabilizer). Olympus lenses don't have IS, so you'll have to pick up a Panasonic or a Canon/Nikon with an adapter if you have to have it.

a solution for me could be to shoot 24p with the Canon 5D, but I also use the Canon HFG10 which can only shoot 25p and not 24p as I bought the euro model....
AAAARGH what's wrong with these ********* manufacturers? couldn't they just do switchable camcorders like the EX1r?
is the GH1 much worse than the GH2?

[Thomas E. Smith]

I guess the GH2 doesn't have 25p yet....I was just assuming the hack enabled it since it did for the GH1.

I owned the GH1 for a while. In good light, the video was excellent, but I had a huge problem with banding in low light. It was somewhat due to the slow lenses I was using, but even so, it shouldn't have been as bad as it was.
I'm sure the newer models are better to some extent, but I personally wouldn't buy it.

[Nigel Barker]

To expand on the previous replies

1) Autofocus with any lens is not great. If you are expecting the sort of AF you get on a proper camcorder you will be disappointed.
2) 25p is not available with a hack. It may or may not be available with the promised firmware update due to arrive in December. Panasonic have just said this will include "New video mode which is suitable for editing video recorded at high bit rate (24Mbps)" which optimists have interpreted to mean 25p & 30p are being added.

[Federico Perale]

thanks
in general terms when is it really mandatory to shoot 25p in PAL land, apart from broadcasting (which certainly doesn't apply to me)?
for shooting for DVD/Bluray, it seems to me that 24p is included in the DVD and Bluray protocols, while 25p not, even though some say that shooting 25p and rendering to 1080i Bluray it keeps the 25p "feel".
most PAL DVD players should be able to read a 24p DVD right?
when shooting for the web it shouldn't really make a difference, and actually it's been said that Vimeo (and maybe YouTube) handle better 24p than 25p clips
so I guess the only real annoyance in shooting 24p in Europe is a possible flickering due to the 50/60Hz thing isn't it?
I know a lot of people who shoot 24p in Europe but I've never tried myself...

[Kin Lau]

You can do initial AF with just about any m43 or 4/3rd lens, but only specific Panasonic m43 lens will support active AF while recording (might be a few Oly lenses now too). There's a page somewhere on Panasonic that lists them.

[Thomas E. Smith]

Here's the link: Compatibilities of DMC-GH2 | Compatibility | Digital Camera | Product Support | Support | Panasonic Global

It appears that all of the Panasonic and Olympus micro 4/3rds lenses (except the awful 3D lens) support continuous AF, albeit with a few limitations on some of them.

I personally don't use continuous AF as I don't like the focus hunting all the time.

[Federico Perale]

thanks a lot. but if you decide to not use continuous focusing, is there a function on the GH2 that allows you to focus pressing a button? that would still be much better than the 5D manual only focus

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Thomas E. Smith

Here's the link: Compatibilities of DMC-GH2 | Compatibility | Digital Camera | Product Support | Support | Panasonic Global

It appears that all of the Panasonic and Olympus micro 4/3rds lenses (except the awful 3D lens) support continuous AF, albeit with a few limitations on some of them.

I personally don't use continuous AF as I don't like the focus hunting all the time.

That's what I meant when I said in an earlier reply "Autofocus with any lens is not great. If you are expecting the sort of AF you get on a proper camcorder you will be disappointed." Continuos AF on modern decent camcorders is really good & you simply don't see the hunting that you do with the GH2 & any of the Lumix lenses that I have (20mm F/1.7, 14-140mm, 14-42mm)

[Federico Perale]

thanks but can you re-focus with a button while shooting? I think there is an awkward and not usable way of doing so with the 5D

[Jeff Harper]

There's auto focus, and continuous auto focus, two different things. If you're in continuous auto focus mode you can reset focus with shutter button but it will change focus as soon as composition of the scene changes.

CAF is of limited to no use, except for the 12mm lens, in my experience. Even then, I use it about 25% of the time. Others may feel differently.

I use auto focus and CAF is turned off on my cameras. I reset focus as needed using the shutter button.