GH2 DO NOT POST SEPARATE THREADS: GH2 Hack | Questions and Answers Thread

SPZ said:
Hi all,

I was looking into purchasing a GH2 but more interesting for my kind of usage looks to be the GX-1:

http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/gx1/index.html

It has the perfect form factor for my urban photography- non intrusive small form factor- and seems to actually be a GH2 in a small form factor without the limitations of the GF series. Vitaly or other forum members familiar with the hack, do you think this is workable for this model? It looks like it has native 25P, which is great for pal users. Seems like its limited to 30p for NTSC, though. But its full HD...

In video, this would be an excellent camera for those no permit shots or POV shots! And if it has the potential of the GH2 in video, it can be the ultimate and first ever guerrilla pocket cinema camera...

What do you think?
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I was looking at this for video, I was really expecting it would shoot 1080p 60fps but it doesn't. Makes me wonder it the new GH3 will.
 
brunerww said:
Nothing wrong with the GH2 for street photography with a pancake lens. I'm a big fan of Mike Kobal's - and he has done some good work with the GH2 on the street. Example here: http://www.mikekobal.com/blog/?p=1630#more-1630

You can get one with the 14-42 lens for $799.95 from Unique Photo, sell the lens and you'll have a GH2 body for about the same price as a GX1 - and it's hackable!


Bill
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Yes Bill, I know I can do great with a GH2- I'm a big fan of panasonic Still cameras, I own the LC1 and the L1 and sincerely, with the leica summilux 25 and the standard zoom of the L1, I got pictures that I like more than the ones taken with the 7D with comparable focal length L glass!- but I wanted one that could substitute my G10 "stealth" Canon. Never liked the GF cams, but this one looks like a spiritual successor in philosophy to my LC and L camera, so am very tempted to go that route... If it had the video hack, it would be an absolute no brainer! I'm probably getting one anyway, I just love the look and feel of the GX, it should always go with me- but if it had the GH2 hacked video performance...
 
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Question.. this might be easier to just get a simple answer to than trying to dig for it.

If I was interested in hacking my GH2, and my purpose is feature films whats going to the be the biggest "bang for my buck?"
 
I just purchased a GH2 today and been spending a few hours trying to learn about the hacks (way too much to comprehend in a day)

I'm sure this is a very simple answer but what does "spanning" mean in relation to these hacks?

Also just a side question...
I'm trying to do my homework and it seems like the sandisk 95MB/sec SDXC cards are the way to go to avoid issues but are these
cards total overkill and there are better options at not quite so high of a cost?
Thanks guys.
 
Rippie said:
what does "spanning" mean in relation to these hacks?
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SD memory cards are formatted as FAT32 partitions which have a maximum single file size of 4 GB. "Spanning" means that the camera can write a long video recording to the card as multiple 4 GB file segments, which can be reconstructed back in to a single file on your computer's hard-drive by using the meta-data that is also written to the SD memory card.

If the SD memory card is not fast enough to support "spanning" then your video clip is forced to stop recording at the 4 GB mark, which for the 176 Mbit / sec hacks this works out to roughly the 4 minute mark. ( so no take longer than 4 minutes with a SD card that DOES NOT "span" )

Rippie said:
it seems like the sandisk 95MB/sec SDXC cards are the way to go to avoid issues but are these cards total overkill and there are better options at not quite so high of a cost?
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Yes, they might be over-kill in many instances, but you also have to think about longevity. The faster the card the more "future-proof" it will be as long as the memory card standard does not change.

You can also buy smaller Sandisk 95 MB/sec cards, the 8 GB costs about $31, though I don't know if these will span with the ultra high bit-rate patches. Has anyone tested an 8 GB 95/MB sec Sandisk card to see if it will span ?
 
few more questions.. where is the 176mb hack and has anyone used other less expensive cards with success?
 
Kholi said:
30mb/s 16GB Sandisk Cards, but you can't span with them.
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I can't remember the last time I rolled on a single take of a shot for more than 4 minutes. I could see it being an issue for documentaries or other event type photography.. but for narrative (which is exclusively what I do.) I don't know of any times where I'd shoot over 4 minutes of footage in a single take.. alot of times, thats all I'd get in several hours of shooting lol.
 
Azmyth said:
I can't remember the last time I rolled on a single take of a shot for more than 4 minutes. I could see it being an issue for documentaries or other event type photography.. but for narrative (which is exclusively what I do.) I don't know of any times where I'd shoot over 4 minutes of footage in a single take.. alot of times, thats all I'd get in several hours of shooting lol.
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I didn't think so either, but I actually do roll longer than 4 minutes on master's and sometimes longer dialogue scenes.
 
Kholi said:
I didn't think so either, but I actually do roll longer than 4 minutes on master's and sometimes longer dialogue scenes.
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Yea I forget which BluRay commentary I was listening to, but some Director was talking about how he doesn't like to cut in between takes and just keeps rolling for the full 12 minutes as it keeps the actor's on their feet.
 
Cory Braun said:
Yea I forget which BluRay commentary I was listening to, but some Director was talking about how he doesn't like to cut in between takes and just keeps rolling for the full 12 minutes as it keeps the actor's on their feet.
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People say it's sloppy, and to be honest it IS KINDA sloppy, but I personally don't like to chop my master's up like that, nor do I like doing it when I've got people going through three to four pages of scene in one space.

Might as well cover my booty and get two big cards.
 
I can see that. I was just going off personal experience. I think we had one shot in the entire feature that would have been longer than a 4 minute take.. YMMV of course. Is there a middle ground hack?
 
I hope this hasn't been asked (I'm sure it has somewhere) but if I wanted to place a few different firmwares on their own cards
do I have to concern myself with any particular class SD card for these purposes?
Example, can I buy class 2-4-etc and be ok with that?

How long does upgrading the firmware take on average? Just curious if it's feasible to change it out in the field.

Thanks for the prior answers and these.
 
Rippie said:
if I wanted to place a few different firmwares on their own cards do I have to concern myself with any particular class SD card for these purposes?
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I don't think card speed makes any difference when changing the firmware, so any card that meets the GH-2 spec should be fine.

You do need to use a fully changed battery to change the firmware, and one person managed to "brick" their GH-2 by using a 3rd party battery that died during the firmware process, so I would only use Panasonic batteries for this task.
 
Out of curiosity and since the V1.1 hack looks like it's taking longer than suspected, are any of you guys reverting back to 1.0 so you can use the hacks?
 
Rippie said:
I hope this hasn't been asked (I'm sure it has somewhere) but if I wanted to place a few different firmwares on their own cards
do I have to concern myself with any particular class SD card for these purposes?
Example, can I buy class 2-4-etc and be ok with that?

How long does upgrading the firmware take on average? Just curious if it's feasible to change it out in the field.

Thanks for the prior answers and these.
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It takes about 1-2 minutes. I use multiple old 1 gb cards I had lying around, each loaded with their own firmware. Just be sure to make them all have different ver numbers for the firmware file, for instance one is named GH2__V13.bin and that is my driftwood Qv2 and another is GH2__V18.bin which is my SpanMyBitchUp. The numbers don't have to be sequential, only different from what's currently loaded. (I don't know if there's a limit to the numbering, but I've loaded up to #18 so far) ?

I haven't done the 1.1 yet but I know you can go back to 1.0 and it's necessary to have the 1.0 in order to load any of the patches anyway.
 
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