Here’s a common conundrum: someone wants to hack their Panasonic GH2, but they can’t find a guide with easy-to-understand instructions. I was in this boat the first couple of times I hacked my GH2, so I decided to create this guide and share it with you.
Hacking your camera is scary, because you can potentially damage it if you do it wrong. But, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll screw it up. When the camera is actively updating its firmware, you just have to be careful not to touch it. This “danger zone” only lasts a couple of minutes. You must not press any buttons or turn off the camera while the firmware is being loaded. This “scariness” isn’t exclusive to the hack. The same danger exists when you’re updating firmware from Panasonic themselves. Keeping your GH2 safe is drop dead simple.
This entire process is odd at first, but once you do it a couple times, it seems really basic. It’s kind of like using Paypal. The first time you try to use Paypal, it’s a hassle. You have to get used to an unfamiliar user interface, you have to enter in a bunch of information, and so on. But once you’re set up and make a few transactions, everything flows along nicely. While we’re on the topic, please use Paypal to donate a little money over at personal-view.com. It helps support the folks that made the hack.
I did my best to write the following instructions as clearly and comprehensively as possible. However, I’m not a technological maniac. I don’t get into making custom patches, I just use patches that I downloaded (I explain how to do this later in the article). And even though I tried to be as comprehensive as possible, I may be missing a tiny bit of information here and there. If you notice something that needs to be added or corrected, please leave a Comment below and tell me about it, and I’ll amend the instructions.
Lastly, I don’t want to intimidate you, but, be warned that you are voiding the warranty on your camera by preforming this hack. You should also be aware that you can revert back to the original firmware, if you don’t like the hack. To do this, check out my post entitled How to Unhack the GH2.
Don’t be a wimp! You can do this! Let’s go…
1) You need to download a program called “ptool” to your computer. Here’s the link to where you download ptool: http://www.gh1-hack.info/wiki/PToolSoftware …as you can see from glancing at that page, this is where things get a little confusing (didn’t take long, did it?). On that page, scroll down to the red text that says “Firmware manipulation tool” – the latest ptool is available at the http://www.gh1-hack.info/ptool3d.zip link. Yes, I know the link says “gh1-hack,” but this is the ptool that you need for the GH2 as well. The ptool will arrive as a zip file. Click on it to unzip it.
2) If you’re on a Mac, you’ll need to download and install a free application called WineBottler. It’s available here: http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/ – Once it’s installed, you don’t have to fuss with this program at all. It just runs in the background and lets you run “exe” programs (like ptool). Here’s a direct link to the download page: http://bit.ly/gA0EJT
3) Download the original firmware for the GH2 onto your computer. Here’s a link to a page on personal-view.com that has a link to the original firmware download: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/330/new-gh2-firmware-leak#Item_4 – it will arrive as a zip file as well. Click on it to unzip it. When unzipped, the firmware will appear as “GH2__V10.bin” – please note that there are two underscores in its name.
4) Create a new folder on your computer and put all of this stuff inside of it. Name your new folder “GH2 Hack” or something obvious like that. Put it in a obvious place, like on your desktop. Put the original GH2 firmware (GH2__V10.bin) in this folder, put the ptool exe in there, put your patches in there (more on this next). Once you’ve unzipped these downloads, you don’t have to hang onto the “.zip” versions of these files. Toss those out.
5) Download the hacked firmware patch of your choice, and put it in your hack folder. Here’s a link to a page on personal-view.com with a bunch of hack patches: http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/953/gh2-patch-vault-most-popular-patches-in-one-place/p1 – In order to download these patches, you need to register as a user at personal-view.com and log in. Once you’ve done that, click on one of the icons of the piece of paper with a folded corner. This makes a patch download, and it too will arrive as a .zip file, and it will likely be a .zip file with a long, code-like name. When you unzip it, it will have a completely different name. The unzipped name will be something like “setc.ini.”
6) Launch ptool on your computer, if you’re on a Mac, Wine will launch and present you with this dialog box:
All you have to do is click the “Go” button. That’s the only thing you have to do with WineBottler.
7) Now you have to load the original firmware for the GH2 into ptool. Click on the blue “Load Firmware” button at the bottom left of the ptool interface, and navigate to the folder where you placed the original firmware that you downloaded, (remember, the name is GH2__V10.bin), highlight the firmware by clicking on it, and click Open.
