Currently, the firmware project lead by Vitaliy is too technical and not well explained. Next week EOSHD will complete work on a Wiki which answers the basic questions about the firmware, for creative who people who just want to shoot and not read 111 page threads on DVXUser.
Next, a bit of a rant…
I contacted Russian hacker Vitaliy last week about this idea, in a polite offer to help him with a website. The idea was to present his project in such a way that would be quick to grasp for all GH1 users, not just technically minded ones, and well branded. All I wanted in return was to have it as a subdomain of EOSHD.com rather than pay for separate hosting, but this made Vitaliy suspicious of my motives. I was subsequently disappointed with his rude and combative attitude.
Here is an extract from an email sent from Vitaly about my article Inside The GH1, written to publicise his project a few days ago. 43rumors picked up on the article, and his project received a lot of hits from both sites. Yet he was displeased…
“Just read your article.
I believe you tried your best, but somehow managed to get it slightly wrong.
First, let’s keep me just Vitaliy, if you so wish to mention name. [I did exactly that?]
Next, try to read my previous post carefully. And look at thread posts.
[Then followed a rudely worded correction of a few figures in my interpretation of his maths]
…Next time I’ll try to hold my thoughts to myself.
Sincerely yours,
Vitaliy K
“It is not well documented intentionally. As we don’t want many dummies at this stage.” he wrote recently on the thread at DVXUser – a place which also has it’s fair share of elitists. It is entirely up to him what kind of contribution he needs from people, but the way he puts across his point is really unpleasant to the wider audience interested in his project.
This is the problem with clever hackers and many open source guys. They hold all the secrets and they don’t want others to catch on and take the credit. This is just an elitist attitude, and it’s ungrateful to the people trying their best to help him with publicity, funds, testing and development.
Without the support of the community, Vitaliy wouldn’t be able to complete his project let alone enjoy a $1000 fund and a brand new GH1 on the way, whether the money comes from ‘dummies’ or otherwise. Language barrier or just plain nasty? Regardless, video on the GH1 and the new firmware really does need a FAQ and wiki.
Since a lot of the useful information and helpful tips are hidden away in random places on the various forums around the web, I will begin the huge task of compiling these into a proper Wiki, whereby if you have a question, it’s not difficult to find an answer – and quick. Next I will do the same for the Canon EOS HDSLRs.
Secondly, the GH1 video firmware related FAQ will have it’s own section, which I hope will be a great resource for those of you who are interested in actually shooting with it instead of reverse engineering Panasonic’s IP.
Lastly, I will make a new updated version of last year’s GH1 Cookbook guide available as a digital download.
Of course, all this could have been done with the blessing of Vitaily if he was a little more cooperative and a little less unpleasant. I wanted his blessing, because the technical work he’s carrying out on the GH1 is absolutely brilliant indeed and he deserves recognition and publicity. Sadly because of his attitude, he will have no part to play in presenting his amazing project to the people who matter most, the filmmakers.
