Tagged with gh2 - Personal View Talks

DIY: Battery for long shots

chrimsbroome — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:01:57 +0000

Something I made for myself because I got sick of Panasonic rolling out the pathetic 1700mha that cannot handle high dis-charge rates.

The battery was originally for a high performace radio controlled car so it can handle high dis-charge rates. I used it only little but I have also added a LED so I can tell when its running low, which I think is a nice little touch when you are out shooting some cerleberties running away.

GH2 v1.1 new firmware with 25p discussion topic

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:27:07 +0000

Since release all discussion is moving here.

Download link:

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/dl/gh2.html

Info:

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/support/en/dsc/fts/win/GH2_eng.pdf

Here is a video demonstrating the V1.1 firmware features:

P.S. Of course all patches will be ported to this firmware with time :-)

GH2 Centre Of Lens To Base Dimensions

jakef — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:59:15 +0000

Does anyone know if there is a standardised distance between the centre of the sensor/lens and camera base between the Panasonic GH2 and other DSLR's such as Nikon D800, 5D, 60D and other MFT cameras, to allow a baseplate to be more universal to achieve the industry 85mm rod distance. I measured the GH2 to be 35mm. What are the others?

Need help with patches in PAL land

Albi — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:48:09 +0000

Hello, first I'd like to introduce myself and thank everyone who makes this place run, its amazing the amount of knowledge and resources here introduce myself. I'm Albi and have recently bought a GH2 and a bunch of lenses. I have been working as a camera assistant for other camera men who have budgets. I have been a long time waiting for a camera system that I could afford and that shoots nice images so I can begin shooting my own work and getting it out there. After having read and watched so much about these great patches I ditched my cannon stills gear and invested in the GH2.

I'm looking for advice on which patches to use. I would like to be shooting 1080 25p Pal. I'm looking for a patch which is reliable for long takes, documentaries. A patch which is good for motion and doesn't give the strobing effect when panning or moving the camera around, I will be shooting on a shoulder mount a lot. I'd also like to be able to project the final production. Am I looking for too much out of this tiny camera?

I also need advice on settings. Because I want PAL 1080 25p does this confine me to shooting in HBR mode only? I see a lot of work has been done in the cinema 24p setting but I need 25fps and therefore this is useless for me, advice appreciated.

I have tried many of the patches and so far find Flow Motion V2 to be the most stable in my limited experience. Some of the other patches freeze the camera when I'm in HBR mode or don't span, I'm probably missing a setting.

Finally this is what I'm using:

GH2 Nokton 25mm Zeiss 28, 45, 50, 180mm Takumar 135mm 1x Scandisk 30mb/s 16gi 1x Scandisk 95mb/s 64gig 3X Transcend Class 10 16gb

I'm really looking forward to hearing any advice, especially from people who shoot in PAL land. Thanks guys.

Albi

GH2 hacked vs original side to side comparison

lolo — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:32:16 +0000

Hello, i´m starting this thread so that we can see some side to side comparisons between the hacked gh2 and the unhacked gh2.

This first test was made to see if there where any banding improvement, and are stills taken from video.

patch:
mpgxsvcd
AVC-HD High settings. 42 mb/sec 1080p AQ = 4 and 34
mb/sec 720p AQ = 2. Gop default. No other AVC-HD
changes.

settings:
-iso:320
-mode: vibrant
-shutter: 25
-wb: 3400k

with a Canon FD 50mm 1.4,
shooted at f2 with a macro conversion ring
(i shooted in macro because thats the only time when i can see any banding issue, at least in the lcd of the gh2)

to get the unhacked firmware, pass the panasonic original firmware through the ptools, selecting no patches, and save it with a higher last number, so that the camera will update the firmware once it gets loaded on the sd card (it doesn´t work directly to the sd card)
please, those that will post other comparisons, please remember to type all the settings as i did above.

