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Bad Hack by me...I think ?
  • OK, I thought things went a bit too smoothly for me the other day when I downloaded new firmware 1.1 and then the Quantum x "spanmybitchup" v2 hack pack that I got from a link to OSG films, with the correct ptool3.

    This morning I tried 720p,and 1080i in M mode, Manual Exposure and discovered the following.

    seem to have lost control over the live view, as it shows up being over exposed on the LCD and LVF, and of course records underexposed.

    auto like exposure when recording , sometimes with dark corners disolving in.

    screen flashes when recording is finished.

    menu screens darkens and lightens depending where lens is pointed.

    Ex Tele when switched on, won't show on LVF/LCD, so you can't frame it, but magnification kicks in when shutter is pressed

    Have taken out battery and card and restarted etc. present card in camera is sandisk 16g, 30MB.

    There's a few other issues, but I've tried all day going through FAQ for something similar as I'm running with a 16g Sandisk SD, until my larger card arrives in about a week. Tried resets as suggested, and wondering if I should restore Panasonic firmware as suggested in FAQ. Or should I wait until 64g sdxc card arrives and then see where I'm at??? I just don't want to do more harm than good by trying to fix it.

    24p Cinema mode seems ok at this stage.

    Any help with what I've done wrong would be very much appreciated. ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

    I have restored panasonic's firmware 1.1 as per instructions in the faq sections, and also followed the instructions by mpgxsvcd with his guide to "setting stable conditions" and installing No adverse affects settings with ptools 3.6.4, and another firmware download from panasonic, and think I got all that right.

    Bit rates are back to 22,000 average, and recording time has increased to about 50 min @ 24p. But sadly I still have the same issues that I mentioned above . So I'm wondering if my camera needs to be taken back to someone like Panasonic for repair.

    Any thoughts please? Cheers

  • 23 Replies sorted by
  • Spanmybitchup is made for fw1.0 as much I can remember.

  • Thanks tetakpatak, I'll follow up on that as I'll stick with Panasonic's 1.1firmware, and mpgxsvcd's No adverse affects upload until a bigger card arrives. I think 3 of my issues relate to not being able to control Auto ISO in Manual exposure mode, other than in Creative movie mode, so I have put 720p and or 1080i in a cutom set but had to do with Speed prority. Not ideal but I couldn't find a solution in the Manual after a whole days looking. Cheers.

  • I think you didn't understand.... also No adverse affects is patch for Panasonic's firmware 1.0, you can not use it with firmware 1.1

    Pay attention and read info in your patch, it says quite on the beginning:
    Camera=GH2 v1.0E

  • Obviously I missed something when looking at mpgxsvcd's video tutorial on how to install no adverse affects. I thought he said it required 3 downloads, 1. latest 1.1v firmware, 2. latest ptools, 3. no adverse affects. I can at least have full manual control at the moment in the 3 of the C memory modes without auto iso taking over, as it now does in every other mode. The same thing with Ex Tele if I want it. (preferred the 1.0v of Ex Tele to be honest, dind't have to wait for recording to start before it kicks in) Back to the drawing board. Appreciate your advice...Cheers.

  • I'm still having sleepless nights (traweling through FAQ threads) with my camera as I can't resolve Auto ISO taking over in any mode other than Creative Movie Mode, and the ETC is a nightmare (doesn't work in Photo as well) and has a mind of its own. My new card should arrive today. Spent a great deal of time following up on the ISO bug, but I don't think it's the same problem I got.

    I noticed PTools has a 3.66v making mention to g3 and gx1, and a 3.65v likewise for GF3,GF2, GH2. or should I stick with 3.64v. for any further attempts I make ?

    Also would there be boxes to tick in Ptools that may resolve my camera, or do I just need a placebo tablet?

    Thanks.

  • I shouldn't own up to this but I will (he says with his tail between his legs)

    Auto Iso was always there (apparently) in all modes apart from creative movie mode (so Panasonic assure me) probably only ever being interested in 24p enhanced my ignorance to that prior to firmware update.

    Not having Ex Tele in still picture mode (this one hurts the most) I had fallen for it before and actually had it highlighted in my manual. With a 16:9 ratio, picture size is now M (7M) and all is good.

    Which leaves me with just one issue with the Ex Tele switched on but only kicking in on Manual mode when record button is pressed....rest assured I'll own up to it when I fix it.

    Feeling better.

    I'm still ignorant and confused as to which ptools version is current or relevant to me.

  • @Haberdasher If you are using a GH2, then either PTool 3.65D or 3.66D would be the best (the differences between them relate to other cameras so don't worry).

    If you are using FW 1.1 there should be separate EX settings for stills and movies. If you have both turned on, then it should be previewing in EX mode in both Creative/Manual Movie Mode and in "M" stills mode. Also, remember to always start your recordings by pushing the shutter button on the top, not the red record circle button if you want to maintain full control over you video settings.

  • @thepalalias thanks very much, I think that just about fixed up the last couple of my self inflicted dilema(s).

    Good thing to come out of all this has been the links in FAQ that has given me a better understanding of things..eg; GOP structure, and compression etc, and never do a hack without the suitable SD.

    Will reinstall spanmybitchup soon, now I have a sandisk 95/64g card, and no news will be good news from me for a while.

    Anyway back to TFM again.

  • Reinstalled spanmybitchup with a 95/64gig sdxc card and got some terrific results, not only with picture quality, but audio seemed enhanced as well (but it was a football stadium with 80,000 voices) The only concern was a little noise, but no more so than the stock firmware. So after a few days testing I installed flowmotion v2 and have been testing it at 1080,24p,smooth, 50 shutter speed, iso160, -2,-2,-2,-2. and a 14-42 lens out the box, with good results (I think) for a GH 2 begineer.

