It's on it's way back even though they can't tell me what physical damage there was...only that there was physical damage.

@hedrox I agree and will use it with the white spot until it dies of old age. My second GH2 is still in the 90 day return window and is on it;s way back now. The issue isn't the LCD. I can live with no LCD on it. It's the warranty and scamming.

Doing a search, the same story shows up over and over, They just do not honor the warranty. If it had been something legitimate (Like it was hacked, which I removed) I couldn't say much...but it wasn't. They said there was physical damage and there is NOT.

An $800.00 GH2 is one thing but I was considering adding an AF100 which is a couple thousand more and I damn sure have no reason to think they will be any better with a warranty call on it.

And I agree about the overheating DSLR's,,,,but there are a lot of companies competing for business and whatever I get as a replacement, it won't be a Panny.

I have good experience with Canon under warranty but once its expired, it's hefty to swallow a $350 charge.

I got the "even if you drop it and break it, we'll either fix it or replace it" warranty from Samy's when I bought mine.

But I'm also lucky, I live in LA, and the Panasonic service center is literally 2 miles from my house, and I have a long history with them, so I've never had a problem. I guess it's harder to give you shit when they have to deal with you face to face.

$350 is almost the amount I paid for a new Gh2 body.

BTW white spot on LCD? Did you attach LCD protective screen film? You'd need it on any camera nowadays.

@peternap

FWIW, the AF100 is part of Panasonic's broadcast division - the GH2 comes from the consumer division - completely different organizations, with completely different chain of commands. I personally have had no experience with the broadcast division, but everything I've heard about their service and support has been positive.

Buy your own insurance. For all your gear. When something 'breaks' its cheaper to replace via the insurance.

I also support No Panasonics movement, as this guys still unable to make camera with proper color.

Even Samsung can make one:

Good story - from the mouth of the ani-mule. One day there was a crabby panaflex camera on super fancy pants movie set. When they shot close ups it was too loud to capture laocation sound. Big stars, intimate scenes, as always...Camera over the db range! Crikey! The grinder manufacturator said it will be okay at that close of range. These cameras were grampas, eh, old units, rebuilt time and again mechanically. The belts, gears and gizzards that come out of film cameras - you want to use as wedding bands - they're works of art! Well the dop, as cool as ice on dry ice made a decision when the a cam came back from panavision and still the location sound was unusable, because of that noise. (what noise would that be?) sewing machine?

So - he casually minced over to the dolly, pushed in the producer release lock button tipped the camera back against his chest as we would with a heavy baby. He motioned to the first to remove the glass, strided a few more steps to the nearest concrete structure then HEAVED the camera against it. Boomski!

THis DOP is the producer's best friend. cameraman always have the biggest balls on the set, even when they are wimmins.

"Do any of you hear that noise any more?", he asked. "No", the stars and crew said. Just Panny. The other Panny. This works. Go for it man. Be a man! There's more concrete there than here - I would bet my life on it.

BTW - there's a restaurant called the "White Spot", Jeeze. What a bad name! Nobaody wants spots on there food or their screens.

Pink cameras save loves! Don't knock them.

@bheath Just as long as my wife doesn't see it. It matches her Glock and she'll want one,

@bheath I ain't touching that one!

Well, I backed up on the cameras. I can't find anything to replace the GH2 I returned that comes close to the Hacked GH2 specs....but I'm not gonna pay for a new camera if I'm not going to get a warranty.

So I bought a USED GH2 today. I guess Panasonic will send my other one back next week.

The AF-100 is still bothering me. I did find some old threads here (Search is not good) that pushed me away from getting it. There are some advantages like uncompressed HDMI, but at 5 times the price of a GH2, it just doesn't seem worth it.

If the GH2's HDMI wasn't crippled I'd be in hog heaven.

A USED GH2 and a black magic hyperdeck shuttle 2 would make life complete if it would work, but it won't even work on my XA1O.

A secondhand AF100 is next on my buy list, I'm so invested in Pany lenses it's a cheap upgrade for a more Pro look. I have a soft spot for Pany Pro Division, I dunked my HMC150 in seawater 2 years ago, Pany replaced ALL the circuit board parts free, I only paid for labour and still honored the 3 year warrantee.