8) If the “Version increment” box in ptool isn’t checked, click on it and check it.
9) The bottom of the ptool interface has a row of round buttons with letters inside of them. The letters are alphabetical, from A to J. The buttons that are green represent the patches that you downloaded, unzipped, and placed inside of your GH2 Hack folder. If you hover your cursor over the green buttons, a box will appear telling you which hack patch it is. You need to load one of these patches into ptool. Click on the green button of the patch you want to use. Once you have clicked, the patch’s settings will be loaded into ptool. Be warned… the interface of the ptool will not change after you click on the patch that you want to load. There is no visual feedback that the patch is loaded. Just click, be confident that you clicked, and move on.
10) Now you have to “export” this hacked firmware patch out of ptool. Click on the green button in the bottom right corner of ptool that says “Save Firmware.” A window will open titled “Save Firmware Image.” Type in what you’re going to name the hacked firmware, but don’t get creative and clever with the name. See the next step…
11) It’s important to name the firmware something specific, yet not identical to another file in your hack folder. The orignal firmware is named GH2__V10.bin so you should not name your new firmware the same thing. What I do is just incrementally name the new firmware one digit higher. The first hack I used (cbrandin’s 66m patch) I named GH2__V11.bin. The second hack I used I named GH2__V12.bin and so on. The double underscore is important, so make sure that’s a part of your new name.
12) Save the new firmware in your hack folder (so you know where it is).
13) Format a good SD card in your GH2. Make sure you’re using a freshly recharged battery (it’s really bad if the battery dies while the firmware is updating, you need to avoid this). Only use a battery, don’t use the Lumix DMW-AC8 AC adapter, because a power surge can interrupt the hack and screw up your camera. Some people say that it’s better to use a Panasonic Lumix lens when you’re hacking. Other people say things go smoother when you put the camera in a custom mode when hacking (the C1, C2 or C3 position on the right dial on top of the camera). I read this in other people’s instructions, so this is what I do too.
14) After formatting your SD card in your GH2, turn off the camera and remove the card, and load it into your computer. You can use the built-in SD card slot on a newer Mac or an external SD card reader, or you can connect the GH2 to your computer with the digital cable that came with the camera.
15) Drag the new hack that you just saved out of your hack folder, and drop it onto the SD card icon on your desktop. The hack will land in there and just sit beside the other folders in your SD card (you know those usual GH2 SD card folders: DCIM, MISC, and PRIVATE). Here’s what it should look like inside the SD card with the hack inside of it:
16) Eject the card from your computer (or dismount the GH2 if you connected with the cable). Put the SD card into your GH2 (make sure the camera is powered off when you insert the card).
17) Turn on your GH2. It will power up and start operating like everything is normal. Press the Play button (the button with the green arrow on it that you press to look at images and videos).
18) The GH2 will go into the odd screen titled “BODY VERSION UP” that looks like this:
The words on the screen ask you “START VERSION UP?” with the option of choosing Yes or No. Press the up arrow (the ISO button) to select Yes, and press the Menu/Set button to activate the process.
19) This is the most important step… While the camera is updating its firmare DO NOT TOUCH IT. Carefully set the camera down on a flat surface and let it peacefully update itself. It’s very important not to press any buttons or to turn off the camera during this process.
20) When your camera completes the firmware updating process, you are essentially finished! The only thing you have to do now is to format the SD Card inside the GH2 again. If you don’t do this, the weird BODY VERSION UP? firmware update screen will appear every time you press the green Play button on the camera.
Congratulations! You now have a hacked GH2! You are finished!
When you start using your GH2vk, it may seem a little anti-climatic at first. There is nothing visually different about the camera’s menus or interface. You’ll start noticing what the hack has done when you start shooting video with the camera. Some patches are really data-consumptive (you can only fit a few minutes of footage on a 16GB card, etc.). Some patches can be a little unruly (the video clips won’t playback in the camera). Some patches get it just right. The camera works great, clips play back just fine, and the moving images are amazing. Experiment and find what works best for you.
If you found this information helpful, you can help me out by simply clicking on this Amazon link before you make a purchase at Amazon.com, or by clicking on this B&H Photo link before you buy something there. When you do this, I receive a small commission.
Now that you’ve done all of this hard work, go out and treat yourself to a little Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95.
