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GH2 Hacking… Core Understanding and Instructions Wanted
Greetings,
I have a GH2 coming in next week and have been spending a long time grazing this site and https://www.personal-view.com . Thanks go to Peter J. DeCrescenzo for his explanations and links.
There is also this video on how to hack…(link is at end of post).There’s a lot to read out there and lots of variables. Hacks, patches, settings galore… and I can get swallowed up with reading, without really getting functional understanding.
Problem is I don’t have a functional understanding of these things, importantly – how they relate to each other… What is a patch and how do I use it. Is a patch a collection of setting that someone made within the Hack? If I load a Patch, am I stuck with just one group of settings…? Etc. Etc.
What I don’t have is a buddy who already knows this stuff, to lead me through it.
Does anyone know of a beginners explanation of this stuff?
Thanks !
-Ralph
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5FrB0c8DyQ
-> Ralph
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7 Replies
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Ralph,
My advice is; don’t even worry about the hack at this point. Get the camera and play with it, read the manual, do some test shooting, test editing, etc. I’m not sure what you plan on shooting, but you may not even need a higher bit-rate. I make good money shooting with my GH2 at the standard 1080p 25mbit setting. It looks great! I haven’t seen a need to do the hack.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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The patch modify the camera software (firmware).
The main goal is to get a better compression modifying the parameters of the AVCHD codec (data-rate, GOPS) that the camera use. This allows better picture in many circumstances.
Its also unlock some functions, like allowing higher ISO values (limited to 3200 ISO for video) or making possible to record PAL and NTSC with the same camera.
However I agree with Jason. Learn to manage the camera and learn what you can do and what you can’t with your camera before thinking about hacking it. The codec is just one (important) factor, but you can get a crap of picture withe best codec on the world if you don’t know to manage the camera.I bough my GH2 three weeks ago and and I have everything ready and tested for the patch (in fact I have it ready before to buy he camera) but I gonna take my time before I patch it. I shoot video since 25 years ago but I’ve never done so with an still camera and I have many things to learn.
rafael -
Thanks,
I think you’re right. Coming from traditional video camera work and only observing people with DSLRs for video, best to get my chops down first.
Thanks again!
-> Ralph
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hi Rafael and Jason again..aside fomr the hck, can you share some of your general settings? Which film mode settings?..do you dial down noise reduction etc? Lenses?
any info appreciaed…going form an hmc-150…this is all new and I agree I will just use the stock 1.1. firmware until I know the camera better.
tia,
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I recently hacked my GH2 with the help of Orlando Osgondar site. Full instructions and concise explanation walks you through the steps.
https://osgfilms.com/hack-the-panasonic-gh2/#comment-443
He has created a guide (no cost) donations encouraged.
https://osgfilms.com/gh2-quickstart/
Since I had a Mac, so asked a few questions (See blog posts burntoutideas) he knows his stuff. Read all the posts for the hack and the guide before asking questions as it seems many are repeated since this is new to most of us.
I ended up loading the 176mbs ‘seAQuake’ with no issues. I’m extremely happy with the results. Everything looks great in camera, unfortunately I’m using CS4.2 and the only way view the footage in Premier is through the Stream folder.
Still trying to figure out a workflow that lets me keep the footage after I remove the card. Thats my novice experience with Premier and possibly the limitations of CS4 if anyone has advice please let me know.
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Hi Morgan,
As I wrote I’m very new to the GH2 and I haven’t really started to check picture quality.personal-view.com is the best place to get any info (they are the masters of the GH2) but is a real messy place.
Here there is a discussion on “film modes”:
https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/461/gh2-film-modesI’ve just found this guide, but i haven’t had time to read it yet:
https://osgfilms.com/gh2-quickstart/There is a kind of general agreement on avoiding “Cinema”.
Seems that “Smooth” and every value at -2 is a good starting for footage to be corrected.
rafael -
Hi Rafael,
3 months into my GH2 experience and enjoying it although there’s a lot more buttons and options to wade through and no one seems to have a straight answer as to the best mode for shooting. Experimentation seems the way. I have a NTSC version and need a PAL option but am worried about installing a hack despite the favourable reviews (I don’t trust them). Do you know a trusted hack that would give me PAL?
John Doggett-Williams
http://www.fineeyeproductions.com
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