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Product Description
Product Description
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2: The Unofficial Quintessential Guide provides a wealth of information and professional insights for owners of this powerful HD camera. With its electronic viewfinder and interchangeable lenses, the GH2 is capable of not only recording professional-quality still images, but has the added ability to record HD video as well. The mirrorless design enhances the camera's versatility beyond that of most digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras. With the appropriate adapters, it can use virtually any manufacturer's manual focus, legacy lens. It is smaller than a typical DSLR in both size and weight, and retains automatic focusing while recording videos capability that is missing in many DSLR cameras.
With the GH2, Panasonic has significantly expanded the video capabilities beyond those of previous models. Among the improvements is the ability to adjust the frame rate and shutter speed when filming video, giving users greater control over the movie-making process.
In this guide, authors Brian Matsumoto and Carol F. Roullard explore and explain the features and capabilities of the GH2 camera in detail, as they cover everything from the basic features of the camera to numerous advanced photographic applications. The informative text is illustrated with example images throughout.
Readers will learn how to:
- Control the most basic camera functions-focus and exposure
- Navigate the camera's menu system
- Achieve a range of artistic effects using various camera settings
- Use the camera's automated controls, and override those controls to obtain better exposure
- Use the GH2 in its video mode to obtain HD videos
- Post-process images and videos on a computer
- Expand the camera's use by mounting it on a telescope or microscope
About the Author
Dr. Brian Matsumoto is a retired research scientist who has worked for 30 years recording his experiments with a wide range of film and digital cameras. From 1992 to 2009, he served as Director of the Integrated Microscopy Facility, a unit administered by the Neuroscience Research Institute and the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This facility provides instruction and support for projects that require advanced imaging. In addition to the two books he has written for Rocky Nook, Dr. Matsumoto has published several articles and has had his photographs published in a number of periodicals. He is experienced in the technical aspects of photography and has taught courses on recording scientific experiments.
Carol F. Roullard has been an avid photographer since high school, where she first experimented with black and white artistic composition. She has continued photographing (mainly nature and architecture) throughout the years. Carol has used a variety of cameras covering a wide range of makes and models, from simple point-and-shoot cameras to complex professional cameras. She has been using the latest Panasonic G series models for the past several years. Carol is a Project Management Quality and Compliance engineer by trade and has spent a number of years developing procedural and quality control methodology for IT projects. In addition, Carol has developed and conducted training sessions covering best practices for procedural and quality control, breaking down complex subjects into easy-to-use approaches to learning.
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Customer Reviews
The book is excellent for users who only shoot still photos. For the most part it accurately depicts how to get the most out of your camera. However, it had a few glaring mistakes. For instance it says that in "M" manual still mode the camera's display screen will "show a constantly bright view;" when you adjust the exposure. They also state that they "do not recommend M Mode for general photography" because of this. This would be true if you leave the "Constant Preview"(Menu/CTools) setting on its default value of off.
If you turn on the constant preview setting it will also show you exactly what the actual exposure will look like on the LCD screen. This setting only works on the "M" manual stills dial mode. It is probably one of the least understood settings on the camera. That may be why the authors didn't know how to use it.
Their recommendations on what telescopes to use are a little bit too pessimistic. They show an excellent picture of the moon and tell you that you need to buy a $500-$1500 telescope in order to achieve it. It actually can be done with a $300 or less telescope or even a simple used $30 400mm Canon FD lens. Yes astrophotography can get very expensive. However, you can match the results from some of the $5,000 setups with a GH2 and a less than $1000 setup.
This book is not for anyone shooting videos. The authors are very knowledgeable about still shooting but they simply regurgitate what is in the manual for video and add in a few incorrect assumptions and false stereotypes in the video section. For example: they constantly state that MJPEG should be used over AVC-HD because AVC-HD requires too fast of a computer. That was correct about 3-4 years ago when the format was first introduced with Panasonic cameras. However, any computer in the last two years will easily handle any of the AVC-HD formats.
They also do not reference any of the improvements that the new(December 2011) Panasonic V1.1 firmware adds. The new firmware adds a 1080p @ 30 FPS video mode that should be used in almost all instances. The only time you should use any other format is if you want to do slow motion. For slo-mo you should always use 720p @ 60 FPS. The 1080i FSH should never be used under any circumstance.
Overall I think this is an excellent replacement for the Panasonic manual for still shooters who think the Panasonic manual is hard to read and understand. It is not too expensive and it really is very well produced. For video users you are better off looking at the GH2 Setup guide video at the URL below.
[...]
But what a disappointment.
1. The publisher wanted to make a few pennies more profit by going cheap on the printing. This book is small - about 5x7 inches. And the average picture in this book is literally about the size of a box of matches. Inside each picture may be 20 tiny icons and they do not show the icon in the text or point out the icon in the picture. Good luck guessing which icon does the function. Sometimes I look at a picture and I cant even tell why the picture is there and what I am supposed to be seeing. Additionally there are no larger demonstration photos showing the effects of various photo adjustments - just matchbox sized LCD screen images. There are only a handful of matchbox sized demonstration photos, including one of a cat showing how he squints his eyes if you don't bounce the flash. Seriously.
2. Bad layout designer: It is badly laid out. At times it will talk about some control or screen and the small picture is not even on the same page! Or there is no picture at all. Sometimes there are pictures that add nothing to the text.
3. Not enough advanced stuff: The book doesn't deeply cover advanced topics such as video. This camera is not generally a beginners camera. It is bought by many mainly because of its great video capabilities! You can figure out the basic stuff from the manual, this book needed to give more coverage to the more advanced topics.
4. It tells you to look at appendix D for a list of the many menu commands - but there is no Appendix D in the book. There is a footnote telling you to go to a website to see it. Again the publisher trying to cut costs. If I want to read about this camera on the web why buy the book?
PROs?
Well the writing is fairly clear for the material they cover. There ARE many basic topics that are explained clearer here than in the camera manual. And there are sections on basic general photography topics not covered in the manual. But people need a book to focus on the GH2, not basic photography. In general, the shortcomings are not due to the writers. The book does provide wide-shallow coverage of all the functions in the camera. And for some things the small pictures are all you need and are definitely adequate.
So should you buy this book? Maybe. Get it if you are a photography beginner or are new to this Lumix G camera line and need a basic introduction to the controls. If you are an experienced photographer, or have had a previous version of this camera dont bother.
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