I just got my GH3 today, and of course the first thing I had to do was this test. I threw the GH1 in there out of curiosity since I had one lying around. It looks like the GH series hasn't had much progress in the highlights, but the shadow detail has gotten much better. The GH1 and GH2 were hacked while the GH3 was using the stock 50mbps IPB setting. I chose this over the Intra because of reports that it held up better due to a more efficient compression algorithm (I don't know though since I've only had the camera for a day).

I used the cameras' spot meters on the big square gray patch (which is supposedly 18% gray), but I think the GH1 was a little hotter than the other two cameras when correctly exposed. Base ISO was used on all three cameras to achieve maximum DR. In post, I raised or lowered each image by one stop increments with Colorista II to compensate for the increased or lowered exposure levels. Hope someone finds this as useful as I have!

As a new & and proud owner of a GH2, I've downloaded the latest (V1.1 25p) firmware and am investigating hacks.

A higher bitrate is obviously desirable - around 50Mbps will hit the spot, so I'm currently trying: "Driftwood Quantum X v5b and v5c 'β Pictoris' (baby Quantum X) VBR" (35 - 75Mbps variable)

The REAL question is about capturing more dynamic range and squeezing maximum latitude out of the GH2 to get results that resemble Cinestyle. I see evidence here...

... yet trying that hack, I see zero latitude difference.

Come to that, I've tried several hacks now, and they all look identical (apart from bitrate).

I'm trying to research this, but struggle to get real answers. What should one do to get Cinestyle results as above???

Thanks in advance...

Also, do I have to switch back to the factory settings before installing a new hack, or can I just bump up the new hack to a higher version number? Thanks in advance for all your help!