Man, I've been looking for hours and days to find a GH2 anywhere!! none to be had I guess....

Any ideas??

David

It has everything to do with luck. I was very lucky in that I walked into my local camera store on my birthday, Dec. 23 on a whim just to see if they were even familiar with the thing. Lo and behold they had received one in stock the day before, and no one there knew anything about it. The sales guy said they sell a lot of Canon 7D's to students at the local film school (Full Sail), but didn't even know Panasonic was in the game.

I also recently lucked out by getting a Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 Nokton lens from a retailer in NYC cuz I was on a waiting list. Fortunately I got mine just before they sold out 'em that same day, which was very fast.

Just keep at it, I wish you the best =)

O_o

Just a a few mins ago Adorama updated that they had the silver ones in stock, I pulled the trigger... hoping to have beat out the other hunters haha

They are hard to find, you'll most likely have better luck trying to track down a silver model. GH1's are also hard to find. I don't understand these marketing decisions. Panasonic is notorious for this kind of thing.

Wow, you got lucky, they are VERY hard to find. I found mine at Cine Abel, thanks to a good samaritan that mentioned they had a few two weeks ago.

For my second camera I feel very confident the GH1 will be an excellent 2nd camera, and is half the price. I plan on two of those.

Well we will see tomorrow if it gets shipped or a get a e-mail saying out of stock hah

You are likely fine, but I am disappointed with Adorama. I ordered an ac coupler for the GH2 and it still shows as in stock (or at least it did as of a couple days ago) but it is backordered, as indicated when I went to my account to see what happened. I've written them once, and have recieved no reply.

I have a wedding, and can pull it off, but my beautiful new external power supply will have to sit on the sidelines.

I've ordered from them since, but as of yesterday I now purchase only from B&H, as I used to. I can't trust Adorama after this stupid incident over a $15 part. If I need something that only they have I'll use them again, but only when I have to.

Google (http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=panasonic+GH2+uk+prices&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=6e7438af88efd7c8) they have been available here for ages.

I bought mine off of Ebay...Place in Canada had it on there. Ebay seems to have alot of them so take a look.

I too have seen them on Ebay, forgot about that. The prices I saw were high, but if you don't mind paying a premium, they are there!

Here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, there are a few stores showing the GH-2 as being in stock:

Vistek.ca : GH-2 In Stock (http://www.vistek.ca/store/DigitalSLRs/252488/panasonic-lumix-dmcgh2-black-micro-43-kit-w-14140mm-f4058-asph-me.aspx)

AdenCamera.com : GH-2 In Stock (http://www.adencamera.com/product-overviewer.asp?ProdID=3535&Category=6)

I ordered my GH2 with Panasonic Direct EPP on Dec 1st and received it two week later .I pre-ordered the Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 from Photo Village in NYC about the same time and received it a few days after getting the GH2.

I got mine from Camera Kings about a week before Christmas. They had a bunch in stock at the time.

Good luck. They're out there.

Evan

Placed an order with BHphoto Jan 14th, arrived Feb 3rd.

Mine shipped today!! should be here middle of next week :)

Got mine with the 14-140 in December from The Camera Store in Calgary, AB. They appear to be back in stock (I would call to confirm):

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with 14-140mm f/4-5.8 | The Camera Store (http://www.thecamerastore.com/products/cameras/digital-cameras/digital-slr-cameras/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gh2-14-140mm-f4-58)

A few dollars more than stateside retail, but worth it.

On thing NOT to do is keep clicking around online looking for internet stores that have stock - it is pointless as most GH2's leave the store immediately.

Go to the two big distributors - AbelCine and B&H and put your name down. And wait.

This may not give immediate satisfaction but you will receive a GH2 eventually! Mine took three weeks this way. They do alert you to stock and when they will charge your card, so the system works. Unfortunately, we have all gotten use to being satisfied immediately - even a nanosecond is just too dam long now.

actualy what I did was do a google search for "GH2 in stock" and change the filters of the search to show only last 24hrs... then it poped up that adorama had just added some 28 mins before....

