Comparable "Neutral" Mode picture style for Panasonic Gh2?

[flinty]

Coming from Canon I always shot neutral with contrast and sharpness all the way down. Also my saturation and color tone were -1. I felt this gave me neutral colors that I could always bring up in post or down. Does anyone know what comparable setting would be on the GH2?

Also some other questions. SInce I shoot 720/1080 a lot for slow mo, which would be the fastest way to do this on the GH2? On Canon you would see the the resolution and frame rate displayed on the screen, GH2 displays SH, & H modes. With an Associated 24, but as far as I know it's not like the canon that shows 1080/24 , 1080/30 or 720/60 which I feel is very helpful.

Finally I believe I hacked the camera, but not sure? How is it that I can tell that the camera has been hacked? I used the Flow Motion v2.02 and saved it to the firmware and then updated it in the camera. The menus I believe look the same so I'm not sure what to look for?

Take it easy on me as I am coming from Canon dslrs and truly want to learn this camera
thank you

You like low color low resolution 720P but have bothered to hack,we are all different i like the opposite PQ to you but after trying one hack i went back to standard v 1.1 update.
i hope it works out for you.

[J.F.R.]

You like low color low resolution 720P but have bothered to hack,we are all different i like the opposite PQ to you but after trying one hack i went back to standard v 1.1 update.
i hope it works out for you.

It's not that I like lower res of 720p, it's just that I use it for slow motion since it does 60fps. Only reason I use it.

[mpgxsvcd]

You like low color low resolution 720P but have bothered to hack,we are all different i like the opposite PQ to you but after trying one hack i went back to standard v 1.1 update.
i hope it works out for you.

Technically the hack hack benefits 720p more than 24p since 720p is only offered at 17 mb/sec without B frames in stock form and 24p is 24 mb/sec with B frames. The hack takes those parameters to a completely different level but the difference between hacked and unhacked should be greater for 720p vs. the 1080p frame rates.

[flinty]

Ok J.F.R and mpgxsvcd interesting.

[mpgxsvcd]

high bit rate(ie: hacked) 1080p @ 60 FPS in the GH3 will render this conversation mute.

[nigelbb]

However, when the hack is used correctly it simply becomes the best video camera available today.

I know that GH2 enthusiasts make some pretty strong claims for the various hacks but this has to be the most ludicrous statement that I have ever heard regarding the GH2. I'll acknowledge that it shoots good video for the price but the best video camera available today? You have got to be kidding!

[J.F.R.]

I know that GH2 enthusiasts make some pretty strong claims for the various hacks but this has to be the most ludicrous statement that I have ever heard regarding the GH2. I'll acknowledge that it shoots good video for the price but the best video camera available today? You have got to be kidding!

Good video for the price, care to explain? Now I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the statement, but I think at least image wise I have not seen any camera less than $10k with a better image than the GH2 hacked.

[Lpowell]

...this has to be the most ludicrous statement that I have ever heard regarding the GH2. I'll acknowledge that it shoots good video for the price but the best video camera available today?

What shortchanges the current generation of DSLR video cameras is the poor performance of their H.264/AVCHD encoders, (in addition to moire artifacts on some models). H.264 was originally engineered as a highly compressed format for commercial distribution of consumer content, such as Blu-ray discs. Professional Blu-ray encoders use multiple encoding passes with elaborate motion tracking algorithms to achieve excellent quality at relatively low bitrates. Even so, Blu-ray images are far too compressed for post-production grading or magnified theater projection.

The H.264 encoders in DSLR's have a much more demanding task: real-time capture of HD video with tightly constrained processing and memory resources. In these circumstances, standard H.264 encoding works quite well for consumer-grade videos displayed directly on HDTV's. Where its shortcomings appear is when shooting highly detailed scenes with complex motion, intended as source footage for post-production grading. The results are not simply blurred or lacking in detail, they are often contaminated with jagged digitized artifacts that are difficult to remove.

While the AVCHD encoder in the GH2 is no better than the rest, it is implemented entirely in software. That's made it the most hackable encoder of its generation, along with the camera's ability to reliably handle bitrates of over 100Mbps. This makes it possible to capture panning and rapid movements with excellent motion picture quality (by recording a much higher number of independent key frames per second).

The encoder optimization techniques we use to hack the GH2 are quite different from the industry guidelines used in standard H.264 encoders. Rather than sacrifice image quality for the sake of compression efficiency, our aim is exactly the opposite. Mainstream DSLR manufacturers are focused on marketing products for a broad range of customers, and my impression is that image quality is not their highest priority. As with the auto industry, performance optimization is a field more suited to after-market specialists.