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SANITY 4 and 5.1
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  • Thanks Ralph_B for the answers, i will try cineform codecs...

    An other question, i just got a GF3 in addition to my GH2 and i would like to use your settings (SANITY 5.1) with this GF3: is it possible? I didn't find anything in the (small) section on GF3 stable settings concerning SANITY, i tried to use the SANITY 5.1 ini file designed for the GH2 but i cannot manage to update the firmware in my GF3 (the bin saved as GF3__V13.bin is not recognized as an update...). I don't know what is going wrong. I'm using ptool 3.66 and i'm loading the firmware GF3--V12.bin in it, then selecting your SANITY 5.1 settings (labeled for GH2 though, maybe it's the problem?).

  • @jlduh

    Sanity is designed only for the GH2. It won't work with other cameras, Sorry.

  • It seemed to work fine on my GF2, much better image quality. Since then I have sold it (first reverting back to original firmware of course) so I can´t help any more.

  • @Ralph_B and @VinarkGF2

    Well, i found (after 3 hours of fiddling) why I couldn't update the GF3 firmware with a hacked one with the SANITY settings. In fact in the section "Increment" that was checked/enabled of course, the default value of 1 seemed to be insufficient to get the update menu and process in the camera (but i never got any problem on my GH2 with the same settings... mystery for me ???). I changed 1 to 5 (randomly chosen) and it worked directly! Don't know why, but it works, this info can help some others maybe...

    So now i have the sanity 5.1 patch in the GF3 and like VinarkGF2 on his GF2, it seems to work very well with the GF3. I was able this afternoon to get bitrates of 35 Kbits/s on some shots (i was not trying to push the bitrate to any maximum with specific scenes, just filming some stuff with a bit of foliage and water).

    I shot tonight my TV screen (CRT) with the 14-42X on both the GH2 and then the GF3, both with Sanity 5.1 hack installed, and i obtained bitrates very similar; GF3 gave me a maximum around 40 Kbit/s. Nothing very scientific but at least it seems the GH2 patch works for the GF3, don't know if it is optimum of course but the result looked good so far...

  • @jlduh

    That's great, congratulations! I don't have a GH3, so this is all news to me.

  • @Ralph_B

    Be careful, it's GF3, not GH3 of course (not yet!)

  • @Ralph_B

    Well, did some other tests with the GF3 and i confirm that on same scenes with same lenses (but unfortunately different parameters of course because i don't have manual control on the GF3) i get similar bitrates with SANITY 5.1 on GF3 25p FSH (Europe zone, and of course no 24p with GF3) than the ones from SANITY 5.1 on the GH2 in 24H. Would be great to have manual controls on these small GF2, 3, 5...

    I will try to link with some videos of the test.

    GF3 is not so sharp than GH2 so it needs a bit more tweaking with sharpness parameter +2 and I-res Extended to recover some crispness i think (to my taste), but so far i'm quite happy with the results.

  • Here's another video I wrapped up from our friends' tennis challenge. I apologize ahead of time @Ralph_B because this probably doesn't do your hack any justice haha. Anyways, enjoy as always and take my videos lightly because they're not the typical professional shots you're probably used to watching.

  • @gottue

    Your video was fun. I just wish you would have shown some points being played out in their entirety. After all, it IS a tennis match.

  • @Ralph B, he does! did you watch the whole video!

  • @Ralph_B

    Glad you thought it was fun. We had a pretty pathetic approach for the camera setups. Nonetheless, the match was a blow out and the guy in blue won in straight sets. The rallies you saw were pretty much the most exciting parts of the match... if you can even call them rallies lol

  • Is Sanity 5.1 the best hack for documentary style 24p work, when I don't have budget for fast cards? I only have 2 x 32 GB Sandisk 45 MB/s card, and I would back them up to a laptop from time to time. Which spanning and diskspace-friendly hacks would you recommend?

  • @zsero

    Sanity works with ordinary class 10 cards, so your Sandisk 45M should be fine. If you want 24P spanning, be sure to use the 24L setting.

    With Sanity's efficiency, at 24L you're going to conservatively get 2 hours on a 32GB card, and probably more.

  • @Ralph_B thanks a lot! Is there any chance that spanning would work in 24H on the Sandisk 45 MB card? Is there a very big difference between 24H and 24L?

  • Spanning at 24H is dicey - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If spanning is important to you, use 24L. Fortunately, there is very little difference in picture quality. 24L looks great. I shot an entire paid concert gig with it, and the client was delighted.

  • Thanks!

  • I'm a bit confused by the different modes here. What's the framerate and resolution for the different modes? As far as I can tell, both Manual Movie Mode set to SH and H produces 60p when set to NTSC. Is this correct?

  • @Speldosa

    I sympathize. Panasonic's designations are a bit cryptic. Yes, SH and H are both 720 60P. SH is higher bitrate and H is lower bitrate. 1080 60i is FSH (higher bitrate) and FH (lower bitrate). 24P is 24H (higher) and 24L (lower). HBR (30P) has only one bitrate, which is the same as FSH.

    I designed Sanity so that the lower bitrates are very good quality. They are all absolutely useable, if you need them.

  • Does the same notion apply regarding spanning on 24H for variable movie mode at 300%? I'm trying time lapse for the first time tomorrow using this method.

    I'm still waiting to get an intervalometer? Any specific ones you guys recommend?

  • @gottue

    Stability is solid in variable movie mode, but I never tested spanning. You'll have to experiment.

  • @zsero experience with Sandisk 45MB/s (with any patch) shows us that it is quite problematic card for spanning, in general. Check Faqs

  • @Ralph_B Thanks, that clear things up quite a lot! Maybe you should put this info on the first page.

    By the way, Isn't it the case that SH with the original firmware means 50i/60i? This is all so confusing :)

  • @Speldosa

    No, the designations were always the same. The only thing that changed with firmware 1.1 was the addition of HBR mode.

  • Here's the outcome from my first time experimenting with time lapse using variable movie mode. There were no problems spanning on 24H with Sandisk 95mb/s card. I still have a lot to learn.

  • I love the Sanity.