Great stuff you are doing here, lpowell. I was bound to buy a GH2, but then found a warehouse near by that sold out a hackable GH1-14-140 for 799 Euros. Considering that the 14-140 lens is sold here at a price of 770 on its own - that would basically come down to a price of 29 Euros - about 39 bucks - for a brand new hackable GH1 body. Based on Vitaly's hack and your excellent work the GH1 is still a fantastic option. Therefore, I couldn't resist and bought the cam. I will play around with it a little bit and then install the hack with your patch. I look very much forward to it. Thanks again for your effort.
75Mbps GH1 Peak Performance Patch
- Thread starter Lpowell
- Start date
Trucci
Well-known member
I've been using this patch with my Patriot Class 6 16gb card without any write errors in FHD mode. I did a stress test too with my Panny 20mm pancake at f2.8, 1/1000th shutter, and a well lit forest. It survived a minute of wild whip pans. This patch has officially replaced the 40mbps one for me. Once again, thanks.
Same here, this patch is the ultimate in my book. I have not had a failure in the last 2 weeks... Al
GH1_newguy
Member
Hello, All. This is my first post. I've had my GH1 for over a year, and just installed the 75Mbps Peak Performance Patch. I have some immediate problems, as described below.
Lens = kit 14-140 mm.
The short version: The failures always occur in 720p60 AVCHD mode. They occur when I try to zoom in/out while filming. I assume that the scene changes too much and the required bit rate is unobtainable? The camera shows the message about not being able to write to the memory card fast enough, but, from scanning these blogs I understand the real issue is the camera can't keep up with the data rate. I guess it is not surprising that the camera can't keep up when zooming, since too many pixels are changing at once? But, it is interesting to note that I *can* zoom in 1080/60i, which I find somewhat surprising. I also get the error if I pan too quickly in 720P60 mode. So, it appears as though these settings are not very robust for 720p60 shooting? With the standard Panny frimware I have always obtained the most satisfying results using 720p60, especially for shots with a lot of action, and its great for post processing for slow-mo etc. So, I'm disappointed that this is the mode where these Peak Performance settings cause the failures. I wish I had time to experiment with all the settings, but, i don't. Any advice on what to try? Maybe changing the GOP to 30 from 20?
Longer Version:
0) Used the 14-140 mm kit lens.
1) I used two different Class 10 memory Cards and saw the same issues. One was a Panasonic 8 GB Class 10, the other was a SanDisk Extreme Class 10 (claimed 30 Mb max xfer rate).
2) I formatted the cards in camera before each set of trial clips.
3) I was shooting squirrels at out backyard bird feeder with snow on the ground and and a forest of bare tree branches as a background.
4) 720p60 always fails after a few seconds whenever try to zoom (or pan too quickly).
5) 720p60 seemed OK if never zoomed and only panned very slowly.
6) 1080/60i (the wrapper for 1080/24p) never once failed shooting the same scenes. The same panning and zooming that *always* caused failure in 720p60 never cause an error in 1080/60i. But...I had the distinct impression that the auto-focus was taking much longer and doing more 'hunting' in 1080/60i than before the hack. [Of course I understand that the auto-focus is always slower in 1080 than 720p, but, I'm talking about the auto-focus performance post-hack seems much slower than pre-hack in 1080i. Has this been discussed? Is the additional detail causing the auto-focus performance to deteriorate? BTW: I have the most recent lens firmware update for the 14-140 kit lens.
So, my question is if there is another set of 'Peak Performance' settings that allow improvement to the default 720p60 mode, but also allow zooming, and panning without errors?
PS: I'll take some more test shots later today. We live near the ocean, so, shots with waves are common, as is zooming from a wide angle to close up of, say, sailboats on the water. It sounds like I might have to 'downgrade' to the "High Reliability' hack? Does that improve any detail in the 720/60 mode? Does it allow for panning/zooming while filming?
PS2: Thank you to everyone who has shared such useful information, especially Vitaliy and lpowell.
Lens = kit 14-140 mm.
The short version: The failures always occur in 720p60 AVCHD mode. They occur when I try to zoom in/out while filming. I assume that the scene changes too much and the required bit rate is unobtainable? The camera shows the message about not being able to write to the memory card fast enough, but, from scanning these blogs I understand the real issue is the camera can't keep up with the data rate. I guess it is not surprising that the camera can't keep up when zooming, since too many pixels are changing at once? But, it is interesting to note that I *can* zoom in 1080/60i, which I find somewhat surprising. I also get the error if I pan too quickly in 720P60 mode. So, it appears as though these settings are not very robust for 720p60 shooting? With the standard Panny frimware I have always obtained the most satisfying results using 720p60, especially for shots with a lot of action, and its great for post processing for slow-mo etc. So, I'm disappointed that this is the mode where these Peak Performance settings cause the failures. I wish I had time to experiment with all the settings, but, i don't. Any advice on what to try? Maybe changing the GOP to 30 from 20?
