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Hacked GH2 or Gopro for long recordings?
  • sgreszczsgreszcz

    I'm looking to cover an event this autumn and I'm looking to get a couple of unattended cameras to cover wide shots of a plaza to allow cutaways from my main camera shots. What would people recommend for this type of shooting? The GH2 or something like a GoPro, or something else?

    My main camera will be the LX100/GX7 or maybe a Olympus EM5-II for the IBIS when running around.

    Thank you!

  • 14 Replies sorted by
  • peternappeternap

    How long will the recordings be and how wide?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Anything but not GoPro type cameras.

    You can get many cheap used or refurbished cameras.

  • babypandababypanda

    aren't camcorders ideal to use unattended for long recordings?

  • sgreszczsgreszcz

    I'm not sure how wide yet. I have access to a few micro 4/3 lenses and I'm thinking of leaving the camera unattended on a couple of balconies that I would have access to, using something like a gorilla grip. Maybe something like the pancake 12-32 or the panasonic 14/2.5. I even have access to the Samyang 7.5/f3.5 fisheye, but there are no filters for this lens and I will be shooting in the bright Spanish sun.

    Thanks for the feedback, I think that the GH2 with a couple of batteries would be the best idea. They are fairly inexpensive now on Ebay.

    I wish someone could hack the LX100 (and/or G7) as I figure that they will end up being cheap in the future for this type of application. Enabling multi-region PAL/NTSC and long recording times would make these cameras as useful as the GH2.

  • sgreszczsgreszcz

    @babypanda. True, I forgot about these, however I haven't used a camcorder for ever, so I wouldn't know where to start.

  • cantsincantsin

    It all depends on your shooting scenario. If the balcony mounts still allow you to set up focus and exposure of the GH2s, you will be rewarded with a much better image. However, there are no easy remote control options for the GH2s.

    The advantage of using GoPros would be that you can simply clamp them somewhere in the room, control framing on your smartphone via the GoPro app, and remote-control (incl. start and stop, and remote viewfinder) all GoPro cameras in the room using a single instance of the app.

  • CFreakCFreak

    I have used the GH2 with Sanity 5.1, powered the GH2 with an external 12 volt battery thru a voltage reduced to 9.0 volts and the DCC-8 (I think that's the correct #) to power and recorded from the camera for hours (4 hours was my longest recording). There are old threads on powering the camera like this.

    This is always just for an additional camera, that if it stopped recording, it would not ruin my shoot. This set up does NOT provide you with a battery level readout in camera, and if the recording fails you have to use a Panasonic app like AVCCAM Card Recovery and have access to the original camera SD card, to resurrect the files (you have been warned!).

    I prefer to use in-camera batteries in my main camera, they provide an in camera battery display and should something go wrong, don't need a program to resurrect the files.

    I recently had a 6 month old, low cycle count, Wasabi GH4 battery suddenly shut the GH4 down after 20 minutes of recording, after displaying it was fully charged. Out of 2 Wasabi batteries, one has gone bad. I have had better luck with Watson GH4 batteries sold by B&H photo.

  • davjddavjd

    I use the Gh2 with the original panasonic current power adaptor for long recordings. Image quality is excellent. I'm currently using the flowmotion hack. The only problem is that sometimes the camera stops recording by itself, and once the last spanned file was empty. I don't know if it's for the memory card (sandisk extreme 45 MB/s) or if the hack gives problems. Which hack would you suggest for long recordings stability?

  • peternappeternap

    Looks like everyone got to you first. I use gopro's often but it isn't a good B camera. From what your saying it looks like a GH2 and Samyang 7.5 would work. I use this combination from time to time. The 7.5 is a great lense but it is wide. For long recordings I recommend Sanity X.

  • DrDaveDrDave

    If you want remote control you could get a GM1 body and operate it with your tablet, phone whatever.

  • TscheckoffTscheckoff

    @DrDave: GM1 is nice for shoulder rig shots (as you can control many options over the touchscreen even while shooting - like exposure, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and so on). But isn´t also the NTSC version limited to 30 minutes of recording time? So kind of a "no go" for his application.

    @sgreszcz : For long shots I would also take the GH2 (if you want versatility, good video quality and everything for a super cheap price). Longest recordings I made til now (with my main GH2) were around 8 hours and once 10 hours (for testing purposes of new hack settings). Always together with an DC coupler (with internal converter - Not the standard one) and external Sony NP-F970 batteries (7800mah 3rd party ones). Though: I also use voltage indicators inbetween (so I know, when it´s time to change the battery ^^).

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Another proposal - check for old Panasonic camcorders. Just not too old - like SD90 and up (check always middle models and up). If you look around they an be found cheaply.

  • DrDaveDrDave

    @Tscheckoff I have the NTSC version and have recorded 5 hour shows on it, although I bought it on eBay before it was available in the US. The vid quality is very good. I have a bunch of old m400s if anyone wants one, they have a pro cmos sensor but you have to do pulldown to get 24p.

  • TscheckoffTscheckoff

    @DrDave: Oh. Ok. Good to know. Always thought the GM1 is limited internationally to 30 minutes ^^. According the video quality: Yep. It is on par with the GX7 (which is at least on par with the GH3). Though: A little bit annoying with bigger lenses (or adapters / SpeedBoosters), as the body is just too small (the bajonett is starting at the bottom of the body). So you need sometimes a spacer to mount the body. But if you have one (through a 3rd party grip for example) - Then it´s not a problem any more ^^.

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev: Yes. The SD90 (aka SD99) is a good camera. A friend is still using it - And he´s quite happy with it. (Though the low light performance is not on par any more - With the more modern models. ^^) Oh. And it´s not THAT easy to find a used one in good condition (and they are still quite pricey on Ebay for example - At least most of the time ^^).

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