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Reliability and Recording Times (GH2)
  • 50 Replies sorted by
  • @devinpickering

    The "No adverse affects settings" were created specifically for what you are trying to do. They are settings that are tested in every situation imaginable with all types of lenses. These settings are completely stable. I would recommend using the 720p @ 60 FPS low setting if you are going to be recording for many minutes.

    I know that you said you are not interested in slow motion. However, 60p will give it much more fluid motion than 24p will. If you really need 1080p then the 1080p @ 30 FPS settings would be a better choice than 1080p @ 24 FPS.

    I shoot tons of live action sporting events. Most of the climbing competitions my son climbs in are 1 climb and then your done. You don't get a second chance if the camera fails. That is why I created these settings. You can just shoot and forget about worrying. The quality will be just fine as well.

    Here is the video explaining them and the link to the settings file. Just make sure you are using the latest version of Ptool and that you don't have extra settings already stored for this profile.

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/953/gh2-settings-vault-most-popular-settings-in-one-place/p1&#Item_5

  • I guess a lot of us learn this the hard way (including me): test the hell out of your patched cam before using it on critical jobs...

  • I thought I did!

    but I guess it's hard to test it on biplanes, especially because I don't have access to one. Talk about pushing this camera to its limits! I will def. post some updates tomorrow when I test it running Cake and the Stock firmware on a Cessna at high and low altitudes, I'll try to get some footage posted too.

  • Personally, I had several issues with corrupted footage with Cake... shooting a cooking piece. Flowmotion 2.02 has been solid for me though Id recommend that.

  • thanks @No_Surrender - It's difficult to know anything for sure - lots of people seem to have different opinions on patches from what I have been reading - I think I might be better off to try the stock firmware and eliminate that variable - that way I'll know if it's just the flight/plane that is messing this up.

  • Yeah- Well I also think the stock settings aren't terrible if the end product is minimal color correction and just going on to web anyways...-IMO-

  • @devinpickering

    Even the stock firmware will fail in the right conditions with the wrong card.

  • @mpgxsvcd

    True - I'm going to try out my 16gb Extreme card tomorrow and a few others... I'm also looking into g force specs for the GH2 and mirrorless cameras, could also just be a total failure on the hardware of some type when under stress - I know it wasn't designed to do what I want it to, but because the footage looks so good I'm going to try it anyway.

  • update:

    Just tried to crash it with flowmotion 2.02, same "corrupted" 32gb 95mb/s sd card, ISO 12800, all manual 24pH shutter at 2, iris to f5, aimed at cars passing, moving water, twirling the camera around, and other intense motion. Just recorded for 52mins straight. This is leading me to believe that something physical might be happening to the camera in the air... kind of an "ur durr" moment, even though I know that people have used GH2s in helicopters for aerials before - but I'll really find out what's happening tomorrow when I'm in the air.

  • Sounds like there has been some UFO involved. ;)

    Just one idea: Why not borrow/rent an action cam for the next flight and place it right next to the GH2? Just as backup.

  • @Meierhans

    Really funny you should say that - I just bought 3 of the new Sony HDR-110 action cams, 120fps in 720p and 16mp sensor.... might be just a little better than a GoPro, but at least I'll get the shot!

  • @devinpickering "Just tried to crash it with flowmotion 2.02, same "corrupted" 32gb 95mb/s sd card, ISO 12800, all manual 24pH shutter at 2" I think a faster shutter speed is a better stress test...

    Have you formated your card with SD Formater or other soft to assure defragmentation of your SD card. (not sure it's good for 95mb/s card) JB

  • no I haven't, I'll do that now though - I was trying to find the best software for that. Thanks @herbycamer

  • With flowmotion 2.02 use 24L or use 64Gb 95mb/s. IMO SD Formater or other soft to assure defragmentation of your SD card is useless. Format card with camera

    32gb 95mb/s is known bad. (The SanDisk Extreme Pro 32 GB 95 MB/sec SHDC card is faster than the Extreme HD Video cards, but not as fast as the 64 GB 95 MB/s SDXC card.)