Which GH2 hack/patch suitable for Avisynth path?

crunchy — Mon, 28 May 2012 17:04:09 +0000

In about a week I'll take a video of one show. Each year I am doing it and each year I am facing some problems. Last year I had broken Chroma Upsampling problems with Sony Vegas and Edius with GH1 footage, this year I'll probably face lower colour resolution problems with GH2.

Namely, I thought that GH2 native progressive files (24H or 24L) will solve all the problems with Broken Chroma upsampling which I experienced with GH1 "interlaced wrapped" progressive files. Now the situation is slightly improved. However, as I am really picky about the quality of my footage, I noticed that colour resolution of the clips, when imported into Sony Vegas and then exported by using loseless codec, is not retained. The colour (spatial) resolution becomes lower.

However, by importing the following Avisynth script

DirectShowSource("name_of_the_file.MTS")

ConvertToRGB

into VirtualDub and exporting by using the same codec, the colour resolution becomes much better. You can see 400% enlarged crop below (the first with Sony and the second with Avisynth-VirtualDub). Please, click on the first two pictures (left & central) to see enlarged view.

So, I still can't use direct way of editing my footage (direct import into Vegas) if the quality should remain on the highest level. So, the first step is to convert the footage, by using Avisynth-VirtualDub, into some codec (e.g. loseless or Morgan) which preserves entire colour information.

However, such workflow is possible with camera factory firmware/settings, but not if I use, for example, Sanity 5 patch/settings. When exporting Sanity 5 footage with Avisynth-VirtualDub workflow, I always get exported file which is more or less garbage (see the third picture) - the picture becomes worse and worse by time.

I know that majority of GH2 owners are probably satisfied with results on the left picture (note again that it's 400% enlarged detail). Unfortunately, I am not. :-(

Is there any other way to get high-quality footage from other lower-bitrate patch (I liked Sanity 5 due to a relatively low bitrate) by using Avisynth-VirtualDub workflow?

Documentary shot with GH2 won International Documentary Challenge

GOODEMPIRE — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:43:40 +0000

Great news today and I'm really excited to spread the word. Our team (20 Coop) has just been picked as one of the 12 finalists for this prestigious festival. I don't want to jinx us by sharing it before the final decision is made by the judges, but I really see it as a recognition of the amazing filmmaking capabilities this camera is providing since it was hacked by Mr. VK. Kudos to the team and personal-view.com forum. I learned here a lot.

http://docchallenge.org/News/2012-finalists-announced.html

GH2 grain

rigs — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:44:29 +0000

There is allot of great progress being done to improve the performance and quality of the recording for the GH2, with many thanks to Vitality and everyone involved in the ongoing testing. I have tried several of the improved hacks and much like the GH1 have noticed significant gains that may convince me to add our current GH2 to future broadcast productions. I only have one concern with the GH2 running along side our GH1’s and that is the low ISO (160 – 400) grain that the GH2 produces. In several well lit interior and exterior tests along side our GH1’s, the GH2 has a definitely more pronounced harsh type of grain. This was noticed before on 2 separate GH2 cameras we had purchased back in Dec 2010 and February of this year. We returned them both as they didn’t stack up to the quality of our GH1’s at the time and they both produced a harsher grain then our GH1’s. We have since purchased another GH2 (in April) with hopes of an upcoming hack but even with the improve quality we still find it to have the same harsh grain as the other 2 GH2's.

Do any of you other GH2 users have the same problem or concerns with grain as us, or are we experiencing a bad lot. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated as we are thinking about purchasing another GH2 in the next week but are a little hesitant, for fear of getting the same results as the ones before.

Thanks

Patches will not work on hacked GH2?

Ira — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:34:04 +0000

I hacked my GH2 a while ago up to 48mbps, & have been trying to use different patches but they haven't been working. Do I need to restore it to the factory settings in order to hack it again with a new patch? Is there an easier way to apply a patch to an already hacked GH2??

Panasonic GH2 Footage via Sedna AQ1 C & Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95

IvanUskokovic — Thu, 24 May 2012 22:02:39 +0000

Thank you all for your input on my late test footage. With your help I was able to make some notable adjustments and get much better footage on my actual shoot date this past Sunday in comparison to my test shoot. I will continue to post some screen shots and footage as the editing process progresses as long as there is interest in the topic.

