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STABLE HACKS FOR DOCUMENTARY SHOOTER WHO HAS JUST BOUGHT A GH2
  • coconattycoconatty

    Hi there everyone, i have been a fan of the GH2 Hacked ever since i have heard about it. I am a doco shooter and would like to try out a hacked GH2 on a couple of long form pieces i have coming up. But, because I dont know much (anything) about which particular patch is the best in terms of rock solid recording and excellent image quality, I am chasing my own tail.

    Can anyone out there point to very high quality, very stable hacks/patches (30min record times are minimum) that would function well in a variety of conditions, bright light, ocean, lots of vegetation, etc etc... I am aware that cards make a great difference as well and have purchased a couple of 32gb SanDisk Extreme pro SDHC/SDXC UHS-I Memory Cards so it wont be an issue.

    Any help, is much appreciated

  • 19 Replies sorted by
  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    This might be a better question for the Beginner thread, but since I can relate to having been there, I'll mention a few.

    The older Firmware 1.0 patches have spent more time in the field while the Firmware 1.1 ones are often higher quality (but have often had less time being tested in the field). What mode you plan on shooting in (24/25/30/50/60 FPS) and whether or not you plan on using the EX tele-converter mode all affect reliability as well.

    The only patches I've had a chance to do extensive filming in a documentary context with are:

    • Firmware 1.0: Ralph B's Sanity v 3.1 (very stable for 50P and 60P modes) or Driftwood's SpanMyB.... v1 (stable GOP1 at relatively low bitrates).

    For my next such shoot, I might try Quantum X SpanMyB... V2 or Quantum X Cluster.

    Many have said good things about bkmcwd's patches so I would look carefully at those as well.

  • mrbillmrbill

    What's your frame rate?

  • coconattycoconatty

    Frame rates are 25p/50i. Will be shooting mostly wides so depth of field is quite deep. I did one project with canon dslrs but will not be going down that route again. The cameras (7D and a 550D) are not too good in the tropical heat - constant overheating, and especially the 550D, bitrate overwhelms the camera.

    Anyway wll begin looking at your reccommendations and thanks again for the quick responses.

  • coconattycoconatty

    And no telephoto crop mode or very rarely.

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    Start here and work your way to other settings if the need arises.

  • bostonmikebostonmike

    I shoot in 24fps 1080p and I'm happy enough with my Terraquake hack that I've had no desire to seek out any other hacks at the moment...glitch free, playback works fine (at least in 24p, don't use much else). Awesome low light performance. My only concern at the moment is the horrible jello effect when panning with the gh2, its the only area where my Canon HV40 had the gh2 beat.

  • coconattycoconatty

    Thanks Guys,mpgxsvcd especially, i am playing around with the No adverse affects settings. will let you know how it goes.

  • dtrdtr

    I've been through the same process in the last few weeks. Tried different hacks, lost a critical recording due to write error, tested some more. Right now I'm having good results with Cake2.1 in both PAL and NTSC formats, HBR/720p/24 modes. Haven't been able to make it crash also, with tele and high ISOs. I use a Sandisk Extreme 64GB 45MB/s. UHS-1 though sadly the GH2 can't benefit from that. I did get a Lexar UHS-1 enabled reader which makes copying recordings to PC a breeze...

  • mrbillmrbill

    I've been filming a doc with flowmotion and am very happy with results. You do need the 64gb sandisk cards for spanning though.

  • coconattycoconatty

    Hey guys

    Thanks for all the help, i think i am finding my feet, have tried a few options, i like the drift wood quantum x v2, mpgxsvcd's hacks as well. Just blown away by the quality. but i have to say something about the elephant in the room - jello!!!! holy cow!!!! other then that, absolutely bloody awesome!!!!! Just one more question in terms of intra frame / inter frame hacks, is there really a noticeable difference in quality?

  • spiel77spiel77

    check out this one: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2730/future-megacities-the-ignis-project-documentary#Item_8 i've done it with orion v4b. used 64gb 45mb/s sandisks, but it didn't span always. shot in 25fps HBR 1080.. and i'am not so sure, if the gh2 does better in hot conditions. i had some crashes of mine at 35°C in africa. couldn't specify the reason, but back in germany, none crash happend.

  • mrtttmrttt

    Spiel, to span is it required to have SDXC?

  • spiel77spiel77

    i think this question was discussed a lot of times here.. for patches with a high bitrate you need sdxc with exFAT. best choice is the sandisk 64gb 90mb/s.

  • balazerbalazer

    SDXC has nothing to do with spanning. The GH2 doesn't use exFAT with SDXC cards.

  • spiel77spiel77

    just wanted to make clear, that he needs faster ones for spanning and these are marked with exFAT, or am i wrong?

  • balazerbalazer

    SDXC cards come preformated with the exFAT filesystem, but to use such a card in your GH2, it gets reformated in FAT32. The SanDisk Extreme Pro 64-GB SDXC 95 MB/s card happens to be the fastest card for spanning in the GH2, but not because it's SDXC and not because of exFAT. It's just a fast card.

  • spiel77spiel77

    thanks for clarifying

  • mrtttmrttt

    Interesting.. thanks. I'm hoping I'll be able to span 1080p 24p sedna or mysteron in top quality

  • coconattycoconatty

    ONE THING TO SAY, THIS LITTLE CAMERA ROCKS, aside from the whip cam jello, its amazing. And as far as hacks go> CAKE ROCKS!!!!! excellent low light, beautiful noise, solid! As much as i like the super high quality Hacks, i think that a piece of cake will do for now. Now, just gotta rig up a cage for the little beast of a camera! will be back in a couple weeks with some shots from the middle of the pacific. thanks guys for the help!!!!!!

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