There seem to be plenty here in UK. I ordered one on Amazon and it was delivered the next day, trouble is I'm not happy with the moire patterning on fine detail so it's going back tomorrow. Nice camera shame about the image.
Just today went into John Lewis department store, plenty in stock.

George, there is no denying your experience, but this is the first major complaint on moire I've seen with the camera. In side by side tests, the moire on this cameras is comparable or better than the Mark7D, I believe.

Converting the footage will not lead to any issues if converted properly, as I've learned.

See the new version of the cat video, no more interlaced artifacts in my video. I never had moire to begin with.

I am particularly impressed with the quality of the footage despite the fact that some of it was reversed, and slowed down up to 60%, yet the images remained excellent. I've never worked with footage that was as pristine and easy to work with, from a creative standpoint.

Good luck with whatever you end up using!


Cincinnati Video Production by Jeff Harper Video (http://cincinnativideo.net/Cats.html)

Thanks for your encouragement Greg, and I know those who like this camera really like it. That's why I settled on it out of the other DSLR or DEVIL cameras, but in all my research I never once read about this problem, until I saw your post. My worry is that I shoot mainly full HD on JVC-HM700 and a lot of the footage has such fine detail; business premises and warehouse interiors, lots of racking etc The GH2 footage just jumped out when cut into the 'true' video footage. I'm shooting jobs with quick turn around and can't afford to spend time in post to correct it. I can understand if these are being used for 'art' projects, or you have plenty of time to post-produce they might be worth time involved. I may be the only one, but it's not the camera for me.

George, just to be clear, as I posted in repsponse to your post in the other thread, I NEVER HAD moire issues, as I've stated in the other thread! I was wrong. The issue was deinterlacing artifacts, which had NOTHING to do with my camera, or orignal footage.

I shoot weddings and corporate events for a living, and at any given time can have up to 10 events in the hopper being worked on or awaiting editing and time is of the essence in my work. This camera has reignited my interest in video.

If you followed up in the orignal thread, I also said the footage from the camera is the easiest to work with I've ever had. I'm not sure why you believe it would be more time consuming in post, that is simply not true. True it must be converted prior for making SD videos, but that is ideally true for any HD footage going to SD.

Please don't use my post as any reason for ditching the camera. Your issues are not connected to mine, as I have NO problems with the footage from the camera. Most any CMOS based camera will have moire under the right conditions. I still beleive if you were to shoot the fence again with your other camera at the same distance, you would like have the same issue, but until you do that and post it we'll never know.

There seem to be plenty here in UK. I ordered one on Amazon and it was delivered the next day, trouble is I'm not happy with the moire patterning on fine detail so it's going back tomorrow. Nice camera shame about the image.
Just today went into John Lewis department store, plenty in stock.

Many agree that the GH2 is less prone to moire patterning than most cameras. The Canon's are notorious for it. Moire is the resultant artifacts from in-camera resizing to the video output size. The GH2 has a unique selectable mode that maps a 1920 x 1080 area on the sensor which eliminates the need to resize. In that mode there is no moire at all. If you want to see what a good 'dose' of moire looks like, shoot that same shot with a Canon. Then shoot it in the EX TELE mode on your GH2 and you will see no moire at all.

Hi Jeff. Don't worry I'll not be holding you responsible for my returning the camera, and I hope you don't think my 'art' comment and having plenty of time to correct in post was in any way a slight at your work, I was talking in general terms, really nothing personal, I do appreciate you having taken the time to post back to me.
Most of the clips shot with stills cameras that I see on the internet are of the cut to music types that have fairly obviously had plenty of time spent on them. I tend to have a much faster through-put. For example I shot this morning and it will be with my client before the office closed this afternoon. What I meant is that I don't have the time to try and correct aliasing in post, nor colour grade or all of the things that make the DEVIL and DSLR work look so great.
Just to be clear I like the camera and pretty well everything about it but it's just that one thing I can't live with. The vimeo clip has toned it down quite a lot, the footage I would have to give on DVD just wouldn't cut it for me. If I were to shoot everything with no sideways panning I'm sure it would be alright, it's just as soon as the camera moves I see it.

