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Lowlight and continiuos recording hack for the GH2?
  • olli66olli66

    Guys, I know...lots of talk about GH2 hacks and propably the same questions again and again so I am sorry for asking this question but I do not have the time to try out several firmware hacks and put a lot of time into research. I am thinking of buying a GH2 that will go with two GH3s in a multicam concert shoot. GH3s set to 1080p/50 when shooting. Final project rendered to 1080p/50 and 1080i/30 and sometimes 1080i/25 as well. All done in Vegas. Looking for the best possible hack which offers good low light performance and reliabilty (I am thinking of putting the GH2 on a tripod with no camera operator so I cannot risk the recording to stop at a point due the high bitrates and write errors - I will use high quality SD cards!!). A recommendation on which resolution/framerate I should shoot with the GH3 would be nice, too! ;-) Thanks guys.

  • 8 Replies sorted by
  • vicharrisvicharris

    Think you're looking for the golden ticket there man. There's no hack for "low light". Can't change that. You can get higher bit rates to deal with noise better for post but that's it. And then if you want the high bit rate hacks. I wouldn't suggest walking away from the camera. You never know if it might turn off. I'd just get another GH3. Better for editing, as the cameras look different and handle colors different and just all around more reliable. Shoot maybe even a G6 but I haven't been keeping up on that guy.

  • dtrdtr

    I've done exactly that to record my own live shows. Push record and walk away. Recordings often go on for over 30 mins, spanning multiple files. I use Flowmotion 2.02 hack in 24L mode. Sandisk Extreme 64GB 45MB/s class 10 UHS-1 card. I'm now looking into other hacks because Flowmotion is victim to the 'digital rain' bug in Premiere CS6.

    But...

    I do not have the time to try out several firmware hacks and put a lot of time into research.

    Then hacking is not for you. Want to be sure your recording doesn't freeze? Then you better do hours of testing before your important gig.

  • olli66olli66

    thanks guys...ok, no "lowlight" hack but since I am tight on budget and already buy a second GH3 and cannot afford a third one I have to use my HC-X929, Gopro3 and I want one more and budget would allow a used GH2...

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @dtr That statement seems like a bit of a contradiction. If what you're doing isn't working because there's a problem with the footage, then it doesn't work, right?

  • CRFilmsCRFilms

    Stock GH2 720p resolution is as good as a Canon 7D at 1080p. So if you want pure reliability, and decent quality, stock is fine. Personally I wouldn't go higher than around 50mbs for 1080p in order to insure spanning and to try and get as much run time on the card as possible.

  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    For matching look of gh2 to gh3 maybe try the "GH3onaGH2" hack setting. Also search this site because I think some guys worked out the best camera settings to ensure images match between the 2 cameras. For reliability also check hack settings by @bkmcwd as he focuses on reliability, but whatever hack setting you go with, testing is crucial.

  • dtrdtr

    @vicharris: It has worked fine for like 2 years, while I was using Premiere CS5.1. Just recently switched to CS6 and only made 1 recording since. Though the problem is not in the hack or recording, it's a Premiere bug.

  • peternappeternap

    @olli66 Kinda hard to recommend anything since you said you don't have time to try them. Sanity is not bad in low light and the new Sanity X has been showing me some improvement over the older versions. It's certainly stable with a good card.

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