The Panasonic GH2 keeps getting better and better thanks to hacker Vitaliy Kiselev. Recently he enabled a extremely high bitrate, and now he's bumped the ISO during video mode from 3,200 all the way up to 12,800. While the GH2 had high ISO modes available previously, they were only possible with a Panasonic lens in Shutter Priority mode. Now anyone using hacked firmware can crank up the ISO. Here are some video tests of the GH2 at 12,800 ISO:
EOSHD's Andrew Reid shot the following video at ISO 12,800 using the new hacked firmware:
While there is no noise reduction or grading in this clip, it is in black and white, which is less useful for seeing what kind of color noise is present at such a high ISO rating. So here are a couple color tests (disclaimers apply, as usual, about watching highly compressed web video):
Are these images noisy? Of course. Could they be cleaned up into usable shots with something like Neat Video? Sure. They look remarkably good, considering these images are coming off a sub-$1000 hybrid camera, and that the human eye has been estimated as the equivalent of 15,000 ISO. Note, of course, that our eyes are completely different than cameras, so no true comparison is possible -- but the days of needing a raft of lights just to get an exposure are drawing to a close. Hit the link below to download the latest GH2 hack, which removes the ISO limitation.
Link: PTool v3.63d released
[via EOSHD]