UPDATE – This blog post was originally published in November of 2011, however, the patches for hacked GH2’s have evolved quite a bit since then. In August of 2015, I put my GH2 back on the workbench in my Revisiting the GH2 Hack in 2015 post. You should check it out. Also, if you want to remove the hack from your GH2, check out my post How to Unhack the GH2.
Thanks for reading my blog! If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you below!
Purchase links:
Panasonic GH2 - Amazon USA, Amazon.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr
Nicely done! This will take the terror out of applying Vitaliy’s hack for the first time and should prove useful for many. Glad you included the Mac specific stuff too.
“The bottom of the ptool interface has a row of round buttons with numbers inside of them.”
The buttons actually have letters inside them, not numbers, alphabetically from A to J.
Change made! Thanks for pointing out the correction, Snooze!
Trying to sort out the info on personal-view as extremely daunting for me. Thanks for providing this guide in an EZ to follow method with very helpful screenshots.
Indeed, a very nice guide. I’m considering buying the GH2, and was a bit scared by Vitaliy pages – don’t get me wrong, he’s doing an amazing hack, he’s just not very noob-oriented. Thank you.
I’ve gone through this process five times now but the round buttons (A, B, C) remain red/white after I load the firmware. Seems PTools can’t find the patches (I’ve got two, both saved in the same folder as PTools).
Any suggestions?
Update to above comment – went through the same process on a PC and it all worked fine.
I cannot drop the file onto the SD Card, says it is locked. I do not know how to unlock it, in Mac OS X Lion or Windows 7.
Mark… take the SD card out, and check to see of the little switch on it is in the locked position. If it’s locked, slide it to unlock it and try again.
Jeff… go to this page, and try the cbrandin 44m AQ4 patch that Ralph_B posted on september 16th.
Great info. Thx. What is an ultra stable patch that shoots at 44mbs?
can’t get it to work… this is a BRAND new GH-2 and when i hit PLAY, it just shows up as nothing is there… what am i missing here? thanks
The Winebottler link doesn’t seem to be working.
On the WineBottler page that I link in the article, click on the word “download” with the little arrow next to it. It should bring you to this page.
@ gpcreative – Google Winebottler, CNET.com have a download, it’s free.
@Dan, I had the same problem. At the very top of the list is Version Increment, I changed this from a 1 to a 2. I think that this has to be changed every time you update, otherwise it does not know what to do, and shows the no pictures screen. I hope this helped.
Mark
how do you go back to stock firmware..i’m assuming you just load the stock 1 and do as same for the hack?
Thanx Mark & Dan
I was having difficulties to make the hack go thru- it would just say “no valid pictures”
It was indeed the version increment number that I haven’t changed before. I thought that just have it checked was enough.
I put the increment number to 2 instead of 1 and it worked!
many thanxxxxx
I followed all your steps perfectly till I got to pushing the play button. When I do that all I see on the screen is, “NO VALID PICTURE TO PLAY” I am using a Mac. Any ideas?
I changed the version number and it worked! Question though: Now that it is hacked, do I use “Creative Movie” Mode 24P Cinema or do I go Manual and pick FILM MODE, REC MODE, REC QUALITY Myself?
AH MARK! Thanks bro… that worked!
I’m rocking a Dane Elec 200x 32gb card… looks like aqua motion is working for me! have yet to try the other ones like tera/seaquake… duno if i should try it or just get a faster card :/
Cool Blog Man! – but when l try to open ptool3.exe and then click on wine ‘go’ button nothing happens – no ptools interface? [Intel Mac OSX10.5.8]
The official GH2 patch is now available!
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/index.html
Not sure if anyone will want it!
Mark
Outstanding article. I’ll book mark this.
Has anybody created a data base, with comments, on the various patches, their features, advantages and disadvantages? Would be nice to help when choosing.
I think you should throw some more screen caps in the section where you are explaining the ptools interface and which boxes to check, etc. – so when you tell us nothing visually changes before we add a patch, we know what it SHOULD look like, before adding that patch in terms of which boxes are checked and all that?
Just One Question! When I’ll save the new FW version can I also leave the “v” away for eg.. I’d like to save it like GH2__112.bin instead of GH__v12.bin!
ive gotta quesion for you..im having problems formatting my card again after completing all the steps. im trying to avoid having to “version up” when i hit playback or turn my camera on?? thanks
Thank you!!!
