Amazon selling the Lumix GH-2 for $795 – that is not a misprint and that includes the kit lens.
A major firmware upgrade is coming shortly, as well, and will add several new features.
I have this camera and love it.
How many shutter clicks can your camera handle before the shutter stops working correctly? Well, it depends on the camera, whether it uses electronic or mechanical shutter, and whether it is a consumer or pro camera.
This is an issue especially now that many photographers are shooting time lapse videos using their DSLR. A 100 second video clip might use 3,000 clicks of the shutter!
There is actual data that can estimate how many clicks you’ll get before needing to replace the shutter.
Professional cameras may make it to the low millions of clicks, but the lower end cameras may wear out before 100k clicks. Page down to see the estimated shutter life.
http://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/canon_eo
http://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/ca
A Good Videographer Keeps a Camcorder Dry | Video News.
Heh. I nearly destroyed my Canon XH A1 due to rain. I had a commercially made rain cover on the camera, but it had a faulty design that enabled water to dribble in through roughly the top dead center of the bag. I was set up to film a parade in Western Washington, but nearly 1 1/2 inches of rain fell in about an hour before the parade and left the cover saturated – and leaking.
Water entered through the video playback controls at the top of the camera and dribbled internally down into the back of the camera. Several circuit boards had to be replaced. (I had a back up camera with me so the event was not lost – but this experience was an expensive one.)
If you do go out in the rain, use two layers of plastic bags, securely taped and tied off, as needed, to enclose the entire camera. Preferably avoid using your camera in the rain – if you need to shoot in the rain, use an inexpensive video camera. The costs of repair to the XH A1 were more than the costs of a good quality low end consumer camcorder.
I am doubtful that I would use a high end camera in the rain, again.
If you do need professional repair service for your Canon or Sony gear, I recommend VideoOneRepair.
Red Scarlet annnouncment – Personal View Talks.
5k video camera for under $10k. Amazing device.
The following video was recorded using an XH-A1 and two on camera mounted long shot gun AT-835b microphones. This was not an ideal way to mount the microphones but it definitely performed “good enough”. When the camera and mics are a long ways from the field, there is not as much stereo channel separation as you might expect.
But the stereo mics add a depth to the sound that was missing when using a single shot gun mic. Why use a shot gun mic? The shot gun mic definitely records higher quality audio than the on camera mic and helps to reduce crowd noise.
The following is the performance of the Mt. Spokane High School Wildcats Marching Band at the 2011 Puget Sound Festival of Bands in Everett, Wa. MSHS band performed an original composition and this is posted on Youtube at the request of and with the permission of the band director.
Here is a photo of my set up for the recording. The two shot gun mics are above the camera. Output from the HDV camera is sent over a long Firewire cable to a Mac notebook computer, where the video stream is recorded direct to disk using QuickTime Pro. By recording direct to disk, the videos are immediately ready for conversion to MPEG4 without any time spent on import.
