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GH2 Flow Motion v2 - 100Mbps Fast Action Performance & Reliability for Class 10 SD cards
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  • meemee

    @LPowell, Nostalgia? My Japanese is horrid, so I had to use the translator =) I think I remember you mentioned you used to film in Japan awhile back. Do I have that right?

    @ Peterap, Thanks, no color correction this is just a direct upload from the mts file. I did have the in camera settings on vibrant though ( I think) it was set at 0 0 0 0. Not sure what ISO was at, though it was likely very low, Film speed was either 50 or 100, and Aperture I toyed with a bit as filming as you can probably tell. I declicked the lens, so I was also testing this on this day. This was shot with a gorilla pod BTW, I was still setting it up when he started this song hence the shaking.

  • peternappeternap

    @mee Looks real good mee (as usual). Did you color correct?

  • LPowellLPowell

    @mee Natsukashi!

  • meemee

    A bit footage from my first day using Flowmotion with an FD 50mm 1.8 lens. Please be warned their is a squeaky bicycle in the beginning, which could hurt some sensitive ears, so wait 10 seconds to turn up the volume if you have sensitive ears.

  • LPowellLPowell

    I recently acquired a Panasonic Lumix 45-175mm f4-5.6 X lens with auto-focus, OIS and motorized zoom features. This lens' auto-exposure features prompted me to put additional testing time into the GH2's more consumer-friendly modes and features. A number of Flow Motion v2 users have reported reliability issues when shooting 100Mbps 720p SH video in auto-exposure modes (i.e. P, A, S, or iA exposure modes, rather than the Creative Movie M exposure mode.) In addition, the GH2 offers a number of enhanced exposure features: auto-ISO, i-Dynamic, and i-Resolution settings which can be enabled in any video mode.

    There's one hazard to using Lumix auto-focus lenses along with the GH2's auto-exposure features - in 720p SH video mode, recordings may fail sporatically and the camera may need to be restarted. To avoid this pitfall in auto-exposure modes, I recommend using Flow Motion's 60Mbps 1080i FH and 720p H video modes when using any combination of the following features:

    • P, A, or S exposure modes or when shooting in iA mode.
    • Auto-ISO mode.
    • iDynamic auto-contrast mode.
    • i.Resolution mode.
    • Motorized zoom lens operation.

    I've tested and confirmed these features to work reliably at 60Mbps in 1080i FH and 720p H video modes. In addition, all of the Gh2's automated features will work reliably at 100Mbps in 1080p 24H and HBR video modes, as well as in 80% Slow-Motion 24H modes. The 60Mbps FH and H video modes also support 4GB file-spanning on 30Mbps Class 10 SD cards, and produce excellent motion picture quality that is just a notch more compressed than Flow Motion's 100Mbps FSH and SH video modes.

  • L1N3ARXL1N3ARX

    @LPowell First time I used a "non-driftwood" patch, it happens to be your flow motion 2.02. I don't know what to say other than I'm blown away. Every bit of detail that I'm used to getting seems to be in your patch along with the best motion cadence and rendering I've seen yet. Maybe it has something to do with the lower bitrate, but the motion is just so smooth in any kind of circumstance.

    I'm used to getting that ever so slight judder and jitter in certain types of high detail shots and sometimes for no reason at all. This is the first time the motion has appeared EVERY bit as dependable and consistent as a pro-video camera, except now I can enjoy the benefit of the more "filmic" GH2 image.

    Finally feel like this camera is unbeatable, in terms of quality, dependability and consistency. And subjectively speaking, the nicest image outside of an Alexa / F65. Thanks for your hard work!

    The video isn't really ideal, with bad reflections and added grain, but I'll probably probably take this patch for a spin outdoors sometime this week. The original looks far better than the vimeo version as well. Seriously, vimeo needs to step up their game to legitimately hang onto their "HD" banner.

  • LPowellLPowell

    @yeehaanow Great action footage and really smooth camera moves! If you can make any of the original GH2 footage available for download, I'd be very interested to examine it.

  • meemee

    @yeehaanow Loving that footage. I have been trying to get some good POV skate footage on some hills in tokyo using other patches, but so far have not been satisfied with my results. I just stumbled upon this thread so I will be giving Flowmotion a try soon.

  • yeehaanowyeehaanow

    It's a DIY Cable-cam. Wish I had a picture of it.

  • mo7iesmo7ies

    @yeehaanow very cool! What did you use as "film car"?

  • yeehaanowyeehaanow

    Got to test some serious movement using flomotion last weekend. First with the hexacopter at a bike race, then this skateboard race from the cable-cam. I had to record in 30p, and was pretty happy with the results, but I did run into times where the shadows would get blocky and crushed, and they cannot be resurrected in a nice way. I miss 24p Sedna. :) The stability of flowmotion is REALLY nice though. Had no problems. This is with 2.01 and no grading.

  • LPowellLPowell

    @RockHunter As long as your original video exceeds the quality of Vimeo's version, I doubt it makes much difference - other than the length of time it takes to upload the file to Vimeo.

