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HD Video: Panasonic DMC-GH1 vs. Sony HDR-XR500
A lot of you have been wondering whether HD video from a digital camera can really rival the quality of a dedicated camcorder. To find out, we put Panasonic's DMC-GH1 up against Sony's HDR-XR500 ...
Edouard Maire
Published: July 15, 2009
Published: July 15, 2009
The Contenders
Pansonic's GH1 isn't the only camera to tread on the toes of the HD camcorder market. SLRs like the Nikon D90, the Canon 500D and compacts like the Canon SX1 all offer HD video. Nevertheless, the GH1 is one of the few cameras with interchangeable lenses to capture 1080 lines at 30 fps for less than £1250.
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28-280 mm lens
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43 x 516 mm lens
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As a film-maker, the biggest advantage to using the GH1 instead of a camcorder is its wide-angle lens, which, at 28 mm, goes a lot further than the XR500, whose lens is a very narrow 43 mm. It's something we notice time and again because no consumer camcorders have a focal length shorter than 37 mm. It's nice, then, to be able to capture such a wide area.
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The GH1 (28 mm, left) has a better focal length at 24x36 than than the XR500 (43 mm, right)
The excellent electronic viewfinder is another benefit of the GH1. Its resolution makes focusing easier, and the shield allows you to hold it up to your eye to stabilise it. That said, stabilisation is the GH1's Achilles' heel, despite the inclusion of an optical image stabilisation system. When zoomed at 10x, the frame suffers from a lot of trembling, even when it's supported on a tripod. The XR500's system is much more powerful and manages to cancel out movements, even at higher zoom levels. Controlling the zoom is the GH1's other main weakness. You zoom in and out using a manual ring, which can cause jerky transitions. You need to be careful as you move in and out, but the XR500 has an electronic zoom control with progressive speed: the harder you press, the faster you zoom.
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The GH1's viewfinder is better for focusing
The camcorder is better at focusing because its autofocus is designed to permanently adapt to changes in the scene. On the GH1, though, even the smallest movements require a half-press on the shutter release to bring things back into focus.
This video compares the clips we took using the two different models. For some scenes, we used a 7-14 mm lens on the GH1, which produces excellent quality images, despite a few problems with white balancing in natural light.
This video compares the clips we took using the two different models. For some scenes, we used a 7-14 mm lens on the GH1, which produces excellent quality images, despite a few problems with white balancing in natural light.
As you can see, the quality is the same using both the camera and the camcorder. The file format, bitrate and resolution are identical: AVCHD at 16 Mbps in 1920 x 1080 at 50 fps. What differences there are, are more to do with the depth of field and colour handling. The XR500 is better at producing warm tones with plenty of contrast, while the GH1 is rather cold. In low light levels, the GH1 does well, and even beats the XR500, despite the latter's reputation built on the inclusion of a CMOS Exmor sensor.
Audio quality is also a part of our analysis, because the GH1 includes not only a stereo microphone, but also a mic input. What it's missing, though, is a headphone jack or an onscreen indication of volume, making it impossible to keep an eye on sound levels, unlike the XR500 which has both audio inputs and outputs. Nevertheless, the sound recorded on the GH1 does a good job of capturing the atmosphere of a scene.
Both the GH1 and the XR500 use the AVCHD format, which poses problems for editing. However, the GH1 also has a 720p Motion JPEG, which makes editing clips on a timeline much easier. The XR500 has more room to store your video, though, thanks to its 120 GB hard drive, which leaves room for 14 hours 30 of video.
The GH1 can very easily stand in for an HD camcorder. It's entirely possible to shoot a short documentary outside, with fixed shots of the landscape especially benefiting from the wide-angle. Tracking shots are more difficult, but the inclusion of a microphone input allows you to record short interviews. Some pros have already produced some incredibly impressive shorts using just the GH1, like this one from Joe Shaw:
Audio quality is also a part of our analysis, because the GH1 includes not only a stereo microphone, but also a mic input. What it's missing, though, is a headphone jack or an onscreen indication of volume, making it impossible to keep an eye on sound levels, unlike the XR500 which has both audio inputs and outputs. Nevertheless, the sound recorded on the GH1 does a good job of capturing the atmosphere of a scene.
Both the GH1 and the XR500 use the AVCHD format, which poses problems for editing. However, the GH1 also has a 720p Motion JPEG, which makes editing clips on a timeline much easier. The XR500 has more room to store your video, though, thanks to its 120 GB hard drive, which leaves room for 14 hours 30 of video.
The GH1 can very easily stand in for an HD camcorder. It's entirely possible to shoot a short documentary outside, with fixed shots of the landscape especially benefiting from the wide-angle. Tracking shots are more difficult, but the inclusion of a microphone input allows you to record short interviews. Some pros have already produced some incredibly impressive shorts using just the GH1, like this one from Joe Shaw:
So, what's left for the camcorder? The biggest advantages it has are controls and settings that are better adapted to shooting video (autofocus, zoom, image stabilisation, and even the position of the buttons) and more room to save your content. For £1200, though, the GH1 takes very good photos as well ...
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