Longer Version:
0) Used the 14-140 mm kit lens.
1) I used two different Class 10 memory Cards and saw the same issues. One was a Panasonic 8 GB Class 10, the other was a SanDisk Extreme Class 10 (claimed 30 Mb max xfer rate).
2) I formatted the cards in camera before each set of trial clips.
3) I was shooting squirrels at out backyard bird feeder with snow on the ground and and a forest of bare tree branches as a background.
4) 720p60 always fails after a few seconds whenever try to zoom (or pan too quickly).
5) 720p60 seemed OK if never zoomed and only panned very slowly.
6) 1080/60i (the wrapper for 1080/24p) never once failed shooting the same scenes. The same panning and zooming that *always* caused failure in 720p60 never cause an error in 1080/60i. But...I had the distinct impression that the auto-focus was taking much longer and doing more 'hunting' in 1080/60i than before the hack. [Of course I understand that the auto-focus is always slower in 1080 than 720p, but, I'm talking about the auto-focus performance post-hack seems much slower than pre-hack in 1080i. Has this been discussed? Is the additional detail causing the auto-focus performance to deteriorate? BTW: I have the most recent lens firmware update for the 14-140 kit lens.
So, my question is if there is another set of 'Peak Performance' settings that allow improvement to the default 720p60 mode, but also allow zooming, and panning without errors?
PS: I'll take some more test shots later today. We live near the ocean, so, shots with waves are common, as is zooming from a wide angle to close up of, say, sailboats on the water. It sounds like I might have to 'downgrade' to the "High Reliability' hack? Does that improve any detail in the 720/60 mode? Does it allow for panning/zooming while filming?
PS2: Thank you to everyone who has shared such useful information, especially Vitaliy and lpowell.
rambooc1
Well-known member
I shoot Ocean footage with the lpowell high reliability hack. Yes it does improve 720p 60/50 mode with hi detailed footage. My ocean footage with Pana 45 - 200 lens averages around 33Mbps with zero failures. I'm happy with this hack as it still leaves some headroom for focusing and other functions.
If i switch to the 75 patch i also get failures in 720 on SanDisc Extreme with any auto focus lens. If i use a manual lens like a Canon FD 50mm 1.4 no failures. Probably due to lens being shallower DOF and less sharp overall.
GH1_newguy
Member
Well, I'm back from a trip to the ocean with my wife and daughter, and...I'll definitely be removing the 75 Mbs Peak Performance Patch. The camera with the 14-140 kit lens was barely functional for some video clips. "How so?" The lens would not pull focus *at all*. My assumption is that everyone who is using this 75 Mbs Peak Performance Patch must be using fixed focal length lenses and, perhaps manual focus? Because, in addition to the write errors when trying to zoom with 720/60, the auto focus and focus tracking during video just plain failed to work the majority of the time. I've never seen this before. Yes, in 1080/60i sometimes there would be a noticeable lag before focus, but, with this patch, there were many clips where *the lens just never focused*. It's true that in a few cases it did (and the resolution is pretty impressive), but: it is not worth losing the ability to use the kit lens with zoom and auto-focus to gain that possible increased resolution.
Am I way off base here, or is this result to be expected?
Next I may try the lpowell "reliable performance" hack, but, I'm beginning to think that Panasonic may have restricted the bitrates in the camera so that all of the functions in the kit lenses would work properly? Maybe Panny doesn't want people boosting the VBR of the camera/decoder because of issues with the kit lens? If that's the case, then I probably won't even bother with the "reliable" patch and just put the good old Panasonic Firmware Version 1.32 back into my camera. At least with it, when I try to track my daughter running on the beach, she stays in focus. Or, when I try to zoom from wide angle to close-up the focus remains (especially at 720/60p). This seems impossible now with this hack installed.
Let me know if you think this is not true. Just voicing my experiences from today and making *wild* guesses about why I saw what I saw.
Still: I am amazed at all of the dedicated work and experimentation you folks put forth to make a good camera better.
But, if it is true that these hacks that can yield higher bitrates and resolution, but at the expense of causing problems with normal camera functioning such as:
1) zooming while filming causing data overflows
2) auto-focus failures
3) focus-track failures
then maybe that should get stated up front in these blogs so people like me don't waste time trying to squeeze every bit of resolution out of the camera. My clips are mostly just of my daughter growing up. They're never going to be on Nat Geo HD.