  • @Alex_K - Thanks - that's the third or fourth time I've heard that, so I'm going to return my 32GB and order the 64GB version today, hopefully that should help, plus 24L is still much better than stock.

  • Alex, please don't copy my words and take them out of context.

    The SanDisk Extreme Pro 32 GB 95 MB/s card is a darn good card, and probably the fastest card to not suffer from the file number limited exceeded issue. The only situation on the GH2 in which the extra speed of the 64 GB card helps is spanning with some high bit rate settings.

  • Well guys, I just mounted the GH2 onto the strut of a Cessna, under high winds (a tad bumpy up there to say the least!!) - I wanted to see if it would crash again. I formatted the 32GB SD card using SD Formatter. I ran Flowmotion 2.02 - 24pH, Cinema profile, All manual. I used a remote trigger attached to the hotshoe, with my Marshall 5.6" LCD monitor plugged in so I could tell if it was recording, and check exposure, then I taped down my focus and hoped for the best.

    Except for a little jello-cam here and there, It worked flawlessly. I used the 14mm pancake for this because I was happy with how it looked the last time it went up in the air, but I'm going to rent the 12-35 f2.8 with power O.I.S. which I'm thinking should help in that area for next time.

    I'm working on the edit tonight, I should have something to post by tomorrow. Hopefully this will hold up this weekend - it would be amazing if it did. Thanks for all of your help so far everyone.

    CessnaBWJPEGsmall.jpg
    2000 x 1433 - 2M
    Cessna BW CU JPEG.jpg
    640 x 640 - 176K
  • @devinpickering

    Cool stuff. Although something looked really weird about it. It pulsed a lot and it looked out of focus in the background. Was this manual focus or AF. Try AF if it was MF. Try MF if it was AF.

    Also I really disagree with using 24 FPS here. The motion was way too fast for 24p.

    Honestly, try 720p @ 60 FPS, with AFC in shutter priority mode, 1/120th or 1/250th shutter speed(Depending on light), and with Auto ISO. Just use the stock bit rates or one of the settings that are completely stable for 720p.

  • It looks amazing! I actually like how 24p looks in this situation. Very cinematic, has some slowmo feel to it. There is some pulsing weirdness though, clearly visible somewhere around 45 seconds. Maybe some wind gusts/turbulence and slow shutter combo ??

  • Certain settings Ive tried have failed death charts. Thats all Im gonna say.

  • Then you've said nothing useful.

  • @mpgxsvcd

    I know it's pretty difficult to judge the quality from the compressed 720p vimeo file, but I hear you about the pulsing, it's actually jello, we were experiencing 20+ mph winds in a little cessna, which for one was very difficult to maintain a straight flight path, and also ( I believe) had some negative effects on the CMOS sensor (rolling shutter from camera vibrations). I'm hoping the tad wider 12-35 f2.8 w/power O.I.S. will help in that area, and I'm also planning on creating a rubber pad between the RAM mount and the camera body which should help reduce vibrations even further. Remember though, I (stupidly) used a lens without any image stabilization (lumix 14mm pancake)...

    I absolutely hate 30p and how it looks, but mainly, 24p is what my film is being shot in and I would like to keep it that way if I can. Ideally..I would also not like to experience the lower resolution of 720p, as the film is being shot in 1080p. Shutter was set to 1/125th of a second - I didn't want to set it much higher as I wanted to maintain cinematic motion, but I think next time I might bump it up a bit.

    But anyways (in my long winded response), I think that the O.I.S. from the new lens, the wider f.o.v., the rubber pad, and a better day wind wise, would work better. Well see next week! Saying that - it might be a good idea to make a run in 720p, conformed to 24p for slow motion. I know it will look great, I just wanted to record in full 1920x1080.

    Any other suggestions would be very welcome - you guys have been really helpful, thanks so much for all of your advice!

  • @driftwood

    • which settings? 24p? thanks for your interest in my thread