Quirky

I think the D16 is the most interesting digital video camera at the moment, hands down. If I had the 3.5k Obama Dollah worth of dough burning a hole in my pocket, I'd order one straight away. Provided I could actually do that, even if I had the dough. Although I'm not at all excited about the cutesy retro design. I wish they had just made a modern, function over form version with only some very subtle references to the old Bolex of yesteryear. But since the guts of the thing are so interesting, I think I'd tolerate the somewhat silly look. I'd also wish they used a larger sensor, but suppose super 16 will be fine, too. But the biggest bummer for the time being is availability, along with the pricing. The fact that I don't have the dough to buy one now doesn't really even matter, because so far, the D16 is a North American camera only. Hopefully they'll offer a model for the rest of the world, too, soon enough. But I fear that may not happen too soon, with their limited logistics and resources, but we'll see. Hopefully the first batch of D16's will sell well enough on the other side of the pond, because that would certainly help. Meanwhile, suppose I should start saving my cents to afford one when one is available here. As for the lack of chatter so far, I also think it's simply because a) it's not even out yet, bee) it's not available outside the US(Canada, and c) the thing is pricey for the mere mortals (enthusiasts/hobbyists), who most of the readers here are. But whenever a production model hits the blogosphere and into the hands of Andrew and the likes, there will be some more chatter for sure. Edit: dang, for some reason b with a bracket turns into a cheesy grin. b)

The PDF's are there, in multiple languages. I downloaded one several days ago. Although it's merely a quick manual rather than comprehensive, but it helps. I believe the HDMI out is the only detail that we can't figure out from the manual, so we might as well resort to guesswork, for the time being. My guess is that it doesn't have a clean HDMI out, as the camera is "just" a CSC aimed at mere mortals, rather than prosumers. I don't think the GX7 has that feature, either. Only GH3 does, so far. As for the rolling shutter, the GM1 is not a global shutter camera, so I think it's safe to assume it does suffer from the usual rolling shutter problem. How severely, well, I'm sure there are plenty of sample videos online by now, and one of Blunty's videos in YouTube you can see the shaking test done side by side with GX7 and GH3. As we've established, the GX7 is using the same sensor, so the GM1 should behave the same. So yes, no doubt the same old wibbly-wobbly wabble is there, but suppose it's not as bad as it could. See for yourself in YouTube. PS. Thanks for the Hoodman picture, nac. Looks quite doable, then, at least with the Hoodman. :) For some reason I didn't see the photo when I hit the post button. That post being my first one here, there was the screening delay between my hitting the post button and the message appearing on the stream. No biggie, but I just thought it may look a bit weird, as I was asking for photos seemingly after someone had already done just that. If I end up buying a G1, I think I'd like to go for the Swivi one, though, and amplify the quirkiness of the setup. If someone has already done that, please feel free to post a photo of your rig. Just for the heck of it. I've been beating about the bush and pacing around the idea of buing a GM1 for several days now. I'm not sure if the GM1 is the most practical of choices in my case, but I can't help feeling very tempted. Decisions, decisions... :)

Heh, that looks both funny and cool at the same time. :) Speaking of rigging and attaching this little thing to dSLR lenses, have you (or anyone else who's got the GM1 already) tested the GM1 with the Swivi Universal LCD Viewfinder or something similar? What I'm curious about is whether or not you can actually attach one, and still have enough room to use the tiny buttons nearest to the edge of the screen. The gap between the screen and the buttons look rather narrow, and the Swivi on particular is apparently not the smallest of the LCD viewfinders. Apparently the ones that have to be glued around the LCD would have the same issue, or do they? How about the bottom plate, is the GM1 body actually a bit too narrow to attach a Swivi or a Zacuto viewfinder? If it is indeed feasible to use the Swivi, I'm almost giggling at the thought of having an orange/silver GM1 with a Swivi and a big FF lens with the Metabones adapter attached to a simple flash bracket along with a mic & recorder, and then shooting a professional wedding gig with it... Seeing uncle Bob's face would be a priceless bonus. :) Anyway, if any of the GM1 owners have successfully rigged theirs with any such viewfinder and the other usual suspects, please feel free to comment and if possible, show photos. Surely some of you have already rigged yours, right?