Tagged with gh2 - Personal View Talks

gh2 Low Light Shots

bostonmike — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:45:22 +0000

Testing out my gh2 with Terraquake hack around the house in low light. Settings---- Smooth, -2, -2, -2, -2. 24H Motion Picture Mode, ISO 160, 14-140mm kit lens. Sony Vegas Home Studio HD 11. No color correction, just a few contrast adjustments. Had a nice soundtrack to it, but somehow still can't seem to upload sound on Vimeo yet.

GH2 hacked frame rates

taikwanjo — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:11:58 +0000

I have a couple questions I haven't been able to find definitive answers to. Hopefully someone here knows!

Are there any hacks out there for the GH2 that include the ability to shoot 1080p at 60 fps?
Do any/all GH2 hacks include 1080p at 30fps? Could you point me to a higher bitrate hack that does include 30p? I notice a lot of the hacks say they allow 24p, but it's very important to me to be able to shoot 30p.

I appreciate any answers/info/insight/advice you can give!

Indie Filmmaking Lenses

bostonmike — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:18:18 +0000

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to lenses. I purchased the GH2 with the intent of filming a few screenplays I've written over the years, or at least short films in order to promote them. I have no use in the camera for still photography except in capturing stills to eventually promote the videos. I purchased the camera with the 14-140mm kit lens. I really didn't think I would use this kit lens much for filmmaking, since I really hate the zoom look in films. I prefer to move the camera itself, but at $1100 I couldn't beat the price of the 14-140mm pkg.

So between looking at a film called Musgo, which was filmed entirely on GH2 with Tokina (I can't afford) and Nikon 28mm and 50mm lenses, I decided I would purchase a couple. I like the look of the film. I found a Nikkor 50mm 1.4 AIS on Ebay for $158 and a Nikon 28mm f2.8 AIS for $135...I have only $300 to spend, so I thought this might be a good set. I haven't purchased them yet. I saw cheaper non-AIS lenses, but not sure if that matters.

On the other hand, I recently saw a video I liked that had a Vivitar 28-90mm f2.8 lens and a Konica Hexanon 40mm f1.8 lens that I liked. I found them for $139 and $70 on Ebay....and another fixed lens Vivitar 28mm AIS f2.8 for $80.

Much of where I will be shooting is right here in the city, lots of shaded streets, under bridges, subway, in vehicles, as well as indoor and bright outdoor settings, etc..so I want lenses that can cover a wide variety of light situations. I love the look of rich contrast and I didn't think the Canon 50mm samples showed much of that. I don't want to be spending money on a focal length that I already have covered with the 14-140 unless it gives me a lot more options as far as light goes.

I would love some input from people who have more experience with any of these lenses. I'm trying to make the most out of my limited $$$. Thanks a lot!

-Mike

14-140mm vs 14-50mm

naken — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:29:10 +0000

Hey people.. Just ready to get the Gh2, really amazing camera from what i have seen ... Just wanted to know if you guys believe the 14-140 is worth the buy especially for video use, i've heard its quite slow indoors.. or should i get something like the panaleica 14-50. It has AF and OIS. Is OIS a must for video recording, especially if you have some moving around?

Thx alot! :)

Interlacing artifacts in new 25p mode

fatpig — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 07:37:13 +0000

Hi guys,

I had a shoot of a band yesterday, and i wanted to share this picture with you.
It does seem to have some interlacing artifacts at the top of the guitar.
what do you think?

GH2 Color Banding Bashing

Maxwell77 — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 09:52:54 +0000

Hi everyone,
I had always problems with color banding with my GH2. For this reason I tried the hack. I am very disappointed that the color banding problem is still alive. I cannot use my GH2 for professional work. No way...The color banding in blue clear skies is awful. The hack was my last chance to keep this camera... The higher bitrate do not change this behaviour. Perhaps it is not possible to solve this issue. Probably the 8 Bit is the problem. Did anyone found a solution?
Best regards, Maxwell

Panasonic GH2 - possible to stop all in-camera Noise Reduction?

