Monday April 27
 
22:09
 
Panasonic GH1 – First Outside Samples

I took my GH1 out to play at lunchtime today. Full size samples here at Flickr.

I’m starting to become concerned about the GH1’s focus.

The G1 worked pretty well – if it didn’t get focus I would get a broken box indicator; if it got focus I would get a solid box indicator (I’m talking about spot focus here).

The GH1 is supposed to behave the same way, but what I’ve noticed is that the GH1 will often say it has focus when it doesn’t. It happened a lot when I was taking photos at home yesterday so I wanted to see whether it did the same things outside today – and it did. View this image in full size and you’ll see what I mean. While this is only one example outside, I got a lot inside yesterday – and my G1 never did this.

Yesterday the “false focus confirm” was most prevalent when trying to focus at the minimal focus distance of the lens. Since I’m used to the G1 which has a smaller minimal focus distance, I often try to focus too close with the GH1, get the “can’t focus” broken box, and pull back until it confirms OK – only to find out that it didn’t get focus after all.

I’ll be keeping a watch for this.

All images are high quality JPEGs, default settings, aperture priority.

Please note that these images are copyright – crops and full size. If you wish to use them on another website or print publication, you must obtain permission first – you can do so by leaving a comment (requests for permission will not be published).

If you are looking to buy a GH1, click here for the latest price and availability. Personally I recommend the G1 instead – it’s much cheaper and better in my opinion.

Click here for my G1/GH1 index page.