On the other hand, i figure the settings authors know a lot more about what they are doing than i do, so i just load them in as is. I've tried creating my own settings before, and ensuring reliability was a LOT of work - so much so that I never got any reliable settings that made much positive difference in image quality compared to stock. Especially since most of the work has progressed beyond basic bitrate based things and into other realms of h.264 that are beyond me, I'm happy to just load in Sanity and be done with it, and then get out and shoot video.

On another topic, As a warning to other users: I ran into a problem recently (probably not Sanity's fault) with one set of bright, detailed clips shot with Sanity 5 in 24H 80% ExTele mode where FCPX would hang part-way through when it tried to import some of them. Those that it did successfully import had visual errors (ie blocky regions that failed to update to the new image when there was significant motion) when played in both FCPX and Quicktime Player.

I ended up successfully importing them by re-wrapping the .MTS files to quicktime movies by opening them in quicktime 7 with the Panasonic AVCAM importer quicktime component installed and then saving that as a quicktime movie for each .MTS file. This method seems to always work for re-wrapping, and unlike ffmpeg-based soloutions, plays properly in FCPX. Would have been a tedious job, except that i dug up an applescript i wrote a while back to automate that process :)

So warning - FCPX sometimes can mess up importing footage from Sanity settings - always check your footage if using FCPX to import. Have to test more to see what caused it this time, as usually FCPX imports stuff shot with sanity just fine.

Regarding modifying patches, I would add, what's hidden from the end user is the endless hours of testing that goes into these things. Testing not only for image quality, but also for stability. And in Sanity's case, doing all this for all shootings modes - 24P, HBR, 1080i, 720P, ETC, NTSC & PAL - arg! My head spins just thinking about it.

Ralph and gang, I'm a documentarian and have replaced my trusty Sony Z1 with the GH2. I've had it about a month, and have been moving through the learning curve slowly. I've come to Sanity 5 for the stability, overall versatility, and compact file sizes.

I've been building my kit and started making tests this past weekend. I thought I'd share the results and hope to learn more through your comments.

I'm also new to Adobe Premiere, having done my previous work with FCP7. I'm experimenting with Premiere also, so I have many questions, but I'll save all of them but one:

• For my Sanity 5 MTS files in this example I've imported native files directly to Premiere for editing. I then tried 5-10 export settings and was disappointed in the quality in most. This example used the Vimeo HD 1080p 23.975 setting.

• What export settings to other Sanity 5 users recommend for files?

Sanity 5 Test - GH2 - 1080p, 50 Shutter, ISO160 from James Waldron Design on Vimeo.

@larrystick I am new to premier too, wondering what is "5-10 setting"? I used Sanity and has no problems what so ever. The GH2 just record as long as I want with SD class 10 card ( any brand would do it ;-) ). When is time for exporting media, either for dvd or blu ray, you tube.. I haven't seen any problems.

im hearing sanity 5 more then any releace is it the best patch i know the drewnetwork v6 came out and i know drew from youtube so i dont know if i should try sanaity or what really

ok i hear you peternap enough said im using sanity everyone seems to like it

omg i install sanity on my gh2 and the onboard mic started working hasnt worked for sometime now

@FilmingArt

One way to find out is the ISO's above 3200 in the camera menu won't be grayed out when you're in movie mode.

Dude, this is not a Sanity issue - it's the way the GH2 records 25P/30P - it slips the progressive picture into an interlace stream to make playback compatible with TV's. But, fear not, it is a true progressive picture.

@Shawnthefilmguy

In After Effects, you can right click on a clip in the Project window and choose Interpret Footage. Here you can tell AE to interpret the footage as progressive, not fields (interlace).

Took my Sanity 5 on a road test last week. My wife runs Ironman triathlons, so I thought I'd spend the day shooting while I waited the 6 hours or so for her to finish.

I'm using Sanity 5 here, and 24L. 1/50th shutter. For quick framing versatility I used the Lumix 14-140, but sadly did not have an ND filter to fit. At least some of the early shots got to take advantage of a shorter depth of field. The afternoon images had too much light to knock the aperture down, so I think it looks more like a video camera, less like a cinematic cam.

Im filming a short and using Sanity 5. I have two SanDisk class 10 of 16GB @30MB/s, erroneously I ordered a SanDisk class 10 of 16GB @45MB/s just received now, this card is poor realiable or not?