Lyris — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:03:20 +0000

Hello all, Many thanks for your amazing work in unlocking the Panasonic GH2's full potential.

Viewing the hacked footage, the only complaint I have left is that the camera appears to perform some sort of spatial filtering (presumably for NR purposes) in dark areas. The noise in the midtones and brighter areas is fine and high-frequency, and almost film-grain like. However, shadow noise appears to be spatially filtered, with fine details missing. This occurs even with all the NR settings disabled on the camera, and is problematic for doing further NR in post production, especially when underexposed footage needs to be brightened.

Is this something you're aware of? Can it be disabled to give us a "warts and all" image from the camera?

Example (gamma raised to show issue): http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1715/gh2noise.jpg

GH2 Guide Book. Deal or no deal?

GOODEMPIRE — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:01:10 +0000

http://www.callboxlive.com/products/panasonic-gh2-guidebook
What would you guys say?

GH2 HACK (WHERE AND HOW)

gh2flyer — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:02:18 +0000

Have donated to this site and read it extensively.

And am extensively frustrated that I don't see where and how to install the latest firmware "hack" for my GH2. Can ANYONE send me a link and a way they successfully downloaded a "hack" that is relatively trouble free with good results? Thank you in advance. -Panties in a Bunch

Merlin vs other stabilizing options with GH2

A_Boy_Named_Soo — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:15:25 +0000

Every once in a while I'll come across a stray Steadicam Merlin for sale on craigslist between $400-$600 range. I'm tempted, but not entirely convinced of the Merlin's compatibility with GH2? Anyone have experience with this combination? For that kind of money, should I be looking more at rig setups? I'm a mobile shooter, but once in a while I'll use a tracking dolly for pretty shots. I'm not entirely convinced on the sniper/cowboy line of rigs either. Thoughts and open discussion on this topic?

GH2 fw 1.0E vs 1.0F

deepcoat — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:48:03 +0000

Hi to all. I have bought recently new GH2 from EU. Today I have decided to update of my GH2 of modified 1.0E fw instead of a factory installed fw 1.0F (version F is visible in service a mode). As a result I have received a surprise, at observance of all requirements for updating at presence in a root folder of a card of a file of the modified 1.0E fw file, its GH2 simply doesn't see it. At pressing play button the camera simply offers viewing of contents of a card. At placing in a root folder both versions, modified 1.0E fw file and new official 1.1 the camera also sees nothing. And only at presence in a root folder of official version 1.1 my GH2 suggests it to be update. How I understand, without hacking 1.0F or 1.1 way to the expanded functions for new bodies GH2 is closed? Excuse me for my English :) Thanx!

The Icarus Youth - Falling

driftwood — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:31:53 +0000

One of our fav' bands here in Brighton, shot on 3 GH2s, one 5D, and an EX3.

GH2 Maximum Variation Experiment

cbrandin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:10:46 +0000

Attached is a variation of my 66M patch taking a completely different approach.

So far most patches have attempted (deliberately, or not) to achieve a fairly high constant bitrate. In other words - bitrate has been king. This patch takes an entirely different approach. In this patch measured quality is king, and bitrate use and buffering is allowed to vary.

The basic architecture of a VBR H.246 codec is to set up boundaries for min/max bitrate and QP settings. As a frame is encoded a range of QP (quality) values are attempted for each macroblock. The searching stops under one of two circumstances - either the macroblock reaches a quality level within the number of bits allocated for it, or the quality is degraded until the allocated bits are not exceeded. The problem with this is that the codec isn't perfect, so it may degrade the image somewhat before the frame is finished as all this is estimated, and few higher QP values are attempted.

This patch allows many more QP settings to be attempted for each I frame. Thus if a desired quality level is reached with a higher QP value it will be used and bandwidth is made available for later macroblocks that may need it more. The best way I can put it is that this patch does more to use actual measured quality rather than theoretical quality.

