Hi,

I'm a professional packshots photographer and most of the time I use a GH2 in my little studio : no need more.

Unfortunately I discovered big restrictions with GH2 HDMI out and external screen HDMI in !

In the user guide (p158 - French version), Panasonic don't really explains how many items are locked when you plugged an external screen to the GH2 via HDMI, in fact there is just one sentence wich speak about it ... Restrictions are not listed !

Why a photographer wants to use an external monitor with the GH2 ? Because there's no tethering mode ... And it's the easiest way to work when you have to photograph small objects.

At this time I have found 13 items locked or retricted ; and some of them are not anectodic like Aspect Ratio locked at 16/9 only !

Some links to pictures are joined to this post for more details ...

An example of my work made with the GH2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/def13_marseille/6223265540/in/set-72157626223946590/

GH2 with external screen plugged (7" HDMI in/out 1920x1080 monitor)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/def13_marseille/6256980716/in/set-72157626223946590

Detail of the external screen
http://www.flickr.com/photos/def13_marseille/6256450573/in/set-72157626223946590

All the items locked (sorry it's in French)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/def13_marseille/6256981364/in/set-72157626223946590

Here is the french story of what I have noted : http://www.forumlumix.com/t76342-gh2-hdmi-out-gros-bridages-cruelle-deception

I don't know with Panasonic didn't wrote something more detailled in the user guide. And my best dream is they correct it (or part of it) in a new firmware ... But I'm not sleeping, and that's with I wrote this message : I hope you will fine something to unlock some items mainly Aspect Ratio ...

I was a GH2 enthousiastic user but now I'm really disappointed : why Panasonic locked these items on there high end product while Canon, Nikon or Sony don't !?

NOTA :
I have phoned to Panasonic France to speack about it ... My interlocutors were really nice but nobody have found Lumix division or photographic division in my country !!! Too bad.

Thanks for your incredible job and your incredible hack.

François Deretz aka Def13

@Vitality

I tried the forum search function and google but no results found regarding the GH2 Bulb Mode limit. I discovered the bulb mode limit last night accidentally and it sadden me a little cause I also use my GH2 for stills - I naturally gravitate toward the two extremes of stills being time-lapse and long exposures.

If the censor can record for 30 minutes and longer (to my understanding), will you not be able to extend the GH2 bulb mode for stills photography? I am not sure about the ins and outs of the software or the hardware and how it will affect XYZ.

Thanks again for the work you have done and are doing.

The main functional reason to work on the hdmi output seems to be to avoid the in-camera recording reverting to 1080i when connected to a monitor..
Or is there a way around that already?

In this thread and others we've heard the request for live view out over composite while recording several times. In Vitaliy's last response he mentioned it has been discussed before, but I can't find a definitive response in this thread or in others. It seems this feature may be possible with a hack but in Vitaliy's opinion it is not in demand enough to pursue further. Is this basically correct?

I realize that focus speed was discussed earlier, but the Light Speed AF that has benefits to still photography is problematic with video recording. It seems that if the entire operating speed of the lens system were slowed when the camera was recording video, it might be more video lens like. Reducing the frenetic focus hunting and iris light level bumps that occur on the 12-42 and 14-140 Panasonic lenses would seem to be a logical result of reducing Warp Speed AF to One Quarter Impulse Speed AF.

Hi,

any prediction about high-fps (like 200fps) - movie-mode?

would be great :-)

2fps E-SHUTTER LIMIT

I have been doing some tests using the electronic shutter in the still mode... which I know is not the main focus of the hack... however I have found some very interesting results that might spark the interest in terms of using it to shoot video.

The manual shutter is slow... we know that. However the electronic shutter will shoot 2.3K images at 40fps in SH burst mode, but only for one second before it needs to buffer that info.

I began to wonder... using a modified external controller instead of a shutter release, how many frames could fire through the camera consistently before the camera needs to buffer?

I have come up with some interesting results...

The still's manual shutter, when shooting a full 16 megapixel image will consistently do 1fps on a class 10 card with no buffer. At 2fps it will do 57 frames before skipping three frames to buffer and continue for another 57 frames, then buffer three etc... When you set the camera to burst mode using the H setting, the manual says it can do 4-7fps before "slowing down half way through".

