Latest GH2 hack unlocks stunning ISO 12,800 with film-like grain

[Andrew Reid]

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[url="http://www.eoshd.com/gh2-guide-book"]Go deeper into the GH2 with the 164 page EOSHD GH2 Shooter’s Guide[/url]

Vitaliy Kiselev revealed his latest version 3.63 GH2 hack yesterday. In it is a innocuous patch that removes the ISO limit (3200) in video mode allowing us to go all the way to ISO 12,800. Now at first I didn’t think much to this, since the image would be unusable at ISO 12,800 right?

Well it turns out I was wrong.

“Seeing in the dark is an understatement, it is like having Infra Red!” was overheard on Vitaliy’s forum so I went out in a hurry to test it and recorded the footage above at ISO 12,800. What I found amazed me. The amount of detail still present in the image is just astounding. No noise reduction is applied to the footage, and it is turned off in-camera. Not only that but noise has a very fine film-like grain because of the accompanying high bitrate hack. The look of the noise is similar to the Nikon D3S’s video mode at high ISOs but with far more resolution. It doesn’t look like digital noise, it is more like 8mm film at ISO 800.

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[Guest Perry Morris Jr.]

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OMG! Wow! Is all I can say, and I must also say Andrew that this B&W video with the Quentin Tarantino theme is really incredible! The GH2 is gonna satisfy many of us for a few years until the new generation HD settles. I would bet to see a cinematic feature on the market shot on the GH2 by next year!

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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Honestly this camera is hitting its stride so much lately it has all but cured my gear upgrade fetish. GH3, 1D X? Pah. Just let me shoot with the hack. It is incredible.

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[Guest Sandro]

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with colors is unwatchable?

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[Guest lucasferreira]

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There will be a British feature shot on two hacked GH2s hitting the festival circuit next year! -I’m currently finishing the edit and it looks great. I’ve also been on set as a camera assistant/ focus puller. Both myself and the dop have a GH2 and used mostly Nikon primes, Sigma Zooms way too big for this camera, the Panny 14mm and the occasional Lensbaby Tilt [img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

btw Andrew, great work on the video! -can the same be done with colours assuming a little cleaning is done in post?

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[Guest FloHassler]

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Hey Andrew,
I couldn’t resist temptation to write down my thoughts about ISO settings. It’s a bit of a responce to your blog post so you might be interested in reading it. You can find it in my blog:

http://florianhassler.com/26622/blog

Don’t take the attacking inflection too seriously, I just want to start an argument.

Keep up the good work!

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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Hi Flo. You see raising ISO as a problem solver, I see it as an opportunity. Your scientific analysis doesn’t change the fact that these images wouldn’t have been possible at a lower ISO. I think you’re missing the creative aspect, and the fact that ISO 12,800 looks far better than could be reasonably expected for such a high ISO.

Sandro, I never said that in colour it is unwatchable I just prefer a high contrast B/W image when illumination is very low. You can see it in my previous work as well. I’ll be shooting in colour but I really only shoot in colour when I think it benefits the shoot. At night, it rarely does because of the dominating street light hue, and the fact that the colour saturation of objects doesn’t really come across when you have so little illuminating light.

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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Great to hear it Lucas, the GH2 deserves more professional feature work. It is a shame the festival circuits don’t allow you to air it on the internet first but I can understand why. Do you have a trailer?

I haven’t tried shooting in colour and grading in post yet.

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[Guest FloHassler]

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Ok it is indeed an opportunity, but I’ve never seen a film so far that really benefitted from ultra-high ISO. Of course you can choose how you want your pictures to look, but I think they would have been far more interesting if there were less greyish mud and more true blacks. The night is dark, you’re pictures are not. Most of the highlights are completely blown out just to raise the dark streets or walls to a higher luminance value, but what for? Excuse me, but: It looks a lot like a “because you can”.I think ISO 3,200 is far bright enough for nocturnal street scenes.

But of course you are right, it’s always nice to have the option to go further, if you decide to do so for some reason.

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[Guest johnspirou]

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How did you managed to focus in so low light ?
Did you used external monitor or something else ?

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[Guest JimmyBrun]

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GH2 just keeps on giving, Im intrigued how next months firmware effects noise reduction aswell (and hopefully 25p).

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[Guest JohnnyMossville]

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Wow!!!!! Andrew you are right, being able to shoot like this in these conditions really gets the creative juices going!!

That footage has character! Love the flickering light from the flames hitting the walls behind them. I love my little GH2. It’s like the little engine that could.

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[Guest Arc]

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Still looks like video. I’ve only seen one example from the GH2, stock or hacked, that looked like film, and it was shot using an old Vivitar lens! The image separation is just like video, not film, and it all comes down to the final image, which from the GH2, I don’t like. The new C300 on the other hand…..I know, I know, apples to oranges [img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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[Guest JimmyBrun]

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Doesn’t look like video to me http://vimeo.com/26818589

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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A) Because it looks great. B) Because it was so dark, ISO 3200 would not have cut it. Look at the way even the most subtle light dances around the screen, and then tell me that isn’t art. Seriously dude, open your eyes.

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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On the 12mm it is easy since the difference between 3m and infinity is TINY, you pretty much leave focus alone for most shots. The Voigtlander Nokton 25mm F0.95 is more critical obviously but far easier to focus than, say, an 85mm F1.4 wide open. I didn’t use a monitor on this occasion, just the GH2′s LCD and occasional focus assist mode.

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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Arc, you are blind!!

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[Guest disneytoy]

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So let me understand. This hack can be used with any of the bitrate hacks like Driftwood 176? you recommend ever exposing and no in camera NR, and this is Dynamic B&W. I like slo mo, so I’m guessing 720p 60 would work as well.

If you use ther 1:1 crop mode you can have that night surveillance look I’d guess. thanks.

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[Guest mandas]

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This is simply stunning! I just put up the new Hack, and used the Driftwood new AQuarius v2 176Mb GOP1 patch, first as Andrew suggested in Dynamic BW, then in Cinema mode -1 -2 -1 0, I at 8000 ISo then at 12800…fantastic really fantastic rendering!!

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[Guest johnspirou]

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Just a noise test with ISO 12800 , colour – smooth 24p and BW, only 44Mbits and new hack.

http://youtu.be/HwN4e-7zVkE

no noise reduction

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