I've done some testing - but I would like additional input. Unfortunately, spanning is still an issue. This is pretty experimental at this point, so don't rely on this patch yet.

Chris

AG-AF100 vs. GH2 final round

Brian202020 — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:41:54 +0000

I hear on this forum, and in others, people constantly saying one is better than the other. I personally own both and am willing to do a test. It might be a week or two before I'll have time to do it, but I will do it, preferably with advice from people on this forum and others.

I ask, is there any links you can post of people that already have done a test with these two camera's? I'd like to see what others have done before I do mine.

I want to test only image quality. That seems to be what people are always bickering about. We all know the benefits of SDI, price, ND, smaller size, and which camera has each benefit. It's the image in question.

All tests will be done with the same lenses. I think 5 different camera configurations are needed to do the test correctly. Here are the 5 I'm thinking.
1. AF100, 24p, with Abel's "RANGE" settings, AVCHD.
2. AF100, 24p, with Abel's "RANGE" settings, ProRes via external recorder.
3. GH2, 24p, best high latitude settings, stock.
4. GH2, 24p, best high latitude settings, highest quality yet reliable long GOP hack.
5. GH2, 24p, best high latitude settings, highest quality yet reliable I-frame only hack.

What are the preferred high latitude settings for the GH2? As for what hack settings to use, I'm open for suggestions as well. I'm leaning toward cbrandins 66mbps AQ2 and Driftwoods latest 176mbps version.

GH2 Hack: Error with SD Card after Battery Changing

ColdStuff — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:13:36 +0000

I am working with with GH2 hack 3.63.

As I am filming long sequences (theatre plays, 2 hours and more) I get out of battery sometimes while filming.

So then the following error occurs.

After changing the battery the GH2 can´t write anymore in AVCHD to the SD Card. Error: "AVCHD files: maximal amount reached" Actually I only had 6 to 10 mts files.

I then have to change to another SD Card or continue to film in motion jpeg on the same card.

Error occured with bandwith 44000 bytes and with an 64 GByte Oltramax class 10 card.

GH2 Strange trails/ghosting

yrb — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:41:43 +0000

HI all,

Scary development: I've hacked my GH2 about two weeks ago, shot a bunch of stuff and was very happy with the results. Then yesterday out of nowhere I get really pronounced trails, or ghosting in my LCD, sort of like shooting on a slow shutter speed, but different in a way that's difficult to explain. But I can assure you I am not shooting slow shutter, I've done the test at many different shutter speeds. It's also strange that the effect is less pronounced in the viewfinder and even less so in the recorded image, although there is a jagged motion in recorded image. It doesn't look smooth or fluid.

This is of course very worrying so I went back to the official Panasonic firmware, and the problem persisted, so I reset the cam to all default factory setting, refreshed the pixels, cleaned the sensor, and still the problem persits! I would really appreciate help in diagnosing this problem, as I have really no idea what is causing or what to do! Has anyone heard or seen anything like this?

Thanks for any thoughts or advice, yb

Dynamic range test between GH2 and 7D

danyyyel — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:01:55 +0000

This is a test I have been thinking of doing for a certain time. I have not seen one test of the gh2 video DR and it has always intrigued me. If you see some of my post, you will see that I give a lot of importance to DR, because in my mind the hacked gh2 is already very very good in terms of sharpness and detail, the low light is also quite good and the missing element was DR.

Now comes the Philip Bloom shootout and at first sight, it seemed that the gh2 was not as good as the cameras bar the AF-100. But looking closely at the 1080p embedded images seemed not as bad/far from at least the other DSLR. For copyright reason I did not want to show the example I toyed with and it was not good files (highly compressed jpeg) and had so many variables that I did not know, that the result would be inconclusive (it is not his fault he was doing a skin tone test).

