fuzzynormal

I don't know what it's like in Europe, but here in America, Panasonic's upscale cameras are not readily available in retail outlets.  Not only are they absent from the "big box" American retail companies like Target, WalMart, etc., but they have limited display space in actual camera shops where the enthusiast's spend their money.
 
In my city, San Diego, there are 4 reputable camera stores that cater to the hobbyist market.  None of them sell the upmarket Panasonic cameras.  A few point and shoot cams on the shelves of the consumer stores, but that's it.  Fuji has a bigger presence here than Panasonic.
 
Bad sales are not for the lack of good product, IMHO.  They just don't have the penetration in retail.   From where I'm sitting, it's all on the sales distribution regarding the bad numbers.  It's not the feature set.  I'm going to disagree with Atkin's assessment.  Correlating bad sales to the product features might not be the actual causation.
 
That said, I don't expect Panasonic to go away with their product line anytime soon.  Because I believe that, I just bought two Panasonic m43 cameras and four m43 prime lenses. I expect the cams to easily get 4 years of use for the gigs I do.  That's a fair investment.  The lenses should have life well beyond that as other companies continue development of m43 camera bodies that support 4K video.
 
If you want to be a "glass is half full" kind of person, you could even rationalize that these numbers might be good for Panasonic's development.  If the m43 camera division needs to grab headlines because of slumping sales, perhaps really unleashing and pushing the video capabilities of their sensors will be a useful tool; mixed with proper marketing and dealership. 

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/12/digital-bolex-d16-review-part-1-first-impressions-pre-order/
 
Joe Marine's of NoFilmSchool recent 2-part review of the Digital Bolex seems not very skewed in favor of that camera.  In fact, it's a reasoned balanced opinion, I think.
 
Personally, I like the idea that some folks had an idea and made it happen with "Kickstarting" support from the filmmaking community.  I also like that they developed a camera for 16mm lenses.
 
So many American university are full up on 16mm lenses going unused.  This camera is near-perfect for those programs. I'd go so far as to say that the RAW workflow is a nice parallel to traditional film production.  That's good for students.  Learning footage discipline is a worthwhile skill.

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/12/digital-bolex-d16-review-part-1-first-impressions-pre-order/
 
Joe Marine's of NoFilmSchool recent 2-part review of the Digital Bolex seems not very skewed in favor of that camera.  In fact, it's a reasoned balanced opinion, I think.
 
Personally, I like the idea that some folks had an idea and made it happen with "Kickstarting" support from the filmmaking community.  I also like that they developed a camera for 16mm lenses.
 
So many American university are full up on 16mm lenses going unused.  This camera is near-perfect for those programs. I'd go so far as to say that the RAW workflow is a nice parallel to traditional film production.  That's good for students.  Learning footage discipline is a worthwhile skill.

Yes.
 
It's his ideas and his writing.  His opinion.  He's not entitled to do anything beyond that.  If he has a favorable initial impression over one piece of gear to another, that's fine.  He was enthusiastic for the C100 awhile back, but that isn't a viable camera for a lot of people.  Big deal.  
 
He's not doing a "Consumer Reports" market study, he's writing His Thoughts about a camera.
 
Welcome to the internet, BTW, hope you like it here.

As someone that just did a shoot in NZ barely a year ago on 60i HD and a 5 year old Canon camcorder, I'd just like to say I'm crazy jealous that someone got to run around the country using this gear.  What I would have given to have shot my assignment on this cam.
 
Man, I know a lot of y'all never seem satisfied with limitations, but just take a breather and realize that you're looking at a camera that shoots 4K for less than 2K.
 
I don't know, seems impressive to me.

As someone that just did a shoot in NZ barely a year ago on 60i HD and a 5 year old Canon camcorder, I'd just like to say I'm crazy jealous that someone got to run around the country using this gear.  What I would have given to have shot my assignment on this cam.
 
Man, I know a lot of y'all never seem satisfied with limitations, but just take a breather and realize that you're looking at a camera that shoots 4K for less than 2K.
 
I don't know, seems impressive to me.

Still have mine in the back of the closet...

Those are all valid concerns.  I like the GM1, but I don't plan on running around with it as my A cam.  It's a stealthy and small option to capture nondescript shooting. That's the biggest feature of the cam for me.  However, when not trying to "steal" shots I certainly don't plan on running and gunning with the thing (even though I'm confident that I could do so if needed).  It'll serve well though for more considered (sticks/slider) shots, flying, and getting into tight corners.

Ah, understood.  Busting out some Barry Lyndon level shooting, eh?

I've used it to salvage some RED footage with too much ISO.  You basically balance it out by applying as little of it as you can to do the job.  So it basically depends on how much grain and how hard you're pushing the image to start with.
 
I'd seriously consider trying to add light or getting a faster lens if shooting low light before relying on NeatVideo though.
 
And hey, I just picked up the GM1 and GX7 for some future shooting.  I'm in the same situation as you.  What to shoot to grab some proof of concept footage?  For me, I could go out and shoot some standard scenics, but I get more motivated when I'm building a story.
 
Good luck!

I like it.  Lots of fun.  And good old rock music!  That still exists, eh?
 
To be fair, that video could have been shot on just about anything, so the fact that it's on a BM is irrelevant to me...and according to the filmmaker, sort of irrelevant as well as he deliberately made the image worse than the source.  Regardless of that, it was pretty entertaining.
 
Speaking of cameras, I still have the same old hi8 Canon A1 that shows up in this vid.