-Ivan

Music Video I shot with GH2 & Sedna Q20

Americus — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:38:15 +0000

Thanks to @driftwood and the folks of this site for giving me the tools and info to make this. Your patches make my state of Kentucky look awesome! This is my first post on the site, but I love peeping it everyday. Enjoy!

Foundry nuke 6.3

TrackZillas — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:27:53 +0000

Does anybody know how to import GH2 footage into Nuke 6.3? or how to set-up a template for GH2 footage.. Can't find no beginner tutorials online showing the import process.

GH2 Newbie, need some help understanding and choosing hacks

nosignal — Sun, 27 May 2012 15:45:47 +0000

Hi everyone, I recently bought a Lumix GH2. I've been doing a lot of reading, trying to understand and wrap my head around all these different hacks available for the gh2 firmware. I have 2 32GB SDHC memory card extreme class 10 cards for my gh2. I'm looking for a patch/hack/setting that will improve my video quality while remaining stable. I've read about the driftwood hacks, and flowmotion. It seems like most of the hacks I've read about focus pretty heavily on bitrate. Are there any other advantages to the hacks?

I realize this is a pretty basic question, but I have yet to really get my questions answered by reading.

thanks for any help

panasonic gh2 > which hack for longtime-recording AND 1080 25p PAL ? NO high bit-rate needed..

tommaso — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:24:33 +0000

i just bought a used gh2. i'm a total noob to hacking. i like to know if it is possible to hack the gh2 the way it does long-time-recording and 1080 25p the same time. i am in pal-country. anyone can point me in a direction? thanks.

100Mbps Flow Motion v1.11 Failsafe Patch with HBR 25p & 50p modes

LPowell — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:26:51 +0000

This patch has been upgraded and superseded by Flow Motion v2

For more info, see the following link:

http://www.personal-view.com./talks/discussion/3337/gh2-flow-motion-v2-100mbps-fast-action-performance-reliability-for-all-class-10-sd-cards/p1

GH2 100Mbps Flow Motion v1.11 Failsafe Patch with HBR 25p & 50p modes

Released below is a minor revision to Flow Motion v1.11, tuned and tested for failsafe operation in all PAL video modes, including ETC zoom mode. In addition, it also supports failsafe operation in all NTSC modes except for ETC mode in HBR 30p and FSH 60i. As an alternative to using ETC in HBR 30p mode, I recommend using ETC with either 80% Slo-mo 24H mode, or MJPEG HD mode, both of which produce high quality results at 1080p30. To download the Flow Motion v1.11 Patch INI file, select the last attachment at the bottom of this post.

In short, this is the 100Mbps GH2 version of my Reliable In-Camera Playback Patch.

Congratulations once again to @Vitaliy Kiselev for cracking Panasonic's recent firmware v1.1 update for the GH2! PTool v3.64 now provides support not only for the new HBR 1080p25 and 1080p30 video modes, but for custom Quantizer Scaling Tables as well. Custom tables enable patch developers to tailor the compression properties and image quality of each of the AVCHD 1080p, 1080i, and 720p video resolutions. In addition, @cbrandin's invaluable Stream Parser and Scaling Table development tools have made it possible to quickly take advantage of these new PTool features, providing an unprecedented level of control over the GH2's video recording functions. Combined with the capabilities of Panasonic's v1.1 firmware, this has resulted in numerous improvements to the reliability and motion picture quality of Flow Motion v1.1. Here is a concise list of its features and specifications:

