Personal View FAQs Wiki

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== Where can I learn more and get help? ==
  * [[http://www.personal-view.com/faqs|personal-view.com FAQs]]
  * [[http://www.personal-view.com/|personal-view.com discussions]]
== What's good about the GH2? ==
  * It has good quality video, made even better by Vitaliy Kiselev's hack.  Please see the [[http://www.personal-view.com/faqs/|hacking FAQs]]
== Is the GH2 better or worse than such-and-such camera? ==
  * The answer to that depends entirely on you:  what you're trying to do, how you like to work, how you evaluate video quality, etc.  No one can answer this question for you.  Check out what's been posted to Vimeo (search for 'hacked gh2'), and do your own testing.
== The GH2's video modes ==
^ Mode ^ Format ^ AR ^ Resolution ^ i/p ^ Frame rate ^ Bit rate ^ Bit rate ^ Notes ^
|High Bit Rate   | AVCHD | 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 | p | 30 or 25 fps* | 24 Mbps     |             | interlaced encoding (PsF). Firmware v1.1 | 
|24p Cinema      | AVCHD | 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 | p | 24 fps       | 24H=24 Mbps | 24L=17 Mbps | |
|Variable Movie Mode| AVCHD | 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 | p | 30,15,12, or 8 fps| 24H=24 Mbps| 24L=17 Mbps | no sound. 24 fps playback |   
|MMM AVCHD(1080i)| AVCHD | 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 | i | 30 or 25 fps* | FSH=17 Mbps | FH=13 Mbps  | |
|MMM AVCHD(720p) | AVCHD | 16:9 | 1280 x 720  | p | 60 or 50 fps* | SH=17 Mbps  | H=13 Mbps   |
|MMM MJPEG, HD   | mov   | 16:9 | 1280 x 720  | p | 30 fps       | | | | 
|MMM MJPEG, WVGA | mov   | 16:9 | 848 x 480   | p | 30 fps       | | | | 
|MMM MJPEG, VGA  | mov   | 4:3  | 640 x 480   | p | 30 fps       | | | |
|MMM MJPEG, QVGA | mov   | 4:3  | 320 x 240   | p | 30 fps       | | | |

 *30 / 60 fps on NTSC-country cameras; 25 / 50 fps on PAL-country cameras.  Selectable on hacked cameras. (see the[[http://www.personal-view.com/faqs/gh2-hack/gh2-hack-faq| GH2 Hack FAQ]])

