So I'm looking at re-hacking my GH2s to be able to have 25fps with reliable spanning and respectable low light performance. I use a mixture of Panasonic lenses and other lenses using cheap adaptors used in "shoot without lens" mode.

I'm not sure which hack I've being using for the last couple of years (I just saved it as "new hack" when I downloaded it) but it was quite unpredictable with spanning - and I could never work out what combination of mode, lens and card might be relied upon.

So my question is which hacks can give reliable spanning without insane bitrates and at 25fps so that I can leave the GH2s unmanned for about 90 minutes (and potentially 2 hours)?

But eventually I realized a minor issue as well. This is regarding the audio of MJPEG (on GF1, but maybe other cameras as well). For some reason, when recording MJPEG, the audio bitrate is just okay at 256/257/268/281 kbps. However, the worse issue is that it is being captured at 16,000 samples per second, which is an issue because essentially any frequency past 8 KHz cannot be recorded to the video... With AVCHD Lite, the audio is successfully recorded at a high bitrate of 448 kbps, but even more importantly, the sample rate is 48,000 Hz which can capture frequencies up to 22 KHz safely. I want to make use of MJPEG at times, but with this knowledge I have to be careful not to use it in situations where the audio could be important (considering I have to use my phone as an external mic). It takes time to get my other audio sources running, so in a "quick, record!" moment, I wouldn't want to be forced to use AVCHD Lite in a situation where I would've preferred to use MJPEG, just because the audio will be poor for the time it takes to enable my external audio recording setup.

From what I've seen on the site nowadays, I've gathered that you've done something along the lines of "retiring" from this ptool project, so I understand if there's nothing you can do, but if possible, couldn't there be any way we could get the sample rate fixed to 48 KHz for MJPEG and not just AVCHD? Additionally, for the bitrate settings to affect MJPEG as well, not just AVCHD. Thank you for your time.

anyone have a good step by step process for this?

i found one on dpreview BUT i can't get to the "playback interface: press the rectangle with the arrow in it" section....every time i press the Fn2 button twice as instructed, it takes me to the C1, C2, C3 histogram setting.

anyone got some insight on this?

here's the instructions list:

To switch the Lumix DMC-GX7 from Japanese to English, do the following:

With the camera turned off, insert a non-empty SD card. If it's empty just turn it on, take a picture and turn it off. With the camera still off, press the 3 following buttons: AE/AF Lock + DISP. + WB. Turn on the camera while still pressing these buttons. Press the MENU/SET button and go to the spanner menu. You should have 6 "pages" to scroll down as opposed to 5 before. Scroll down to the entry that says "ROM BACKUP". Then select "DSC -> SD" (first entry) to backup the ROM on the SD card. It is not possible to flash back the ROM when using the temporary service menu. We need to make it permanent. Go back to the recording view by pressing Fn2 twice, and enter the Playback interface: press the rectangle with the arrow in it. Now press ISO + AF/AE LOCK and while still pressing the buttons, turn off the camera. If the operation worked you should see a yellow warning triangle on the screen. While the camera is off, take the SD card out and open it on your computer. First, save everything you have on the SD card. Better safe than sorry. Open the GX7U.TXT file and look for the first "270f" sequence. This is the larger sequence that interests us: 0000,0000,270f,6363,270f,6363 We need to change it to: 0100,0000,270f,6363,270f,6363 to switch the language to English. For more details and other potential language codes, check this thread. Note that I have not tested other languages, so I don't know if they work with the GX7. Once you have changed the file, save it, reinsert the SD card and turn on the camera. Press Menu, go to the spanner and go back to the ROM BACKUP menu. Select "SDALL -> DSC(FORCE)". You should have a message in Japanese that basically says you have written the ROM. Once you've seen the message, turn the camera off and then on. You should now have English menus!

any chance of a language hack and other hacks like 24P, 30 min. removal, et. al.

any thoughts would be amazing!

I'm extremely sorry to be reporting any negative to this AMAZING hack/setting, but I went out on a FREE (Thankfully) Band Shoot last night with my GH2 under the Cluster v6 DrewNet patch. I'm using a SanDisk Ultra 64gb card (30 Mbit/sec) and I set the GH2 to the Lower of the two settings both for disc space and extra stability. With these settings I'm getting 2 Hours and 55 Mins on the card with a 50 Mbit/Sec Data Rate (equivalent to 100ish...Yay!)

After the first set I shut the camera down, and when I re-powered on for the second set (with still an Hour and 50 mins left on the card) it gives me this VERY unpleasant response when I hit the record button...

