A used GH1 seems not a bad option for you.

GF1 may be not so good option if your sister wants a camera viewfinder and a touch screen. You could consider a hackable G2 for this purpose. Please note that not all G2 is hackable. The latest batch of hackable G2 has a third and fourth digit serial number 0J - produced on October 2010.

The G2 is might also not suitable if your sister wants a camera which able to record full HD. In this case, you might want a GF2 for your sister. However, your sister may be wanted a camera which have full HD and a viewfinder. Well, it makes you end up pondering more money for a hacked GH2.

You then jealous because abilities of your sister GH2 compared to your GH1 which is not able to give clean HDMI out during video taking and unstable in 24p mode. You end up dump your GH1 for another GH2.

You then see a video in Vimeo confirming how clean a video that is coming from GH4 so you dump up your GH2. One day you find yourself in hardly low light condition which make even your new GH4 struggle. You read a review and you know now that Sony A7S is the king of low light video.

You dump your GH4 and then buy a Sony A7S, but then suddenly you are asking yourself if you need all these upgrade rather than stay with your humble GH1/GH2 that you previously had.

@matt_gh2 I live in Poland, where GH2 is out of my budget. Importing it from US will kill me with taxes and shipping payment. Poland is weird country, where not all used electronic product are equally available. For example, in the lower, 180$ budget I can buy currently used GF1, new GF3 (but no GF2) and used G3. For 280$ budget I can afford used GH1, used Canon 550D/T2i (but i already decided on M43 format, as it's more suitable for video), GX1 or G5.

@yskunto You pretty much summed up chaos of my mind with this case. But you're not exactly helping :D. The compact factor is important for my sister, as he is 12 years old and bigger camera will more likely end up dropped down and destroyed, even by mistake. I heard that making stills without viewfinder is doable and not so frustrating at all.

GF3 has great FullHD IQ with video, but no manual controls. GF1 has only some experimental fullHD upscale thingy hack, but with manual control of iso (the rest even with auto could be blocked and aperture or focus could be adjusted on manual rings of FD lenses). So, If we will use prime FD lenses only, is there really need for manual video mode for my sister? Sacrifcing newer body (GF3) for manual video controls (GF1) is really necessary? + I don't know anything about G2 IQ and hacked functions in comparsion with GF series.

Even my choice is not for sure, as I really want some versatile body for about 1-2 years of learning to shoot artistic videos with prime lenses, play with bokeh and other stuff. And also shooting video reviews of tech products, as that's my job currently (Now I'm shooting those with crappy Toshiba Camileo). I would like to achieve cinematic look with taken footage (ofc with CC in Premiere) and have good results in low-light situations.

@yskunto thanks for pointing out lack of hotshoe in GF3, in fact it is important :)

So for sis it's between manual video 720p GF1 and auto GF2 1080p. Is it really that important to have manual iso control or maybe GF2 CPU is kinda intelligent at that matter? Because as I said the rest will be manually controlled on FD lens druing video shoots.

My case is solved. GH1 from Poland or GH2 if i find those used for 250 euro price tag with shipping included in Europe. Thanks! :)

@yskunto Ok, all problems solved. The final choice is up to my sister :). Thank you very much for your help! :D

I still use my old hacked GH1 for quick projects, and I think that the price/quality ratio of this little 5 years-old cam is very high. I've screened a pair of shorts films last year on the big screen and I was really impressed with the results. However, the low light issue is no doubt a problem. If you are shooting in low light or in interior with no available light, I highly recommend to use fast lenses or to get a gh2...however fast lenses costs more than the cam itself, it is a beginner's dilemma. If you want to buy a gh1, let me recommend you to get a cheap RJ speedbooster: paired with 28mm and 35mm you will have two usable focal length 35eq, a 50 eq and your gh1 will appreciate the extra speed, indeed.

You and your sister can start from a single GF2. For the best reliability, I recommend Cake 2.3 hack setting and modified it a bit by adding audio setting from Pasadena Pulse audio hack setting. Cake 2.3 will save your money from the need to buy the expensive Sandisk Extreme card. If you plan to buy a GH1, then please remember that 32GB is the maximum capacity that a GH1 could handle reliably.

@Aria very interesting combo the tamron + RJ speed booster! can you post some result? :)

As for now I'm close to having 60$ GF2 body deal, so I will get GF2 for sis and experiment with RJ lens turbo and some fast prime lenses. There will be more budget for me soon, so probably I will end up with GH2 because of hdmi features and ETC.

Which Lens Turbo should I acquire? I would like to have ability to attach both FD and M42 lenses, so is there possibility to attach M42 to FD adapter on M43 to M42 RJ lens turbo?

GF2 Arrived and I've already collected set of 3 lenses: -Sigma UC Zoom 70-210mm 1:4-5.6 (FD) -Sigma UC Zoom 28-70mm 1:3.5-4.5 (FD) -Helios 58mm f/2 (m42)

With set of adapters it all work flawlessly. Stills have awesome IQ, Video also but I'm struggling with SD card speed (30mbps is too slow for Cluster v6)

Thanks for all advices! :)

As for me I'm struggling with GH1 vs GH2 vs G3 cameras. With my budget, which is now 400$ I could afford only GH2 Body (Ebay about 340$ second hand from Japan + 30$ shipping) or GH1 Body (200$ with shipping) and still have about 200$ for lenses, tripod and stuff.

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/5796/-gh1-vs-gh2-vs-gh3-vs-gh4.-better-looking-sensor

^This thread made me thinking about what i would like to achieve with my cam, and maybe GH2 is better in terms of low-light ISO and bitrate with hacks and patches but in fact, GH1 footage is kinda more "cinematic".

Also, I'm constantly increasing my income, so maybe the better idea is to buy GH1, play with it for about year or less and buy GH2 - then i will have two cams for events and weddings.

Only thing the GH1 is lacking and it's important for me - ETC mode. I really would like to use C-mount lenses like 4mm or 8mm Focal Length to achieve some wide shots with lots of light. Is there some kind of physical teleconverter to overcome GH1 limitations? Like reversed Speedbooster :P.

I'm leaning towards GH1 but I'm looking for cheap way to go wide. Is there any? C-mount is one option, but as @brudney said it's very risky because of crappy quality of lenses. 12mm (effective 24mm on m43 sensor) with f/2 would be enough.

@brudney OMG 250$ for this little 14 f2.5 sucker :P I know, it's small amount of $$$ in relation to top notch lenses, but is there cheaper way? :D maybe sth more than 14mm but cheaper :P

K, understood. What about 1" c mount lenses which covers almost full m43 sensor? It's hard to find one, but they are cheaper and have dreamy look that i would like to achieve in some of my projects :). Are there any recomendations?