I have a question. For my professional videos with my GH2, so with controlled lightning etc, I of course use the creative video mode and so did I also during my private videos. At one time I needed to take a picture during a video take and found out, that I can not do this in creative video mode. But in A S M P and many other modes, when I film in these modes. Now the chosen video format, SHG, SH (1080i, 720p,) or so stays the same in the other modes. What is different is, that in these modes, Auto ISO jumps in which can mot be overruled.

When I film outside with good light I do not care. Other things like aperture, shutter speed etc ca be set manually in the normal modes ad well.

So my question to the GH2 experts: What are the other differences/advantages From creative video modes to A S M P Modes

Advantage creative video mode: 1. control of the ISO 2. ?

Advantage A S M P modes: 1. pictures can be taken during video filming 2. ?

Thanks already, any answer will be appreciated.

@ Vitaliy, if you ind a thread, where this question fits please shift it there or let me know and I post the question there again.

The trick is to get it to turn on when the highlights are just on the verge of peaking (and subsequently losing information), and your shadow areas are not completely black. While it may not be the most elegant solution, I found that I could achieve the aforementioned if I framed the shot with a dark wall, or object on one side of the frame - thus falsely increasing the dynamic range of the shot, and getting I.Dynamic to turn on. Here is an example of the exact same shot taking moments apart. The first with I.Dynamic off, the second with I.Dynamic on the highest setting. I hope this makes sense, and helps anyone who has been trying to figure this setting out. No color correction was done - the only variable is IDYnamic.

Cheers.

I'm always shooting my video in 24p mode, which I'm guessing is the reason that any form of still shot whilst shooting video is impossible. A bit of a shame.

I was using my Voigtlander 17.5mm f0.95 and was experiencing quite a few rubbish shots when trying to take them in program mode. I guess it wasn't working out so well having no control over the aperture. In the end i was forced to go for shutter priority and dial in something fast enough to be sharp... 1/40th or faster basically. I believe then i still had problems with auto ISO, and ended up having to manually dial in isos to get a result that looked close to what i wanted.

It seems quite a struggle really. I'm assuming with coded lenses the experience would have gone a lot more smoother?

I have a few wedding shoots coming up in the next few months, and i wonder if i could manage to shoot stills and video all with just the GH2.. if not i'll rely back on my old trusty Nikon D3 for stills, but i just don't look forward to the hassle and weight of that, as well as the GH2!

Anyone got any tips?

Thoughts? Thanks a lot.

I love the look of 320ISO on the GH2 but I have been bitten my the 320 noise bug many times in the past, even when trying diligently to use the 320 fix (going down from a higher ISO). This has caused me to wonder at times whether there might be other issues that effect the issue like shutter speed, or mode (cinema, smooth, etc)… in short, I've been frustrated.

Well I think I've finally sussed it out. Yes, the 320 (and 640) bug fix does work from a higher ISO - BUT only in you come down from the higher ISO avoiding 1250 and 640 ISO! If you start at 800 ISO, click to 640 ISO and then to 320 the noise will appear as if you started the camera from 320. If you start at 800 and click to 400 and then to 320 the noise is controlled as it should be. Same with 1600 to 1250 to 640 to 320 (noise), as opposed to 1600 to 800 to 400 to 320 (clean).

I believe this may be the culprit for some of the anomalous findings people have come up with in previous noise tests and who 320 has been poo-pooed at times as out of control noisy.

I could post examples here, but I don't think it's needed. Those of you wanting to use 320 and having issues can try this yourselves easily to check my findings. I've tested this now in a number of controlled tests and I'm getting 100% clean results now with 320 as long as I avoid 1250 and 640 when coming down from the higher ISOs.

Yes, it's irritating having to do this to begin with, but it's still a MUCH faster start then our RED, and in fact, to my eye 320 is the sweet spot for noise/color on this little miracle camera, so I'm pleased to have a consistent fix for the issue.

Well, this mod looks at first to be doable by the tech savvy or foolhardy. (!) CARE! viewfinder screens can carry high voltages!! [Edit 18 May] Added picture: for some of us it is highly desirable to have a camera truly on the shoulder with the sensor-plane rotating on the axis of the operator's body. A re-located eyepiece can enable this.

Cost: Longer ribbon cable $60. Electronic work: Zero, except perhaps encasing the cable in shielding and insulation. Main skills needed: Design, care with tiny screws, safety, maybe cutting & bending plastic, adhesives.

Thanks in advance.

BTW I'm using a 16GB pro extreme 95MB/s card

Thanks for your help!