    Picture noise is something I think I can improve on if I can identify it prior to recording, so I'm checking my shots a lot more through the LVF, playing with the aperture only for the time being, and re-composing the shot if necessary.

    Flowmotion was absolutely incredible to shoot with at sundown at the beach. It handled the extreme lighting conditions we have in Oz at that time of day brilliantly, just loved the water, and low light, and the ETC surprised me. It seems very stable and no surprises so far, apart from great picture quality.

    @driftwood @LPowell
    many thanks.

    Cheers.

  • @Haberdasher Now you got it working give some of the Cluster X series of settings a go.

  • @haberdasher: i can also highly recommend the cluster x series. i think to date they are the best settings along the valkyrie ones...plus they are also very stable, span like a bitch and give awesome IQ.

  • @Mirrorkisser & @driftwood. Many thanks, have been going between Flowmowotion2, and Cluster x, Drewnet Trial 8 over the past few days and have been very impressed with my ongoing tests. I think Drewnet gave me about 56 minutes recording time on a 95/64 SDXC, and any recordings over 10 sec gave me only 2 sec playback, but a small price to pay for outstanding quality (I thinks).. so a Pro would need 2 or 3 cards on a day shoot.

    I'm taking the camera to work on the football this friday night. Closed roof stadium with television lighting (of course) and a mixture of house lighting. I'll be fortunate enough to be up close, but I'm up for any suggestions as to what might be an appropriate hack. I'm still sticking with my 24 fps, smooth, 50 shutter, 160 iso, -2-2-2-2, but once again I'm wondering what 720p might offer me with sport.

    Cheers.

  • @tetakpatak

    The No adverse affects patch is for V1.1. Thanks for completely misleading everyone.

  • @haberdasher: something that just popped up in my head right now: do you really want to shoot in 24p? for sports events i think at least 30fps are a better choice. if you want to stick with 24p, go with an all intra setting for sure, all intra settings give you the most natural movement...

  • @mpgxsvcd I didn't mislead anybody purposely, I've just read what my zip file says before posting here. That setting must have also a newer version for FW 1.1 which I didn't know about.

  • @tetakpatak, mpgxsvcd's latest .zip file has the incorrect firmware version number. It was his mistake.

  • @mirrorkisser, I should have mentioned that at the moment I'm probably more interested in crowd reaction shots etc, than the game itself. I've been sticking with 24p, 50 fps, as a yardstick so to speak, whilst I get my head and hands around this camera. But I will give 30 fps a go for sure.... Ta.

    @tetakpatak, @mpgxsvcd, @balazer, FW versions, and saving increment increases in my patch folders is still a grey area to me at the moment when it comes to adding another digit. I'm thick enough to think I have to increase in numerical order and when I reached v1.9 I've done my dash. Some referances say put any number (second digit) in other than the original firmware's second digit. Well the way I'm travelling at the moment is to do just that, so all my patch folders (4 of them) have similar version increments at one stage or another.

    Also PTools, should I just stick with 3.6.5, or will 3.6.6 cover all present day needs. And whilst on Ptools I've come across 2 explanations regarding the increment increase. Should it read 01, or 10, in the green section or will either be OK ? @thepalalias has given me some direction on ptools version.

    Hope I'm not confusing too many people, so any suggestions where to find the conclusive answers would be great.

    Cheers.

  • @Haberdasher I have always left the increment increase at the default value and have never had a problem.

    As for the filename, the important thing is that you only change the numbers - the name should be the same as the original ".BIN" file you downloaded other than that. But whether you write ""GH2_V12.bin" or ""GH2_V99.bin" makes no difference to the camera at all.

    And yes, 3.65 and 3.66 are equivalent for GH2 use at the moment and I am not aware of a reason to need to use any older versions.

  • @thepalalias, thanks again. Three "grey areas no more" to confuse myself with.

  • Bad Hack By Me...I think ?

    ................................................................................................................................................................... Thought I’d put a line through my initial question that I posted, declare that it was a good hack, but I hadn’t prepared myself properly (research) for what I should expect with a hack, the way the camera reacts to different hacks, and some of my woes would have been resolved in the Operators Manual as well.
    Spanmybitchup, Flowmotion 2, Cluster x Drewnet trial 8, & Nebula trial 6 (at the moment), are giving me very pleasing results that are easy to work with on a 95/64 sdxc card. No real issues other than those that are stated with the different hacks. Any further comments I have concerning my type of testing of these hacks, I’ll use the appropriate threads/forum to make comment. Thanking those for the help and advice.

  • @Haberdasher I am glad i found this thread thanks for the feedback! I will make a note of the patches paring better with the right ptool since many patches include that info in the text. From my experience i did not have an issue mixing. If you are still having issues with with hacking did you check out http://osgfilms.com/hack-the-panasonic-gh2/ neumannfilms did a great step by step video that should makes things pretty clear.

  • @OSGondar I've relied on the advice @thepalalias gave me regarding ptool version(s) and so I am currently using 3.6.6 without any problems so far (keep my fingers crossed) and yes I regularly watch http://osgfilms.com/hack-the-panasonic-gh2/, as it is an excellent tutorial for older beginners like me who are not computer literate as such. I increase the ptool increment to 01 as per the video with ongoing success. 2 things I think that are helping (1) reformating the card after the hack is done. (2) recharging battery straight away before testing camera = a good start. Thanks for feedback... PS @mirrorkisser, cluster X was great advice and 24p was great for crowd reaction shots at the football, I achieved a very non video look.

  • glad to hear its working! looking forward to see some footage, sounds like an interesting setup you were filming!