CANNOT RECORD. FILE NUMBER EXCEED LIMIT

I gave it my best "college try" with powering down, card in and out, in a desperate effort to get it to record again, but alas it just laughed at me. (and a hacked GH2 has a very unpleasant laugh, let me tell you)

I'm DESPERATELY hoping there's something silly I'm doing, or a work-around that will fix this, as the v6 Cluster was SPANNING LIKE A CHAMP! I've tested it out to almost THREE HOURS more than once and it's doing it. But I've never shut down then tried to resume as I did last night.

If the only solution is to bend over on the price of an Extreme Card, I would gladly do that if it WILL solve this, but I get the feeling it won't and I'll be stuck paying WAY too much for a card that will go for $50 at some point down the road. (That always P's me off...the Ultra 64gb was $45 and it was working FINE other than this new glitch...and I'm not sure it's the card necessarily...I'm under the 60M point...)

Anyhow, I again apologize for reporting less than great news, and I'm truly hoping someone has a solution out there in the land of innovative photographic genius!

Take Care, Erik

PS: With an old Nikkor 50mm f 1.4 lens on the GH2, and in a DARK restaurant - it was like I had a LIGHTING CREW on the band...UNBELIEVABLY nice!

I've been using separate cards for photos and video but I haven't seen this issue mentioned anywhere before?

Features:

• Added new recording mode: "ZRAW (Bayer CFA)" - it's an old (true) ZRAW with Bayer RAW data, that can be used in our converter or original Z CAM ZRAW VideoSuite

• Original current ZRAW is now renamed to "ZRAW (HEVC)" - it still can be used if you need it

WARNING! Firmware is for E2-M4 ONLY!!! DO NOT setup it on any other camera models!

WARNING 2! IT CAN BE DANGEROUS! YOU USE THIS FW AT YOUR OWN RISK!

How to install the firmware:

1. Rollback your E2-M4 to 0.98.0 version (take image file from the original Z CAM website)

2. Prepare usb-stick/disk with our new image file (WARNING! ALL DATA ON THIS DISK WILL BE ERASED):

• connect flash to PC

• open balenaEtcher program (it's free, you can find it in the internet)

• choose zip file from this post (download zip file by link down there)

• choose your usb-stick/disk

• start process by pressing "Flash!" button and wait

• eject your usb-stick/disk after successful flashing process

3. Install FW to E2-M4:

• turn off your E2-M4

• connect your usb-stick/disk to your E2-M4

• press record button and power button simultaneously

• wait until you see Z CAM logo on the screen

• wait for 1-2 seconds and release buttons

• camera will update to our new firmware

If all is done correctly, after reboot camera will start using new firmware.

You can always rollback to the original Z CAM firmware without any problems.

BalenaEther can be found here (it's free):

https://www.balena.io/etcher/

Link to the firmware image with new features (that you choose in balenaEther):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18BHAqMg6at47HqWfkrDi-7cbxiMOozbV/view?usp=sharing

Facebook group with all info and links to ZRAW to DNG Video Converter:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/storyboardcreativity

To activate it set these settings:

• Resolution: 3696x2772 (Low Noise)
• Project FPS: 23.98/24/25
• WDR: Off

This mode triggers Sony IMX299 sensor readout mode "0" that allows 14-bit color.

If you use a firmware with old ZRAW (0.93 and older) or a hacked firmware with mode "ZRAW (Bayer CFA)", you can get a pure RAW DNG with 14-bit color.

Just purchased a pristine/mint Panasonic GF1 camera body from Japan with only 900 shutter actuations. However, I didn't realize that Panasonic cameras (at least the early models) purchased in Japan only have the Japanese language firmware (no other languages), and it is impossible to set to any other language.

After research, I found out about the Ptool3 hack that allows for a variety of improvements, along with being able to access various languages (in my case English). I followed all the instructions with the Ptool3, and saved the firmware with the next highest number (as described).

Problem is that no matter what I try, the camera (when I press Play) will not recognize the firmware at all, so at this point, I am unable to use this firmware hack.

Here is what I did:

I brought up the PTool, and loaded the latest GF1 firmware - which is GF1__122.bin

I then check marked "Version Compare."

I then check marked "Patches for End Users," and double-clicked on that and then from the drop-down menu, selected "Interface." I then clicked on "Interface" and check marked "All Interface Languages.?

I then saved the new FW as GF1__123.

I inserted the new FW on to the SD card (not in any folder) - and yes, it was formatted in camera first. I then inserted the SD card into the GF1, turned it on, and then hit the Play Button - but nothing. All I get is the Japanese phrase, telling me I have no images to view (or something like that). It just does not recognize the new hacked FW. I've now tried this a dozen times (at least), all to no avail.

The question now is that my camera looks like (perhaps) the latest version of the GF1 that was manufactured, before production on that model was ended. Do you think that they built in defenses to prevent FW hacks?

