New GH1 firmware... June 22nd.

is this firmware safe to put on a US GH1? (as I see its on the japanese site) and has anyone seen any new/improved features?
 
is this firmware safe to put on a US GH1?
Click to expand...

After the firmware I would be worried about turning the camera on and having it explode in my face after I put cheapo batteries to save a few bucks. Otherwise I say it should be safe to upgrade.
 
i think im gonna wait for the time being, want to see if there's any other "hidden features" than the listed faster burst speed and slower shutter. i don't want to kill my ability to use 3rd party batteries unless it drastically improves the cam
 
Maybe we can set the framerate to 12 fps and use it as a webcam! I bet they added this to help youtube users look authentic.
 
Copy/pasted:


  1. Burst speed has become faster.
    Only when the [BURST RATE] in the [REC] mode menu is set to [H], Burst speed was increased from 3 pictures/second to 3.5 pictures/second.
  2. Shutter speed slower than 1/30 sec. (up to 1/2 sec.) has now become available in the Creative Motion Picture mode [
    icon_01.gif
    ].
    Only when the [EXPOSURE MODE] in the [MOTION PICTURE] mode menu is set to [M], and the focus mode dial is set to [MF].
    Please note that the shutter speed slower than 1/30 sec. can not be set, when the [REC MODE] in the [MOTION PICTURE] mode menu is set to [AVCHD]([
    icon_02.gif
    ]), and [REC QUALITY] is set to [FHD]([
    icon_03.gif
    ]).
    < A brief leaflet for the specification update. >
  3. Improved the stability of AF(Auto Focus) in Motion Picture recording.
  4. Improved the stability of [AFC] operation in Focus mode.
  5. Improved the performance of AWB (Auto White Balance).
  6. Improved the S/N figure for the pictures taken with slow shutter speed.
  7. Fixed the instability of operation when the lens is retracted into its barrel, using Olympus Imaging Corporation's M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 lens.
  8. Fixed the instability of operation, using Olympus Imaging Corporation's M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17mm f2.8 lens.
  9. Improved the battery identification to assure the safety standards Panasonic uses for our customer's safety.
    [ Warning ]
    After this firmware update your Panasonic Digital Camera cannot be operated by 3rd party batteries (non genuine Panasonic batteries).
    < Important Notice for non genuine Panasonic or 3rd party battery packs(Recommendation for Use of Genuine Panasonic Battery Pack) >
Lens 14-140:


  1. Improved the operation of O.I.S. in Motion Picture recording.
  2. Fixed the instability of operation with Olympus Imaging Corporation's E-P1 camera body.
 
I just updated my U.S. model. Everything went fine. I don't notice any difference in video mud: looks the same to me and I still find 1080 (FHD) completely unusable for any type of panning. I'll stick with 720p (SH) until/if Panasonic fixes the 1080 mode.

I do notice a difference with image stabilization in video mode. It seems to be a little less jumpy. So far, that's all I've noticed.

Mike
 
Just updated. Turned on the camera with my third party battery in it. The screen shows THIS BATTERY CANNOT BE USED and camera turns itself off. This is so not cool.

image stabilization seems to be better as mike mentioned above though.
 
Well well well.

I am starting to get a little naffed off with Panasonic, to say the least.

The GH1 remains an incredibly exciting, advanced, quality, good value product but their subsequent handling of the 'mud' issue and firmware update is awful.

It is a great let down that the update does not fix the obvious image quality issues, which I expect are so damaging sales as much as some of the great footage increases sales.

I feel Panasonic owe us all a debt, for being early adopters and for shooting great footage that encourages people to buy the GH1. I for one would not have bought the camera had it not for seeing what it's capable off in good hands, Philip Bloom in particular.

The lack of a proper fix or even an acknowledgement of customer requests let alone requests from seasoned pros, the deathening silence, the rediculous stance over third party batteries and the locked down Japanese language - reflects very badly on Panasonic.

I know they have a business to run here, but in my opinion if they listened to their customer, lifted the silly restrictions on batteries & langauges, they'd have sold a great deal more cameras.

