I am buying the Ninja 2 for my other Z5 and was wondering about using the Ninja 2 with my GH2 as well.
Is there any point doing this apart from monitoring?
I also read that I will need to deinterlace any captured footage from HDMI off theGH2 as the HDMI port is configured for monitoring only - what does this mean?

Can't answer your question Chris, but in case you don't know, you can only use a monitor with the GH2 if you're shooting in 1080 24p. The monitor will not function otherwise. This is a well known limitation of the cam.

If you didn't know this, don't ask me why it's so, many of us are unhappy about it, and we've discussed it to death.

The HDMI on the GH2 is a big headache both physically and with GH2 firmware.

Another annoying limitation is not being able to use the Ex-Tele mode while monitoring off the HDMI. I just learned about that one!

Thanks everyone. Can that functionality be fixed by a firmware update, or shall I just not worry about Ninja and GH2. Like I say it's mainly for my Z5 anyway.

Yes it could be, I imagine, but it won't be, most likely. Panasonic has shown no sign of wanting to fix it that I've read about.

Thanks everyone. Can that functionality be fixed by a firmware update, or shall I just not worry about Ninja and GH2. Like I say it's mainly for my Z5 anyway.

Chris - it can be done without a Panasonic FW update if you are willing to do a little extra work. Here are the results:

GH2 HDMI output recorded with Atomos NINJA on Vimeo

And here is a link to blog entry on how it was done: GH2 HDMI output recorded with Atomos NINJA Marvelsfilm’s Blog (http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/gh2-hdmi-output-recorded-with-atomos-ninja/)

Hope this is helpful,

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution ("http://hybridcamerarevolution.blogspot.com)

I've seen that footage before. It is phenomenal.

Thanks for the link Bill, but hard to tell from the clip.
So what's your take on the blog, Jeff, I'm lost as it seems you can record grwat footage but can't.
Is it really that much better?

Chris, you might not able to see the superiority of the footage, but I can, it is the highest quality footage I've ever seen coming from something other than RED, etc, just as one of the comments points out.

The poster does not mention anywhere how he hooked up and used the Ninja, at least I can't find his saying so. Bill, where does he describe how he used the ninja with the GH2?

I downloaded that footage when it first came out. Yes....you can see a huge difference in detail and with motion.

...Bill, where does he describe how he used the ninja with the GH2?

Jeff - did you try the link to Martin Beek's post at the bottom of my post above?

...here is a link to blog entry on how it was done: GH2 HDMI output recorded with Atomos NINJA Marvelsfilm’s Blog (http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/gh2-hdmi-output-recorded-with-atomos-ninja/)...

Hope this is helpful (and hope the GH3 has clean HDMI out!),

Bill

Bill, I misunderstood the whole deal. The issue isn't whether if the HDMI out works with 24p; it does, we know that much already.

Your link is to an blog about how to clean up the footage, now I understand.

Exactly.

Not a perfect solution, but for some people, the results might be worth it - if a $1000 camera and a $1000 recorder plus a little post production cleanup can produce footage like Martin's. Especially if they already own both the camera and recorder, as Chris does.

Cheers,

Bill

Has anyone else used this technique to record 24p from the camera? This seems to be the only footage I can find where the AviSync technique has been applied. In addition there is a lot of talk about all the shooting modes being crippled via the HDMI. Atmos claims that their product works well with the camera but then refers to the same page linked above.

As a person without a Windows PC, is it really worth the trouble or is there a hack that fixes the HDMI output?

William - In my view, there aren't a lot of people doing this because they are making this 'return on investment' calculation: "Do I hack my camera to record to a costly external recorder - or do I hack my camera, record at high internal bitrates and get the same or better quality for a lot less money?"

For some people, who already have the external recorder, it might be worth it. But for most of us, the firmware hacks are much more practical.

And I think you do need a PC to run the AviSynth solution, unless you're a software wizard and can run it on a Mac using Wine and VirtualDub. Too complicated for me :-)

Cheers,

Bill

The ability to record in the camera and an external recorder simultaneously would be great but as I am learning, probably not easily accomplished with the GH2. The cadence strangeness is easy to see on the 24p HDMI output just by panning the camera. The HDMI monitor I use accepts the signal without a problem so whatever is introducing the frame holds is prior to the final generation of the signal. The holds also don't seem to be regular but perhaps there is a pattern or a frame code generated that an enterprising programmer could elucidate and use in creating a ProRes file frame rate converter that I would gladly pay for. At this point I am going to test the free 44Mbit "Vanilla" hack and save $1000 plus dollars over the Atmos Ninja.

This may be true in the USA about Ninja, HDMI and GH2 problems - but how about Europe and PAL etc.? Any different here? Thanks, Hugh