So it revived my interest and as I had the time now I tried to conduct the test between a 7d that I bought for video (I a Nikon pro photographer) and the hacked gh2. At least the 7d has been tested and about 11 stop in the Zacuto shootout. So yesterday night I shot these test in a… controlled environment. Unfortunately I am no zacuto with backlit charts etc. But I think it is a good scene, with some highlight, middle tone and shadows. The light on directed at the wall is for the roll off and the dark part is for the detail into the shadows.

The 7d is in focus :-) I have check with a photo, just for everybody to be clear. I have used a Marvel cine profile and the Technicolor for the 7D. I have a Quantum 2 hacked gh2 and a mts file capture, a 5dtorgb 1.8 gama dxnhd 175 capture and a prores HQ from the beta 5dtorgb one. They were all shot at 1/50 sec shutter (I have done a set from 1/30 to 1/200 but have used this one for now) and ISO 160. The field of view is a little different (tried to match them) and use the same lens.

As a disclaimer, this test is for sharing it is in by no way to answer or compare to the Philip Bloom one. I do it because it is important for me to know what I am using; I like to know the good and the bad of the tools that I use, the same principle that I used for my photo camera Knowing the limit will help me cope in the different situation I will have to shoot. For sure anybody can like or dislike these tests but for me it is important, once you get the answers you can move to the next production level.

Has anyone removed or exchanged the cork on Ginirig´s camera mount?

JackBayer — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:54:57 +0000

Hi,

I was shooting a concert yesterday on my Ginirig. When I wanted to take some pictures I grabbed my GH2 with my right hand of course and shot the stills. When I continued filming I realized that the follow focus wasn´t touching the lens gear anymore because by just holding the cam on its grip it twisted a little bit on the cork. I have grip tape on the GH2´s bottom and it is tightened to the base plate as humanly possible.

So now I´m thinking of removing that cork and I am wondering if anyone has any experience to share on that matter.

Thanks!

Panansonic IR interview - talks about GH2 hacker community

spirit — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:05:15 +0000

Thought some of you might find this interesting - first time I've really heard what Panasonic thinks about the GH2 hacker community - seems quite positive!

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2012/01/15/panasonic-learning-from-the-fringe-taking-small-steps

Modified, fast C-mount lenses for GH1/GH2 etc.

ed_lee83 — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:50:27 +0000

ALL SOLD... thanks

ST: HDMI Team

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:28:09 +0000

I am looking for people who'll test some HDMI patches.

Most of the patches will be risky.

You must have monitor or capture device that is able to correctly report input standard type (progressive/interlaced) and resolution.

Help! I can't hack my 2nd GH2

Aksel — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:11:27 +0000

I hacked my 1st GH2 few weeks ago; and we I decided to hack the 2nd it didn't work. I copied the GH2__V11.bin file into my SDcard, and when I turn on the camera and press the play button nothing happens besides the message the there are no files. did anyone had the same problem? and if YES how did you solve it? by the way the battery is genuine and fully charged.

First short, shot in 25p with leica 25mm 1.4 Poor Sleep Quality

klem007 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:51:17 +0000

I did two years of animation but called it quits and started film this year. This is my first short i made, ever. Bought myself the gh2 and loving it ever since :) Anxiously waiting for the pal-land hack =)

All shot between 1.4 and 2.2

enjoy!

GH2 Hacked 150mbits music video!!!!!

madmax — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:24:33 +0000

I tried to put this whole hack thingy to the real test so shot a music video using the GH2 hack 150mbits. Let me know what you think...

GH2 - ISO's to use and avoid

onionbrain — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:23:30 +0000

I was looking for a list of "native" ISO's for the GH2 and found a year old discussion on DVX user in which some guy ran tests and reached conclusions, then another guy ran tests and reached different conclusions, then the first guy ran more tests and agreed on some points with the second guy's conclusions, then the discussion veered off the road and started talking about the GH13 and something else, etc.

