GH1/GH2 Hack

[mercer]

6 minutes ago, Fritz Pierre said:

@mercer...the GH2 gives a ridiculously good image...lol...there's little to touch it at any price in my opinion...and although old it's easy to shoot with...depending on what you shoot though, it can eat the data, but as you already shoot in RAW, I think it's a no brainer for you...I will say the thicker files in the GH5 is easier to grade to your 5D than the GH2...you should check out enough clips to see if it would work for you, as grading the 5D to the GH2, may be the easier workflow, but not give you the look you need/want...the movie Musgo was shot on the GH2 which I love the look of, as was Mandorla...I would suggest you check out the trailers to see if you like it. I would also add that as another camera, one in good nick picked up for 300 to 350 would give you great value for your money....not the camera for unskilled shooters, but you'd get great results if you like the look from the samples...

Yeah, Musgo, Mandorla, and Upstream Color are the epitome of looks that intrigue me but even if I could get half of that, I'd be happy. 

The GH5 would be the best choice but I just can't spend that kind of money right now. I still love my 5D3 for my narrative work, I just want a smaller, get up and go camera to shoot some experimental short films with, not to mix with the 5D3. 

I was even thinking about a GH4 with a Ninja Star, but then I'm over a grand and for a little more I can just get a GH5... and then for a little more I can just get a 1DC... etc... etc...

I have to get a micro 4/3 now because I just bought an SLR Magic 35mm 1.4... haha I have problems.  

3 hours ago, anonim said:

Slightly (or a bit more) sarcastic and apodictic tone of Jon Jacobs - to quote: "looking for more “mojo” to add character and “filmic” to your hobby of playing with cameras and trying to make short Vimeo clips look like someone's idea of exaggerated 80s film stock" - doesn't mean anything more than also subjective prejudice. In comparison with high capable GH2 hacks, for me GX8 has some problems with roll-ofs, in-camera done saturation, noise reduction and exaggerate sharpening, which in result may looks "cleaner" in 4k to HD conversion. Some of GH2 hack matrices successfully in great amount take away sharpening and noise-reduction artefacts, leaving futages in some sort of prores or even pseudoraw stadium that could be lately more sharpen.

@Mercer My greatest problem with GH2 always was high noise in any low-light situation and vulnerable DR. So, for me Canis Majoris is hack with highest efficiency in clever reduction of shadow noise. One of the late, or maybe the latest hack by master with nickname Apefos make, imho, sublimation of all others efforts. He even provide appropriate grading luma curves and, if needs, NeatVideo presets. Look to personalview site.

Great info, thanks. I think I am going to jump in and buy one. I may be able to get a GH2 that's already hacked with Sanity X. Is it easy to test different patches?

[Fritz Pierre]

In that case I would say get the GH2...and sign up with personal view...all the patches and how to's are available in their search section...just don't ask questions there??...the patches are effortless to change, as with each PTools Patch, the camera thinks it's upgrading FW...buy yourself a few 8Gig transcend cards...they are cheap, and load only 1 hack per card...a 2nd battery is recommended, as if you want to change hacks in the field, the FW will only "upgrade" with a charged battery...lastly, I think you'll love the camera...it's a simple and solid little brute...and it sings with the SLRMagic lenses!!

[PannySVHS]

5 hours ago, meanwhile said:

I might be new to video, but I know this syndrome from stills. No. This is a common mistake when evaluating cameras - comparing examples without allowing for the skill of the typical user. Bitd, the GH2 was a hot camera for elite innovative shooters. The GX85 is mostly bought by civilians. Skill is the main factor in image quality - and supporting hardware like lenses and lights are often the second. I shoot a Sigma Merrill for a lot of stills work and if you looked at their flickrs, you'd think that the Merrill is 10x the camera the GX80 is for stills. And the Merrill is better - at low ISO - but with the same shooter the difference is more like 1.5x. The Merrill attracts attracts fanatics and its such a pain that only the most determined shoot their cameras instead of selling them. You really can't compare bodies by looking at what the average user achieves - not when users are completely unalike. As JJ already said, so I don't see the point in bringing up this argument.

 

Thank you for pointing out this beautiful research method. I´ve posted about this exiting notion before in other threads that certain cameras have been shot

by certain kind of people. Yashica 35CC is an example for that, a rangfinder photo camera.