I also think the business ethics of blocking out third party accessory manufacturers is a little shady - anti competative, and the Japanese menu issue discrimantory.

What if you live in Japan, only speak English, and want to buy a GH1. Panasonic is discriminating against genuine customers in a lame attempt to stop black market trade.

The mark up on the UK & USA models, indeed any model outside their domestic region is ridiculous anyway. I know marketing is more expensive and Panasonic's staff wages have to be higher in places like the UK (London), and there are issues with currencies but for heavens sake - last year the Yen was 200 against £1, making the GH1 cost roughly £550 at 2008 prices, yet last year camera prices in the UK were still too high and Panasonic were making a bomb from us.

I'm officially hacked off with it all. :undecided
 
Email sent. I really dislike their anti-competative stance and the language issue.

Anyway, moving onto some fun stuff... tonight I'm going to be comparing a brand new GH1 with my 3 week old one and see one has greater banding than the other...see if it needs breaking in a bit like a pair of new shoes :cheesy:

Oh and comparison between v1.1 firmware and the original firmware should be interesting - the MJPEG slow shutter speeds are kinda appealing - 1/24 instead of 1/30 should give a welcome low light boost and I can't understand (other than AF issues) why it wasn't there all along. Maybe the GH1 needs to bin frames in AVCHD mode.

No AF in slow shutter modes - I know it will be sluggish but couldn't they just have kept it as an option?

EDIT: This is somewhat lazy of me to have to ask before trying it myself but when it comes to updating the Japanese model with this latest Firmware, through the link on DPReview.com, has anyone actually done this on a Japanese model without problems?? UK Panasonic Firmware download on a Japanese camera - is that a risk??
 
Just for another viewpoint...

BATTERY: I don't know what they're thinking with the third party battery thing: can't say I agree with that unless it really does pose some sort of fire hazard. Doesn't affect me anyway so I can't say I'm really peeved.

MUD: As far as I'm concerned, the GH1 is a 720p camera when it comes to video. I find 720p, both AVCHD and MPEG, to be exceptional so I have no problem using the camera in that mode. The 1080 mode is completely unusable for me, so I wait and hope that Panasonic can fix the 1080 video mode.

BANDING: I do see banding in a handful of shots, mostly underexposed shots that have been "pushed" or long exposure shots. Hopefully Panasonic can improve or eliminate the banding but to be honest, every dSLR I've ever owned has had that problem to some degree. I don't see it as a showstopper.

FIRMWARE: I'm very pleased with Panasonic on this latest firmware. It took Canon months to release a firmware for the 5D2 that would simply allow aperture control on video. Panasonic has released some nice goodies in this firmware before the camera really has firm feet in sales/distribution! I say way to go Panasonic!

I think the 1080 AVCHD mud issue is going to be difficult to fix. In fact, I'm hoping they CAN fix it at all! I wouldn't expect firmware for that to come out so soon. As good as 720p looks, even that isn't a show stopper for me. I've owned dozens of dSLR's in my business, the last two being a Nikon D300 and Canon 5D Mark II and I can honestly say, the GH1 blows every other dSLR away for usability and consistency. Does the GH1 have the lowest noise? No. Does it have the most pixels? No. Does it have shallow DOF like the 5D2? No. But I get consistently better photos with the GH1 than I ever have with any other dSLR. When I'm doing macros and I focus on the stem of a flower, I know that's what will be in focus in the final photo. With other dSLR's, you never know. Did the lens really focus perfectly? You don't know. The camera doesn't even know. It takes a wild-arse-guess at where focus should be, tells the lens to go there, and hopes for the best. The GH1 can actually confirm focus and you get perfect focus every time. With any other dSLR, people will tell you "just send the camera and lens back to the manufacturer to have them "calibrated". Yeah. And while I'm at it let me put a manual choke on my car! Great solution! Never have to worry about body/lens match with the G1 or GH1. And with the main sensor able to see the world, you get better metering, better WB, and a lot of other stuff.

So no complaints here. Just hopes for better 1080 video.

Mike
 
I think we should keep in mind that a firmare version can't be cooked up quickly. Knowing how software development works, this firmware 1.1 would've been entering QA around the time we all started pushing for a fix to the mud. You can't introduce new features or changes at that point in development, especially for a mass market consumer product that needs very extensive testing.

