GH13 GH1 Newbie Hacking Video

G

gh1x

New member
I was recently recommended to this forum. Great stuff!

Recently I’ve become more interested in video and photography. I’m
seriously considering purchasing the Panasonic GH1. My primary reasons
for wanting this particular camera are great video quality,
portability, and price. I’ve been searching on eBay and I’m able to
get a GH1, body only, between $400-$430. These are also the hackable
versions of the camera.

I would like to get the GH2 but it’s almost twice as much as the GH1.
I am very impressed with the quality of the video on the GH1,
especially after the hack. Because I am relatively new to the world of
video and photography there is a lot I don't know about. I’m a rather
quick learner but there is so much to know. I’m particularly hesitant
of installing custom firmware. I’m assuming that it is fairly
straightforward but I don’t want to ruin the camera.

I was wondering if I might be able to turn to this forum for advice? I have
bunches of questions.

I would like to do a documentary style video which is also part of the reason for wanting
this camera. It’s going to be a challenge because I have extreme
limited physical mobility. I’m unable to physically hold a camera but
I’m determined to find a way to accomplish this goal.
 
B&H has the camera as of last night, still at $399 and they are an authorized dealer, so the warranty is easiest to access.

As far as hacking, the first time you do it, it's scary. Once you see you didn't break the camera, after that it's easy as pie. The key is to have a fully charged battery so the camera has plenty of power during the installation of the hack. There is a thread of step by step instructions under the section devoted to the GH1 hack.

The GH1 is a great place to learn. There's lots to learn and when you are proficient you can upgrade to the latest and greatest at that time.

As far as holding the camera, it is more advisable to mount it on a tripod, regardless of your physical ability, because a tripod gives a solid base to shoot from.

Welcome to the forums and welcome to the world of GH cams !!!
 
Thank you for the warm greeting and information. I will check out the B&H website shortly.

Here are some questions.

Do any of the hacks limit or alter the functionality of the camera?

Once firmware is installed is it permanent or can the camera refer back to the preinstalled firmware?

Obviously one of the main reasons for hacking this camera is to get higher bit rates while recording video. Does this recording of higher bit rates cause the camera to overheat or get uncomfortably hot?
 
Hack the good thing to make it even better!

Hack the good thing to make it even better!

gh1x said:
Do any of the hacks limit or alter the functionality of the camera?

Once firmware is installed is it permanent or can the camera refer back to the preinstalled firmware?

Obviously one of the main reasons for hacking this camera is to get higher bit rates while recording video. Does this recording of higher bit rates cause the camera to overheat or get uncomfortably hot?
Click to expand...

I haven't seen reports of overheating, so you shouldn't worry about that.

What the hacks primarily do is increase the available bitrate to write the image information with, i.e. increase the video quality (or decrease the loss of quality due to less compression).

As long as upgrading doesn't go wrong, you can't go wrong yourself.

Hacking the camera in itself isn't different from just applying new firmware.
Applying an official firmware upgrade is "just as" scary. The same could go wrong (power failure, but avoidable by using a fully charged battery).

When you check the Version Compare option in PTool, you will never have a problem applying another firmware version after that.
 
We are absolute non-geeks and we hacked our GH1's perfectly on our very first try. Yes, it is a bit nerve-wracking the first time, but its a heck of a lot of fun when you see the results. The forums here are a gold mine of information -- my advice is read, read, and read some more. I check this forum a couple of times a day, and will probably move to the Blackout-Powell 100 meg patch soon.
As for the original firmware, you can go back to that if you want to (trust me -- you won't) but you will have to give it a new, higher number.
 
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I really appreciate all of the feedback.

Since I'm only going to be purchasing the body of the camera obviously I'm going to need to get a lens. Is there a starter lens that anyone would recommend? Also I was thinking about purchasing a fixed focal length lens. Should I purchase a fixed focal length lens that Panasonic makes or could I get a fixed focal length lens from another company such as Nikon? I know that I will not be able to zoom with these lenses but I like the depth of field they produce.
 
I also forgot to ask about the advantages of the GH1 to a higher-end consumer camcorder? Would I get any better quality with a GH1 then a camcorder? Any less quality?
 
I am sure you have gone online and looked at the various samples from the GH1 and other cameras. What a higher end consumer camcorder is going to give you is very good and very predictable quality. The unhacked GH1 in Intelligent Auto mode will do the same. Where they grow miles apart is the options the GH1 affords you to get the footage you have seen that made you go "WOW!". The consumer camcorder is never going to give that level or quality of footage. The upside of using a consumer camcorder is you point it and set the zoom and hit record and it just does it's thing. Think of it this way. Consumer camcorder = User Friendly..... GH1 = PRO model. The downside of the GH1 is if you select the wrong collection of settings, your footage comes out looking like crap. When you have learned and know how to work the GH1 it is capable of so much more than the consumer camcorder will ever be. The learning curve on the consumer camcorder is about 15 minutes tops. The learning curve on the GH1, if you are completely new, it's a ton of time.
 
I forgot, you asked about lenses too.

Panasonic makes three different "micro 4/3" normal zoom lenses that will work on the GH1. They are the 14-42, the 14-45 and the original "kit" lens that used to come with every GH1, the 14-140. All three are good. The 14-45 is better than the 14-42 and the 14-140 is the best of the bunch. You often can find nice used lenses here on the gear for sale section. Costs of used ones run from about $150 for the 14-42, to around $250ish for the 14-45 and around $600 for the 14-140. Along with those there is a 20mm "pancake" lens which is an f1.7 and is superb in low light but is not a zoom. That lens I saw B&H gave a discount on, if you bought it when you bought a new GH1 from them.
 
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As for lenses, a lot depends on what you are wanting to do -- we are playing around with some experimental projects that require a quick turn-time and have no revenue streams in sight, so our goal has been to build up a multi-camera cine capability with the smallest investment possible. We bought bodies only, and make use of a collection of old non-ai Nikkors that we have built up over the years. They are gorgeous (and for the most part very fast) chuncks of glass, but they do not communicate with the camera in any way. Although getting good exposure is fairly easy, getting perfect exposure can be tricky if you are not careful. Exact focus can be a bit dicey as well -- I double-checked on a fairly simple shoot last week and still managed to miss focus just a little bit. 'Beats me how.....
So -- if you think you might want some 'help' from your camera, spend the bucks and get a lens that can take advantage of the auto functions available. For the same money, you can get a collection of really nice lenses that will let in a lot more light, but you'll really have to pay attention to what you are doing...
 
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One thought regarding getting the camera back to its native state after the hack could be that if you buy a new camera from B&H or other place with firmware version 1.34, then there is no way to go back to that 'original' version because an original 1.34 is not available for download. I do not know hacking with version compare checked first and then patching with firmware renamed to 1.34 does the trick.

If you send it for service, will they honor the warranty it if they see the firmware version? Given the serial number, wont they expect to see version 1.34 on the camera? Just a food for thought.

This is not to scare you against the hack, because functionally no proven evidence exist that shows any difference between 1.34 and 1.32 but for the hack resisting features, AFAIK. The benefits of hack are plenty for video, I would risk the warranty to get it anyway.
 
The experiences of previously hacked cameras sent in for warranty has been they were repaired and came back with the updated version 1.34 and then were unhackable.

I would guess this will be the continued policy, unless the failure could be attributed directly to the hack. I doubt that will happen as I have not heard of any hack related failures, but lots of strap lugs and other mechanical/quality control issues that should be repaired, hacked or not.
 
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