I am aware of that just like Jean Claude van Damme is about the splendid spread of his splits. It is great fun to find awesome stuff that way and doing splits meanwhile.

 

The proof of awesome work done with one camera is not taken away by the lack of proof of work from another camera.

 

Motion cadence, jittery motion or lack of jitter, ooc color quality, low light behaviour, these are veryveryvery few parameters to evaluate a digicams image.

I have mentioned these above to give a hint towards comparablity other than just and only mentioning of mojo.

 

That is where "the problem" or another with an image occurs, which is worthy to be brought up, as they are central to image quality.

That´s a problem to some people, an occurance to others and nothing to worry about to others as well.

 

Good thing for buyers is, nobody has to buy a GH2 for the price of a G85, if one just digs that GH2 image.

Mojo, groove, exitement is not bound to cracks in a record and the likes. I don´t see that as an argument at all, meanwhile you´ve been referring this to Jon Jacobs

but leaving out arguments been made about image quality.

 

5 hours ago, meanwhile said:

 

Also, it really seems to be the case that with the GX80 you have buy a big SD, shoot in 4K and supersample the image down on your PC if you want HD. Which is still a lot cheaper than buying a GH2 was back when and was always going to be the best way to shoot HD, so really, what's the problem?

4K to HD is an extra step regarding codec conversion and time, 4K H264 grading without downsampling is limited to people with the adequate hardware.

60p is not available in 4K resolution on GX85.

 

 

 

[mercer]

4 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

I am aware of that just like Jean Claude van Damme is about the splendid spread of his splits. It is great fun to find awesome stuff that way.

Hahaha... Marty you are one of my favorite members on this site... you crack me up. If you're ever in the States, or I'm in Germany, we've gotta collaborate on something. 

23 minutes ago, Fritz Pierre said:

In that case I would say get the GH2...and sign up with personal view...all the patches and how to's are available in their search section...just don't ask questions there??...the patches are effortless to change, as with each PTools Patch, the camera thinks it's upgrading FW...buy yourself a few 8Gig transcend cards...they are cheap, and load only 1 hack per card...a 2nd battery is recommended, as if you want to change hacks in the field, the FW will only "upgrade" with a charged battery...lastly, I think you'll love the camera...it's a simple and solid little brute...and it sings with the SLRMagic lenses!!

Thanks for the tips, Fritz!!! I just bought a mint GH2, with 2 batteries, a charger, a new Sandisk 32GB Extreme Card and the Sanity X Patch installed. So there's that.

[PannySVHS]

3 minutes ago, mercer said:

Hahaha... Marty you are one of my favorite members on this site... you crack me up. If you're ever in the States, or I'm in Germany, we've gotta collaborate on something. 

 

Glenn, I am blushing:) You are the master of joyful wording! I am an avid reader of your comments! Big hug from across the mighty ocean, my friend! You are welcome any time at my house!

[Fritz Pierre]

56 minutes ago, mercer said:

Hahaha... Marty you are one of my favorite members on this site... you crack me up. If you're ever in the States, or I'm in Germany, we've gotta collaborate on something. 

Thanks for the tips, Fritz!!! I just bought a mint GH2, with 2 batteries, a charger, a new Sandisk 32GB Extreme Card and the Sanity X Patch installed. So there's that.

Congrats Mercer!!

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/953/gh2-settings-vault-most-popular-settings-in-one-place-quite-old

just came across this old Patch Vault on PV...you're guaranteed to enjoy this process!...just sign up with PV if you're not there already...and start reading??...my favorite is Drewnet T9 by Driftwood...you will also learn about the quirks of the hack...for example, when shooting in the Drewnet 9 9 patch...say a clip of 10 seconds, you have to turn the cam off and back on again to review the clip....another quirk is you always back down from a higher ISO prior to the one you actually want to use for least noise....and expose in the Ansel Adams zone...this camera benefits from a lightmeter (as do all cameras actually)...and lastly...I will have my last GH2 till it dies...would never dream of selling it! ☺️☺️?But mostly enjoy!!

 

[PannySVHS]

1 hour ago, Fritz Pierre said:

Congrats Mercer!!