By the way I shot alongside my video camera in a warehouse today. The video footage is fine but the Lumix shimmies across the storage racking and any vertical blinds.

George, Please read my post. If you shoot in the EX TELE mode, the GH2 is the only DSLR/DEVIL camera that will have no moire. Try it.

Hi Jim, thanks for your response. I think the important words in your post is' less prone'. It may be that it is less noticeable than any other stills camera, but what I got on my footage is not acceptable for me when I need to cut it into footage from a true video camera that doesn't exhibit such patterning. I do understand that moire is a result of the aliasing or poor anti-aliasing. When I reduced the detail level the fine lines became mushy.
Anyway I don't want to get into a knocking game, there's been enough of that over on the wedding forum. I acknowledge that it's a good camera, but just not for me. It's a pity your not in UK, you could have had this one if your still searching. They don't seem to be in short supply here.

Jim, I've just realised that it's not you that's looking for one.

George, I guess you only read my first sentence. If you shoot in the EX TELE mode on your GH2, you will not get any moire. That's because in that mode, the video isn't being resized. When video is resized in the camera, you will always get moire. It's just a matter of degree. For example, I have always been careful to caution people that are being interviewed on camera to not wear clothing with intricate or detailed patterns such as herringbone, small checks or stripes because of potential moire. That's with regular video cameras - yes, yours too.

Hi Jim I did miss that bit . If it shoots 1920x1080 in the EX TELE mode what's the point or advantage of using the whole sensor in the default mode and then re-sizing the image? Do Panasonic deliberately set the cameras up to be difficult to get the best from them.

When in the EX TELE mode, there is a greater crop factor which has the effect of making the camera shoot in more of a telephoto mode. This can often be compensated with a tele lens set wider and/or moving the camera farther away from the subject. As with most settings on a camera, there are pluses and minuses. EX TELE is a plus if you want a 'free' telephoto extender; it's a minus if you need to shoot as wide as possible. But it's nice that Panasonic added EX TELE as an optional shooting mode. With other cameras, that option isn't available. It's the only DSLR/DEVIL cameras on the market now with a moire 'off switch'.

" It's the only DSLR/DEVIL cameras on the market now with a moire 'off switch'. "

What did u mean? ex. tele. conv?


p.s. about main topic, dont u find gh2 at amazon? ok, i am from europe, and i got mine gh2 from amazon.co.uk at 2or 3 day. I live at other side of europe than uk. I was surprised to see this topic ;]

" It's the only DSLR/DEVIL cameras on the market now with a moire 'off switch'. "

What did u mean? ex. tele. conv?

Yes, when shooting in EX TELE mode the video isn't resized in the camera so there is no moire that is caused by resizing.

RE availability - Most of the major resellers like B&H are getting regular shipments in now so the wait for shipment should only be a few days.

Ok, maybe, i didnt note that. But i realy dont like quality of this mode, their apear some noticeable noise. But, overall, sometimes i use this mode... u can do some nice macro, and use it in other situation like u said.
I realy like gh2, and dont offer to choose other dslr, but new t3i/d600 has same ex TELE conv function. And you can choose from 1-10 steps or something

I checked one of those in stock tracker websites and found 2 at amazon. i bought one and the second one was gone by the time i finished placing my order.

There is a GH2 with at 14 to 140mm for sell on the private classified forum.

There is a GH2 with at 14 to 140mm for sell on the private classified forum.

Not any more :D

I still see it, did he sell it?

I sure hope so since I paid him for it

Well then you would know.
Enjoy!

