Gear News and Reviews

Just for kicks I shot the GH1 with the 7-14mm @7mm and the Canon 5D MkII with the 16-35mm L @16mm.  Obviously the Canon set up will beat the GH1 in every category, but by how much?  The GH1 was purchased to lighten my load when traveling and the vast majority of my photos are only displayed online.

I wanted to see just how much I was loosing to the 5D in terms of quality so I shot this scene very quickly.  There’s nothing scientific about it so there’s no need to go into the facts that I didn’t use mirror lock up, tripods, cable releases, etc.

The following two images were taken directly from the camera as raw images, imported to Lightroom 2 and exported.  Here’s the result.

Taken at 1/13th, f/4, ISO800

Taken at 1/13th, f/4, ISO800

My conclusion:  I won’t hesitate to reach for the GH1.  When you consider the size difference you’ll see why I’m more inclined to grab the GH1 combo.

Massive size difference between the 5D combo and the GH1 combo.

The biggest drawback for me when looking at alternative systems is the lack of fast lenses.  Canon and Nikon have their share of fast primes, but the micro four thirds systems didn’t have a fast prime until now.  Panasonic recently released the 20mm f/1.7.  Not only is it a fast prime, it’s also a pancake lens that only adds about 1 inch to the the body.  It currently fits Panasonic’s GH1, G1, GF1 and Olympus’ EP1 and most-likely Olympus’ upcoming EP2.

Nice color, contrast and sharpness is easily found with some minor adjustments in Lightroom.

Low-light work and shallow depth of field is where this lens shines.

Recently I picked up Panasonic’s GH1 to accompany the 5D MkII. The 5D MkII is at the top of its game, but sometimes lugging around that body with a host of prime lenses can be a bit much. On a dedicated photography assignment it’s perfect, but when you’re out for a vacation and the priority is to think as little as possible then the GH1 fills the bill perfectly.

Just don’t expect the GH1 to replace the 5D anytime soon, because it won’t. What it will do is accompany you without weighing you down and return beautiful photos and video.

The GH1 ships with the flexible 14-140mm zoom. The lens was designed from the very beginning with video in mind. There are no aperture clicks, instead the aperture is constantly variable. More importantly the lens has a silent AF motor. Changing apertures, zooming and AF noises do not show up on the built in stereo microphones. The lens also incorporates Panasonic’s MEGA OIS to give you hand holding stability.  I’m not sure what Panasonic rates its MEGA OIS system, but from my experience so far I would guess you probably gain a 2-stop advantage.  So far so good.

More later.