So, ultimate resolution is not as important as the camera/lens system functioning as designed.
Cheers.
Am I way off base here, or is this result to be expected?
Next I may try the lpowell "reliable performance" hack, but, I'm beginning to think that Panasonic may have restricted the bitrates in the camera so that all of the functions in the kit lenses would work properly? Maybe Panny doesn't want people boosting the VBR of the camera/decoder because of issues with the kit lens? If that's the case, then I probably won't even bother with the "reliable" patch and just put the good old Panasonic Firmware Version 1.32 back into my camera. At least with it, when I try to track my daughter running on the beach, she stays in focus. Or, when I try to zoom from wide angle to close-up the focus remains (especially at 720/60p). This seems impossible now with this hack installed.
Let me know if you think this is not true. Just voicing my experiences from today and making *wild* guesses about why I saw what I saw.
Still: I am amazed at all of the dedicated work and experimentation you folks put forth to make a good camera better.
But, if it is true that these hacks that can yield higher bitrates and resolution, but at the expense of causing problems with normal camera functioning such as:
1) zooming while filming causing data overflows
2) auto-focus failures
3) focus-track failures
then maybe that should get stated up front in these blogs so people like me don't waste time trying to squeeze every bit of resolution out of the camera. My clips are mostly just of my daughter growing up. They're never going to be on Nat Geo HD.
So, ultimate resolution is not as important as the camera/lens system functioning as designed.Cheers.
The alternative is to get bad video without this patch, or do video correctly. Namely don't zoom too fast and don't pan too fast. Good video has neither of these, and perhaps that's why some don't have problems? (I sure hope you take this comment constructively and not that I am somehow insulting you) Al
I also live near the ocean and take many video clips there and have never had a failure since version 2 of this patch. I don't have the 14-140mm lens; I use 20, 14-45mm and 45-200mm lenses and have not had any issues with focusing. I can't imagine how a patch can affect the focusing, but perhaps the 14-140mm is a different beast for this patch? Al
rambooc1
Well-known member
then maybe that should get stated up front in these blogs so people like me don't waste time trying to squeeze every bit of resolution out of the camera. My clips are mostly just of my daughter growing up. They're never going to be on Nat Geo HD.
Cheers.
It is stated upfront if you look through the information available to you in the threads. Lot's of good people have "wasted THEIR time" doing all the testing/refinement and donating $$$$ so you and i can benefit, so some appreciation on our behalf would be nice.
Sounds like your ideal solution is to leave the camera unhacked.
R
GH1_newguy
Member
Thanks for the feedback. I guess I'll try the lpowell hi reliability hack. With the 14-140 kit lens, 75% of the time it simply will not pull focus. It has nothing to do with how fast I zoom, it just refuses to re-focus. I've had my GH1 since Oct 2009 and this has never happened, so, of course it must be the high performance hack. I have no other lens to use to try out this highest res hack, so, I'll try the hi reliability hack next.
I'll let you know how that goes. By the way, I did update the 14-140 mm firmware with the Panny release from Dec 2010. I hope there is not any incompatibility between that lens firmware patch and using these hacks to the camera?
I'll let you know.
And, I will say, that for the ~ 25% of the time when the camera *did* hold focus, the resolution was stellar. But...75% of the time the lens lost focus as I tracked my daughter with even a relatively slow pan. Again: I've done similar clips hundreds of times before with no focus loss issues, so, I can only assume it is related to the high performance patch?
Hopefully, I can report back that the hi reliability patch was rock solid.
Also, I'm sure the *majority* of people with an early GH1 have the 14-140 lens, yes? It came with the camera? Is anyone out there that has the high performance patch working well with the 14-140? If so, did you install the 14-140 firmware update from Dec 2010? Thanks. I'd love to find some magic incantation that would allow the high res hack to work with my lens...[I'd also love to invest in some more lenses, but...that would bust our budget and my wife would bust me!]
Cheers
I'll let you know how that goes. By the way, I did update the 14-140 mm firmware with the Panny release from Dec 2010. I hope there is not any incompatibility between that lens firmware patch and using these hacks to the camera?
I'll let you know.
And, I will say, that for the ~ 25% of the time when the camera *did* hold focus, the resolution was stellar. But...75% of the time the lens lost focus as I tracked my daughter with even a relatively slow pan. Again: I've done similar clips hundreds of times before with no focus loss issues, so, I can only assume it is related to the high performance patch?
