Had a friend at work (graphic designer) show me some photos she took, borrowing my soft box to do so, on a Sony a55 she was testing out, granted the a55 is not a bad still camera..

I started critiquing them.. She was in full auto mode wit the kit lens, so I mentioned the lens has as much if not more to do with the image as the body.. she was kind of shocked when I said the kit lens was pretty poor.. I then showed her some stills from the GF2 with a fast 1.4 50mm.. she was dumbfounded when I told her that was a sub $250 dollar camera and a 30 year old $50 ebay used lens .. Then I showed her some video from the same setup.... She is saving her pennies now :)

Really these cameras for regular or even upper shelf consumers are great.. thus the target of them from Pani , but when you show some one footage or images that blow there socks of it feels so dang good to say, yeah couple hundred bucks can get you that, if your willing to take some time to learn about manual prime lenses. Sadly most people don't want to learn these days they want to spend huge dollar to have the camera do everything for them and turn out good quality.. but when you get some one that's in that mind set to shift the fact that photography or videogaphy isn't just the hardware and is more operation and skill it s a good thing.

This person paid $150 for a sitting with a "pro child photographer" for her kid, she said my still shots on the GF2 were better.. and asked to have me reshoot her shots. I said better yet , take the money and buy a camera and I'll show you how to use it.. As I said she is saving her pennies. :) Teach a man to fish I say.

@stonebat

Has anyone determined the highest practical bitrate that will play back in camera on the GF2 (and presumably the GF3 as well)? I've tried several patches, including my own, and haven't yet found one that plays back.

@LPowell I use Cake 2.1 on GF2 without any problems , probably it's "highest" and stable and spanning, plus playback.

@LPowell

From what I've tried, the following plays back on GF2 - 1080i60 - SanDisk Extreme 32GB 45MB/s:

@Ralph_B Sanity v5 @ 21Mbps (lower light/detail scene)

@LPowell 's Flow Motion v1.11 @ lower 30Mbps

@balazer 's Cake v2.2@ upper 40Mbps

@pvdog 's @ upper 40Mbps

@driftwood 's

Mysteron Burst @ 61Mbps (lower light/detail scene)

Mysteron Standard @ lower 80Mbps

Sedna AQ1 "C" @ upper 80Mbps

Orion v4b @ ~ 90Mbps

EDITS: adding stuff as I test it

@LPowell balazers cake 2.3 even on a 16gb lexar professional (slow card that I use to load the patch) plays back in cam, spans in highest bitrate, I think it was 55MB. Normally I use sandisk Extreme 32GB.

@stonebat what I use to stabilize the gf2 and it really helps even if you use the x 3.1 ETC mode in 720p with 20mm panny is a gorillapod, hold the three legs together as a pistol grip. Good also for doc situations, than you can quickly install it wherever you want. Andy Portch described that too when he went undercover with the GH2 to Tibet.

@gameb I already have a tripod for 24x7. GorillaPod Micro 250 :)

It's so tiny that it's always attached to the camera. It takes a few secs to make it stand.

@MountainKing, if your learning a fast old school manual lens like a 50 1.4 is great (I'd say a must), helps you learn what the camera is doing and responds to manual adjustments with a auto lens. the 20mm 1.7 is a nice lens.. Love mine.. As for my photography skills, I don't consider myself a photographer but, video is just 24 photos a second so it all carries over. some of the CCTV lenses are cool for what they can do for so little money but also accentuate flaws, but I can tell you I use CCTV lenses in productions all the time, they are fast and cheap and most will make good video in the customers opinion , my CCTV lenses are mainly wide fast lenses or fast parafocals. I have really embraced shooting in low light with no added lighting. some of those CCTV lenses just blow away everything else in this shooting this style. It great to be able to walk into any building and start shooting great video with out nothing other than a camera, tripod, and maybe a small slider and a fast lens.. Exetele for CCTC lenses has issues with noise if your in dark conditions but solutions like Neat video correct these very well. My favorite CCTV lens is the Tamron 4-12mm F1.2 I use that thing so often its crazy , for $80 and a easy mod its a must have lens in my book.

Thanks @Rambo @gameb @stonebat for your suggestions, bought it all. That 26 gram micro tripod looks like it would add the least bulk to a GF2. Does it hold GF2+25mm OK? Argh, getting OT yet again...

no pixelation is always welcome.

GF2, Gorillapod, Panny 20mm, ND Fader, Carry Speed Viewfinder, Olympus LS10

interesting , never noticed that on my 20mm.. then again not a photo guy and don't do 2sec exposures.. BTW this is a star filter.. makes stars on high lights , just like in your photo but you can control the star effect rotate them and or have different filters for the number of points you want.. http://www.amazon.com/NEEWER%C2%AE-52MM-8-Point-Twinkle-Filter/dp/B004265KQM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334930285&sr=8-2