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Beginner with lots of questions and would appreciate your help
  • JustinBiberJustinBiber

    Hi everybody, I hope you're doing well. I have quite a lot of questions on my mind concerning the GH2 / the hacks / lenses / settings / Video Editing/ Converting /..., but basically on the hack, while still hoping you don't get mad at me because of this huge list of questions, but the main reason I'm asking for your thankful and appreciated help, is that I am curious about improving my skills to contribute the filming art. Despite my almost non existing knowledge here they are, my 0% beginner to amateur questions:

    1.LOW-LIGHT: Recently while filming, I had immense problems with lowlight. I know that the 3.5-5.6 lense doesn't get much light in it, so is this lense useless for lowlight/non-illuminated scenerys? Or are there some settings to improve it? I have put shutter speed now to 1/30, ISO 3200 (non-hacked maximum) , Lense to 3.5 (but sometimes it goes back to 5 or 5.5 and then I can't get it to a lower level, why??) , Aperture to lowest level, contrast-2, sharpness-2, saturation-1, noise reduction+2. But it's still far from perfect. Some Months before I had filmed a concert in AutoMode and it was horrible, I could see almost nothing in the video, lots of noise and flickering. Do you know how I could remove those things in Video-Editing or is it useless in trying to fix it.

    2.SETTINGS: What are you're settings for a)Low-Light b)Easy&Action (when you have to film without time to manually focus and changing light) and c) Professional Filming (when you have time to adjust to light/ manual focus etc.) b) I don't know or understand right which of the focus options to use (MF/AFC/AFS , head/fence/select)

    3.HACK Here are most my questions: a) Does/Could it ruin my Camera or make it's lifetime shorter? Do I loose my warrenty? b) I have the european version (PAL 25p/50p/50i). Is it identical to the US Version (NTSC 30p/60p/60i). Can I change it in the menu, for example for slow-motion shots where the 10extraUSfps could be useful ? c) The sensor output for FullHD is 50p/60p right? But the recording only 50i/60i. I there a hack to make full use of it? d) What are the advantages of the hack? e) Does the higher bitrate make higher quality videos? f) What's the optimum bitrate? g) Which hack should I use? h) Are there some hacks to get an 80s look i.e. Apocalypse Now/A-Team

    4.Video Editing a) Do you decompress the files or something else before putting it into the video editor b) which video editor is the best to use (peformance/workflow/easy/lots of possibilites) ? c) Will I get problems when editing those high-bitrate Videos? How to solve them? d) How do you edit multicam projects? In the multicam mode in Premiere Pro (which is laggy on my computer) or manually?

    Some help or advice to my dumb or not so informed questions would be super cool!! Have a great day guys!! :D

  • 7 Replies sorted by
  • JustinBiberJustinBiber

    Oh I forgot: 5. Photos What are the optimal settings for making good pictures wiht the GH2? I could make nice pictures when the sun was shining, but in lowlight they where all horrible. Wiht flash sometimes they where ok sometimes horrible(Noisy, Dark, not sharp, blurry)

  • inqb8trinqb8tr

    https://www.google.com/search?q=the+answer+to+life+the+universe+and+everything

    Try this link! :)

    In the meantime, read this http://www.personal-view.com/faqs/, and you'll reduce the number of your questions at least by half! Welcome, and happy learning!

  • JustinBiberJustinBiber

    Well, 10 hours of webresearching later, I have installed the Clusterv6 Drewnet. Although I couldn't find clear answer to all my questions, some where answered in the FAQs/youtube/vimeo/sites to a certain percentage.

    But going through my mind right now: what are the best hacks under 90M ? (And how do they differ from each other? Does it only affect the bitrate or also the color whatever?? Help!)

  • alcomposeralcomposer

    @JustineBiber there are a few things that the 'firmware' effect. The GH2 uses AVCHD to compress the video down to a level that is small enough for consumers to work with- (filling up a hard drive per hour isn't what most users think is great). Because of this AVCHD cuts corners. Both in image quality, mainly in colour and macro blocks (macroblocks are larger blocky artefacts that come up in youtube videos etc. This is just one issue with extreme compression).

    One of the most interesting ways that AVCHD compresses (yet also the hardest to understand) is in the time domain. It uses a GOP (group of pictures) structure to spread out I frames (I frames stands for Image Frame which is a frame of video that made of a 'full image') at different distances separated by either P or B Frames (P stands for Predictive frame and creates is content from predicting the movement of pixels from the frame in front, while B frames generate their pixel movements from the frame Before (hence the B)).

    What is interesting is that both P and B frames are not images at all - they are simply data frames that contain information as to where pixels should move. However do note that this is an oversimplification of the situation, and they are so much more complex than this, yet I hope that this paints a better picture as to what is going on.

    To wrap up- the hack can change completely the I, P and B frames, some settings only use I frames, which means that they exhibit rock solid timing. Other settings use very small amounts of B frames to improve data rate and to also take advantage of other areas of the AVCHD codec.

    There have also been many users experimenting, most notably Driftwood and LPowell with encoding matrixes. Matrixes are at a very core level of AVCHD and effects what data the AVCHD thinks is important to throw away.

    There are now Matrixes that mimic 4:2:2 colour space. Which is a fantastic achievement.

    Cheers, Alex

  • sherwoodsherwood

    JustinBiber, bro, what you're asking for is a quick, complete, easy-to-swallow-in-one-gulp course on how to shoot with a DSLR! Learning how to use a camera is not like a trip to McDonalds. The process is long and arduous. You've got to do some real research and LOTS of shooting. Go out and completely f*ck-up like everyone else. Then come back and ask specific questions -- preferably one at a time -- related to your own investigations.

  • JustinBiberJustinBiber

    @Alex A huge thanks for the elaborated, informative and interesting explanation. It helped me a lot. The I,P,B is awesome. I have thought as a child of just the same, as a method to reduce file size, while letting the quality remain similiar. I also read myself through the differences of Matrixes and it's just awesome. Wow! Thanks Bro!!

    @sherwood I just came from McDonalds :P Well I think the process can be speed up extremely, by the right teaching and knowledge. I know some professional and amateur photgraphers, who can't even do Image Editing or use their flash right (settings), despite having over twenty years of experience. Or let's just say their learning process was very slow. That's why I asked, to save me some inefficient years. But you're right, I need lots of shootings to get better or maybe someday good. Have a nice day!

  • sherwoodsherwood

    @JustineBiber

    "I know some professional and amateur photgraphers, who can't even do Image Editing or use their flash right (settings), despite having over twenty years of experience. Or let's just say their learning process was very slow. That's why I asked, to save me some inefficient years."

    LOL! Even on hugely expensive studio projects it will often be disheartening to discover that 90% of the fraking crew are lazy, know-nothing idiots. Another 5% will have insufferably swelled egos and pretend to know everything. And lastly, a few special folks will be great to work with and learn from... And actually get most of the heavy lifting done.

    Pro (so-called) or amateur, it doesn't matter. There are those who learn their craft well, and those convinced they have a better idea. There's no such thing as "inefficient years" when it comes to learning and gaining experience, IMHO. Why? Because learning never stops! Ask anyone whose work you respect, in any endeavor.

    Here's a tip: All those questions you asked are perfectly reasonable. And I assure you they've already been answered in detail elsewhere on this forum. There really are some very bright, generous people here who know their stuff and articulate their knowledge well. Dig around a bit and you'll find them.

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