It should be, for all intents and purposes, practically impossible to vignette with a GH2 unless you're using 16mm lenses (or repurposing an anamorphic adapter that was meant for small-gauge film or tiny video chips from the 1990s).

Banding is an issue that's helped along with the firmware hack and then in your grade. Grade in 32bits with a touch of whatever film grain addon you have access to for slight dither.

Judder can be lessened by moving your camera like film shooters have learned to. Pan slowly. It's also been shown to help if you shoot in 1/40th sec shutter instead of 1/50th sec which increases motion blur, smoothing out gross moves.

If you're not planning to do an involving grade then I'd suggest taking a look at Moon Trial 3 instead of Flowmotion, as it has, straight from the camera, a more filmic look than Flowmotion and is therefore a more directly beneficial patch to be running for narrative work.

I used a GH2 with original firmware a few years ago to shoot a feature. It's been stuck in post production hell since, (but that's another story) but I can tell you a few things about shooting with it.

Do not worry. Even the stock firmware is/was good enough for most things. Any of the hacks can only make it better. The camera is GOOD enough to do what you want. Focus on making a movie, not showing off what the camera can do. Your talents as a director will show through any camera problems.

Below is a list of things I have found when shooting features, shorts or really anything that involves more than 1 person. Most people will read this list and go "oh yeah I know that stuff" but trust me, once you get into shooting, things will change drastically and you'll have everyone asking you questions while you are trying to direct. It truly is like herding cats. Stick to the list.

1. Expose correctly. Do NOT fall victim to the myth that you need huge dynamic range to be cinematic, and do not fall victim to the myth that digital doesn't need to be lighted. Movie sets are lighted a LOT brighter than the real world.

1a. Light correctly. Movie productions spend huge amounts of money on location modifications and lighting to get a SMALLER dynamic range to work in, contrary to what most seem to think. If you are shooting in a dark place, light it, preferably with bounce light. It's free and looks better than lights unless you really know what you are doing. Buy large sheets of white posterboard or beadboard or foamcore. If the scene is too bright, move the scene to a different time of day, move locations or buy large scrims and have people hold them where you need to lessen the light. Sometimes these things just don't work out so do what you can but ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure your talent is lighted/exposed properly if nothing else. Too many novices try to do too much and try to "split the difference" in exposure between the background they worked so hard on and want to show off and their talent. Don't do it, expose/light the talent correctly. That's what 99% of your audience will be watching anyway.

2). Do not sweat the details. People aren't going to notice a little banding here and there or some noise in the shadows if your TALENT/ACTION is good. Keep your audience engaged in the story, not the small details that directors/DPs typically ask for in order to only "prove" how smart they are. You are making a movie, so tell the story. You can embellish your resume later.

3). Focus on the story. I can't stress this enough. Take it from someone who was/is as guilty as anyone else was/is. Sometimes you see a really "cool" shot that you want to make and you spend time/money on it but it doesn't really serve the story very much, if at all. Cut it out before you shoot. You'll be amazed how much time you'll waste on set even with everyone busting their asses to get stuff done, and that will NOT happen. People get tired and distracted and all kinds of issues will pop up. Focus on the story and leave the "cool" stuff for people shooting vids of bushes and cats and posting on Vimeo.

4). Adequate food, drinks on set. I also can't stress this enough. Supply a good amount of snacks to your talent and your help to keep their energy up during the shoot. Chances are that if you only order a couple meals, people will be tired long before you eat and then after they eat they'll be full and groggy. Let them graze through the day and feed medium meals for breakfast/lunch/dinner. Make sure you have plenty of water available. Keep the sugar and caffeine drinks to a minimum as they'll make people hyperactive or tired at random times during the day. Coffee in the morning is usually ok as long as you cut it off so that nobody has more than a couple cups.

5). Schedule plenty of breaks. Small breaks are crucial. If you try to work people all day long without breaks, you'll find that they will start disappearing randomly or they'll use the "restroom* a lot more or be gone to the "restroom" for a long time. People will start taking their own breaks when they feel like it and you'll spend a lot of time running around looking for them. They are only human and chances are they are helping for free, so give them plenty of breaks and they'll work harder when you are actually shooting.

6). Plan on delays. Weather, cars driving by, phone calls, people showing up late/leaving early, hardware/software malfunctions, etc. Plan at least 30% more time than you think you need. Make sure your talent and help agree to this possibility too or else you might be sitting there alone.. Remember, not everyone who helps will take it a seriously as you do. Have extra people on call to help if you can.