I can still use the camera and actually have it set up the way I want - but having the English language would have been ideal.

Thanking you in advance for anyone that can provide some assistance here.

Ben Herrmann Fuquay-Varina, NC

NTSC:
AVCHD FHD = 1080p24 3GOP superb detail in highlights and shadows / smooth looking motions / very high bitrates / spanning works very reliable
AVCHD SH = 720p60 3GOP with even higher bitrates (bitrates about 10% higher than in 1080p24) / IQ looks good, needs more testing as this mode was not primar target of the patch

PAL:
AVCHD FHD = 1080p25 13GOP looks good, needs more testing (bitrates about 60% of 1080p24)
AVCHD SH = 720p50 26GOP looks good, needs more testing (bitrates about 40% of 1080p24)

MJPEG (both in PAL and NTSC):
Integrated timelapse settings by Jordan Noblet / 2fps in "HD" 1920x1080 / colors 4:2:2 / It is ideal to use 1/2s exposure to get beautifully looking subject's motions in the blending frames, so strong ND filters are necessary in the daylight. Of course, shorter exposures are also possible- with sharper looking motions. In 2fps mode maximal file size (in MJPEG not avoidable) will be achieved after ca 1h25m. One can stop-and-start again the recording for longer recordings and edit later. For rendering is recommended to use Jordan Noblet's free software, you can download it on his website http://www.timelapser.net
All other MJPEG modes (WXGA, XGA, VGA) are also influented by the 2fps setting in HD mode, so rather forget them. File format after rendering in "Timelapser": AVI 1920x1080p 25fps

Bugs reports:
The released beta version of the "Varigop" runs in many situations stable, but it is regularly freezing if the object is well-lit grass or trees. All users of this setting should please keep me informed about observed bugs and feel free to post directly here. All those information will be very helpful for the development of the setting until the stage when "alpha" version can be released some day.

If you use this patch and like it, please don't forget who made all this with his tireless work possible and make donation to Vitaliy on the top of this page and support that way his hacking projects.

(beta-version released on January 30th, 2013)

Today @ma1co (https://github.com/ma1co/fwtool.py) released an update to his fwtool.py tool that allows you to extract gen4 firmwares. The tool only allows you to decrypt the firmware at the moment, but I am sure it will only be a matter of time till he updates it to encrypt as well.

The method below was discovered by @vitaliy_kiselev and can be found here: https://www.personal-view.com/faqs/sony-hack/languages

NOTE2: this method is not only untested, it will likely brick your camera. Proceed with caution.

Preparation (for macOS)

1. Download the full source fwtool.py from the link above
2. Download the actual firmware for your camera, in my case for the A7III it was (https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/e-mount-body-ilce-7-series/ilce-7m3/downloads/00015677)
3. copy the .dat firmware file from the dmg to the fwtool root folder
4. sudo easy_install pip
5. sudo pip install pycrypto
6. sudo pip install pyyaml

note: if at any point you found any of these steps confusing or indirect, you should stop and not do this

Guide:

1. python fwtool.py unpack -f FirmwareData_ILCE7M3V210.dat -o out (this is on macOS Mojave, your OS might require something different)
2. cd out/firmware.tar_unpacked/0110_backup/SYSASTRA-DSLR/TI
3. Swap the files of your current language (I have J1, see below list section as a reference. note that there are now 2 ALLLANG files one with CX62200 and one with CX62201 choose the one that corresponds to your camera language) with the All Language file (just rename them)
4. cd out/firmware.tar_unpacked/0111_backup_sum
5. edit 'backup.sum' in your favorite text editor

6. Swap the checksums with what ever language you have with the CX62200_ALLLANG bin file checksum

   0,ae35017d,00113eba,000001a4,00000000,000003e8,root,root,-1,-1,SYSASTRA-DSLR/TI/CX62200_ALLLANG.bin, 0,782ddbc1,00113eba,000001a4,00000000,000003e8,root,root,-1,-1,SYSASTRA-DSLR/TI/CX62200_J1.bin,

   becomes

   0,782ddbc1,00113eba,000001a4,00000000,000003e8,root,root,-1,-1,SYSASTRA-DSLR/TI/CX62200_ALLLANG.bin, 0,ae35017d,00113eba,000001a4,00000000,000003e8,root,root,-1,-1,SYSASTRA-DSLR/TI/CX62200_J1.bin,

7. Wait till we have a way to encrypt it. I just cant thank ma1co enough for making this possible up to this level! you rock. I will update this guide with results once ma1co releases an update.