100Mbps AVCHD in 24H 1080p24 and SH 720p50/60 at 8-10 keyframes/sec.
75Mbps AVCHD in HBR 1080p25/30 and FSH 1080i50/60 at 8-10 keyframes/sec.
50Mbps AVCHD in 24L 1080p24, FH 1080i50/60, and H 720p50/60 video modes
100Mbps MJPEG 1080p Patch maintains high bitrates regardless of light levels.
Full support for all NTSC and PAL video modes.
In-camera playback of all AVCHD video files. (MJPEG HD videos not playable in-camera.)
4GB AVCHD file-spanning in all video modes with 95MB/sec UHS-1 SD cards.
File-spanning in 24L, FH, and H modes supported on all Class 10 SD cards.
ETC zoom mode with failsafe operation in all modes except NTSC HBR 30p and FSH 60i.
80% Slo-mo 24H video mode with ETC and file spanning in 24L mode.
Combines optimal I-frame size with compact, 3-frame GOP file size (GOP-6 in 720p modes).
Customized Scaling Tables produce P and B-frames that match I-frame quality.

As with any complex video camera, there are a number of considerations and limitations to bear in mind:

Listed bitrates are the maximum seen in practice, filming well-lit, sharply-focused, highly detailed scenes. Average shots will produce average bitrates. In low-light conditions, I recommend trying MJPEG HD 1080p30 mode for its ability to maintain high bitrates in near dark conditions.
If shutter speed is set longer than the frame rate (e.g. slower than 1/60 at 60p), low-quality video files may be produced. High shutter speeds will reduce motion blur, which may force the encoder to operate at higher bitrates.
ETC zoom mode increases the bitrate and puts significant stress on the encoder. With Flow Motion v1.11, Failsafe ETC mode is now supported in all PAL video modes, and in all NTSC video modes except HBR 30p and FSH 60i modes. ETC actually does work in all modes, but I've found that with Panasonic distortion-correction lenses, it's not 100% failsafe in HBR and FSH modes under the most extreme conditions. With manual-focus vintage lenses, it has so far proven to be failsafe in all modes.
Flow Motion v1.1 has been tested extensively at ISO 3200. It is not tuned to work reliably with PTool's extended ISO patch, but higher ISO can be used reliably in underexposed, low-light conditions.
Panasonic Lumix distortion-correction lenses are now fully supported in Flow Motion v1.11. For smoothest results, I recommend using these lenses with a mild diffusion filter to reduce their over-sharpened edge artifacts. My favorite is the Tiffen Black Diffusion FX3.
The 24L, FH, and H video modes make use of a special "Trick Mode" that ensures reliable file-spanning at 50Mbps. It does this by setting the video file's transport stream bitrate to a much lower level than the video stream's bitrate. These files play back correctly in video editors with no need for post-processing. However, MediaInfo and Windows will report incorrect duration and bitrate for these files when examined on the desktop.
I recommend using the camera to format your SD card at the start of each shoot, to guard against SD card memory fragmentation.

Newbie to GH2, what do I need to know?

acuriousman — Sat, 26 May 2012 19:05:21 +0000

Hi all!

At last, I'm going to be getting my hands on an NTSC GH2. It'll be my first DSLR camera I've ever used (Coming from a Kodak Zi8/Flip Video) and I was wondering what I needed to know to get the most out of it. Basic starter stuff as I have no plans to hack it yet. :p

For example, what speed/model SDHC card will I need?

I saw a thread that had different "settings" which can make the video look gorgeous, how do I use these and what would be best for indoor low light shooting? (http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/953/gh2-settings-vault-most-popular-settings-in-one-place/p1)

How do I get the best quality video out of it?

Is the stock lens (14-142mm) worth using at all?

Those are just a few questions. Anything else you guys can tell me would be wonderful. I love this place!

Repeatable Focus Moves with Focus By Wire lenses

bheath — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:22:35 +0000

Here is my little contribution to PV. These focus by wire lenses are maddening. So, I've been trying to finda way to manage repeatable focus moves. Here's where I'm at: Physically superimposed marks on the LCD or monitor. (Stick on) I first tried camera tape strips with pen marks. Not bad but ugly. Also grease pencil and so forth. What I came up with (and could be improved is this: (see photo) screen protectors for cameras and Iphones havee a little scale for cutting with precision, I just cut off the scale and stuck it over where the distance slider appears when you manually focus an auto lens. It's transluscent with marks and numbers. Then I used the focus chart and tape measure and memorized distance for each auto lens. (sort of) It could work for your focus puller, or piss her off. But i like it for hitting a couple of marks without spazzing out on the focus ring. It's something. With the 12-35 pana, it could be promising eh? Photo taken with camera phone looking into the varavon loupe diopter, mounted on gh2... Good Loupe! Thanks Vitaly Let's get 'er in focus dammit!