== Camera settings for shooting video ==
  * Set the top dial to Creative movie mode.
  * For general shooting, use HBR or AVCHD(720p).  HBR mode at 30 fps matches YouTube's and Vimeo's highest quality modes.  Choose HBR when you want more detail, and 720p when you want smoother motion.
  * 24p should be reserved for people who have some special reason to shoot 24p.  The lower frame rate means there's more motion judder, and you need to be careful to not pan too quickly.
  * Set the exposure mode to M (manual) or S (shutter priority).
  * For 24p, 25i, 25p and 50p, set the shutter speed to 1/50 s.  For 30p 30i, and 60p, set the shutter speed to 1/60 s.  Setting the shutter speed to less than the frame rate reduces the effective frame rate.
  * Noise goes up at higher ISO settings (with [[http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2078/gh2-iso-noise-tests.-lows-mids-highs.-magic-iso-#Item_13|minor exceptions]]).  Everyone's noise tolerance is different, so just do some testing to find what your tolerance is.  Shadow range gradually diminishes starting at ISO 2000.
  * An ISO setting of 320, 640, or 1250 may result in increased noise depending on the camera's previous setting. To avoid this, switch the camera to the ISO setting 1/3 stop higher, and then back down.  (i.e., 400 to 320, or 800 to 640, or 1600 to 1250).  If you turn the camera off while in ISO 320, 640, or 1250, you must repeat the ISO switching after turning the camera back on to avoid higher noise.  [[http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1280|discussion]]
  * Set the film mode to Standard with -1, -2, -2, -2.  Adjust contrast and saturation as necessary.
== Extra Tele Conversion (ETC) mode ==
  * With ETC mode turned off, the GH2 uses a 14-megapixel (4976 x 2800 pixel) area of the image sensor covering its entire width, downsampling it to an output of 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 pixels.  
  * With ETC mode turned on, the camera uses a 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 pixel area of the center of the image sensor, mapping each pixel 1:1 from the sensor to the output video.  
  * ETC mode gives you a narrower field of view - 2.6 or 3.9 times narrower, a picture that's slightly less sharp, has less aliasing, less of a rolling shutter effect ("jello"), and is much noisier for the same ISO setting - equivalent to raising the ISO setting by 2 and 2/3 stops. [[http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1353/gh2-etc-mode-noise-penalty|discussion]]
== Low-light shooting ==
  * With Auto ISO and the exposure compensation value set to +/- 0, the camera goes up to 6400. With the exposure compensation value set to the maximum, auto ISO goes up to 12,800.
  * With "Maximum ISO limit removal" set in PTool, you can manually select an ISO setting of up to 12,800.
  * For an unhacked camera, the maximum manual ISO setting is 3200.
  * Increase the exposure time, up to 1/30 s (or 1/25 s for 24p and 25p).   But doing so increases motion blur, so try to hold the camera steady and don't pan too quickly.
  * Use manual focus and manual exposure and increase the exposure time even more - up to 1/2 s in 24p, 1/15 s in VMM 160%, 1/12 s in VMM 200%, or 1/8 s in VMM 300%.
  * Setting the film mode to Smooth or Nostalgic boosts mid tones.
  * Reducing the contrast boosts shadows.
  * Shooting at high ISOs (above 1000 or so), it will help to use a high quality video hack, so that the noise is captured accurately instead of being discarded in the compression along with some picture detail.
  * You can use [[http://www.neatvideo.com/|Neat Video]] to remove noise in post processing.  [[http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1986/how-to-improve-low-light-image-quality-from-iso-12800-and-6400|discussion]]
== Spanning ==
  * In AVCHD modes, the camera stops writing the video stream to the current .MTS file before the file reaches 4 GB, and continues writing the stream to a new file.  If your video player or editing software doesn't know how to read spanned files, you can combine them into one large seamless file using any program that can join binary files.  For example:
  * Windows command prompt: <code>copy /b 00000.MTS + 00001.MTS + 00002.MTS   new_file.mts</code>
  * UNIX/Macintosh shell: <code>cat 00000.MTS 00001.MTS 00002.MTS   >new_file.mts</code>
  * Some high bit rate PTool settings fail to span with certain memory cards: recording stops by itself before the file reaches 4 GB, as if you'd stopped the recording yourself with the button.
== How to play back GH2 videos ==
  * Media Player Classic Home Cinema
  * VLC
  * If you wish to preview videos via USB to AV cable, sometimes it is necessary to hold the Erase button for five seconds to turn AV on.  This does not apply to HDMI which is a separate output.
== How to edit GH2 videos ==
  * Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD  - native h.264/MTS
  * Sony Vegas Pro 10 or higher - native h.264/MTS
  * Adobe Premiere CS4 - transcode to ??? .  Poor native h.264/MTS support
  * Adobe Premiere CS5 & 5.5 - native h.264/MTS file support. CUDA enabled Nvidia Card enhances speed further. 64-bit system required.
  * Final Cut Pro 7 - transcode using [[http://rarevision.com/5dtorgb/|5DtoRGB]] or ??
  * Final Cut Pro X - native AVCHD: copy the Private folder in its entirety, and then File>Import From Camera>Open Archive.  Or, rewrap MTS to MP4 using [[http://www.divergentmedia.com/clipwrap|ClipWrap]]
  * Grass Valley Edius 5.51 or higher - native AVCHD
  * Grass Valley Neo 2.5 or higher - native AVCHD
== How to cut/trim GH2 videos without re-encoding ==
  * I wouldn't trust any video trimming program completely: hang on to your source files
  * [[http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1641/trimming-clips-making-selections-in-.mts-files-and-exporting-them|discussion]]
    * [[http://www.videohelp.com/tools/tsMuxeR|tsMuxeR]] - works. Can also change the frame rate or remove the audio channel.
    * [[http://www.fame-ring.com/smart_cutter.html|Smart Cutter]] - works
    * [[http://www.aunsoft.com/final-mate/|Final Mate]] - works, but the resulting files crash Vegas Pro 10
== Lenses for the GH2 ==
  * Any Micro Four Thirds lens, or Four Thirds lens (with an adapter) will work with the GH2.  These lenses are the only ones with electrical connections to support auto focusing, electronic aperture control, and image stabilization, if available.
  * The only lenses that will provide image stabilization are (some) Panasonic Micro Four Thirds and Four Thirds lenses.
  * Just about any lens that has manual focusing and manual aperture control can be used on the GH2 with an adapter.  Look on eBay for adapters.
  * Lenses for full-frame 35-mm cameras project an image circle that is more than large enough to cover the GH2's sensor, but since the GH2's sensor is smaller than full frame 35-mm, the resulting images have a narrower field of view than if you were using the same lens on a full-frame 35-mm camera - 1.9 times narrower in 16:9 mode.
  * Most C-mount lenses don't project an image circle large enough to cover the GH2's image sensor without at least some darkness in the corners.  Different C-mount lenses are meant for several different film and video formats: 8-mm, 16-mm, 1/3", 1/2", 2/3", 1", and rarely, 4/3".  To use these lenses you will probably need to do some amount of cropping, in the camera (ETC mode or 2x zoom), and/or in post processing.

  * Specific lenses:
    * The Panasonic Lumix G 14-42, G 14-140, G X 12-35, and the G X 14-42 are all good, with fast and accurate focusing and image stabilization.  You really can't go wrong with these lenses.
    * The Lumix G 20-mm f/1.7 is great optically, and brings in a lot of light. But it focuses slowly, has no image stabilization, and using a wider aperture gives you shallower depth of field, which means you need to be more precise with your focusing.
    * A 35-100 mm constant f-number fast zoom lens is expected to be released by Panasonic in 2012.  [[http://www.43rumors.com/ft4-upcoming-x-lenses-will-be-weather-sealed-there-will-be-a-weather-sealed-camera-too/|rumor]]
    * Canon FD-mount and Nikon AI/AI-s/non-Ai 50-mm f/1.4 manual lenses are popular choices.

  * Big list of [[http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/859/video-friendly-lenses-for-lumix-dslrs/p1|video-friendly lenses]]
== GH2 audio recording ==
  * The GH2's built-in audio recording is pretty good.  You choose one of four gain levels.  All settings have auto limiting, and little or no automatic gain adjustment.  Use the on-screen audio meter to monitor levels in real time.
  * A 2.5-mm microphone jack accepts stereo audio and provides plug-in power of approximately 2.5 V for condenser microphones.
  * [[http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1152/gh2-audio-hacks/p1|GH2 audio hacking discussion]]
  * For the best audio, use an external audio recorder, and then sync the audio after the fact manually, or with [[http://www.singularsoftware.com/|Plural Eyes or Dual Eyes]].  [[http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/930/what-are-you-guys-using-for-audio-recording-with-your-dslr/p1|discussion]]
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