There seem to be plenty here in UK. I ordered one on Amazon and it was delivered the next day, trouble is I'm not happy with the moire patterning on fine detail so it's going back tomorrow. Nice camera shame about the image.
Just today went into John Lewis department store, plenty in stock.

none in AUS - they seem to have forgotten us

There seem to be plenty here in UK. I ordered one on Amazon and it was delivered the next day, trouble is I'm not happy with the moire patterning on fine detail so it's going back tomorrow. Nice camera shame about the image.Wow! I don't know whether you got a camera with a fault or had it set up wrong but moire is something that is noticeable by its absence.. The image is also very noise free at high ISOs in low light. In many ways the video quality is superior to that of my Canon 5D Mk II. However the GH2 does feel like a little plastic toy in my hands compared to the 5DII.

I also can confirm plenty of stock in the UK. I ordered mine from Amazon & had it delivered the next morning & they still have plenty of stock.

Nigel. It may have been faulty as everyone seems to be astonished at my comments about it. Anyway I am going to give it another go. This time I'm going to pick one up and handle first it rather than send for one. I've just sold my JVC HD201s which I used as backups and lock-offs for stage shows so I need something to replace them, I'm hoping the GH2 will fit the bill as a couple of those will be much easier to lug about.

Wow! I don't know whether you got a camera with a fault or had it set up wrong but moire is something that is noticeable by its absence.. The image is also very noise free at high ISOs in low light. In many ways the video quality is superior to that of my Canon 5D Mk II. However the GH2 does feel like a little plastic toy in my hands compared to the 5DII.

I also can confirm plenty of stock in the UK. I ordered mine from Amazon & had it delivered the next morning & they still have plenty of stock.

Nigel can you explain further how the GH2 is superior to the Canon 5D Mark11 in video quality?
That would be most interesting if that is so. I still think the 5D mk11 is the video standard by which all still camera videos are judged, but I do love the GH2. If the GH2 can stack up to the 5D mark11 then that is saying something.

Hey Jim, there are a few side by side tests that show GH2 vs Mark 5. I am not able to find them right now, but they are out there. I watched approximately 50 various videos, if not a lot more having to do with the GH2 before I bought mine. I remember two test videos that specifically pitted these cams against each other. I also remember a couple more that tested for moire and low light capabilities.

I believe moire is pretty much accepted as less with the GH2 than with the 5d, but I might be mistaken.

Also seem to remember that Phillip Bloom's favorite of all is the 5d or 7d, but I can't remember which. He's tested them all, and he loves the GH2 very much, but his favorite is the one of the Canon's.

I don't have to tell you Jim, it is really preference in many cases. I would have gone with a t2i or t3i in a heartbeat, the differences are too small to mean anything. The 12 minute limit just doesn't work for me, not the way I shoot weddings. The option to use Canon lenses without adapters is very appealing to me.

I personally will jump ship the minute Canon makes an affordable M4/3 that works as well as the GH2, and I don't care which has the technically better images. If you look at the assortment of lenses available to Canon users, it would be silly to use anything else. Lenses are an investment. Cameras, not so much. Just my 2 cents.

Nigel can you explain further how the GH2 is superior to the Canon 5D Mark11 in video quality?
That would be most interesting if that is so. I still think the 5D mk11 is the video standard by which all still camera videos are judged, but I do love the GH2. If the GH2 can stack up to the 5D mark11 then that is saying something.Lack of moire & aliasing is the major difference. The resolution looks similar. Low light performance is similar possibly better as there is remarkably little grain even at 2500 or 3200 ISO. I have not yet shot any video side by side but I certainly don't see the video quality of the GH2 being inferior in any way to the Canon DSLRs. The one downside is that when using 24Mbps AVCHD that the only frame rate available is 24fps whereas as I live in PAL land I would prefer to have 25fps available to match with the footage I normally shoot with the 5DII & other cameras. My alternative is to switch to 24fps for all cameras which then could cause hassles for DVD creation.

For any of you looking to buy a GH2, I have a 14-140mm kit lens for sale in the classified section. I'm only asking $645. You can find the GH2 body only in a lot of places. I just bought the 100-300 lens, so I'm selling the kit lens. Happy hunting. They are out there.