GH2 Comparable "Neutral" Mode picture style for Panasonic Gh2?

J

J.F.R.

Carbonite Member
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
 
Smooth is a great place to start with -2(Contrast),-2(Sharpness),0(Color)(or -2 if you really want neutral colors),-2(Noise Reduction).

24H = 1080p @ 24 FPS
HBR = 1080p @ 30 FPS
SH = 720p @ 60 FPS High Bit Rate
H = 720p @ 60 FPS Lower Bit Rate

If you put it in any movie mode and it shows more than 10 minutes of possible recording time per 8 gigs of memory card then you haven't hacked it yet.

These videos can help you in setting up the GH2




 
Thanks a lot!!
My 32gb card says it only has 43 mins of record time, so I'm assuming it's hacked? Coming from Canon and using a hack called 'Magic Lantern' the menus were totally different and gave several options. So to my understanding then is the hack leaves the menu system alone and the difference will simply be in your footage?
Once again thank you for all of the videos you posted as it is very helpful. I have been shooting on Canon for like 3+ years and just making the switch now due to being so impressed with the Gh2 Hacked footage, plus I finally wanted to be able to have nice wide shots without so much aliasing and moire.
thanks
 
J.F.R. said:
Thanks a lot!!
My 32gb card says it only has 43 mins of record time, so I'm assuming it's hacked? Coming from Canon and using a hack called 'Magic Lantern' the menus were totally different and gave several options. So to my understanding then is the hack leaves the menu system alone and the difference will simply be in your footage?
Once again thank you for all of the videos you posted as it is very helpful. I have been shooting on Canon for like 3+ years and just making the switch now due to being so impressed with the Gh2 Hacked footage, plus I finally wanted to be able to have nice wide shots without so much aliasing and moire.
thanks
Click to expand...

Did your card have anything on it at the time? You must have been in H mode. However, it sounds like you have the hack installed correctly. There are a few menu changes but they aren't as easy to describe.

Have fun with the GH2. It is a great camera(Even in stock form :)). However, when the hack is used correctly it simply becomes the best video camera available today. It will be surpassed by the GH3 next month but it doesn't mean that the GH2 will get any worse.
 
mpgxsvcd said:
Did your card have anything on it at the time? You must have been in H mode. However, it sounds like you have the hack installed correctly. There are a few menu changes but they aren't as easy to describe.

Have fun with the GH2. It is a great camera(Even in stock form :)). However, when the hack is used correctly it simply becomes the best video camera available today. It will be surpassed by the GH3 next month but it doesn't mean that the GH2 will get any worse.
Click to expand...


Newly formatted card, so nothing on it. Also yes I am in 24H mode, just wanted to know how exactly do I know if I'm using the hack? Maybe that's a question for the creator? Regardless thank you and it's time for some more reading.... I have a shoot next week so I need to get this right.
 
If you didn't install a hack from your SD card, you are not using a hacked camera. You would be using a camera with optimized settings and still using a low bit rate.
 
Heartfelt said:
If you didn't install a hack from your SD card, you are not using a hacked camera. You would be using a camera with optimized settings and still using a low bit rate.
Click to expand...

I did all of the proper steps and created the file hack on my computer, which was then placed on the root directory of my card. I started the camera up and loaded the 1.1 firmware which I believe had the hack on it? Took a couple of minutes to update and started using the camera. Problem is how in the world do I even know that I applied the hack? I see no different menu or anything stating so. What am I supposed to be looking for?

My main reason to purchase this camera was to apply the hack and never look back, but I'm just trying to get past this stage so I can get to work. I really do not want to use my Canon anymore, but right now the GH2 is overwhelming me and it seems like no where online there is a proper step by step instructions on how to do this on a Mac. I contacted the creator of the Hack (flowmotion) and was just directed somewhere else because he uses a PC and as of now could not help me.....

Is there anyone in the world who uses a MAC and has their GH2 hacked?

Please Help...
 
J.F.R. said:
Newly formatted card, so nothing on it. Also yes I am in 24H mode, just wanted to know how exactly do I know if I'm using the hack? Maybe that's a question for the creator? Regardless thank you and it's time for some more reading.... I have a shoot next week so I need to get this right.
Click to expand...

Yes. If that is in 24H mode then 43 minutes sounds more like stock bit rate. I would retry the steps to install Lpowell's settings.
 
J.F.R. said:
I did all of the proper steps and created the file hack on my computer, which was then placed on the root directory of my card. I started the camera up and loaded the 1.1 firmware which I believe had the hack on it? Took a couple of minutes to update and started using the camera. Problem is how in the world do I even know that I applied the hack? I see no different menu or anything stating so. What am I supposed to be looking for?

My main reason to purchase this camera was to apply the hack and never look back, but I'm just trying to get past this stage so I can get to work. I really do not want to use my Canon anymore, but right now the GH2 is overwhelming me and it seems like no where online there is a proper step by step instructions on how to do this on a Mac. I contacted the creator of the Hack (flowmotion) and was just directed somewhere else because he uses a PC and as of now could not help me.....

Is there anyone in the world who uses a MAC and has their GH2 hacked?

Please Help...
Click to expand...

Do you have a work computer or a Neighbor that has a PC? I know it can be done on a Mac but I haven't tried it before. It just takes a second on a PC.
 
mpgxsvcd said:
Do you have a work computer or a Neighbor that has a PC? I know it can be done on a Mac but I haven't tried it before. It just takes a second on a PC.
Click to expand...

So through lack of sleep, and being really frustrated (apologized) I actually went out and borrowed a family members laptop. The problem now with that is, it does not have a memory card reader like my mac does. Without a sdhc card reader there is no way (at least that I know of) to even apply the hack to the card since I can;t get it on a computer. Any suggestions, or do I have to go buy a memory card reader?

thanks
 
J.F.R. said:
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
Click to expand...
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.
 
flinty said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
flinty said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
mpgxsvcd said:
However, when the hack is used correctly it simply becomes the best video camera available today.
Click to expand...
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!
 
nigelbb said:
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!
Click to expand...

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.
 
nigelbb said:
...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?
Click to expand...
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.
 
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