When you lower the size to a 2.3k image (there about, full JPEG 3.8 megapixel) it can take photos at 4fps, no problem, fully buffering as it goes, no lag time (at 6fps it skips frames so we'll say 4fps is its max at 2.3K).

So if the manual shutter can perform at 4or 5fps consistently at 2.3K without slowing, this all makes one think that the electronic shutter could vastly outperform this.

Wrong-- !

The electronic shutter has a built in "cripple limit" at only 2fps!!! Half of what the manual shutter can do with ease!!

This cripple is really disconcerting.. as I feel there is the possibility for the GH2 to perform in the SH burst mode at 24fps (taking single still images) with no buffer on a class 10 or higher card. Seeing how the camera is capable of taking 40 still photos in one second with one second to buffer after... theoretically at 20fps it may have enough time to buffer electronically in between stills and perhaps that could be pushed to 24fps.

So....

I would love to find out, if at all possible, if the 2fps electronic shutter burst mode limit could be removed.

This limit's terminology pretty much states:

"when consecutive (not held down burst) shooting is firing the camera, limit those pulses to only 2 stills
per second".

This is of course arbitrary, because the manual shutter will keep trying to take as many stills as it can physically keep up with no matter how many a second.

In an interesting note, at 1fps the e-shutter is fine. At 2fps the e-shutter is fine. At 4fps the e-shutter skips exactly half the pictures (mathematically) and when you send 100 shots to the camera the number taken is only 50. This continues at 6fps, 8fps etc... the total shots taken only ever amount to 2fps which is how I know it is an imposed limit.

With my present set up I would be able to test the camera's ability to take stills at 1/2/4/6/8/12/16 and 24fps and assemble the stills as a movie (standard procedure for animators). If I am correct and the camera can process 2.3K stills in 24 stills per second, we will have uncovered a new 2K imaging device... with the full range of JPEG settings available (not just video mode and bit rates... but still frames like a film camera!) Perhaps even the hack could rewrite the burst mode to take 24fps instead of 40fps and we'd have a built in mode for shooting those stills as frames.

At the very least, if the camera could only produce a max of 18fps (stills per second) or 16fps, before buffering, then there is the possibility that with a simple timing device, the camera could offer multiple frames per second shooting... an option for fast motion, animation, timelapse.


My request is to see if the 2 stills per second electronic shutter "cripple limit" in the SH still mode on the camera could be removed or modified via the firmware. I strongly feel this could be a breakthrough and would love the opportunity to explore and test this possibility.

Thanks,

Dbdaws

Right, gotcha. I'd never want to do that in camera though myself.

@hedrox I guess the answer will be no it can't be added. There are better ways of acheiving a shallow DOF, such as a fast lens. The attached image is a still from a video I shot testing a patch, I don't think you would want anything more shallow than this. The lens is a Helios 44 which cost me 10 quid (UK pounds) and the adaptor cost me 20 quid. I've actuallly seen the lenses go for less money, they are very common as many were made between 1966 and the 80's. Real shallow DOF is always going to be more controllable, and better looking than a software solution. If you look on vimeo there are plenty of better examples than mine of a shallow DOF on the GH2.

@Roberto
in camera avchd aspect ratios is sth I'd like to see too for convenience reasons. look here at avchd encoder
https://www.personal-view.com/faqs/gh2-hack/ptool-software
I had also suggested the 2.0 aspect ratio (1920x960) since it's really a very cool and overlooked ratio.
but we'll have to wait as it's not of huge significance at the moment, but it shouldn't be that hard to do I think, when VK gets some free time.

@Roberto
It is on list already as I suggested it many months ago:) it's just low priority as it's sth easy to do in post.

Would it be possible to add different EV ranges for Bracket photos?

For example, I would like to shoot 3 photos in a set with a 4 EV range (+/-2 EV or -2/0/+2). This is not possible with the 3 photo bracket set as the max is 2 EV range (+/-1 EV or -1/0/+1).

Currently, to get a minimum 4 EV range, I must shoot a set of 5 photos (or 7 photos with 6 EV range).

Thank you.