I would say that this firmware relese was probably planned well before the camera itself was released. Any customer issues that have been found since the release of the camera will probably be dealt with in subsequent updates, if at all.

Chances are they are looking into the mud issue but don't want to say anything unless they can implement a fix that is market-ready, otherwise they will get worse backlash when the fix never comes than they would if they never said anythign on the topic.

We will have a better idea of how they are treating this issue in the next update. Until then we shouldn't get too frustrated with Panny. Remember, most markets don't even have the camera widely available yet.
 
My guess is that they knew about the mud issue long before the camera was released. It's so obvious and easy to find that I can't imagine they overlooked it. Further, to be honest, I give it only a 50/50 chance that it is even possible to fix with the existing model/hardware. They likely let it go out like that because there wasn't much they could do about it. The current video processing hardware simply might not be up to the task of 1080p. Now let's hope I'm wrong!

Mike
 
Mike, seems like 720/60p is actually as taxing on hardware as the 1080/60i, and more taxing than 1080/24p. The HVX book talks about why. It's all about temporal resolution. At 1080/60i you're shooting sixty, half frames, of 1080i per second. 1080 is roughly twice the resolution of 720, slightly more, but at 60i vs 60p you're shooting twice as much data per second, temporally, at 60p, which means at 720/60p and 1080/60i you're basically doing the same thing, and I think the hardware would probably be taxed about as much for either...in fact thats why some crappier cards are choking on 720/60p, the higher temporal resolution, which is a factor in how fast you write it.

I might have been wrong on some specifics in there, but I am pretty sure the gist of it is correct.

So in the end what does this mean? Well it means if we say the camera is maxed out at 1080/60i at 17megabit per second, and if we assume that video hardware handles all everything the same way, meaning save some speed there, get some speed somewhere else, which it probably doesn't, here's what I predict:

The solution to adding a higher bitrate to 1080, assuming the hardware is maxed-out, is to add a mode for 1080/24p...not 1080i/24p which it currently has, which is 24p in a 60i wrapper (or the other way around, probably...60i wrapped in 24p). At 1080/60i the camera is shooting...well...1920x1080x30 pixels per second=that's 62,208,000 per second. At 1080/24p it's shooting 49,766,400 pixels per second, which is 20% less...which theoretically means you could shoot at a 20% higher bitrate, or, 20.4 megabit.


This is assuming the hardware works that way, assuming it is maxed out, and assuming I am correct, and I think all of those have about a 50/50 chance of being true.

Look in the end I'd say the hardware probably isn't maxed out, I'd say it's a temporary measure to protect sales of their high end video equipment...I bet when the HMC-150 gets a higher bitrate, or the HMC-150a comes out, as I'd expect they already did push a video camera to the limits of its hardware, we'll get our firmware update.

In the meantime I'll be shooting a mix of the two formats, one for long, low movement shots, and closeups, and one for anything else.
 
Ben_B said:
Mike, seems like 720/60p is actually as taxing on hardware as the 1080/60i, and more taxing than 1080/24p. The HVX book talks about why. It's all about temporal resolution. At 1080/60i you're shooting sixty, half frames, of 1080i per second. 1080 is roughly twice the resolution of 720, slightly more, but at 60i vs 60p you're shooting twice as much data per second, temporally, at 60p, which means at 720/60p and 1080/60i you're basically doing the same thing, and I think the hardware would probably be taxed about as much for either...in fact thats why some crappier cards are choking on 720/60p, the higher temporal resolution, which is a factor in how fast you write it.
Click to expand...

From a purely bit rate standpoint, I'd agree. Unfortunately that's not all that is going on in the pipeline. The fact that 1080 video uses more pixels on the sensor means that other operations may be involved in the mud (other than just compression). They claim sensor output is 24p. Why didn't they just give us 24p in the AVCHD file then? There must be some limitation. Is the hardware up to the task of taking 24p video, interlacing it, and creating a 24p --> 60i pulldown fast enough? There could be other factors involved.

Mike
 
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