Broadcasters Opinions

Gary — Sat, 26 May 2012 04:00:41 +0000

HI, I have done some work with large international broadcasters. Most of this was done with Sony750's. What is the opinion of the large broadcasters ie Nat Geo, Discovery, etc, with regards to the hacked Panasonic GH2. How do they rate the footage, and what hack is best suited to this type of client. Does any one have any experience with this? Thanks.

Trailer for "Citizen 672"

bostonmike — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:30:09 +0000

A quick trailer of our short film entitled "Citizen 672". Our Sci-Fi entry in a 48 Hour Film Contest. Unfortunately we were two hours late submitting this one due to a faulty audio track (GH2 needs headphone monitoring for sound badly), so we're not in the running for any awards. We had to pitch out 2 minutes of dialogue and improvise with a propaganda-type voice over.

We filmed this one on a gh2 with Driftwood's Terraquake hack. I used the kit 14-140mm lens on the opening tunnel shot, the staircase shot and driving shots...a Vivitar Series one 28-90mm lens on the sewer tunnel shot (out of focus because I was the cinematographer and the only guy who would go into that tunnel) and a 40mm Hexanon lens on the interior prison shots.

Imagine a future where one government controls the entire Earth and human beings are reduced to numbers. One citizen daydreams of a revolution, but in 2065 even daydreams are forbidden.

Micromuff Skinny - Deadcat for the GH2

tvpglabs — Thu, 24 May 2012 10:01:37 +0000

Micromuff has come up with a product specifically designed for the GH2: The Skinny. I reviewed it on my blog: http://tvpglabs.com/?p=469 and made the following video review:

My takeaway: it's not perfect, but it's good enough to insure a sync track on a multiple camera shoot. What do you guys think?

New GH2 body will not recognize hacked firmware?

barry_jd — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:26:47 +0000

I am sorry if this issue comes up often, but I have exhausted my searches through past posts and cannot find a solution. As a former owner of a GH1 that I have installed several hacks, I am frustrated with my new GH2 (came preloaded with ver. 1.1 factory firmware). It simply will not recognize a hacked firmware loaded on any of my cards. I am using the latest version of ptool, saving my file as GH2_V12.bin in the root of an in-camera formatted card. Nothing works.

I did read in the FAQ that perhaps I need to do with the version increment number, however I am reluctant to do that since the latest version of ptool says "1" should be selected, I am not sure if I should alter that field?

Thanks for any help!

Pre rec buffer for GH2... possible?

GuilleKloetzer — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:29:07 +0000

Hi, my respects to Vitaly and all this community for making better video available to everybody. Now to the point: I´ve been shooting wildlife with a Red One and one of the things that made this camera stand out in the process of selecting it for the project was it´s pre rec buffer. This is record and erase at the same time having always the 30 or 15 last seconds. This feature is amazingly important for some kind of works. Is there any possibility to develop this in the GH2? I´ve recently bought one and after hacking it I am really happy with it ;) THANKS IN ADVANCE

3rd party batteries on GH2?

starstuff — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:05:08 +0000

Seeing as the original Panasonic battery pack is pretty expensive I was looking for alternatives.
I see many Ebay sellers having 1800mAh batteries for this camera.

One is around $20, sellers claims is build 1:1 copying the original, 1800mAh, 7.2v and overload protection.
He sells a load of these and on various forums I couldn't find any negative feedback on 3rd party batteries so far.

What do you say? Do any of you have 3rd party batteries in use and what are your experiences with those?