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/953/gh2-settings-vault-most-popular-settings-in-one-place-quite-old

just came across this old Patch Vault on PV...you're guaranteed to enjoy this process!...just sign up with PV if you're not there already...and start reading??...my favorite is Drewnet T9 by Driftwood...you will also learn about the quirks of the hack...for example, when shooting in the Drewnet 9 9 patch...say a clip of 10 seconds, you have to turn the cam off and back on again to review the clip....another quirk is you always back down from a higher ISO prior to the one you actually want to use for least noise....and expose in the Ansel Adams zone...this camera benefits from a lightmeter (as do all cameras actually)...and lastly...I will have my last GH2 till it dies...would never dream of selling it! ☺️☺️?But mostly enjoy!!

 

Hey Fritz Pierre,

I think you have posted some samples of your work that I really enjoyed. Italian pop music video with a G6? Please help me out:)

[mercer]

1 hour ago, Fritz Pierre said:

Congrats Mercer!!

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/953/gh2-settings-vault-most-popular-settings-in-one-place-quite-old

just came across this old Patch Vault on PV...you're guaranteed to enjoy this process!...just sign up with PV if you're not there already...and start reading??...my favorite is Drewnet T9 by Driftwood...you will also learn about the quirks of the hack...for example, when shooting in the Drewnet 9 9 patch...say a clip of 10 seconds, you have to turn the cam off and back on again to review the clip....another quirk is you always back down from a higher ISO prior to the one you actually want to use for least noise....and expose in the Ansel Adams zone...this camera benefits from a lightmeter (as do all cameras actually)...and lastly...I will have my last GH2 till it dies...would never dream of selling it! ☺️☺️?But mostly enjoy!!

 

Thanks for the tips. Keep 'em coming. As of now, I really want to test Flowmotion because I read it has a darker, cinematic look, Moon, Drewnet and that Latin one... Canis Majoris that @anonim suggested. I will probably just roll with Sanity X my first day, as not to overwhelm myself. But I am pretty excited... I feel giddy like a schoolgirl similar to when I got the 5D3 and every time I've shot with it since. 

[anonim]

Yes, Canis Majoris NIght - its finer noise matrice is incredible useful in lowlight - I've found near one full stop better in high iso than other patches.

But, take a look in Apefos "complete solution" thread. Man did an epic investigation and indeed provide full grade solution.

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/15015/gh2-bundle-by-apefos-complete-solution-for-gh2/p1

And, of course, for post work check Balazer's ingeniously accurate quasi-aces luts that leave in dust all paying contributors (Leeming etc) or simply mojo-hunt creators.

www.logarist.com

... and one pretty canonesque clip with an early hack:

 

[Fritz Pierre]

1 hour ago, PannySVHS said:

Hey Fritz Pierre,

I think you have posted some samples of your work that I really enjoyed. Italian pop music video with a G6? Please help me out:)

@PannySVHS....sorry not me....it's a guy who wears a hat in his Avatar photo...his name escapes me now, but I'll PM you when I remember...I remember him mentioning his G6

another member just mentioned jazzbox...that's who you're looking for I believe.

[Cinegain]

Nice going! Some of my best memories and processes were whilst shooting with the GH2. Became in love with it at the time after having seen the Philip Bloom Christmas Special and the Zacuto Shootout. This video of Andrew as well just had this film-like quality to it:

Dunno, there was something special about the GH2. Think with the Panasonic 4K-generation you have to be careful how you shoot, because it tends to look less organic and more artificial looking (lenses, filters, settings and proper editing/grading techniques really helps to take that edge off), although that sorta footage then holds up way better under pressure, especially with colors and noise performance. Of course there's more bells 'n whistles as well. But I sometimes just miss the simplicity of a 1080p camera and its footage. It allowed you to pay more attention to what was happening in front of the camera, than what was happening inside of it. Sounds like revisiting the GH2 might be a fun time! Enjoy!