I am on a MAC and am not getting predictable download behaviors. Here’s a market idea for any of you that have done this hack –
Sell a small SDHC card with the hack on it to me. I will load it in my cameras and just install the darn things. Alternatively, build them into ONE download that can be stored on the card and then activated some how. Possible?
SMc
I have a rookie question. I recently purchased a GH2, and almost immediately, I installed the 1.1 firmware. (I usually use 30fps, and this firmware enabled it.) That wasn’t a problem at all: I put the new firmware in the card’s root directly, booted the camera, and it was done.
However, now I want to try the fabulous Driftwood hack. so I guess I have to roll back the firmware to version 1.0 (which I downloaded). Before I try this, I just want to confirm that all I have to do is a) put the 1.0 firmware into the root directly on a card, and b) boot the camera?
Thanks so much for this site. I’ll try this over the next few days. Can someone please explain what it means when Driftwood says one of his patches has +80% slowdown or +30% speed / EX TELE? I understand the EX TELE feature, but what does the slowdown or speed mean and how is it utilized?
All I want is to change the language from Japanese to English on my Japanese model… I live in Japan and had no other option but to buy domestically. Do you know if this method for the GH2 would work on the GF2?
Sorry Dustin, I’ve never fiddled around with changing the language. Perhaps one of the folks over at http://www.personal-view.com can give you some advice on how to do that.
Thanks Sam – I followed you instructions, and everything worked perfectly.
Using Mac OSX, Australian GH2, winebottler and Ptool.
Anyone having issues, I would recommend looking at Sam’s instructions a bit more closely – he’s put some time and thought into giving us (strainers) a great tutorial, so I reckon you’d be doing the right thing to read it a couple of times before hitting him up with any ‘silly’ questions!
I still trying to hack my gh2, i tried EVERYTHING from every possible guide over the net, but every time i read the same thing, “NO VALID PICTURE TO PLAY”. I use a Sandisk extreme pro sdhc 32gb 95mb, maybe is not a valid card?
Sorry to hear about your troubles, Faber. Trying a different card is always a good idea. I’ve had good luck with my HD Video 8GB class 10 Sandisk Extreme 30MB/s cards.
But, before you try another card, let me ask you something. Have you shot stuff with your hacked camera, and then tried to play the clip back in the camera and received the “NO VALID PICTURE TO PLAY” message? If so, the camera may not be capable of playing back the clip. If so, try shooting something, and then take the card out of the camera and put it into your computer. The footage you shot may well be on there, and you may be able to load it into your video editing software from there to view it. Some of these patches are unruly, and having trouble playing back clips is a common drawback.
Thank you Sam, but i got a new gh2, not yet hacked, i shooted something yesterday and every video has horizontal flickering during movement, instead photos are ok, i think is a card problem…
I’ve come across the same difficulty with my Macs running both 10.7 and 10.4 with the Sandisk Pro 32gb Class 10 card. The problem being that the card is seen as ‘read only’ by the Mac when it has been formatted in the GH2 and accessed thru the GH2’s USB port. The card write protect slider is set to write.
Although the card is recognised as ‘read only’ by the Mac, the GH2 itself is able to write to the disk when taking shots. These files are accessible by a program like Aperture although it is not possible for Aperture to delete the files on the card after importing.
I have tested the same GH2 and card through a Windows based PC (don’t worry, I washed my hands afterwards) and I was also not able to write to the card via the USB port on the GH2.
I made an effort to CHMOD the card in OSX but wasn’t able to and unfortunately I wasn’t able to see if the read-only behaviour stayed with the disk when using an external reader on either OS.
It’s safe to say though, since the GH2 can write files to the disk, the read only behaviour may well be only via the GH2’s USB port.
In short, GH2 + Sandisk Pro 32gb Class 10 causes issues. I will try to locate a card reader and also try a Sandisk Pro 8gb Class 10.
Hugh
(I didn’t try to format the drive outside of the GH2 and try to resolve the issue that way)
**update to my last post**
I was able to write to the same disk via an external reader in on a Windows PC.
My GH2 firmware updated without any brick-age.
So the conclusion is that the Sandisk 32gb Pro Class 10 is read only via the GH2 USB port but writable via an external card reader.
