50under50

Lars Rehm & Andy Westlake of DPreview just posted a complete review of a production model of the new Panasonic DMC-GH1 camera, a camera I’ve been eyeing for some time now. This camera is based on the micro-four thirds initiative co-developed by Panasonic and Olympus. It basically gives you the form factor and “live” view of a point and shoot, with the image quality and depth of field of a dSLR camera.

Why should you care? Well, for starters, this is the best still/video camera that you can buy (at this price point, MSRP $1499 w/ kit lens) that will allow you to shoot 1080p video on an auto focusing zoom lens. Based on the very promising footage I’ve seen, you can get some very “filmic” looking video by utilizing shallow depth of field. You can see some early video tests here by Roland Cadieux. Also, if you’re on a family vacation, you can bring the dual purpose still/video camera instead of lugging around 2x everything.

What makes this different than other cameras with video capabilities is that this was designed and engineered with video from it’s inception. If you can’t get over the sticker shock, wait a little while until the street price comes down. Keep in mind though that a decent HD camcorder will cost you between $800-$1200 and the lens is no where as good.

Read the full review.

You can also read the Cnet review here. Convinced already? Now that you’re going to buy one of these cameras, you’ll probably run into another problem and that is one of ergonomics. Still cameras are not so good at shooting video because of the way you hold the body. So build yourself a home made SteadiCam rigs for cheap. Learn how from Johnny Chung Lee.

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