I see a lot of documentary shooters/ interviewers and such particularly raving about the Cluster series, which is great, don't get me wrong, but in terms of filmic look (and 24p), is it still better to stay with Sedna, Quantum and Mysteron? Just interested to hear what peeps have to say.

@MisterBink Sedna AQ1 was going to be my first choice until Cluster V6. If you were shooting a no compromise production, well at least as far as the GH2 is concerned, until something else comes along, then from my somewhat limited experience I feel Sedna AQ1 would rate near the top of the list.

However for me, Cluster V6 with it's 'short GOP like' quality at reduced bit-rates/file sizes, was a compelling alternative for doco work which I decided to go with the night before the shoot.

I have two Sandisk 64g 95mb cards and also took a Netbook and 1TB external drive to make sure I was well covered for data storage. In the end I filled just over half of a single 64g card. (stop/start shooting).

As I'm a one-man-band and don't have a data wrangler (who does on no/low budget shoots?) anything that reduces my workload on a shoot can't be ignored. When I return for the next session I will probably just hit 'record' and let it run until the card is full as the subject became somewhat stilted when he knew it was a 'take'. So I figure the 'forget-all-about-the-camera-natural-friendly-chat approach' will be much better but use up a lot more storage therefore the reduced bitrate of Cluster is even more desirable.

If you ask me, Cluster V6 is good for narrative to (in 24H modus). Not only docu

Driftwood Cluster v6 or Cake 2.3? The first gives me 45 minutes on 32GB card the latter 1 hour. I am going to India for a month so I want to have bang for the buck = most minutes with best quality image. My normal patch is Sedna AQ1 but I don't want to run out of memory space and I also do not want camera playback issues so I can review and delete footage from my cards on the go! Might bring a 2,5" harddisk to copy some footage over during hotel stops (if they have computer with USB). Prefer SS though for safety and reliability!

First time on here :) Been doing some testing in low light situations with Cluster V6. I've liked it a lot, been playing around with MJPEG mode also.

Hello everyone,

Just installed Cluster V.6 "Nebular"

I have a very simple question. I downloaded this patch because I would like to shoot using HBR mode (NTSC 29.97) and shoot highly detailed images (ex. wide shots in wooded areas) without having the god awful compression artifacts (micro blocking) destroying the image beyond use. I've installed several hacks and all of them seem to perform the same including this Cluster V.6 Nebular hack. I realize that there is going to be a certain amount of micro blocking in a highly detailed image, but the footage I took is usable. So my question is, are my expectations just too high for a 4:2:0 camera? Or is there a patch out there that handles high detail much better in HBR mode than other hacks? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Ben

@bencorwin Its getting the right matrix and weight sorted... we'll be working extremely hard to achieve the best HBR we can in version 7. But its pretty darn good on mid to tight shots. For the time being I'm back on Intra working on some new settings with Chris Brandin.

My CLUSTER v6 'Nebular' test:

This is with color correction. 14-140mm lumix lens 24H -2-1-2-2

@ShoMo I've enjoyed playing with these clusters of GOPs. Both the v6's are excellent - 12/15 'DREWnet' gives you a bit more room on the card, 6 GOP variation (Nebular) takes it 25% more bitrate further with qualative improvements - and will eat your sdcards a tad more - but not much more - 10Mbps more on average :-)

The new Canis Majoris Intra settings though at 24p just kill anything out there... COMING SOON!

Although I've got a number of projects in production, below is the first actual TV broadcast credit I can offer for a hacked GH2 -- filmed weeks back with Cluster V4...

This was a challenging project on a range of levels. The subject matter can be difficult for audiences, the lighting at the facility was a disaster, and space was cramped.

On the positive side -- they knew exactly what they wanted -- a general "name ID" piece -- and that's exactly what it is.

It won't win any awards for beauty -- but it is, perhaps, the essence of a hacked GH2 "guerilla" production. Equipment used was a hacked GH2, one thirty-two year old Nikkor lens, and a tripod. Graphics done in After Effects, audio added in Premiere Pro. That's it. And, the good news is that it's not the worst thing on American television.

I haven't worked with local cable systems in about four years -- and was shocked to discover that dinosaur Comcast -- who was the same from 1988 up until about four years ago -- actually accepts FTP of HD content. Wow -- no beta tapes involved!

The ad was produced in 720/60p. In theory -- in theory -- 720p looks better on 1080i sets than 1080i looks on 720p sets.

So -- there's the first broadcast credit I can present from a hacked GH2. The ad isn't beautiful -- but it is for a good cause. In about two weeks I'll be producing another spot for another charity -- this one should offer happy looking volunteers with cute animals -- so yeah -- I'll try to win a beauty contest with that production.

@driftwood

Thanks!

First broadcast credit for a hacked GH2 -- not my first broadcast credit. A decade ago I was an on-air guy (weekly business program that I hosted and then later became the producer), and after that I produced all sorts of crappy political TV ads.

5.1 Has been my favorite so far.