GH2 Full Review by Camera Labs

A full and detailed review of the GH2 has been posted today by Camera Labs.

if the above link is killed for some reason, just visit.

http://www cameralabs dot com

Good points
High quality movies with continuous and quiet AF.
Good quality stills - best from Micro Four Thirds to date.
Very fast autofocus for stills and movies.
Articulated, high res touch-screen display and superb finder.
Small and light, but good ergonomics and customisation.

--
NEW GH1 HD VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0lYDRIyzo8&hd=1

Maverick_ said:

A full and detailed review of the GH2 has been posted today by Camera Labs.

if the above link is killed for some reason, just visit.

http://www cameralabs dot com

Good points
High quality movies with continuous and quiet AF.
Good quality stills - best from Micro Four Thirds to date.
Very fast autofocus for stills and movies.
Articulated, high res touch-screen display and superb finder.
Small and light, but good ergonomics and customisation.

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. So far this appears to be the best review I have read. It is very thorough and tries to provide all the pros and cons compared to the Sony SLTs 33 as well as a mid ranged canon DSLR. Both the video as well as the still performance is covered in depth. Autofocussing is discussed at length. Camer Labs is probably the best review site next to DPreview!

I like his Video reviews, which he hasn't done for the GH2. They are very thorough.

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NEW GH1 HD VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0lYDRIyzo8&hd=1

The big question is, does the improvements of the GH-2 over the GH-1 make it worth the cost to upgrade? So far, I like the improvements that I see, but will the out of pocket cost justify the improvment in picture quality? Kind of thinking no.

My GH-1 is only a year old so my thought is to hang on to it for a couple of moe years until the GH-3 comes out.

SF Photo Gal
Canon 1DsIII & 5DII/Panasonic GH1-GF1-LX3

SF Photo Gal said:

The big question is, does the improvements of the GH-2 over the GH-1 make it worth the cost to upgrade? So far, I like the improvements that I see, but will the out of pocket cost justify the improvment in picture quality? Kind of thinking no.

My GH-1 is only a year old so my thought is to hang on to it for a couple of moe years until the GH-3 comes out.

SF Photo Gal
Canon 1DsIII & 5DII/Panasonic GH1-GF1-LX3

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I sold my GH1 just before the prices nosedived, and lived with just my EPL1 for a time... then when I was happy the GH2 was the camera for me, I was able to buy it and not be out of pocket by a lot (especially as I also sold the 14-42 lens that came with the GH2 kit).

I used to be more cautious and wait but over the past few years learnt that by being a little bold and selling relatively early, you can get the latest and greatest without denting your pocket too much!

SF Photo Gal said:

The big question is, does the improvements of the GH-2 over the GH-1 make it worth the cost to upgrade?

Click to expand...

That's really a personal decision - it's not something that somebody else is going to be able to answer for you. For some people the answer is yes, for others it's no. There's no wrong answer, it depends entirely on what value you place on each different aspect that's been improved (and there are a lot of them).

SF Photo Gal said:

My GH-1 is only a year old so my thought is to hang on to it for a couple of moe years until the GH-3 comes out.

Click to expand...

When I've bought in to a product I plan on upgrading, as a rule-of-thumb, I try to skip a generation before upgrading. The burden of proof (an enhanced burden I might add) is on the immediate upgrade product to demonstrate it so much more than an incremental update that it's worth it for me to buy the product. Tempting as the GH2 is, I'm planning on waiting for the GH3 and appropriating my photo budget until then towards new lenses that might interest me.

I thought this was in general a well above average review by someone who seemed to actually have some idea of how to use the camera and provided a lot of useful information. The only real issue was that the so called High ISO test was a test of Panny's mediocre processing of high ISO jpegs and not what you can get out of the raw files properly developed (the industry standard being the latest ACR though there are one or two good alternatives) which is a shame as the "real life resolution" did include RAW. Because of the high detail level in the G cameras , the RAW files can take more noise reduction than some others and I think we would find fewer reviewers finding such a gap in performance between the GH2 and APS-C if both files were given at least a few seconds appropriate post processing. Which is not to say that latest Sony sensor, particularly in the K5, is not impressive and again throws down the gauntlet to Panny to make further improvements.

David

I agree with your comment. However, have been following camerlabs for a few years and he always does a very good job of reviewing important cameras.

No question that DPreview tends to have the most detailed reviewa, but cameralabs is not far behind.

--
NEW GH1 HD VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0lYDRIyzo8&hd=1

Here's another good, thorough GH2 review from the Digital Camera Resource Page.
There's a good GF2 article also.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_gh2-review

Another video review of the GH2. These guys put together what the GH2 offers pretty well. They also indicate why the GH2 might be hard to come by. Perhaps there was a manufacturing issue that created shortages. They report some banding under certain circumstances in video mode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gsP5ll1AEo

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SLOtographer
Panasonic G1, LX5

Comparing the GH2 and GF2 shots from cameralabs and dcresource, it looks like you get 1 stop or so better ISO performance. The files are also more pleasing, perhaps because the noise is more grain like?

GH2 seems a nice upgrade for those who do not have a GH1 or for those who have a GH1 and want faster AF, touch focus, and the new ergonomics.

I'm personally waiting for Oly to play their hand too see what kinds of new cameras they will release along with their new lenses. My prediction is that 2011 will be a big year for m43.

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SLOtographer
Panasonic G1, LX5

SLOtographer said:

Another video review of the GH2. These guys put together what the GH2 offers pretty well. They also indicate why the GH2 might be hard to come by. Perhaps there was a manufacturing issue that created shortages. They report some banding under certain circumstances in video mode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gsP5ll1AEo

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SLOtographer
Panasonic G1, LX5

Click to expand...

Yup, that is really concise and to the point.