The first videos captured with the Panasonic Lumix GH1 can be seen on the blog of Panasonic-Luc Saint-Elie. Though the aesthetic interest of these videos is limited, their aim is to convince us of the interest of enjoying interchangeable lenses for video, and this is successful. Here, the film was shot with the following lenses:
- the Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm (for an unseen coverage in amateur video, 14mm!)
- the Nikon 180mm F/2.8
- the Leica Summicron 50mm F/2.0
Yes indeed, various rings allow mounting lenses of other brands on the GH1, as on the G1 by the way. Sure, the autofocus is lost in this case, but this puts new life into some of your old lenses. Changing lenses, acting on aperture in a more clear-cut way, switching from super wide-angle to telephoto... this should bring more fun to photographers who wish to turn to video. Thanks to these assets, the GH1 could well put in the shade some expert camcorders which don’t give as much freedom. As for SLRs, a few are able to record real high definition in 1080p as the GH1 does, and among them (Canon EOS 5D MKII and 500D) the autofocus is far from being as efficient for serious use – other than a temporary fix.
