3D Geek Alert: Stereoscopic 3D Hack Being Developed For Panasonic GH1 And GH2!

Attention all indie filmmakers using or considering DSLR for your camera - GREAT news! There is a high probability that ALL GH1 serial numbers will soon be hackable and the GH2 will follow!!

First some history...

User 13 (Vitaliy Kiselev) from the DVXuser forums was able to hack into the Panasonic Lumix GH1 camera's firmware back a couple of years ago and make this available to any owner. The change was dramatic (increased bitrate amongst other hacks) and turned the GH1 into a gorilla for full HD video. I know - I own one, it is hacked and it is simply the best for the money. The nickname for these modified cameras are GH13 in honor of user 13. You can search for videos made with this hack on various sharing sites by using Gh13 or GH1 hack.

Panasonic caught on and changed their firmware so that only a certain range of serial numbers can be hacked - BUT that is changing as you read this. According to the DVXuser forums, a call is being made for donations to fund Vitaliy's hack for ANY GH1. You read that right, no matter what serial number of GH1 you have, it can and will be freed with this new hack once it is made available. The current price of a new GH1? $250. Amazing.
Further, Vitaliy will be able to use the information from this effort to break into the newer Panasonic Lumix GH2!! This is outstanding news. If this camera is broken open and freed to it's upper limits I assure you that the results will be stellar for Full HD filmmaking.

So now it is up to Vitaliy to make the hack and he needs donations to fund the work. He needs to buy two GH1's, the first will be bricked once the firmware is dumped and then the second he will actually work on. He will also need Gh2's down the road. You can make a donation here.

FURTHER STILL, there is reasonable expectation that Vitaliy can hack the GH2 to allow for a jam-sync - allowing stereoscopic 3D syncing to take place between 2 cameras!! Yes, this is possible and actually the GH1 is doing it now through this site. Two GH2's in sync will be amazing to work with!

As an advocate of indie filmmaking, these developments are HUGE. If you are interested, I invite you to make a donation to the effort.

More on this developing story when I get it!

Sony Announcing A New Consumer 3D Camera At CES?

Apparently so! Photorumors has obtained a list of Sony cameras that will be making an appearance at this year's CES.

The 3D camera is bolded and in red below...

Here is the full list:

- Cybershot DSC-W510: 12MP, 2.7 in. screen, sweep panorama function
- Cybershot DSC-W530: upgrades to a 14MP sensor
- Cybershot DSC-W560: adds SteadyShot and 720p HD video
- Cybershot DSC-W570: adds 16MP, 5x zoom (25mm on the wide side)
- Cybershot DSC-WX9: high end model, 16MP Exmor R CMOS, 3 in. LCD, 1080i video, 3D, 10fps, background defocus feature, HDMI
- Cybershot DSC-WX10: top of the line, f/2.4 lens, manual WB, very high speed AF
- Cybershot DSC-H70: 16MP CCD sensor, 3 in. LCD, 720p HD video, sweep panorama
- Cybershot DSC-HX7: 16MP Exmor R CMOS sensor, 3 in. LCD, 1080i video 3D, HDR, 10 fps
- Cybershot DSC-HX7: 16MP Exmor R sensor, 3 in LCD screen, 1080i video, sweep panorama, background defocus feature, 10 fps
- Cybershot DSC-T110, DSC-TX10 – very small point and shoot camera, no other details available

- Bloggie MHS-FS1: 5.1MP, 4x digital zoom, HD video up to 120min, 2.7 in. LCD screen, 4GB internal memory, AF
- Bloggie Duo MHS-FS2: adds LED light and a front facing 2 in, LCD screen
- Bloggie 3D MHS-FS3: adds 3D movie recording and stereo mic

I just bought a 8GB Sony Bloggie Touch (MHS-TS20) which I love for portability and day shooting. Of course you may have heard me shouting on Facebook and Twitter that I just scored a brand new Panasonic Lumix GH1 which I was stunned to find out had a hackable serial number (I promptly and successfully hacked it to 50 mbps and higher! 1080p at native 24p - no mud and gorgeous results). There is a current stereoscopic 3D project using TWO of these hacked GH1's that you can read more about at Beampath.

Can't wait to hear more from CES! Should be mountains of 3D news soon.

