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Panasonic GH2 Hacks good for a Noob
  • Hi There,

    I know the GH2 hack topic has been discussed extensively on this forum and thanks to @driftwood for the great work, but as a noob I was hoping someone can help break down some of the benefits of the following Hacks that seem to be very popular. I want to get the best quality video and stills possible without compromising stability.

    From my research these seem to be some of the most popular hacks out there: TerraQuake, Mysteron, Sedna, Quantum...

    My main reason for purchasing the camera is to shoot a music video in the park. Lots of greens and earthy colors during the daytime. Yet I want to create my own versatile Cam for great video and stills while being stable.

    Not sure if any of the patches I mention can produce stunning images and video in this setting. Would that same patch be good for shooting low light indoor settings? Also, maybe a silly question but do these hacks work with video and stills?

    Quantum 9b looks like it does great with lowlight:

    However I've seen some videos slight glitches in the footage with more movement involved:

    Please keep in mind I will be using a 64 GB SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Flash Memory Card 95MB/s.

    I found this link very useful, for noobs attempting to hack their GH2: http://www.sam-mallery.com/2011/11/an-ez-guide-to-hacking-the-panasonic-gh2/

    I'm looking for experienced filmographers who can direct me accordingly - pros and cons.

    Any help would be extremely appreciated and help relief a lot of anxiety accompanying this process ; )

    Thank you all!!

  • 2 Replies sorted by
  • I shoot a lot of interviews with CEO's, so for me, reliability is paramount. With flow motion 2.2, I great great image quality in HBR mode (forgot to mention I have to shoot at 25fps) and outstanding reliability. If you're unrestricted by delivery frame rates, you might be better off with a driftwood hack. The key is experimenting with a few flavours of hack - one man's meat etc etc

  • Thanks for the insight @mrbill. I've gone through most of the hacks above and have to agree with you. Reliability is paramount. The best footage I got was with 178Mb GOP1 but it's unfortunately highly unstable. I filmed 15 minutes at a memorial day event and none of it was on the SD card. Everything seemed functioning while recording, bummer I had a chance to film a military chopper taking off from up-close. I was using a 64 GB SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Flash Memory Card 95MB/s. After that I tried Quantum X, Sedona and settled on FlowMotion 2.2 for now. I'm getting good results and they keep getting better as I learn. I have to say though that it was close between Sedona and FlowMotion 2.2. I managed to get more vibrant color shades with Sedona and seems to be good for low light situations. I'll probably go back and try them again.