Sam Mallery Posted September 30, 2011 Report Posted September 30, 2011 I mentioned the Panasonic Lumix GH2 in the Alexa thread, and a number of other sound people chimed in about being happy GH2 owners as well, so I thought it deserved its own thread. It says a lot to me that so many sound people are buying a camera with a sub-mini 2.5mm audio input. It was a big metal leap for me to convince myself to buy a camera with such a tiny audio input, but I'm glad I did. This camera is a lot smaller than most HDSLR's, and the video image is just as good, and in many respects, far better than even the steepest competition. The only thing that I've grown not to like is the 2x crop factor. Someday I'd love to bump up to a full-sized sensor. But for the time being, the Lumix GH2 is a fantastic little camera. The still images it takes look amazing on it as well. I'd also like to point out to the good folks at Remote Audio that their sweet Location Pro Adapt-a-Pak products currently do not include any 2.5mm adapters. In the near future, as cameras shrink down in size, I think we're going to see this input more and more. Quote
Wandering Ear Posted September 30, 2011 Report Posted September 30, 2011 How is the quality of the audio input? Relatively speaking. Does it have manual control and level meters? I've only done one corporate shoot with this camera, and it was b cam, and I never got a chance to play with it. K http://wanderingear.net Quote
Sam Mallery Posted September 30, 2011 Author Report Posted September 30, 2011 The audio quality is pretty good, considering that it's a 2.5mm. There is an audio level adjustment option in the menus, you can chose between audio level 1, 2 or 3. One downside is that by turning it down to 1 the AGC is still active. But, the silver lining is that it's the least offensive sounding AGC I've ever heard. In fact, I usually can't hear it at all. The really nice thing is that it's got on-screen audio meters that you can select to have visible on the LCD at all times (and oddly even when it's in a still photo mode). I wish you could make the meters larger on the screen, but having small meters is far, far better than not having them at all. You can hear the 2.5mm input at work if you click on the MKH 8060 review in my sig. It sounds pretty good with a nice mic and a 302 sending it a mic-level signal. Quote
old school Posted September 30, 2011 Report Posted September 30, 2011 Plus 1. I like it better than the 5 n 7 D's picture quality I always go double system.. I never try n put sound into the camera for a # of reasons, CrewC Quote
RadoStefanov Posted October 1, 2011 Report Posted October 1, 2011 I have done a lot of GH2 shoots. I send g3 to camera for reference/plural eyes. Set the transmitter as any other and the reciever at -30. Get in the camera menu and turn down the input to minimum. Also I set Audio Meter and Video Levels to show on the LCD. Quote
Mark Vesterskov Posted December 3, 2011 Report Posted December 3, 2011 I own the GH2 as well, and use it for corporate videos - i love it. The 2.5mm input is ridiculous, but i've bought enough adapters to keep me from swearing more than absolutely necessary when setting up. The only thing is, i wish that the lowest input setting was lower than it is. When running and gunning with the Rode Videomic Pro, i have to keep it at 0 dB as opposed to the +20dB i used with my 7D - this means i hear more of the GH2's pretty terrible preamps, and get worse sound. Maybe the firmware hack will adress this in a later release? Quote
Philip Perkins Posted December 3, 2011 Report Posted December 3, 2011 Is there a Magic Lantern hack for this camera? phil p Quote
RadoStefanov Posted December 4, 2011 Report Posted December 4, 2011 There is something way better. google personal-view 175mgbs AVCHD I frames hack look for Driftwood hacks Is there a Magic Lantern hack for this camera? phil p Quote
Alan H. Chang Posted December 4, 2011 Report Posted December 4, 2011 There is something way better. google personal-view 175mgbs AVCHD I frames hack look for Driftwood hacks +1 Had two cam ops tonight who were using this hack to film our show and I was dumb enough to forget this at home. GH3 on the horizon. Quote
Marc Wielage Posted December 4, 2011 Report Posted December 4, 2011 The camera's getting good reviews for pictures, but I'm flummoxed as to why Panasonic would choose such a goofy connector for audio. I hate this non-standard crap. Mini-plugs are bad enough, but sub-mini's? --Marc W. Quote
Mark Vesterskov Posted December 4, 2011 Report Posted December 4, 2011 If you dont mind sloppy google-translated English, then i made a blogpost about the camera and the hack. Read it right here. Quote
studiomprd Posted December 5, 2011 Report Posted December 5, 2011 " why Panasonic would choose such a goofy connector for audio. " ...because they are not selling sound, they are selling pictures. Quote
Mark Vesterskov Posted December 5, 2011 Report Posted December 5, 2011 ...because they are not selling sound, they are selling pictures. Seems like all camera manufacturers agreed never to ask a person with any knowledge of sound "hey, how could we do this in a smart. reasonable way?". Quote
studiomprd Posted December 5, 2011 Report Posted December 5, 2011 " never to ask a person with any knowledge of sound " we don't buy many camcorders! Quote
RadoStefanov Posted December 5, 2011 Report Posted December 5, 2011 Perhaps the first full feature movie on the hacked gh2. Quote
Marc Wielage Posted December 6, 2011 Report Posted December 6, 2011 ...because they are not selling sound, they are selling pictures. I can think of a half-dozen other digital camera companies that seem to have that same philosophy... --Marc W. Quote
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