GH2 Unhacked GH2- how is the quality?
- Thread starter GarageBoy
- Start date
pulpfiction007
Veteran
I had the GH1 and even that was pretty good quality straight up. The GH2 improved upon the GH1 codec and 24P mode right out of the box. The hack essentially frees you from codec problems, such as picture break up during motion with lots of detail present.
Still though, even unhacked... the GH cameras are capable of beautiful images.
http://vimeo.com/17062701
Still though, even unhacked... the GH cameras are capable of beautiful images.
http://vimeo.com/17062701
Stock bitrate is very good. The higher bitrates gain post-production flexibility to raise shadow levels, somewhat reduce noise artifacting, and retain fine motion details (leaves, water ripples, cat fur - why you see so many of these in tests). In, say, a lit talking head, I've used stock24 routinely without complaint.
Ryan Farnes
Well-known member
The hacked stuff is much cleaner all around. Obviously, you boost the bit rate, you get more detail and less compression artifacts.
There are some comparisons here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...-Motion-v2-Patch-Banding-amp-Blocking-Be-Gone!
I don't doubt that the stock settings are adequate for some stuff or depending on needs. The hacked footage is truly beautiful and clear though.
There are some comparisons here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...-Motion-v2-Patch-Banding-amp-Blocking-Be-Gone!
I don't doubt that the stock settings are adequate for some stuff or depending on needs. The hacked footage is truly beautiful and clear though.
You'd be far better off using the g6 unhacked as there are many comparisons that say it equals the gh2 running a lower bitrate hack. I don't know why someone would pay the premium price of a used gh2..... and then not hack it. Doesn't make sense. You can buy a g6 for just about what a used gh2 goes for. And you get alot of extra options with the g6 !
What I would say about the unhacked GH2 is that it had video that was better than any other video DSLR that was available during the entire time that Panasonic was manufacturing the GH2. At least as far as I know and in my opinion. There are still very few DSLR-type cameras that beat it, and most of them are the newer Panasonic models. See Andrew Reid's image quality rankings that he just posted recently. I never hacked mine, but it was stolen before I really had a chance and reason to do so.