Regards
Hugh
Thanks very much for this guide, by far the most helpful I have found!
A couple of questions:
a) I have attempted to hack my GH2 and thought I had just about managed it but then when I went to adjust lens, (Panasonic 20mm) I could not longer adjust f-stop. Seems to have disappeared from screen…
Am I missing something really simple? or forgotten to do something?
b) I can download the various patches, so they appear as “setc-1.ini” files, in Download section on MAC. How do you get them from there, to ptools?
Thanks in advance.
M
Regarding to breaking warranty. If there is a problem with the cam and I change the firmware to the original, will the shop see it, or I will able to use my warranty.
I love when you guys give detailed instructions on how to do something without telling the reason for doing it.
“Here’s How to Hack you Gh2!
Eh … excuse me, but why would I want to hack my GH2?
For Gary Lloyd:
Below is a quote from ORLANDO S. GONDAR’s website:
Why would you want to hack the GH2 ? It does look great under stock settings as it is but if you consider the hack enables the ability to film more detail and resolution, especially for film, there is a lot to gain from the boost in quality. Shadows can be pulled in post better (dynamic range) and over all resolvable image is increased (closer to film detail) amongst many other useful features such as 25p for the pal community.
Key Features
-Higher Bit-rate for Video creates film like image detail & motion quality.
-Ability to allocate data towards Video Motion or still detail quality.
-Higher Bit-rate for Audio, Boost audio quality from 192,000bps to 440,000bps
-Pal & 25p framrate
-Unlocked ISO up to 12,800k enables you to shoot in extreme dark conditions or overcome a slow lens
Thanks for the great tutorial..for some reason though, even though I followed directions exactly as described, I’m unable to hack the camera. When I put the SD card in the camera it simply says ” No Valid Picture to Play”. The only thing I can think is that I’m formatting the SD card wrong because I’ve followed every step precisely. I’m using a Panasonic SDHC 16GB class 10 card read 90/write 25…and I put the card in the computer before I started the whole process to wipe it clean. I put it back in the gh2 to re-format it, although nothing really happened that I noticed. Then I followed all the instructions, put the card back in the gh2, pressed the green arrow and just got the ‘no valid picture to play’…if anyone has any input I’d really appreciate it. I was trying to download Driftwood’s Terraquake. Thanks a lot.
Hi guys, just wanted to let you know I finally hacked the camera. I had to put a 2 instead of 1 where it said “increment” before hitting save.
Followed the instructions, and it all worked great! Thanks so much. First samples still have some banding on blank walls where the shadow grads off, but I’ll play around with some of the other patches and see what happens. I used f, the 132mb/sec as a first try.
I did a different transfer with 5D to RGB and it’s really clean. Spoke too soon. Very cool!
Chris
I cannot get this to work. I’ve followed the steps perfectly and I’m getting the error “no valid picture to play” like other people have had. I’ve tried GH2__V11.bin, GH2__V12.bin, GH2__V21.bin, GH2__V2.bin and nothing works.
I’m trying to load Driftwoods; v5. Quantum v5 (Dec 15th, as tested by Philip Bloom) on a PC.
Okay so the second I stop reading and start tinkering I figure it out.
In Ptool you have to double click ‘Version increment’ and change the 1 to a 2.
Thanks for the great tutorial – totally took the mystery out of hacking for the first time. What is the story with the Audio hack? Is the improved sound already built into these hacks? Is there a separate Audio hack?
thanx for the information… you have turned a complex thing into easy process.. take care
excellent, very clear: sorry but I don’t want to be on Facebook!
keep up the good work
I just ordered the GH2 so it will arrive on valentine’s day (February 14, 2012, for anyone reading this a year or two from now). Now what got me was the quality of the video. Obviously with all the hacks that have happened since the inception, like driftwood and or/aqua (I don’t know the difference), what does one do like me who sees that there’s a firmware update on Panasonic’s website? Do I download that firmware update, then hack it? Now for hacking, do I skip to the latest hack, or do I have to go step by step from the first hack Vitaliy ever did to the newest?
Also a question of recording time, what will happen if I have a 64gb sd card unhacked vs a hacked GH2 for recording time and battery life? Do you recommend having two batteries and if so which ones? Lastly what charger is good to keep out in the field? These are the questions I would happily donate to you to post right here! Because many of us 2012ers are just getting into the game. I’m sure this camera will be lasting for quite a while even after the 5dmk3 canon camera comes out and the gh3. It’s just too darn good.
