A warning about the hack

A

andyjar

Active member
I've been shooting with the C settings since they were made available. I was lucky enough to not once get a write speed error.

Until today. During a paid shoot. Of a sports event.

For whatever reason, the camera just totally freaks out and locks up when the card isin't fast enough. So it was a pain to try and pop in my faster, class 10 card. Which also game me the same error. So here I am, trying to not move the camera at all, trying to get this football game.

I ended up missing perhaps 40% of the game, and though I haven't heard back from the client, I suspect I will get severely discounted or no pay and almost certainly no repeat business. I, of course, in no way blame anyone here, it's fully my fault and my own incompetence.

So people, don't trust your name on an experimental camera hack. Even if it's never happened before...you just never know.
 
sorry to hear this man....but your signature is PRICELESS at this point....



word to the wise, never go to a paid gig without a backup...especially when 'experimenting' with a hack
 
If you don't mind me asking, what brand was the card?
Also, it's actually common to sometimes get write errors when theirs a lot of stuff going on.
 
AVCHD was meant to run at up to 24mbits. Pushing it higher will always be a risky proposition. Especially on a paid gig without a back up. No matter how fast the card is.
 
I've done a few paid gigs with the gh13, and I would always test out the same type of scenerio to what i'll be doing before hand to make sure everything is good to go. Loooots of testing.
 
without taking risk there would be no where we are now :smile:

i totally agree tho, what a nightmare it crashing during a paid job.

i heard somebody say always carry a spare SD card with 100% stable settings on it so you can flash the firmware out in the field.
makes sense if you have a spare fully charged battery too, as running the hack needs the 3 bars to be full before it lets you run it :smile:
 
I've managed to crash c-settings once with shutter 500 on crazy fooliage. So you probably had some major detail going on... anyhow, if you actually shoot paid work with this camera as primary... for the love of god, bring a REAL product with you aswell... this hacking will ALWAYS be experimental... also, card speed has nothing to do with it crashing, C10 is fast enough, it's either a firmware limitation or a hardware one
 
I use a hacked GH1 for paid shoots all the time- but only on the 'perfect' setting, which offers mild improvement with total stability. That this isn't always reliable is well documented, but a reminder with a painful example is always helpful to others.
 
Maybe someone who knows the 'backup' settings to carry on that back-up card would be kind enough to post the settings for the 'stable' settings?
 
Lake Films said:
Maybe someone who knows the 'backup' settings to carry on that back-up card would be kind enough to post the settings for the 'stable' settings?
Click to expand...

I would think the original settings would be the best if something like this were to occur.....
 
I carry an old 512Mb CF card with very basic settings on it...so if I get a total lock-up I can drop back to something workable by loading them off this card. I can then pop it out to carry on with my main card.
Haven't had to do it yet ...but LPowell's 'fast action' settings fail on my Sandisk Extreme...so I know that it's a bit of a risk working with settings that others find OK!
 
Best is to have a backup body should the first one fail. I've been doing this with the Canons ever since I started to shoot pro work with them. But they have always worked fine.

To have an original FW on a spare card is probably the next best solution.
 
I can easily get crashes with C settings on my Class 4 (yes you heard me) SanDisk Ultra II cards if I am shooting 720/60p with proper shutter speeds (1/50th and lower cause no problems for obvious reasons.) I typically shoot 1080p so it's been a non-issue but I plan to pick up some faster cards soon and see if that helps.
 
We've been shooting interviews on the GH13 alongside our EX1r (where we're also running the audio). GH13 with the Zeiss glass looks much nicer, but we too have lost shots on the GH13, and that EX1 backup saved us. While in love with the look, we don't trust the camera!
 
Cosimo Bullo said:
We've been shooting interviews on the GH13 alongside our EX1r (where we're also running the audio). GH13 with the Zeiss glass looks much nicer, but we too have lost shots on the GH13, and that EX1 backup saved us. While in love with the look, we don't trust the camera!
Click to expand...

I am curious as to why everyone is pushing the codec limit so much when there are errors like this happening? Why not just back off the limit a bit and not have any errors...

I limited the bitrate to 35mbps without progressive and I have never had an error with my class 6 card (except Pappas' second star chart). I shoot tons of foliage and high detailed scenes with the kit lens which is pretty sharp. Never had a problem.... 35 mbps is still pretty good :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top