List:

• Region ALLLANG .. I mean you should know what this means otherwise you should not do this.
• Region J1(JPN) supports Japanese only
• Region U2, CA2, AU2 supports English, French, Chinese,
• Region CEE2 (CEE) supports English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russia, Sweden, Danish. Norway, Finnish, Poland, Czech, Hungarian.
• Region CEE4 supports English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russia, Sweden, Danish. Norway, Finnish, Poland, Czech, Hungarian.
• Region CEE5 supports English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russia, Sweden, Danish. Norway, Finnish, Poland, Czech, Hungarian.
• Region CEH E32, HK1, JE3, TW6 supports English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Thai, Korean, Persian.
• Region CN2 supports English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Thai, Korean, Persian.
• Region KR2 supports English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Thai, Korean, Persian.

Links....

PTool: https://www.personal-view.com/gh1hack/ptool3d.zip

GH1 firmware: https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/dl/gh1.html

Finally, I managed to figure out all my code and make a hack with Panasonic-like recording indication based on firmware v0.93!

My first changelog:

• Added automatic non-switchable red Panasonic-like recording indication along the edges of the HDMI-output

All the source code of the added patches is here:

https://github.com/storyboardcreativity/Z-Camera-E2-Firmware-Hack

The instructions for self-assembly of the firmware are described by me in general form here:

https://github.com/storyboardcreativity/Z-Camera-E2-Reverse-Engineering

I draw your attention that this firmware is NOT OFFICIAL, and also remind you that you do any manipulations with the camera at your own peril and risk! From now on, I disclaim responsibility for possible problems with the camera if you decide to use the assembled firmware! Be extremely careful!

IMPORTANT! The hack is based on Z-CAM E2 firmware v0.93. Therefore, it will work ONLY in conditions where the official firmware v0.93 is running. For example, if you already have firmware v0.95 or higher on your camera, then installing firmware v0.93 (according to the assurances on the official Z-CAM website) is impossible! Consider this! The easiest way is to first roll v0.93 onto the camera, and then on top of it install my hack. So you can be sure that if the camera does not start after the first firmware installation process, this has nothing to do with the hack itself.

How to start using hack:

1. Your camera must be flashed to the official version 0.93.
2. Download the firmware file from the link.
3. Put the downloaded update.zip file in the root of your camera's disk.
4. Flash in the standard way as if it were an official firmware.

Custom firmware file link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GijjGMIjitrbCn3K4gdk3OxCYkQl__Sf

https://github.com/storyboardcreativity/zraw-parser/releases/tag/v0.3.4-alpha

It supports new ZRAW versions (extracts pure HEVC bitstream without reencoding) and old ZRAW versions (reconstructs Bayer CFA).

Code is very draft, but it works.

https://github.com/storyboardcreativity/ZRAW-Parser

Tony

I have a question (as a novice who's an idiot)

I hear a lot about frame rates and settings... But I just want to know what settings I should have this hack at in 24h smooth cinema mode?

On my GH2 the only settings I seem to be able to change when filming is through the scroll wheel.

Next to where it says cinA there's a yellow number that says 2.5? I'm not sure what this represents other than darkness or brightness or frame rate. But what setting should this be with this hack for optimum results?

When I push the scroll button in it also makes a 0 to +3 which makes the screen go darker or brighter... So I'm unsure where to set things?

Sorry for the dumb questions but I'm hopeless with this stuff and would appreciate any help. I'm so busy with a kid I just want a simple answer for filming without the hassles.

If someone wants to sell Z-CAM E1, I can buy it.

not sure if this was known yet, but I thought this might be useful for some people.

I found a way to enable recording video to a *.mov file format using higher bitrates on my Lumix GX9. Specifically recording 1080p (up to 60p) in either 50 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s (or even 200 Mb/s, which is not very useful though since the GX9's UHS-I SD interface only supports write speeds up to 104 Mb/s).

The method I used is very similar to the Cine-D trick for the GX80/GX85 back then. It shouldn't break your camera since it is only accessing hidden settings implemented in the camera anyway.

I did not compare the footage against the standard MP4 4k or 1080p modes provided by the GX9. In theory this should enable up to 4x higher bitrates when shooting 1080p, which I could confirm after analysing some test footage. The documented options from Panasonic only include 1080p recording up to 28 Mb/s.

Here is a html tool that you might use to try it yourselves. https://pastebin.com/mHG1T5Ph Just copy the code into a *.html file and open it using any browser.

I posted this on reddit already, but I thought its maybe better put here :) Enjoy.

After firmware v0.94.1 it's an AES-encrypted MOV-container-corrupted overXORred shit, that contains only HEVC bitstream.

Deal with it.

Thanks in advance!

Any advantages of the GH2 over the GH1 or vice versa, with respect to using the various available hack options?