A hacked GX1 - which would enable stuff like high-ISO filming, manual video controls and higher bitrates - would make it the perfect travel camera. Small and light (with small lenses too, unlike the NEXes), yet great at video. Right now it's just "okay" at video, hacks would enable it to show its full potential. Since the GX1 allows direct recording to MP4 I guess that'll make it a little bit easier to hack than with the other models where you have to deal with the dreadful AVCHD format.

Since Vitaliy has said that G3 is next after the GF3 has been hacked, I think it would be fitting to work on the GX1 right after that. I've read several places that the GX1 and the G3 is quite similar. They both have the same sensor apparently. Vitaliy have self said that "It is G3 in other body, without EVF and all else is almost the same." That'll hopefully make it easy to hack right after the G3 has been hacked..

A firmware update was released a couple of days ago, which I guess will make the process a little bit easier too.

What do you guys, and especially Vitaliy, think?

You guys have made me almost sell my 5Dmkii, almost...!

But, I have to say that at this point I'm a little disappointed with the GH2.

First, the hack I'm using is spanmybitchup v2b. I'm shooting on a Nikkor 50mm 1.8.

I was shooting a music video yesterday and had the GH2 as my B camera. I tried to shoot on HBR...when I got home to edit, I realized that it's been shot in 30fps...super let down. I can't use this footage as everything I ever shoot in in 24p....sigh....

Last weekend, I brought it down to Houston for a celebrity basketball tournament. I get there, set up my 5D and walk the floor capturing dunks and stuff like that in 60fps. I get home to edit, interpret the footage to 24fps...its VERY jittery. So, I take a look at more footage. Also jittery and not a smooth slow motion. Some of it was. Weird.

Questions: If I shoot in 24p cinema and I have the hack installed...am I even shooting with the highest quality the hack has to offer or is this still just normal, stock GH2 footage?

60fps. Why is it that I am getting jittery slow motion when conformed down to 24fps? Why is it smooth sometimes? I REALLY don't like to roll the dice especially for events...if you sleep on capturing a moment, or it doesn't turn out good...it's gone forever.

That's all!

Thank you guys so much!!!

All tests were done with the following settings (-2,-2,0,-2) except Vibrant (-2,-2-1,-2), using a gray card, my hand as skin tone, a piece of skin tone colored felt, and color swatches consisting of primary colors, black and white, sky blue, and earth tones. Attached are stills from one of the Skin tone tests

Cinema - while it does render pleasing midtones, and really handles white highlights very well, skin tone highlights turn greenish and blow out very quickly. Shadows falloff very quickly. The result is a very cinematic look in the midrange but leaves you a very small tolerance in terms of DR. If shooting a flat 2:1 style scene this may actually work very well for you.

Vibrant - Terrible shadow response. Even with the saturation set to negative 1, the boost in color vibrance is nothing that can't be reproduced in post with less chroma smearing shooting Smooth which has a better shadow response. Vibrant stretches it's highlights, and compresses it's midtones in a way that is very hard to undo in post. Everything Vibrant has to offer can be achieved in post shooting with Smooth.

Smooth - The most even response curve of the bunch, handles shadows and highlights very well, no chromatic aberrations above 75% like some of the other modes, low grain in shadows down to 20%. Best overall shooting mode.

Nostalgic - GREAT Shadow response. Stretches shadows and mids evenly, very decent skin tone, but begins to break down above 70%, heavy highlight compression. Very warm, but this can be compensated for in the white balance by adding blue, and a little green.

----more to come.

1. how the GH2 performs in these conditions (extreme contrast, auto exposure)
2. 720p 50fps - any issues I should be aware of? (I shoot all the real estate stuff at 720 so I can do a little slo mo when needed). For instance does it play nice with premiere pro 5?

thanks

How do you know whether you've got the PAL or NTSC version? I'm in South Africa, which is PAL; however there is no guarantee that the shop has given me a PAL GH2 (this is Africa). I really need to check this.

Secondly, I have installed the 1.1 firmware successfully, but I can't find the recorded 25p high bitrate movie files anywhere. They are present on the camera itself, when I go to playback mode, but when I connect the camera to the PC the video clips are nowhere to be found. The DCIM folder is empty... When I record with the ntsc frame rates, like the cinema mode, manual movie, etc. I can access the 30p movie files on my computer without a problem

Thirdly, is there any way to change the aspect ratio to 4:3 and the resolution to standard definition (720 x 567) or standard high definition when recording in 25p? Or is 25p only available in 16:9 and 1080 x 1920 resolution?

Please could anyone help me with these three questions? I feel like I've bought a very expensive cat in the sack. (I'm a first year film student and needed a camera because the university does not lend cameras to first year students.)

Any help will be greatly appreciated.