7). Keep lots of notes and organize everything and back up everything on the spot if you can. Keep your memory cards labled with A/B/C/etc and on your shot lists write the card letter and file number on each shot item. That way you can easily go back and look at the list and make changes or redo scenes without having to sift through all of your files to find the right ones. Also, plan on shit happening so if you are taking a break, backup the current memory card to a computer or something else just in case. Someone knocked a memory card to the ground during one of my shoots and then accidentally stepped on it. Had it not been backed up minutes before, it would have been 4 hours of work lost..

8). Scout your location thoroughly. Sometimes there is a lot more that you can use, sometimes a lot less than you think. Also, scout your locations for a WHOLE day. Watch the sun and the light patterns and plan your shot list accordingly. You'll be really surprised how much stuff changes in minutes. Make contingency plans too.

9). Take extra tarps, tools, rope, tape, etc and make sure any gear you aren't using is put up. I was shooting in a garden on a hot and sunny afternoon and in less than 10 minutes a thunderstorm rolled in. We didn't have enough time to pack things, we just threw the tarps over everything and tied/taped them down. Things were a bit moist but they weren't ruined.

Really excellent advice. Having worked on major features, I can't begin to tell you how much time, energy & money gets sunk to save the lack of a fleshed out story.

Here is one of the prime issues with these forums. Some specific, technical questions are asked and someone else has to post a wall of text that addresses none of them in an attempt to prove how smart or experienced they are.

What exactly is "post hell"? I fail to see its relevance in the context of a little indie shot on a GH2. Did someone not "sweat the details"?

My advise and yes I have shot 2 features on Gh2... -- Use an Intra hack -> Like Moon or Intravenus... -- Get fast cards --95MBps. -- LENSES ----LENSES ---LENSES... make sure you have a nice set..(a wide/fast a medium fast/ a telephoto ....think about what you MAY Need but dont want to be stuck wishing you had...personally I like to use manual glass but even some of the Panasonic glass(yeah its sharper) like the 25mm Leica Summilux are great for the price...to save money vs good glass i have a few M42 thread mount lenses and an adapter...the 50mm f1.4 Super Takumar i have looks amazing and only cost me 20 bucks. -- Batteries have at least 3 you can always have one charging and ready if you have at least 3. -- Use a rig to add weight for handheld etc...no brainer but trust me you can get JELLO free shots hand held if you have a moderatly heavy rig like DLSR cage rig I use. -- TRANSCODE the files to Prores 444 with 5dtorgb or Adobe Media Encoder etc...before you edit... yeah I know why bother FCPX or Premiere can edit AVCHD..blah blah,,,, listen your computer wont struggle as much and will be more stable plus the files will still retain the latitude(what little exists) for cinematic color work. -- Dont waste time trying to get the sound into the camera --- it will likely sound like dog crap regardless of what you are doing to get it in...have a sound person and sync in post. -- If you go for low light make it a stop brighter than you want you can "darken" in post and have less overall noise the opposite is not true... -- Watch out for the ISO bug make it a habbit to navigate the ISO setting correctly...i am sure there is info on avoiding the ISO bug on this forum. -- Shoot Smooth -2 all...ok so that should have been like 4 but I just thought of it...

--final advice... Double check your modes and setting before you shoot and set custom mode dial preset for every scene.... so if the camera goes to "hybernate" you dont accidently not realize the white balance reverted or the color mode changed back etc....

My 10 cents...ergh 11 --- just trying to keep it technical--- obviously story is king.

ROFL. I'm just here cause I'm stalking Shian.

The camera is the least of your worries and you want to keep it that way so as far as patches are concerned go with reliability over best IQ (which is why I wouldn't shoot RED even if you gave me one for free). Stay focussed on performance.

First of all I would like to thank everyone that has commented in this thread. I am taking notes.

So let's talk flesh tones. Before, when I was using Flowmotion I was not really seeing the green tint, the GH2 is famous for having. Well, now, after switching to Moon, I am seeing it in spades. I know it is just something I will have to adjust through trial and error, but I am wondering what you guys are using (In cam) to get accurate color in each of the major WB modes.

Manual white balance?

llya Friedman tweets hacked GH2's used in feature film, Anchorman 2 starring Will Ferrel

llya Friedman @HotRodCameras 19 Jun

Watch @HotRodCameras client ANCHORMAN 2 first full-length trailer for http://variety.com/2013/film/news/watch-the-first-full-length-trailer-for-anchorman-2-1200498707/ … Both C & D cams are custom hacked #gh2