The
Panasonic GH1 can do some great video for its size, thanks to that fancy micro four-thirds optical setup, but it's been held back the low bitrates it uses when recording. Now some enterprising hacker named "Tester 13" has reversed engineered the GH1's firmware and unlocked the
true power of the camera (much like
Magic Lantern has done for the 5D Mark II). In fact, the main trouble now is that Tester 13's firmware uncovers
too many options: users are trying out different configurations to maximize quality without bumping into the camera's buffer limitations. The current flavors of choice include 50Mbps MJPEG at 1080p (the stock camera caps out at 720p in MJPEG), to be augmented by 32Mbps AVCHD when the crazy high-end MJPEG causes the camera to buffer overflow. It's all very technical and video-nerds-only in theory, but results speak for themselves: check out a sample video after the break. And try out the new firmware if you dare.
[Thanks, Steve]
posted June 16th 2010 7:06AM
I'm looking at this article on my Android phone, and I must say - the similarity between the Engadget App and the Apple Store App is remarkable! You should write an article about it!
@RincewindWiz Did Nilay receive a quick e-mail from Apple Corp.?
@RincewindWiz I love Engadget conspiracies!
@RincewindWiz
What does that have to do with this post?
@Yoda The previous post was deleted, but you're right, I'll shut up now.
I'm regretting that I bought a different camera... that looks awesome.
@Yoda - Probably having a camera, in itself, is not enough. You need some talent and experience to make nice shots like these ones!
@Yoda: Though amazing picture quality, recording time is limited to 3 min bursts because of the FAT 16 file system...
http://www.rgbfilter.com/?p=5370
Not so good for documentary or typical consumer use, but it can be worked around if you're shooting more creative/controlled shoot kind of work.
@Alan Strangis Not true, you only have a time limit if you are shooting MJPEG, otherwise if you use AVCHD you can keep shooting til your card fills up.
@Alan Strangis You can keep shooting as long as you like (it also removes the 30min limitation from EU models). When the file hits 3 mins/2GB, it just starts a new file. Edit them together for the full clip.
Tester13 (his name is Vitaliy Kiselev and I love him btw :)))) has been working on that hack for the last 1-2 months ... old news. For a free "upgrade" to your GH1 go here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/forumdisplay.php?f=206
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this!
Theres a similar hack for the GF1 too!
I still don't understand why people insist on using the term 'hack' for something like this when the obvious choice should be 'fix'
@MrH a fix is done by the manufacturer and is officially sanctioned, a hack is done by a 3rd party and is not covered by the manufacturers warranty or endorsed by them in any way.
Eh. The new Canon Rebel dominates this for less $$$$
@Joao And where are its video-optimised lenses?
@Joao
Does it? Because last time I checked the GH1 had an articulating screen, a viewfinder that that doesn't blackout during recording, and the ability to autofocus while recording using video-optimized lenses with silent focusing. The GH1 (When shooting AVCHD, not MJPEG) will also record until your card is full, and -- via adaptors -- can use almost any lens you throw at it, including lenses that could never be adapted to the T2i because of flange-distance issues.
The T2i is a fantastic camera too, and Canon is currently dominating the v-dSLR world in terms of video quality, but there's still quite a bit of differentiation between different models in terms features and abilities.
-Happy GH1 user. (And 7D user at work)
You guys are late to the party...this is last week's news.
Great comparison test between this camera and other digital slr cameras when shooting HD. Zacuto's The Great Camera Shootout 2010
link to site
http://www.zacuto.com/shootout
@grantc The GH1 hack was not available when this shootout took place.
@Deny Yes, true. It's more of a testament of how amazing all these cameras are getting at filming images and competing with classic 35mm film. Cost effectively too.
Haha. Panasonic took a page out of Canon's playbook and realized that a "hack project" will increase their camera sales...even if that project does not accomplish anything meaningful. ;)
Promoting the "high bitrate" of a video codec is like bragging that your car uses more gas. Um, what? Let's look at quality instead.
fyi I own a GH1. The camera itself is amazing value, truly disruptive technology. But the firmware-hack marketing is rather annoying. Unless they manage to accomplish something significant, but that seems unlikely.
@photorealist
Wow, you're wrong about pretty much everything you said. You couldn't be more confused if you tried.
This is the effort of a single individual that has nothing to do with Panasonic. I wish Panasonic would wake up and issue a firmware of their own that does at least as much as this hack does.
So every camera might as well shoot at YouTube quality, then, right? Since it's like bragging about how much gas your car uses... (WTF?). Hollywood should switch over to FlipHDs instead of using film.
It's not marketing and tester13, or Vitaliy, has already accomplished a whole lot. No more 30 minute time limit for European cameras, ability to use 3rd party batteries, changing language, flipping between PAL and NTSC, and, best of all, changing the bitrate in AVCHD and MJPEG (not to mention going from 4:2:0 to 4:2:2). Why is that useful? Because the previous AVCHD implementation was (perhaps intentionally) crippled, meaning if you moved the camera too much or too fast, you got codec breakup (referred to as "mud"). Now it's almost impossible to break and the quality is strikingly improved.
For a project from one guy that's available for free, I think that's accomplished quite a lot. If Panasonic themselves issued a firmware update like this, even then it would be remarkable. People are now comparing the GH1 (a $1200 camera, $500-600 without lens) to the 5D Mark II (a $3000 camera), even coming to the conclusion that it can surpass the 5D in many ways.
@sonicyoof
Haha. The marketing forces downranked my last comment into "oblivion".
Do you know tester13 personally? I don't think so.
Do the tester13 hacks improve IQ (image quality) on the GH1? No, not really. Just bitrate. Try them and see.
If this comment is downranked to oblivion too, it will be abundantly clear that the "firmware hack" is truly a marketing project, not a "one-man Russian sooper hacker" project.
Shills & fools, teh interwebz iz full of 'em!
Sorry for being a little off topic here but does anyone know anything about the music track? I know it's Thom York but is it old or new or what? RadioHead?
@ngrava
Harry Patch.