Surf - eat - sleep - repeat ...and SHOOT!!!

A few days ago I booked a flight to San Joe/Costa Rica. I´m going there with my girlfriend and maybe some more friends. Our plans are to travel the south of CR for some days and heading then over to Panama. So Panama will be our main destination. Can´t wait to surf, hanging out there and working on my movie. Yeah right, I´m planning a movie about the trip. It should be more like a documentary which covers surfing, traveling, locals, culture and so on. So I´m in pre-production phase right now. Researching in all areas.
Actually I already planned a movie like this back in 2006 when I traveld CR and Nicaragua for the first time, but sadly my equipment got stolen on the third day. Nevertheless this trip was amazing! :) I´m more experienced now and I know that this won´t happen again...

Surfing Panama (Google search image)


So I pre-ordered myself a new gadget which seems like perfect for me and my travel plans. It´s a Panasonic GH1. Let´s hope I get one before leaving (on the 8th of July). The GH1 is a photocamera with interchangeable lenses which also records HD video with full manual exposure control. I avoid to say a "DSLR" here because it has the Micro 4/3 system in it with no mirror anymore.

GH1 (Google search images)






I don´t want to repeat press releases here so if you are interested in cameras google it or check these links:

Specs on panasonic.net
Good overview at letsgodigital.org
Review at nytimes.com (Too bad the writer did not fully get what lens adapters could do with it.)
Brief hands-on at dpreview.com
A tread about using manual lenses on the GH1 on flickr (maybe one of my favorite aspects of this camera) There is also a article about using MF lenses on the G1 which has the same mount as the GH1 on photo.net

Lot´s of great information at Philip Bloom´s Blog:

http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/04/12/panasonic-lumix-gh1/
http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/05/01/lumix-gh1-with-nikon-primes-and-low-light/
http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/05/12/panasonic-lumix-gh1-in-joshua-tree-and-pl-lenses/

Videos:

http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/05/02/kauai-sunset-lumix-gh1-slow-motion/
http://philipbloom.co.uk/films/35mm-films/joshua-tree-lumix-gh1/

I also love this video on vimeo in the GH1 group. It really shows that you don´t need a big & heavy camera (which often prevent you getting the shot) to produce great looking footage these days. If you have some knowledge on how cameras work I´m sure you can pull off amazing stuff with this little tool...