Hi Eduardo. No need to load any new firmware from Panasonic. If you hack your camera, you’ll be removing any firmware that’s on your camera anyhow. Now, if you follow the steps in my hacking tutorial, you’ll see that there is a step to download a version of the firmware to use in the pTool. If you’re going to be hacking, you will be doing this.
You can load any hack you want to, you don’t have to go from old to new or anything.
Hacks typically eat up more memory. The more intense the hack is, the more memory it will eat on your card. I suppose hacks tax your battery a bit more, but typically I don’t notice this as much.
Yes. Hack or no hack, it’s important to have extra batteries, without a doubt. The Lumix DMW-BLC12 is a good way to go, because this battery will communicate how much juice it has left with the camera. You can certainly save a pretty penny by using generic batteries for the GH2, like this one. The drawback? They don’t communicate how much power they have left (the camera can die in the middle of a take). But, they’re so cheap that it’s wise to pick one up. You can just use the charger that comes with your GH2 with these batteries.
Enjoy your new camera!
Following your instructions allowed me to hack my GH2 with my specific settings ,namely an increase in bitrate to 44Mbps and auto iso settings increased.
My camera had the Panasonic update 1.1 already installed.
I chose an increment of 1 and named my saved firmware GH2__V12.bin.
(I don’t know if this was the proper protocol but it seemed to be the correct approach from what I could learn). Everything went successfully.
For personal reasons, I would certainly appreciate the correct method and settings for returning the camera to its original firmware? I believe I use Ptool and reload the original firmware(GH2__V10.bin) and keep everything else unchecked. Do I use 1 as the increment and do I name the new file GH2__V13.bin (since the last firmware was V12.bin)? Then I go thru the flashing process again as specified correct?
If all goes as planned will I be able to download future Panasonic updates (like the Version 1.1) that I had formerly? Thank you very much for any assistance you can give me.
Thanks so much for your response. From what I’ve seen, I’ll be using cbrandin’s well tested 44mbps hack. It raises the quality, but not so much that I’m needing 10 cards haha. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Ok, maybe I’m doing something wrong, I loaded cbrandin’s 44 hack with ptool, saved it to the SD card (class 10 transcend 32gb). ejected it from the mac, with the camera off put the sd card in to the camera. Turned it on. Put the setting to C1. Then clicked the play button. Problem is it says, “NO VALID PICTURE TO PLAY” what am I doing wrong?
Ignore me, I read the older comments others posted. Version increment was already checked so I never bothered to touch it. I unchecked it, then checked it again and then the “Enter increment” part came up. Never saw that. Entered a 2 and the thing is updating. I’m very excited. I now hope there are no earthquakes during this process haha
Hi, great article
just one question, do I have to format my SD Card on my mac… to another format? because i cant drop the GH2__V10.bin into my sd card.
thx in advance
Hi,
I’m a complete newbie at this and am wondering, how do you format an SD card? As far as I know, formatting means deleting the contents right? If I load the new firmware onto the SD, do i format it in my camera or on my computer? Wouldn’t that delete the hack i just put in to it?
Honestly, I just wanted to thank you for doing this. The instructions are clear, and I just hacked the camera and it went flawlessly.
Much appreciated.
This talk about version incrament confuses me. There seems to be two things people are talking about here: 1) The number you enter in PTools under some version incrament setting. 2) The name you assign to the actual bin-file that you put on your camera.
How are these two things related? What happens if I don’t follow these steps? What consequenses can follow if I don’t manage this properly?
Do you know if the hack will shorter the llifespan of the camera? I hacked my camera and it is recording with 174mbs. The images are amazing but I am
worried that my camera will not last very long. Please respond at your earliest convenience. Thank you.
Dude, thanks for generously sharing your experience re hacking GH2. I know that the hack is the first step in modding bitrates and ISO but conceptually it’s not clear to me whether this is the base hack or whether it’s just one of many like the Vitalyi, Driftwood or Aqua hacks. Is there a resource online where all this stuff is explained? Somewhere a GH2 beginner can really find out everything there is to know, including encoding and exporting to post on a Mac. Best wishes, G
Actually, I just found an excellent primer for the novice GH2 user. Hope you guys find this useful http://osgfilms.com/gh2-quickstart/
Okay so I loaded the hack just fine – but what are the camera settings I need to get the hacks full potential & how do I know what frame rate iam getting ?