GH2 hacked - hangs and have to remove battery

fatpig — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:22:34 +0000

Hi guys,

A friend of mine and myself are having the same problem. I am using driftwood Mysteron and he is using Cake v 2.1 - and we both get the GH2 hanging up during recording (frame freezes, no buttons react, doesnt shut off, have to remove battery, file is 0 kilobytes). I noticed that Canis Majoris Day was even worse and hung up even more often. Is that problem known?

I have an extrememory sd card 32gb, which never gave me any problems with driftwood up until last month.. he is using some cheap card, but then again, its only cake he's using.

Any help on the matter will be greatly appreciated.

GH2 HDMI Monitoring

iamfoxman — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:02:29 +0000

So I'm trying to figure out why my hacked GH2 (basic hack with just the bit rate pushed to 42/35), seems to monitor perfectly via the HDMI cable during pause & recording. The issue I'm having is when I go to look back at the scene, I don't have playback control from my camera and thus can't look back at what was just shot without disconnecting the HDMI cable.

Does anyone know the fix for this?

Thanks

Coastal Black Winery Short Film - 9 months of driftwood settings

pchristoph — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:48:50 +0000

This project was a real labor of love as it began last summer during the berry harvest. Wine pressing started in November. The winery received their own bottling machine in March 2012 - so I waited to film this part until it was all setup.

Shot on quality 'driftwood' settings. The wine tasting shots were with Sedna AQ1, and Orion v4b. The harvesting/pressing shots were reQuainted 176 GOP1 and Spanmybitchup GOP1. Lighting was from some Lowel prolites, shop lights and a little 'Walli' light I found here on personal-view which made for a great hair light. http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1083/good-deals-2000lm-led-light

The music was written by me and recorded using Logic 9.

I hope you enjoy it. cheers

How to provoke banding?

karl — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:43:13 +0000

This may sound like a crazy question, but this evening I tried to compare low light results of GOLGOP3 and M6 Sports settings, and one aspect I wanted to test was the "banding issue" (after having read some postings on this phenomenon and watching a recent EOSHD video showing the "banding" problem).

Now the strange thing is that I failed to reproduce the issue, even when voluntarily shooting very low light scenes at ISO 12800. There was, of course, lots of noise in the clips, but no clearly recognizeable banding.

So I wonder: What did I do "wrong" that I could not reproduce the banding issue? What settings can you "recommend" to reproduce the banding issue?

FOR SALE: Singh Ray 77mm Vari-ND Thin Mount, And/or B+W 77mm KSM Circular Polarizer MRC

JPB1138 — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:43:58 +0000

UPDATE! new price for B+W Circular Polarizer. KSM and multi-coated 75$$

SINGH RAY HAS BEEN SOLD!!! http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/609253-REG/Singh_Ray_RT_86_77mm_Vari_ND_Variable_Neutral.html

Other is a B+W Circular Polarizer. KSM and multi-coated. Bought about a year ago. Again, in perfect condition. NEW PRICE 75$$$ PERFECT CONDITION

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/10889-REG/B_W_66_045620_77mm_Kaeseman_Circular_Polarizing.html

IF BOUGHT NEW IT IS 2x the price at 150$!

PICTURES BY REQUEST

email: revisislander@yahoo.com

Only reason I am selling is that I have recently purchased Singh-Ray Duo

UPDATE!

VIDEOS USING THIS CIRCULAR POLARIZER THAT I HAVE SHOT:

Export to DVD settings?

naken — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:18:45 +0000

Hello people.. Would like to know what you would consider the best GH2 video settings for fast production flow if the final output would be to to DVD. thanks!

GH2 14-140mm kit lens a hackable item?

davidp158 — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:05:48 +0000

I have the GH2 14-140mm kit lens, and I was wondering how the aperture interacts with the focal length while zooming. I understand that the 14-140mm lens isn't "constant apterture", but I was wondering if the aperture could be hacked to stay at one setting while zooming. If so, I could deal with the exposure changes in post. No doubt, a better lens with true constant aperture is preferred, but I just wondered if this was something that could be hacked like other areas of the GH2. Wishful thinking until I can afford better glass.