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The Panasonic Lumix GH2


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panasonic_lumix_dmc_gh2_27.jpg

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.

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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.

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  • 2 months later...

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?

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