Thanks for a great tutorial! Saved me a lot of time and bother, looking forward to trying out the camera once the firmware has updated.
Nice guide here. Well done.
Someone already mentioned my how to hack video guide in the comments above (http://osgfilms.com/hack-the-panasonic-gh2/) so i thought i would mention that i also have another thing to offer, my free Guide book! Helps with more than just improving video quality.
http://osgfilms.com/gh2-quickstart/ = The Panasonic GH2 Guide for Filmmakers
Thanks for the mention! Keep up the good work.
Do I get the higher bitrate when shooting in iA mode? Or only in 24p Cinema Mode?
Hi BA. Sorry it’s taken me such a long time to reply your question, but I didn’t know the answer until just now. Different patches of hacks have different behaviors. Some of them have no influence on iA mode, while others do. I found out because I’m in the process of hacking my GH2 again, and I was reading about the latest hacks at Personal-View. Driftwood has a patch called “3 GOP – Hi-Quality – Pro Motion ‘Spizz'” which he says “720 SH/1080iFSH now work on iA modes.” Of course, the update to this patch was made on March 3rd 2013. Here’s the link:
http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/5806/cluster-x-moon%D0%85r%D1%96zznebuladrewnetslipstream-spans/p1
The patches on that page may change in the future, so if you click it in April 2013 or beyond and it’s been changed… sorry!
I am happy to have found this site. Although I just received my GH3, I want to optimize my GH2 which I plan to keep. It is already hacked with some Driftwood patch version that records at 100 mbps – this patch is at least one year old or more and I got it via the info. on Phillip Bloom’s website but I don’t remember the name of the patch – could be Aqua something? My question is: are there some more updated patches also recording around 100 mbps that would be better than what I have currently installed? I am very happy with this patch but have no experience with others to compare. There are so many patches out there that it becomes very confusing. I just want to update, install and be done with it for another year or so. Please post any recommendations. Thank you, Vance
Well I just answered my own questions above – I’ve had the Aquamotion v2 patch installed and although I have been very happy with it, after researching the newer developments, I decided to install: Cluster v7 ‘Apocalypse Now’ – 6 GOP Nebula with cbrandin/driftwood ‘444 Sharp2’ matrix- Seti.ini – Released 28/08/2012 —-
A balanced matrix aimed at both manual and sharp Pany lenses (ie a combination of ‘cbrandin 444 Soft’ Matrix meets Driftwood’s Sharper-tuned matrix). From everything I read and the videos I viewed, this a a superb patch! Thanks to this site, I was able to install it using my iMac – thanks so much for all the time and frustration saved! At first I was unable to download the patch from http://www.personal-view.com even though I had registered and donated $ but then I discovered that I had to go to my email and validate. Next time things will go even smoother. Can’t wait to try out this new hack!
CUM REVIN LA UN GH 2 INAPOI SA SETARILE DIN FABRICA EL E Hack la 75mbs, si vreau sa revin la normal. mesi
For those ho say there’s no difference to high bitrate, dont have the camera and make a record with poor image at high movement. Thanks for the “how to” guide!!!!
Thanks for the helpful tutorial! It really helped me out.
Thank you so much for the simple instructions which I have followed ver carefully wanting to put the Flow Motion hack onto my GH2.
Is there anything obvious / different in the menus? Only the firmware version on the camera still says 1.1 despite me saving the BIN file as __12. I also tried __21 just to see if I could make any change, but every time, the version doesn’t change on the camera. Is this right?
Many thanks again.
Hi. Thanks for the tutorial, great help. If i want to hack again the gh2 with a different patch, I have to load again the original firmware into ptool, or the last firmware I loaded?
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Hey guys I just bought a gh2 no nothing bout cameras and want to make some videos to my music
Is there a site for beginners that starts with all the jargon
It’s daunting just the aMount of
Apps the camera has but would like somone to hack mine might as well start shooting the very highest footage
I’m in melbourne if somone can help with my hack and get me started. Wanting to do music vids. Call me.