[cantsin]

Here's a heretic voice: The GH1 and GH2 looked stellar in their age and price category, and the particular look of the GH2 was perfect for an experimental/philosophical SciFi film like "Upstream Color". But if you look at Musgo again (with its more classical naturalistic cinema look), in full screen on a FullHD flatscreen paying attention to image quality, then the GH2 actually doesn't look that great anymore in 2017:

One can clearly see how, even the ungraded parts of the film, the GH2's colors have a bias towards green (which increases sharpness perception since the human eye can see green better) and is weak in the blues. You also see that edges are artificially sharpened (which you can't fully dial out) and that true detail (for example in the leaves) is missing. Dynamic range and highlight roll-off isn't great either by contemporary standards; a lot of blown-out parts in the film's image seem to be hidden in post by tinting the highlights. (EDIT: Blown-out highlights/dynamic range limitations are also an issue in Andrew's black-and-video in the post above. You can embrace them as a visual style, but with the GH1/2, it's a style which you can't choose.) Textures such as skin are smeared by the codec and/or noise reduction, noise looks electronic because the codec isn't strong enough to preserve the sensor's original noise texture.

IMHO, this film would have looked substantially better, even with its partially stylized images, if the filmmaker could have had - via some time machine - a GH4 with an external recorder or GH5 to shoot the film in 10bit Log, or a Blackmagic camera. (This is the typical kind of film where Blackmagic cameras really shine, making your film look just as good as something shot on Alexa or RED for a fraction of the budget.)

[Cinegain]

Did you mean JazzBox (GH4 though)?

 

[Fritz Pierre]

@Cinegain Agreed!...the GH2 produces simply lovely black and white in camera...also...it has a Panasonic sensor rather than a Sony, but with the exception of the GH3, which I never owned, I still love my other GH cameras, including my recently acquired GH5...but the GH2 is something truly special!

[PannySVHS]

@Cinegain Jazzbox, exactly! Thanks a lot!

 

@Fritz Pierre, But I think I´ve seen some stuff from you I enjoyed as well! Haven´t you posted one, two or three of your pieces?

Repost?:)

 

@cantsin Musgo is a feature film effort. It has been shot, directed, edited and graded by the one man band wonder Gami. So I think some eventual

technicalities are to be taken into account due to the conditions and huge challenge of this production.

 

Andrew Reid stated, that a hacked GH2 is not better in lowlight than a more modern G6. Still, checking out what the skilled DSLM

shooters have done with a GH2 and GH4 I recognize something special about GH2 footage:

 

 

 

The proposed tendency of hues towards green to me is rather that of FUJI negative film. Whereas Sonys tendency towards yellogreenish colors

gives the footage a look of digital crayon in photoshop, lacking transition and fitting combination of different hues.

 

 

 

[anonim]

@cantsin Yes, all Musgo is little bit muddy. Seemingly indie-famous Upstream color is more representative for GH2 potential.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084989/

[Cinegain]

1 hour ago, Fritz Pierre said:

@Cinegain Agreed!...the GH2 produces simply lovely black and white in camera...also...it has a Panasonic sensor rather than a Sony, but with the exception of the GH3, which I never owned, I still love my other GH cameras, including my recently acquired GH5...but the GH2 is something truly special!

Skipped the GH3 as well. The GH4 however was a huge update. And although it has all the productivity features, now that I have the GX80 (pocketability) and G80 (with battery grip for more serious stuff)... the GH4 hardly gets any use (it lacks IBIS, has worse color and high ISO noise performance). That has kinda made me reluctant as well to get the GH5... because if I'm apparently fine with the basics and the results (!)... would getting a GH5 really add that much? Can't say that with the G80 around, I use the E-M1 much either. And I loved taking it out to the botanical gardens with a macro lens (e.g. the Oly 60mm f/2.8) to shoot plants and insects, where it especially was in its element, but the G80 just fits in with any environment. Just the lack of a headphone jack might be a bummer. Dunno. I actually almost bought the E-M1 Mark II on the last workday of last year, but they closed early and I stood for closed doors (I took it as a sign it wasn't meant to be). At the moment I actually have an additional V-Log L upgrade at home in anticipation of the GH5 (they used to be out of stock frequently, so I prepared)... but I haven't pulled the trigger on that as of yet either. Really need the summer (I thought it was summer already??) firmware upgrades for it to be killer! And maybe for a 12-35mm f/2.8 II kit (although I keep on hearing contradicting stories about it (some say it's their go-to lens, others say it's worse than the old model)) or ca$hback promotion to drop... I'm a sucker for good deals.

Anyways. Nuff' bout that. Did want to bring up one more earlier mention of G6 stuff. Actually thought Bushmanfilm really did great on his video Tepui Dream.