I'm looking for a list of ISO's to use and/or avoid from someone qualified and experienced. Can any of the GH2 pros in this forum help, or point me to a place with credible conclusions?

My thanks and best regards to all of you!

Hack help - can no longer adjust f -stop

xtra00 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:58:29 +0000

I am a complete newbie to the hack world, as can probably be gleamed from my question. However, I have attempted to hack my GH2 and though I had just about managed it but then when I went to adjust lens, (Panasonic 20mm) I could not longer adjust f-stop.

Am I missing something really simple? or forgotten something?

Thanks in advance

Settings Vault Summary chart beta

Farinheight — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:49:34 +0000

Hey guys, per discussions that were going on in the GH2 Hack thread on DVX here's a very rough draft of the chart I was talking about to help keep all the info organized. When developers are ready to release a new or beta patch they can download the latest version of the "Patch Vault Summary" excel file, populate the applicable cells, then send to the person who'll update the master (apply the developers changes), then upload the new version to the thread superseding the previous version. The new patch can be uploaded after the summary has been updated, or before.

As stated this is a very rough draft and I'm expecting revisions will be needed in the columns regarding nomenclature, additional pertinent info, etc. I encourage the developers and of course Vitaliy to chime in and request for any additional columns/rows as they see fit or even reformatting for viewer legibility.

Once the final version has been approved by Vitaliy and developers, the thread containing the excel summary should be locked from public comments. If changes are needed, inquiries can be sent to the moderator of the thread.

Good Deals: GF2 + kit lens $330

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:41:38 +0000

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Four-Thirds-Interchangeable-3-0-Inch-Touch-Screen/dp/B004A8ZQJS/

Hacked GH2 24p patch - Does Live Hdmi Out Monitoring work?

Toronto — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:02:14 +0000

Hi, I have a hacked GH1 and like it because of the blackout-powel native 24p hack that allows the native 24p where I don't have to do any fiddling with pulldown bla bla stuff at all. Problem with GH1 is that I can't have HDMI live out monitoring, so it is almost impossible for me to keep eyes in focus with a manual lens since I can't make out details well enough on the lcd screen alone. I can setup the focus sharp using the focus assist zoom at first, but if someone moves a tiny bit after recording starts then the shot is basically no good to use. I am hoping the GH2 can help me with this but I have a question about it.

Q: If I get a GH2, and hack it with the GH2 version of the blackout-powell native 24p patch, can I hook up my hdmi computer monitor to it and be able to monitor the output live with that 24p patch installed (at 1080p)? I want the live HDMI out so that I can easily see when the focus goes out and be able to keep adjusting the manual lens as I look at the hdmi computer monitor while recording. My question is I don't know if after I hack the GH2 into 24p native if it will have a live HDMI monitoring feed that is useable direct into an hdmi computer monitor or not. I read that the output from the GH2 only works in 1080i mode, so from that I was thinking if I hack it and put on the 24p native patch the hdmi out may then not work, and that I may be forced to keep it in 1080i mode only if I want to get a live HDMI feed that works into a computer monitor while recording.

I hope everyone can advise me on this if you have tried what I am talking about and know what the results are. Since I don't yet have a GH2 I can't test this and don't want to buy one unless I know I can do this because I don't want to ever again work with anything except native 24p footage, and I don't ever want to work with any new camera that can't do that and give me a live 1080 output that I can use as a focus aid while recording, since the lcd is not sufficient to visually see well enough to focus at a professional level of exactness.

The live hdmi 1080 will probably work as i or p, as long as it is true 1080 out, since I am not recording the live output to a recorder, I just need it for a visual focus aid to magnify the image into a big computer monitor so I can get better focus whenever someone moves a bit out of focus.

Thanks very much.

SOLD Lomo Oct-18 Primes (18, 28, 35, 50, 135) plus Ciecio7 Adapter

qwerty123 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:14:51 +0000

ALL LENSES & ADAPTER HAVE BEEN SOLD.