So just how does a camera company take aim at its own knee, crippling itself? Witness Panasonic the Pathetic.
The GH2 was announced in September 2010 to much fanfare. Here in the US, it wasn't until January that someone who got into the front of the line for it managed to get one, and even today you'll be hard-pressed to find one. During this time, Panasonic has been on/off with dealers, including big outlets like Amazon, as to if/when/whether/how many cameras they would get, resulting in preorders that got cancelled on top of everything else. So we're six months in and essentially nada in terms of cameras and a disgruntled set of expectant customers. Consider that a self-inflicted wound to the foot.
But that's not the worst part. Let's say that you actually managed to get one (I have). The problem you now face is that you can't actually use it for production video. Why not? Because you can't get replacement batteries. Panasonic, in all their infinite wisdom has this knack of changing batteries with every camera update and using security measures in the battery to keep cloners at bay. Not that this is doing Panasonic any financial good, as you can't get an extra battery from them, either. Nor has this practice stopped cloners. It just slows them down, so you'd think that Panasonic would want to be supplying batteries early and often. But no, someone didn't think that through. And AC power? "Not specified by manufacturer" appears on most Internet sales Web sites, even though a DMW-AC8PP is listed in the manual. Apparently Panasonic hasn't even informed many of their sales outlets about whether an AC accessory is forthcoming.
So what the heck, lets go to the US Panasonic online ordering site, which is promoted in the manual. Surely Panasonic USA must have these parts, right? Well, first you must know the part numbers (curiously, searching on GH2 produces no results ;~). Aha! entering the right part numbers brings them up and you can add them to your shopping basket. Of course, when you click the next button--Verify Availability--you end up with…you guessed, your cart being emptied because the parts aren't available. Knee in target and now hit.
In my testing, the GH2 is the best of the video-enabled DSLRs on the market at the moment. It produces clean, well detailed video, and even cleaner video if you elect to use the direct crop feature (at the expense of another crop, putting you at a bit more than 4x). The autofocus is usable in most situations. Only problem is, you'd better be doing very short videos or you need to be able to take time outs to recharge the battery, because right now that's all you've got: one battery. Unfortunately, I have a video project that is starting now, so I've switched from using the GH2 to another camera for it. See the problem now, Panasonic? No? Fire again!
Obviously at some point Panasonic will get around to shipping necessary accessories. Let's hope that's before someone else builds a better video-enabled DSLR, because if it isn't, then the whole GH2 experience will be a painful one for Panasonic. What's next, taking aim at one's own hip?
Thing is, Panasonic knows how to do this right. The AG-AF100 is the GH2's professional uncle of a camera, and guess what, the camera itself and batteries for it are available and have been pretty much since that camera first shipped. Ah, so you don't really want us to buy GH2s, do you Panasonic? Excellent aim. Full marks.
NRINO comment: Extra batteries lagging the D7000 by a week look pretty darned good. Way to go Nikon!
Update: Panasonic US now appears to take an order for the back-ordered part. Meanwhile, folks in Europe report that there are batteries available there and have offered to get one for me (of course, that works out to a cost increase of 23% even after paying local taxes). That wasn't my point. I'm starting my latest video project now, so I had to make choices based upon what's available to me now. And that's not going to work with a one-battery GH2 at the moment, unfortunately. Like many pros, I dislike trying to intercut mismatching camera footage, as you end up spending too much time in post trying to get colors and contrast to match across cuts. So once you start working with one video camera, you tend to stay with it. What I'm pointing out is the reality of the situation today. And I'm not the only one that's come to the same conclusion.
Oh, and one more thing: the GH1 and GF1 shared a battery, which was nice. The GH2 and the GF2 do not share a battery, so Panasonic definitely took another step backward there.