Cheers. Nic 0409300323
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Many thanks for an almost suspiciously easy hacking process. Detailed and unfrightening instructions. The video footage from the GH2 is now sparklingly sharp and detailed. More power to you!
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Hello,
This is my first attempt at a hack…..I got to stage 9 in the above guide and despite having downloaded and extracted numerous files I don’t get any green lights in the letters section.
Am I missing something?
All downloads have been from links on Personal View website link, and done on PC.
I’m confused…….:-/
Many thanks if you can help???
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Hey Sam. I used your blog to hack and unhack my GH2. Very easy to follow and great instructions. However, after unhacking my camera, I can’t rehack it anymore. I follow the same instructions, rename the new bin file an increment up, load it on the formatted SD card, but when I put it on my camera and press play, it just says “No Valid Picture” Any ideas?
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Hey Sam,
Thanks for this post. Extremely helpful even several years later. I want to hack my gh2 with cake 2.3. Should I follow this exact process, but use firmware version 1.1? Or do I still install with firmware 1.0?
Camera is currently running 1.1.
Thanks!
Sam
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http://www.gh1-hack.info/wiki/PToolSoftware This is for the GH1 I have the GH2 and would like the ptools for the GH2 It’s my first time attempting to hack the GH2 so just want to make sure that I’m using the correct ptool. Thanks
Tony
Oh I see this ptool works for the GH2 as well Thanks
I’m new to this and feel like I’m on a learning curve.. This is my progression and understanding so far.. 1. I have gone to the link http://www.gh1-hack.info/wiki/PToolSoftware and downloaded ptool3. 2. I have dragged it from the download into a folder that I have named ptool folder. 3. I then double clicked on this ptool3 icon and it opens and I get a prompt tab message giving me the option to run or cancel. 4. I clicked on run and the PTool v3.66d beta (190712) opens and I get a message saying No patches available, load firmware first.. So far this is my understanding of hacking and I’m now going to get into it further now. I’m not clued up on zip files so have to work out what they are as I’m not a computer wizzard..
I am finding myself so eager to hack my GH2 that I’m not concentrating and reading simple instructions. For anyone wanting to hack their GH2 following and reading the instructions is key. I truly believe that this is not hard e.g. I worried about zip files and need not be because I should have read this “The ptool will arrive as a zip file. Click on it to unzip it.” Simple I’ve unzipped it LOL
Now following your instruction 3. Downloading the original GH2 Firmware. from http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/330/new-gh2-firmware-leak#Item
This first link works Firmware links:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/cwok7orwdegp2pg/GH2_V10E.zip
The other link has expired.
I now have a GH2_V10.bin BIN File Downloaded but when I click on it I get a message saying windows canot open this file, so I am stuck here for now
I just showing my progress and hope it helps anyone who is scared of hacking their GH2.. There is nothing to be scared about just have a go. You can only go forward
What I’m doing now is searching for a programme that will open this file
I’ve downloaded a winzip program from http://www.winzip.com/partner/mediafire/winzip-trial.html
I have got a free trial but IT DON’T WORK. When I try and open it I get window message open with a red circle with a cross (X) saying “You ID does not have sufficient priviliges to install software. Also, WinZip was not properly installed by a user with administartive privilages. Please reinstall with administrator privilages or ask your system administrator to do so”
I have tried downloading the programe again and get the same message so am stuck here for now… Can anyone help… The problem I have is I can’t unzip the GH2_V10.bin file so can’t go any further at the moment
This is where it has become complex for me. I need expert advise on how to get past this
The GH2_V10E file remains in a folder and I’m trying to work out how to unzip it HELP!!! LOL At least I’m having a go LOL
Hey Sam (or anyone else that can help), once you create a new .bin file can use that again? I don’t have to do the ptool dance again right? It’s ready to rock whenever I want to use that particular patch?
Hello! I hacked my gh2 with Flowmotion 2.02 or so I think. I went through the whole “body up” process and everything went fine. But I am not sure how to check if IT actually happened…if it actually is now hacked. When I load the file (test video) into fcp7 and go to “item properties” it says the data rate is 13 MB/sec…Another “red flag” that seems to indicate that something is not right and the hack is not working is that I am using a 16G card and I the camera shows that I can record for 1hr:20min. I thought with the hack it would be like 20min.
Basically the question is: how do I check and make sure that the hack is working?
Will appreciate any insight or suggestions.