Hopefully, I can report back that the hi reliability patch was rock solid.
Also, I'm sure the *majority* of people with an early GH1 have the 14-140 lens, yes? It came with the camera? Is anyone out there that has the high performance patch working well with the 14-140? If so, did you install the 14-140 firmware update from Dec 2010? Thanks. I'd love to find some magic incantation that would allow the high res hack to work with my lens...[I'd also love to invest in some more lenses, but...that would bust our budget and my wife would bust me!]
Cheers
I have never heard of any hacking affecting lens function. The codec and the autofocus system are separate systems which should function independently. I use the 14-140 with this patch AND native 24p with this patch, and I can get it to fail, but I have to try pretty hard. The problems your having shouldn't happen that frequently with this.
GH1_newguy
Member
OK, this post should probably be in the "hi reliability" branch, but, the bad news for me is that I have the same issues with the high reliability patch and 14-140 mm lens. Both issues remain. I just did a *very slow* zoom from 14 to about 50 mm and waited and waited for the lens to auto focus (720p/60) and after about 5 seconds the message about "make sure the lens is attached' came up. This was happening at the ocean this afternoon with the hi performance patch as well. This is *not* due to the occaisonal real probelm where the lens is a little loose 9one of my few complaints wiht the GH1 is that slop in the lens mount). No, I think this message occurs because of lack of correct communication between the lens and camera? Again, just guessing, but, I can;t believe I'm the only one out here with the 14-140 kit lens. I wonder if I 'downgrade' the lens firmware to an earlier version will it help?
Hmmmm.
I'll wait for any guidance from someone on this forum who has a 14-140, but, until then...I have to go back to the default v1.32 from panny.
Phooey!
Cheers.
Hmmmm.
I'll wait for any guidance from someone on this forum who has a 14-140, but, until then...I have to go back to the default v1.32 from panny.
Phooey!
Cheers.
I'd send in your lens for servicing. The servicing and firmware in the lens won't affect the "hackability" of the body. Sounds like your lens is not working right. My 14-140 works perfectly, AF, IS, the hack, everything. Don't bother going back to old firmware; hacking the firmware does not affect lens function in any way that I know of.
rambooc1
Well-known member
Colton, the GH1 does internal processing of Panasonic lenses, things like chromatic aberration, lens distortion, focus etc, so if the processor is being overtaxed by the extra hack data rate, lens functions like focus will be affected. Changing the menu setting to "shoot without Lens" helped whenever i've used the 14 -140 (sold it) even though it's main purpose is to allow non Panasonic or dumb lenses. This also helped with the 20mm Pana Pancake.
GH1_newguy you may want to try this.
aljudy, he's already stated it works fine unhacked.
GH1_newguy you may want to try this.
aljudy, he's already stated it works fine unhacked.
Interesting. You learn something new everyday. Thanks for the info!
GH1_newguy
Member
OK. I reverted back to ORIGINAL v1.32. Guess what, after an initial focus and then zoom I *still* had the inability to auto-re-focus, and after a long delay waiting to pull focus I received the message to check the lens mount. Oh no!
So, as a last resort I re-installed the Lens firmware update. And, though I wish I hadn't changed two things at once, I also re-positioned my my new Lumix DMW-ZL1 zoom lever which arrived in the mail this week. This is a glorified rubber band that allows smoother zooming. It works well *except I may have had one of the flanges that stick out from it interfering with the auto-focus assist lamp?* But...I don't see how that could have influenced my ability to auto-focus, since it was daylight at the ocean when I couldn't auto focus consistently?
So, my guess is that somehow my lens firmware was corrupted, because after re-upping the lens firmware, (and re-positioning the brand new lens-lever strap so that the flange couldn't possibly get in the FOV of the focus-assis lamp), *the problem with auto-focus was entirely gone*. Now, this was with the factory v1.32 camera firmware.
So...as a next test I re-installed the 'hi reliability' hack. And.... *No issues* with auto-focus!!!! Yahoo. But, I do get the message about not being to write to the memory card when I zoom while filming 720p/60 (but not *always* like with the Hi Performance hack.). But, it is nigh time here, so I really can't try to zoom with a high frequency target like a forest of bare trees. So, that test will have to wait until after work 2morrow (if I get home b4 dark).
I really appreciate your communal wisdom and willingness to share. I tried to do my 'homework' by reading this blog till 3 AM last night, so, at least I didn't have to re-iterate a lot of questions about how to install the patches, etc.
