Panasonic GH1 Modes & Menus

Panasonic DMC-GH1 Modes and Menus

Capture Modes: When powered on, the Panasonic GH1 defaults to Record mode. The Exposure Mode dial on top of the camera sets the main shooting mode, with the following options:

• Intelligent Auto: This mode places the camera entirely in control of the exposure, though the user can adjust the exposure compensation and determine the flash mode.
•  Program AE (with Shift): This mode places the camera in control of both aperture and shutter speed, while the user has access to all other menu functions. Once the camera's exposure system has been activated by half-pressing the shutter button, the user can shift the aperture value and shutter time by rotating the front dial. (The overall exposure remains the same, but you can ask the camera to use a larger or smaller aperture or faster/slower shutter speed.)
•  Aperture Priority: Lets the user control the aperture setting while the camera selects the best shutter speed. (The aperture range varies with the lens in use.)
•  Shutter Priority: The opposite of Aperture Priority, allows the user to set the shutter speed, from 1/4,000 to 60 seconds, while the camera selects the most appropriate aperture setting.
•  Manual: Provides complete user control over the exposure, including both aperture and shutter speed settings. A Bulb shutter setting also becomes available in this mode, allowing variable length exposures for as long as you hold down the shutter button, to a maximum exposure time of four minutes.
• Creative Motion Picture: You can set the exposure mode to Program AE, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual from the Motion Picture Menu and shoot video using those modes, including the use of exposure compensation. The shutter speed range is 1/30s to 1/4000s, and the available aperture depends on the lens (f4(W)/ f5.8 (T)to f22 with the 14-140mm kit lens). You can also set autofocus mode to AF-S or AF-C.
• Custom: Up to three sets of shooting modes and settings can be stored, and are accessed quickly in this mode. Settings for each of the three custom modes can be made via the Cust. Set Mem. option on the first screen of the GH1's Custom Menus.
• Scene Mode: Adjusts camera settings (color rendering, flash mode, etc.) to optimize for different subject types: Sunset, Party, Babies (including keeping track of birthdays for two different children, so the Panasonic software can display the child's age along with the photo), and Pets.
• Night Portrait: Allows slower shutter speeds to be used with flash. Balances the foreground subject illuminated by flash with the ambient light of the background. Sub-options include Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Illuminations (outdoor lighting at night), and Creative Night Scenery, which allows changes in the aperture value for special effects.
• Macro: This mode is for close-up pictures of small objects, enhancing color in flowers, etc. Sub-options include Flower, Food, Object and Creative. Creative lets you adjust the aperture, so you can select a larger aperture, to help blur background objects. (Note that, unlike digicams, the Panasonic GH1's macro mode doesn't affect the minimum focusing distance, which is solely a function of the lens being used with it.)
• Sports: Adjusts ISO and controls shutter speed to freeze fast-moving subjects. Sub-options include Normal Sports (intelligent ISO control & high shutter speeds), Outdoor Sports (the same, but lower ISOs for shooting in good lighting), Indoor Sports (favors higher ISO speeds for indoor lighting), and Creative Sports (allows direct control of shutter speed).
• Scenery: Optimizes settings to produce sharp, colorful landscapes. Sub-options include Normal, Nature, Architecture and Creative, the latter allowing control of the shutter speed. (Perhaps for deliberately blurring motion of waterfalls, fountains, etc.)
• Portrait: Optimizes camera settings to reproduce warm, soft skin tones against a slightly blurred background. Sub-options include Normal Portrait (large aperture and soft skin tones), Soft Skin (introducing additional color-based blurring of skin areas by the camera's processor), Outdoor Portrait (compensates for backlighting), Indoor Portrait (intelligent ISO control to prevent blurring) and Creative Portrait (allows direct control of aperture setting).
• My Color Mode: Lets you adjust color, brightness, or saturation of the image on-screen. (That is, the preview image shown on the LCD will reflect the color adjustments you've selected.) Here, the "Color" adjustment shifts the overall hue of the image from yellow at one extreme to blue at the other.

Movie Record Button: Pressing this dedicated movie record button will start and stop movie recording. Movies will be recorded using whatever mode is currently selected. This button can be enabled or disabled in some modes via a Custom Settings Menu setting. (Confusingly, some modes (such as iA) provide only a limited options on the Custom Settings menu, and the Movie button will retain whatever setting it had when it was last set - But you can't change that setting in the current mode. So users might find themselves in iA mode unable to trigger a movie when they want to, and also unable to find the option on the Custom Settings menu that would let them do so.)

Playback Mode: The Playback button on the rear panel accesses Playback mode, where you can review captured images. The left and right arrow keys, as well as the up and down keys, scroll through the images on the card. You can enlarge captured images or display them in an index format for quick viewing.

Panasonic GH1 Menus

Pressing the Menu button provides access to the camera's full menu system. The following options are available in most camera modes as menu tabs down the left side of the display. (Full auto mode greatly reduces the available options, to simplify camera operation.)  

Options in blue are new or changed for the Panasonic GH1, versus the previous G1 model.

Panasonic GH1 Record Menu:

Panasonic GH1 Motion Picture Menu:

Panasonic GH1 Custom Menu:

Panasonic GH1 Setup Menu:

Panasonic GH1 My Menu:

The Panasonic DMC-GH1's My Menu shows the five most recently-used menu options, handy for accessing frequently-used controls quickly. Unlike some My Menu features, you can't explicitly assign controls to this menu, rather, the most-recently used ones appear here automatically.

Panasonic GH1 Playback Menu: