GF3 Stable Settings topic

Tomaso

I have used PTool to “upgrade” my GH2 since the first version supporting GH2 came out. My favorite settings have been cbrandin 44 and 66, and they still works, but actually I have found that simple “settings for end users” in current PTool also works very well for settings that is not as extreme as many of the “expert” tester and developers settings like @cbrandin, @driftwood, @LPowell and others.

I have found a gap between stock and extreme settings in the forums for us interested in an enhanced GF3. In current version of PTool 3.65d @vitaliy_kiselev in the background of the tool have built in the experience from the testing by the core team so when we end users are using “settings for end users” a lot happens in the background. I have tested a number of different settings only using “settings for end users” with bit rates spanning between 24 and 66 mbits and stock GOP’s of 12/15 as well as 6 and 3. When doing this I have adopted cbrandin’s method of using a multiple of stock bitrates.

With this Topic I encourage people like me to discuss and disclose basic settings in between stock and “extreme”. I start to include three different settings, one stock GOP, one GOP6 and one GOP3.

My Standard GOP caled Nature and my GOP 6 GOP 6 you now find bellow:

Strangways

@xw7, I have just received a GF3 and found that iA+ does not lock in exposure settings. You can drag the defocus/exposure slider before recording and the aperture will change and as you do adjust it, and stay that way until you begin recording a video, but as soon as you do start recording, the aperture will change to adjust for different levels of light. This is very easily seen by using a lens where the aperture is visible from the front of the lens, and looking at it as you move the camera around. Therefore: there is no way to lock the exposure of video recordings on the GF3.

xw7

To clarify my Dec. 2012 comments regarding exposure control on the GF3 (for 30p)...

Enable histogram and drag to permanent spot on screen.
Anti-flicker menu setting to 1/60, leave in menu. (Unclear if making a difference during iA+ but leave it anyway.)
Set recording mode to iA+
iA+ setting: drag the exposure slider until histogram changes from yellow to white. White will be optimal exposure, (plus or minus if you want different exposure other than interpreted as optimal by histogram).
If you move the GF3 around while recording, the LCD may show the exposure as brighter/darker..HOWEVER..the actual video file will have no variance in exposure. Exposure is locked.

Using iA+ with LCD slider and histogram is, in effect, the same as if it were inputted by number values.

b483h

gf3+nikon 50 1.4 Cluster v2e thanks Vitaliy, Driftwood and all Genius

aklumix

This video was shot entirely with the GF2. The only shot that looked amazing was the thumbnail of the video which I used a Canon 50mm FD. The shots in the video are with the Panasonic 20mm which I found too plastic looking and sharp. I had many great shots with the 50mm but without a monopod the shots were ruined (couldn't even fix them with warp stabilizer). So my 2 cents would be to use old softer prime lenses over nice sharp panasonic glass for great video from these little cams.

willu

Any chance of getting a basic collection of GF3-centric presets?

I originally started using ptools when it was firs released for the GH1, was great for upping the quality but I never got into messing with most of the settings. I bought a couple GF3's on Ebay for super cheap and hoped to do the same. I see some amazing work being done with these various patches for the GH2 (sanity, drewnet, cluster, etc) complete with detailed descriptions of what they should be used for, card compatibility, supported features, but apparently a lot of that doesn't apply to the GF3.

For instance I just sampled about 6 of them and compared some footage and was very pleased with Drewnet T9, however all of them regularly encounter write errors to my cards. On multiple GF3's to multiple cards, Lexar 64gb 600x, Trancend 128gb UHS-1, Sony 64gb UHS-1, Sandisk 32gb 95mb/s.)

I figured out with the GH1 that as you get towards some of the higher bitrate patches you need higher end cards, but nothing seems to be pleasing my GF3's!

I'm not even looking for the best of the best, just a good, reliable upgrade that will work with even a modest class 10 card. Spanning in FSH is essential!

zsound

Hi everybody, i've just bought a GF3, i would like to hack it with the Drewnet t9 preset, where can i find it?

Thanks in advance.

kaikerr

Can't upload files, so i uploaded some screenshot from VLC player at the end of the clip File upload failed. Reason: The post data was too big (max 8M)... any sugestions?

kaikerr

Ok, let's see, I've tryed both @driftwood Cluster X Slipstream#3 & Moon on my new GF3 with 64GB SanDisk 95MB/s and don't know if i'm doing it right because i just see the change from PAL to NTSC but nothing else, no 50 or 60p, no big bitrate improvement (just a few MBps, from 17 to 24 or so) and have some doubts if GF3 is as hackeable as GF2 'cos i read lots of coments where people talk about 60p on GF2 at 72 MBps (for example)... What am i doing wrong? is GF3 as hackeable as GF2? I attach two files with a mts i have just record, first with Slipstream and second with Moon... Please help me, I can still return the camera to the store and maybe it's better looking for a GF2. Thanx! @vitaliy_kiselev & @driftwood for all the hard work, amazing...

Alex_K

“PAL↔NTSC Menu” lets you shoot in 25 fps, or 30 fps HBR modes by changing the Setup/Video Out camera menu to PAL or NTSC. After changing the camera's menu, power cycle the camera and format your memory card.

Use any firmware, double the AVCHD bitrates, AQ4, default GOP http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/42044#Comment_42044

tomhefley

Hi everyone. First, thanks in advance if anyone has the technical background and experience to help answer a few questions I have. I greatly appreciate your time. I've owned a GF3 since last summer and love the camera. I just recently purchased a 20mm 1.7 lens and have been playing with the camera more and anticipating and looking forward to the spring season. I also love to shoot video. I just stumbled across this site and the fact that the GF3 can be hacked to give the user higher bit rates as well as other improvements when shooting video.

