@prl excellent!

@LPowell "@johnnygh2 I haven't tested Cluster v6 so I can't comment on its motion picture quality. On a technical level, it's a long-GOP patch that uses conservative peak bitrates and coarser quantization tables on its P and B-frames than on its I-frames. This should make it a good choice for users who want a patch that improves on the unhacked firmware without producing large video files.

Flow Motion v2 is a short-GOP patch that uses moderately high bitrates to virtually eliminate macroblock artifacts in the most demanding fast-action shooting conditions. It uses custom quantization tables designed to produce B and P-frames of the same quality as its I-frames. This makes it a good choice for users who want a patch that delivers motion picture quality comparable to all-Intra 24p patches at about half the file size, and without compromising the quality of HBR modes.

For more details on Flow Motion v2 features, see the first post in this thread."

I have tested yr patch and various Cluster patches under similar conditions, and I must say while your patch yields a higher bit rate, Cluster tends to be a little sharper when you select "All to details" for the AQ. In any case, sharpness is quite a matter of perception, it's not qualitative in that there isn't a standard way of gauging it I suppose. Would resolution be a more accurate way of describing sharpness?

Regardless, Flowmotion v2.2 is a GREAT patch and I am using it now for some of my projects (giving Driftwood a break)

On a separate but related note, I understand that there is a lot of artificial sharpening done internally in a Panasonic AF lens as a way of compensating for the deviation caused by mirrorless imaging. I think the m4/3 sensor is not flat, so the curvature actually distorts the image, hence a lot of times, the final recorded output using average MF glass may not be as sharp. I think Driftwood has tried to address this in his hacks, in particular the Cluster patches (you see the sharpness after you click "All to Details").

Wonder if you have also considered such issues in your work.

@strancali @Cinexa Thanks very much, Great Patch

@prl , excellent/ great idea too.

I decided to take the AC160 and 2 GH2's (One with FM 2,2 and the other with Drewnet) out to see if there would be a sunset. It stormed most of the afternoon and I didn't even see the sun. Just before dark, I broke the Drewnet camera and the 160, down and hauled them the quarter mile to the car.

As soon as I got back the clouds broke a little and the sunset was beautiful. Here is a grab using FM 2.2 and a Samyang 7.5

I ran it through the Action in photoshop.

I got the whole thing Lee....I guess 45 minutes. I have a lot of noise in that grab that isn't in the video. I need to figure that out.

@peternap 45 minutes is a long take, which video mode did you use? If possible, could you load the SD card back into the GH2 and use the Playback menu to divide it into segments? That would preserve the original AVCHD encoding within a series of shorter MTS files. I'd be most interested in the initial minute of footage, and in the section that shows the sun dipping below the horizon and its immediate aftermath.

Hello, could please anyone help me? I just updated my camera with FM v.2.01. The whole process went as it was supposed to. Then I formatted my SDHC card and recorded roughly 8 minutes of 24H footage. But the resulting file is quite small: 1.35gb. Then I checked the bitrate while playing the file and saw that it's only 22Mbit/s. Am I doing something wrong? I thought the bit rate was supposed to be much higher? Which step did I mess up? Thanks a lot.

@mastroiani You're off by a digit. Try downloading Flow Motion v2.02 from the first post in this thread. That's the most current version.

The only thing you're doing wrong is focusing on bitrate rather than motion picture quality. Leave the bitrate to the patch, the rest is up to you.

My GH2 is dead!!! Left it on the rack after a shoot,then when it was time to turn it on again, the green light wouldn't come on. Tried it with all the batteries I had but the thing remains lifeless.

Before I send it off for resurrection, I have some questions. Was my camera hacked to death? Not insinuating anything here, but Flowmotion was the unfortunate patch last left on my cam.
@LPowell, pls comment, cheers

Also, anyone else can advise here, do third party bats screw up the internal circuit of the camera? Lately whenever i swapped china bats to original bats, I got the dreaded message "this battery cannot be used". I had to take out the original bat, and then put it back into the catch before the camera started behaving again. I spoke with a friend who is a Canon 5D user, and he told me he experienced similar incidents with third party bats. Anyone cares to comment? Cheers

@kazuo sorry to hear your troubles, but i believe patches have nothing to do with similar situations. It sounds more like a battery one. my understanding is that bad, poorly made with wrong parameters third party batteries can be a real issue-wrong power supply to a sensitive circuit. I did have this message before a few times. On and off cleared it. Yet I try to stay away from them whenever possible, I got a second original one and this covers quite a bit of time of shooting. Hope you get it sorted out and back to live.

this is no doubt going to sound dumb. but how can i make sure the hack is working? loaded the new firmware on etc, how can i check the data rates of my MTS files?

I used third party batteries made of China with the original one since I 'be bought gh2. I also use third party electric adapter sold cheap like $20 if I could remember and never had any problems neither showing warning messages.

It is faulty said the Flow Motion was in camera before it death as a cause . It is not a reasonable cause by using made in China batteries. what other made batteries should we use for a made in china camera any way? Please people; take a look of your bottom camera and see what it made from?

As I could say is don't buy made in China if you expect it good and last forever :-)