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Panasonic Lumix GH-1 review

in Digital cameras

Verdict

An interesting camera with a flexible lens, but it can't compete with a traditional DSLR on image quality or value

Review Date: 20 Oct 2009

Reviewed By: Dave Stevenson

Price when reviewed: £957 (£1,101 inc VAT)

Buy it now for: £1386
(see more store prices)

Overall Rating
4 stars out of 6

Features & Design
5 stars out of 6

Value for Money
2 stars out of 6

Image Quality
4 stars out of 6

The Panasonic DMC-GH1 is something of a wild card in the DSLR market. It doesn't have the traditional mirror, shutter and curtain arrangement of traditional DSLRs - instead, the sensor is on all the time, and the viewfinder is simply a very small LCD screen, complementing the pivoting 3in, 460,000 pixel screen on the back. The sensor uses Panasonic's take on the Micro Four Thirds standard, a derivative of the Four Thirds sensor found in the Olympus E-450. To read the marketing bumph you could be forgiven for expecting an incredibly small camera with DSLR-like quality, but this isn't the case. The GH1 isn't significantly smaller than any of the other DSLRs on test.

It comes with the most impressive lens, though. The Micro Four Thirds sensor has a crop factor of 2x, which means the maximum focal length of any lens is doubled: the 140mm lens of this kit is equivalent to 280mm on a 35mm-frame camera. The 10x zoom is the most powerful here, and the image stabilisation is a particular plus on a lens this long. It also shoots 1080p HD video at 24fps, and has a stereo microphone.

We liked the DMC-GH1's image quality. It wasn't the best on test, but with all the cameras so close we were prepared to forgive it the occasional outburst of noise on our ISO 1600, f/22 test. The lens resolved a decent amount of detail, and although we wouldn't want to print the DMC-GH1's high ISO images at large sizes, it's fine for most scenarios.

Impressively, the DMC-GH1 performs like a DSLR. Shot-to-shot time was negligible, except when processing long exposures. And in continuous mode it hit a maximum speed of 3.8fps, although over five seconds it ran at a less impressive 1.7fps.

The big problem is the price. At more than a thousand pounds including VAT, the DMC-GH1 is incredibly expensive. For this much money we'd want better performance and quality, and a true optical viewfinder. Unless you're desperate for 1080p video, there are better options.

Author: Dave Stevenson

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User comments

Review critique

Sadly, I have to take you to task as this isn't the fairest of reviews. The GH1 is in many ways a milestone. As a DSLR (let's not get into technical semantics about the mirror/shutter, pentaprism etc.) its 12Mb stills capability is more than good enough — even with the small sensor it's still been compared to a Nikon D300 in terms of the final rendered image (AP? Can't remember).

But the real beauty of this camera is its ability to shoot full 1080 HD video with interchangeable lenses and, with the right adapter, any lens you care to name. This offers amazing creative opportunities for small film-makers like myself, where achieving the "film look" using wide aperture primes to provide extreme bokeh from shallow DOF is a kind of Holy Grail, particularly at this price. It's cheap. Really. Just consider the excellent kit lens it comes with: 10x zoom, ultra-quiet for noiseless auto-focussing (no, the 5D2 doesn't have that) and very compact; costing a current street price of £700 for that lens alone. Now does it seem better value? Factor in the excellent folding LCD screen which neither the 5D2, 7D, or the newly announced 1D4 have (and is pretty ESSENTIAL for video making) and you have, for the money, something rather unique.

And if you doubt my word, just check out the amazing video being produced and shown on the GH1 groups on Vimeo. Yes, I do like this camera.

By Bureaunet on 20 Oct 2009

@Bureaunet

Nice Review - I believe you!

By nicomo on 20 Oct 2009

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