Here are my questions. How exactly do I switch from NTSC to PAL? I want to do this so I can shoot 1080 25p. This resolution is of course better than interlaced 1080i, correct? I've been all over the menu and buttons and cannot for the life if me find where to enable 1080 25p via NTSC to PAL. When flashing do I need to find a PAL only firmware? I'm using the 1.2 firmware along with ptools. Do I need to somehow try and find 1.1? I've noticed that 1.2 actually had less features enabled in the menu system over 1.1. I gathered this from screen shots I've seen of 1.1 where there seems to be a 3rd area under video settings.

I've been reading extensively on this subject and just cannot find the answers I'm looking for. While I'm at it, could a few of you veterans with Hacked GF3 recommend to me a nice profile to flash to my camera? There are several and honestly, my head is spinning. I'm looking for a great all around profile that will give me great video.

Another thing. I am not against selling my GF3 body and upgrading to a GX1 or GF5 as I've seen these bodies around the $250 mark on eBay. I really would like if someone could try and give me some insight as well as answers to my questions.

Again, thanks in advance, Tom

kriser81

Thanks @griplimited. I am testing the cam for my friend right now, so made this ridiculously epic footage for the job.

griplimited

@kriser81 awesome job at matching it with the audio.

MbhuyKo

Yap i still waiting manual control for gf3 from march 2012, @vitaliy_kiselev is a great to make it happen setting manual for GF3, yeay

kriser81

I just tried my first video with clusterV2. Yeah I know that miniature mode is overused, still, it's fun! (and safe a lot of space when you're doing time-lapse)

Wimp

So, is manual settings even possible with a future hack? is this beeing worked on at all? i'm willing to donate if it's still beeing worked on.

temagaiva

hello, Is it possible to increase the exposure time of more than 60 seconds?

xw7

Hello forum.. regarding the GF3's manual control for video; is it even in the realm of possibility? btw, does the GF3 hack (or future hack) have anything like zebra stripes or overblown highlight helpers like with the GH2?

I understand GH2 is better for video, but the present GF3 right now is not bad. Thanks.

EDIT: So, I saw on the dpreview "Movie Mode" page for the GF3 review: "Ironically, to obtain more direct control you need to switch to the (automated) iAuto modes. Either of the two modes will allow you to adjust aperture during the video via the 'defocus' slider. Setting the camera to iAuto+, however, gives you the additional option of setting exposure compensation and white balance before you start recording."

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicdmcgf3/11

So, it seems you can get aperture and exposure locked in and adjust the white balance manually in iAuto+. It's not exactly full manual control, but at least you can lock down the exposure so it doesn't fluctuate. I actually don't have the GF3 yet, so I can't confirm this. If anyone else wants to give it a go and report their results, it would be appreciated.

Vitaliy, if you're still able to hack for full manual control similar to the GH2 and require donations to get closer, please let us know. Thanks for your time and efforts.

MbhuyKo

Dear @vitaliy_kiselev when a launch manual control video for GF3/GF5? Like GF1.. I hope is the best setting ever and help for GF3/5 user :D I wait from May until now

stoney

I sold it then bought it again for almost free :)

Very good JPEG during daylight. Otherwise RAW processing gives good skin tone color.

The 15mm f/8 pinhole lens cap would be so cool on it.

Yeap the manual control sounds great.

MbhuyKo

Need manual control to amazing gf3, hhehhehe

driftwood

Thats because its adjusting 'on the fly' as u record. Its working out assigned memory space to estimated time left but your recordings are no doubt consuming less memory as the detail/memory/space ratio is lower.

Recording hi detail would show much less as more memory is required. Result would therefore equal less available time left.

With vbr these variables are continually adjusting.

Rambo

Kolbe1019, most people are of the opinion a 2-2.5 increase in bitrate is about all the GF range is worth patching to. Beyond that there appears to be no gains. Cbrandins 44 patch seems to do the trick, definitely noticeable improvement if there is motion in the scene.

Yep, it's not a good camera for wide shots from far away, up close, in tight it's good.

kolbe1019

Ok... I am having some second thoughts.

Does anybody really notice a difference from their hacked stable settings vs. unhacked footage??? I am beginning to think there is absolutely no difference... not even in editing.

driftwood

Cluster v2e for GF users.

kolbe1019

This is the hack for me as it is stable.

I used a hacked GF3 using pvdogs patch for the GF2. You can find the patch here http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2321/gf2-stable-settings/p6 it is located towards the bottom of that page.

I wanted to test it to the max... So I recorded until the battery died to see if it would span and to see if it would save my footage in the end and when I recharged the battery and turned the camera on it had saved all of the footage. So... Not bad. I wouldn't recommend using the gf3 for very wide shots as it won't pick up all the fine details like the GH2 but other than that this GF3 will be great!

This clip is just a small portion of the footage taken in that 2.5 hour recording... I should also note... I used a Sandisk 64gb Ultra SDXC... "30 mbps" though it says write time is slower... it worked fine.

Normal record time with the 64GB with the unhacked GF3 read 8 hours on the screen and after the hack it read 1 hour 25 minutes... HOWEVER!!!!!

After 2.5 hours of recording it still had 45 minutes left.

I was using the 14mm f2.5. on manual focus. And my living room is poorly lit, but the footage looks good to me. Also it was about 7PM and it was getting dark outside. SO I hope this helps. The GF3 is a good investment if you don't need manual controls... but be sure to set the flicker reduction to 1/50 to make sure your shutter speed isn't too fast.

The one negative spot was that when I tried taking a photo while recording video as you can see during the shot of the grass I got one quick green frame.

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