On 10-2-2016 at 9:12 PM, midloch said:

Hi there,

I produce expedition documentary movies from very very remote and wild parts of our planet with no help and of course no electricity. Places like Kombai tribes in Papua (Irian Jaya), Amazonia aborigines, Mentawai tribes in Siberut or mountain tribes in Burma and so on... Last time I made a film from Venezuela. It was a 12 days expedition to Salto Angel the highest waterfall in the world falling down from mesa Ayuan Tepui.

All was shot on Panasonic G6, very reliable camera as you can see here:

So in my oppinion I think that Panasonic cameras are more resistant than for example Sony A7SII (my friend who did expedition to South Pole with A7SII complainted a lot as it is so fragile camera not made to such tough enviroment). And for travel purposes are more resistant and easy to handle.

From my point of view I vote for Panasonic GH4 with XL speedbooster + Sigma 18-35mm F/1.8 that is a travel beast :-)

Think as well enough people have used the GX7 and GM1 (like Jase's earlier stuff) back in the day. Think that the older 1080p cameras with great detail, but some inherent softness to it, makes it organic and possibly still worthwile. I think that's actually what people like about the Canons. Its softness.

[cantsin]

1 hour ago, PannySVHS said:

Still, checking out what the skilled DSLM

shooters have done with a GH2 and GH4 I recognize something special about GH2 footage:

 

 

 

Yes, this is highly competent work with the camera and certainly more than good enough for the client. But still, if you watch it with a critical eye, you see that the video lacks/smears true detail while edges are jagged by artificial in-camera sharpening. (For example, hair is either blurred or, in close-ups, oversharpened.) Harshly blown-out highlights are an issue in the tent - and could have been avoided with more contemporary cameras shooting Log. In addition, a lot of work seems to have been done in post noise-filtering the low-light shots and adding artificial film grain to mask the resulting lack of detail. 

The GH2 is still a steal and an incredible video camera for the little money it can be found second-hand. (This year, two of my friends bought it on my recommendation as a documentary camera.) It can also make a lot of sense for productions like the one above where spending your budget on, let's say, four second-hand GH2s instead of one more expensive camera means that you will have better coverage of the event (and, in the end, a better edit). Still, you can also see that the makers needed to go through much more work with the GH2 than would have been necessary with a more contemporary camera (with better DR, better low light capabilities, better true detail resolution through 4K downscaled to 2K and less sharpening artefacts).

EDIT: I also do not see any "special GH2 mojo" in the above video, but just a video with pleasing colors whose overall look is quite similar to what one could also have shot, for example, with a Canon C100.

- Illustrating this with two screenshots where the limitations of the GH2 become over-obvious.

[PannySVHS]

 

Hallo Cantsin,

thank you for your post. It was very enjoyable to read about the technical limitiations of GH2 technology. Still I think that Fuji Look, as I would like to decribe

the color science of the GH2, is something appealing to my eyes. Of course I cannot take into account whats due to post and whats due to the special technicalities

of the GH2. It´s a nice camera with its own beautiful look but also its own limitations, that´s what I am getting out of the positives you have mentioned as well.

My personal view:) would be, a fascinating camera I would like to play around with some day, if time allows. To me it has mojo besides its limitations.

My G6 has that too, which Andrew Reid called the GH2.5 if I remember right, no need to hack and better in low light and dynamic range.

But that little guy definately needs post on the color, but then it can look really kewl, with an exiting Fuji image.:)

 

 

[mercer]

14 hours ago, anonim said:

Yes, Canis Majoris NIght - its finer noise matrice is incredible useful in lowlight - I've found near one full stop better in high iso than other patches.

But, take a look in Apefos "complete solution" thread. Man did an epic investigation and indeed provide full grade solution.

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/15015/gh2-bundle-by-apefos-complete-solution-for-gh2/p1

And, of course, for post work check Balazer's ingeniously accurate quasi-aces luts that leave in dust all paying contributors (Leeming etc) or simply mojo-hunt creators.

www.logarist.com

... and one pretty canonesque clip with an early hack:

 

That looks great!!! Funny thing is, that was one of the first videos I saw from the GH2, the other week, when I first started to contemplate getting one. Thanks for the links too... it seems I have a ton of reading to do.