  • RockHunterRockHunter

    @LPowell Good to hear that the original .mts file was ok.

    I'm really happy with the results I'm getting with Flow Motion. It is way better than any camera or camcorder that I've used in the past.

    Since the raw file is clean, what settings should I use in processing to make the final product on Vimeo look as good as possible? I've uploaded files to Vimeo in many formats including .mts, .wmv, .mpg, mp4, .avi and Vimeo can manage to convert them (but not always) to their standards for posting. I would be interested in hearing what others have to say about this.

  • LPowellLPowell

    @RockHunter Thanks very much for the download. Your original Flow Motion v2 footage looks very clean, no perceptible banding on the gray wall at all :)

  • RockHunterRockHunter

    Sure thing. Here it is.

  • LPowellLPowell

    @RockHunter I routinely upload my original GH2 MTS files without concern for Vimeo's settings guidelines. As you know, Vimeo will convert each video to their own web streaming format, regardless of how the original was encoded. One of the reasons I use Vimeo is to distribute original GH2 sample files to those who wish to download them, and re-encoding the file would defeat that purpose.

    I downloaded the 720p version of your video and while it does look sharper, I still see some banding on the gray wall in the back. Would it be possible to make one of the original GH2 clips used to make that video available for download via Vimeo as well?

  • RockHunterRockHunter

    A question. Many of us post our videos on Vimeo. Vimeo has preferred settings that they want us to use in creating the files for posting there. https://vimeo.com/help/compression

    Those settings are:

    Video settings: H.264 (.mp4) 24, 25 or 30FPS 5000 kbps 1280 x 720

    Audio settings: AAC 320 kps 44.1 kHz

    We also know that Vimeo converts the files after we upload them. So to get the best quality video and audio, should we follow Vimeo's recommendations or are there some adjustments to these settings that will not only produce better quality than the recommended settings but will work sucessfully on Vimeo?

  • RockHunterRockHunter

    @LPowell. Thanks for looking and for the comments. Actually I just redid the file and reloaded it. It seems that I forgot that I recorded in 720/60p but rendered in 1080. So I redid it in 1280 x 720. Perhaps that helped with the banding.

  • atticusdatticusd

    @LPowell Hi Lee, how you doing? I hope you are completely recovered from the surgery already. First of all, let me thank you for sharing your settings and your precious knowledge. And now the inevitable stupid question: You know, the peak bitrate for 24H and 24L in this setting is supposed to be 100Mb and 60Mb but when I load the ini file in Ptools it shows 95Mb and 32,5Mb. I supposed there's something working underneath that my stupid mind is missing...

  • LPowellLPowell

    @RockHunter Nice camera work, and I thought the audio sounded fine considering the acoustics. I downloaded the edited 1080p MP4 file from Vimeo to check out its 13.3 Mbps image quality in more detail. The one issue I'm concerned about is the banding on the blank gray wall behind the performers, which is noticeable in close-ups. Would you be able to upload any of the original MTS clips recorded by the GH2? That would clear up the question of whether the banding is due to the MP4 compression rather than the camera itself.

  • RockHunterRockHunter

    I'm very pleased with the results I get with Flow Motion 2.02. I tried several of the other hacks but like the look I get with FM. Here is a video from a concert a few days ago of a local acapella group called The Coats. Yes I know I was too far back to get good audio but they put the students in the front section and the rest of us in back.

  • EH_FilmsEH_Films

    @Lpowell ......I kind of feel like an ass now. I did add noise in post. Its cinegrain 35mm 500T exposed. I've been trying to tack it on to everything I do seeing as it cost me 700 bucks to buy. I figure I try to get the most out of it I can. But I can tell you that its so subtle you can't really tell a difference with it off. I should have tagged that on. My bad. It was shot with the 20mm pancake for the hallway shot, and the nikkor 50mm 1.4. I tried all the modes I could including 1080p, HBR, 720p overcranked, and ETC mode for the super close ups at the end.

  • LPowellLPowell

    @kdurk Though your question about Quantum X patch reliability is off-topic in this thread, while you're here you might want to check out Flow Motion v2.02:

    http://www.personal-view.com./talks/discussion/3337/gh2-flow-motion-v2.02-spans-in-hbr-25p-24h-720p/p1

  • kdurkkdurk

    a total newbie here as I picked up a gh2 about a month ago and just added my first hack yesterday. I put on "quantum X Span my bitch up v2b" and i am using a sandisk Extreme SDHC card 32 gb 45mb/s. I tried it with both my panny 14-45 lens and my canon fd 50 mm lens. It froze up on each one when i tried to shoot windy trees in HBR mode resulting in taking out the battery. Also handled it fine in HBR mode while shooting my dog who was being fairly still while taping. so i then switched to 24 p cinema and it handled it fine on both lenses.I guess my question is: is this just a card issue. if so i will pick up sandisk extreme pro 95mb/s. Thanks for any help.

  • LPowellLPowell

    @EH_Films Thanks for uploading your sample footage, I like the dramatic results you got with a single key light. The subtle noise levels in the near-black shadows look natural - I take it you didn't add or subtract any noise in post?

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