I'll let you know how often the 'can't write to memory card' error occurs tomorrow when I try to shoot a more difficult outdoor target, but, it happens here in the house when I try to zoom while shooting, say a wall full of books. But, *this only happens with 720p/60* I have not been able to get the error while zooming and shooting 1080/60i. And...I tried *really hard*. The error just never happens in 1080/60i mode.
So...the "hi reliability" patch has found a home in my GH1 (unless the frequency of interruptions due to 'can't write to memory card' becomes much higher when trying to zoom in 720p/60 while viewing a high frequency scene outdoors 2morrow).
So. Yahooo. I'm happy!
Thanks again for the good advice!
And again, thanks to Vitaliy for enabling all of this experimentation and improvements to the GH1 in the 1st place; and to lpowell for all his work in zeroing in on 'best' settings, and making them so easily to install from ptools.
Cheers.
PS: Any votes on what cured my 'inability to auto focus'? Was it re-upping the lens firmware or was it re-positioning the new lens lever (today was my first attempt to shoot video with that new do-hickey on my camera lens.... Hmmmmmm.
So, as a last resort I re-installed the Lens firmware update. And, though I wish I hadn't changed two things at once, I also re-positioned my my new Lumix DMW-ZL1 zoom lever which arrived in the mail this week. This is a glorified rubber band that allows smoother zooming. It works well *except I may have had one of the flanges that stick out from it interfering with the auto-focus assist lamp?* But...I don't see how that could have influenced my ability to auto-focus, since it was daylight at the ocean when I couldn't auto focus consistently?
So, my guess is that somehow my lens firmware was corrupted, because after re-upping the lens firmware, (and re-positioning the brand new lens-lever strap so that the flange couldn't possibly get in the FOV of the focus-assis lamp), *the problem with auto-focus was entirely gone*. Now, this was with the factory v1.32 camera firmware.
So...as a next test I re-installed the 'hi reliability' hack. And.... *No issues* with auto-focus!!!! Yahoo. But, I do get the message about not being to write to the memory card when I zoom while filming 720p/60 (but not *always* like with the Hi Performance hack.). But, it is nigh time here, so I really can't try to zoom with a high frequency target like a forest of bare trees. So, that test will have to wait until after work 2morrow (if I get home b4 dark).
I really appreciate your communal wisdom and willingness to share. I tried to do my 'homework' by reading this blog till 3 AM last night, so, at least I didn't have to re-iterate a lot of questions about how to install the patches, etc.
I'll let you know how often the 'can't write to memory card' error occurs tomorrow when I try to shoot a more difficult outdoor target, but, it happens here in the house when I try to zoom while shooting, say a wall full of books. But, *this only happens with 720p/60* I have not been able to get the error while zooming and shooting 1080/60i. And...I tried *really hard*.
The error just never happens in 1080/60i mode. So...the "hi reliability" patch has found a home in my GH1 (unless the frequency of interruptions due to 'can't write to memory card' becomes much higher when trying to zoom in 720p/60 while viewing a high frequency scene outdoors 2morrow).
So. Yahooo. I'm happy!
Thanks again for the good advice!
And again, thanks to Vitaliy for enabling all of this experimentation and improvements to the GH1 in the 1st place; and to lpowell for all his work in zeroing in on 'best' settings, and making them so easily to install from ptools.
Cheers.
PS: Any votes on what cured my 'inability to auto focus'? Was it re-upping the lens firmware or was it re-positioning the new lens lever (today was my first attempt to shoot video with that new do-hickey on my camera lens.... Hmmmmmm.
GH1_newguy
Member
Thanks, Rambooc1. I hadn't read your post when I sent mt last update. Duhhhh. I'm wondering if it was just my sheer stupidity of getting a flange from the lens lever in the FOV of the AF assist lamp? Hmmm. But, it seems funny that this would matter in broad daylight? Hmmm.
I just shot a couple clips to show the only remaaining problem I have: too much data when zooming in 720p/60. It won't be art, but, I'll try to find the time to encode the scenes and zooms when the data rate problem arises. Again, this only happens in 720p/60. I try to make it happen with the same scene and even faster zooming in 1080/60i...never happens.
Cheers,
I just shot a couple clips to show the only remaaining problem I have: too much data when zooming in 720p/60. It won't be art, but, I'll try to find the time to encode the scenes and zooms when the data rate problem arises. Again, this only happens in 720p/60. I try to make it happen with the same scene and even faster zooming in 1080/60i...never happens.
Cheers,
rambooc1
Well-known member
I believe it's because the camera is processing 60frames of focus information rather than 30, i had the same issue. lpowell is the man to confirm this, he's done 10 times more testing than i have.