nofilmschool » hacks

What's the Best Camera Under $1K? Canon T4i, Sony NEX-6, Panasonic GH2 Shootout

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:39:00 +0000

Kevin Good and the Weapons of Mass Production team are on a sleepless mission to determine the best bang for your buck, and weed out all the rest. Each contender will get its due where it excels, but a clear winner will emerge from the settling dust just about every time — and WOMP will suffer no runners-up, all on behalf of the budget shooter. You know this from the show’s 24-70mm lens shootout — you also know how to shoot with an iPhone, or how others measure up to GoPro as action cameras. Now, WOMP sets out to answer the question of questions in today’s camera market: what’s the best you can do for under a thousand dollars? (Runners-up, beware). (more…)

The Sony NEX-5 Mirrorless Has Been Hacked with Higher Bitrates, is the FS100 Next?

Joe Marine — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 14:00:43 +0000

While the hacking of a camera that can’t shoot 24p wouldn’t normally be cause for excitement, in this case it may actually mean quite a bit. Sony has traditionally kept bitrates low on their lower-end cameras, and even on some of their higher-end cameras (like the F3). We’ve all seen how much higher bitrates have helped cameras like the Panasonic GH2, and while increasing the bitrate is no magic bullet for image quality, being able to do it on a camera like the FS100 or even the NEX-5N or NEX-7 would certainly be helpful, and it might even be possible to add new features to any of those cameras. With what Magic Lantern has incorporated into their own hack, it’s pretty obvious why this might be exciting. (more…)

Magic Lantern is Working on the 5D Mark III After Canon Firmware Update

Joe Marine — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:34:16 +0000

Canon recently announced a firmware update for the Canon 5D Mark III, and that led the way for the great folks at Magic Lantern to begin porting their hack. Already a big hit on the Mark II and other Canon cameras, Magic Lantern could open up specific features many believe Canon should have included in the first place. Chuck Westfall has said that the 5D Mark III and the 1D X might never get a full, clean HDMI, mainly because Canon (obviously) puts more money and attention into the video features on their expensive video-centric Cinema EOS line (though he also says they are always listening to consumers). Most of all, they want to keep the two product lines separate, and possibly the only hope for this feature (and others like it) is for something like Magic Lantern to unlock the hidden power of the camera. (more…)

New Panasonic GH2 Patches and Film Modes from EOSHD

Ryan Koo — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:36:20 +0000

I don’t own or shoot on a Panasonic GH2, but whenever I cover its hacked firmware releases the installation instructions always sound a bit daunting. Now EOSHD has released new patches and “film modes” for the camera, which offer similar functionality to existing GH2 hacks but (possibly?) easier installation. Says EOSHD’s Andrew Reid, “I believe them to be the most optimal patches and film modes for the best image quality currently possible on the GH2.” (more…)

The Panasonic GH2's Firmware Has Been Hacked; New Features on the Way

Ryan Koo — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Programmer Vitaliy Kiselev recently got ahold of a leaked firmware update for the Panasonic GH2 and has now hacked it successfully. This could lead to new features, as we saw last time around with the GH1 hack. While this brand new GH2 firmware hack is very much in beta, features that are at least working partially include the 30 minute clip length limit being removed (for PAL versions), a PAL / NTSC menu function, new audio bitrates, AGC selection, 720/25p, 1080/25p, and 1080/60p (the latter two currently freeze the camera). If you’re feeling adventurous or want to help with the further development of the hack, here are the installation instructions for PC users (Mac users are instructed to use this): (more…)

New and Improved Magic Lantern AJ5.0 Firmware for the Canon 5D Mark II Released

Ryan Koo — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:06:53 +0000

The legendary Magic Lantern firmware for the (itself legendary) Canon 5D Mark II hasn’t been updated in a long while, probably owing to the fact that codec Tramm Hudson has a life. Also, since Canon added 24p and manual audio controls to the official firmware, there was less need for ML. Programmer AJ Newman has come to rescue with a new version of the firmware, entitled AJ5.0, which is a ground-up rewrite with a brand new interface that offers some great new features. Here’s a look at what’s new in this branch of the ML firmware: (more…)

Panasonic Releases AF100 Firmware Update, GH1 Hacker Deems it 'Definitely' Hackable

Ryan Koo — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:12:57 +0000

Panasonic has released their first firmware update for the AF100, and while it’s a minor one (fixing some SD card errors), the availability of such a file means that it can be dissected… and possibly hacked. Back in September when previewing the AF100 I asked, “who’s to say that an enterprising hacker won’t find a way to raise the bitrate of the AF100 in-camera, without requiring an external recorder?” Now the programmer behind the original GH1 hack is looking to do just that, deeming the AF100 firmware “definitely” hackable. (more…)