BREAKTHROUGH! Independent 3D Filmmakers Pay Attention: 1080p 3D Shot With Panasonic Hacked GH-1's !!

Hey independent filmmakers out there - you know who you are! Or perhaps you have always dreamed of creating your own S3D 1080p videos on a super tight budget. Now perhaps you can!

Right away I will let you know that there is good news, some more good news and bad news.

The first piece of good news is that the bright minds over at Beampath have successfully synced two firmware hacked Panasonic Lumix GH-1's (affectionately now known as GH-13) on the "C" setting with the Nikon 10-24mm with iris controlling adapter all on a beamsplitter that has been optimized for the cameras. THIS IS HUGE. Huge because these are (or were) very affordable cameras. For more info on what equipment they are using check out this post. For more info on the firmware hack check this out.

Which leads me to the bad news - Panasonic saw that the GH1 had been hacked to open up its capabilities to the max and did not like that at all. So they released an update that effectively cut off the hack with all their new factory GH1's. Naturally the price of the older models shot up on eBay. It is very hard to find an available and hacked GH1 nowadays.

However, the second piece of good news is that Panasonic has announced their GH2 (coming in November I believe) which has some great specs, but not quite as good as the hacked GH1. I will wager that Tester 13 (the infamous hacker who broke into the GH1 firmware) will be trying his luck (or mastery) with the GH2 firmware soon - so keep it on MarketSaw for more info on that when and if it happens. The 3D hack controller for the GH1 will work for the GH2 too, just not the firmware hack itself.

Enough with the background. On with the results!! Check out the side by side video below and if you have the NVIDIA 3D VISION setup as I do, download the file here (side by side 3D - click link and 'save as') and watch it on your 3D monitor. Looks great! I had to slightly decrease horizontal parallax but once this small tweak was done it really looked spectacular. All this from a very affordable 3D setup.

Watching this is stereoscopic 3D really heightens the level of detail here as your brain merges the information from both eyes. Amazing!



So how affordable is this setup? Here is the cost breakdown of what was used with this video (Appreciate your help with this piece David!):
Camera bodies - $600 X 2
Lenses - $745 X 2
Nikon adapters - $30 X 2
Hack controller - approx $50 in parts, batteries
Beamsplitter - $1999 (not sure what latest 3DFilmFactory price is - BUT - lots of guys build their own. figure $350 for the mirror)

TOTAL - $4,799. But, this can be done MUCH cheaper w/ used lenses and a DIY beamsplitter.

I am totally stoked about this news. I am so very close to pulling the trigger on buying either a hacked GH1 (you can find them on eBay or Craigslist) or waiting on the GH2 with a future hack. I will add the second camera later in 2011 so I can shoot in 1080p 3D. Just so we are clear here - you can shoot a feature film using this Panasonic system. I am not kidding. Not just home movies. Check out what these guys are doing with a hacked GH1 in 2D! And that is just one example.

I already have a Fujifilm FinePix W3 Digital Camera that I will be reviewing very shortly - that option should not be overlooked for your first consumer 3D camera. It is wonderful too! Stay tuned...

3D Geek Alert: Hackers Take Aim At Bringing S3D To The Panasonic GH1 !

Oh man, I hope these guys succeed! Would love to set up one of these rigs myself as I plan on getting into independent S3D filmmaking in the near future.

So what are they doing exactly? Beampath3D is using two Panasonic Lumix GH1's (a micro 4:3 system) in a beam splitter rig and they are currently trying to achieve constant, reliable and perfect syncs. Further, they have taken their work and have pinged the genius hackers over on dvxuser for collaboration, so I expect something to break sometime soon on the sync issues.

Says David Cole of Beampath3D: "This is not our first rodeo with DSLR 3D rigs. In fact, our first rig was 5D MII-based. We failed to achieve adequate sync with the 5D's and all hope that the Magic Lantern firmware enhancement would come to our rescue has faded. But, there is good cause to be optimistic about the GH1. Most importantly, the GH13 firmware has opened up a world of possibility in image quality and customization of camera functionality to enhance 3D. Secondly, even with our current setup, it does work... sometimes."

Some of you may recall that a user by the name of "Tester 13" hacked into the Lumix GH1 and opened a pandora's box of options for the cool Micro 4:3 system. How about 50Mbps MJPEG @ 1080p (while the off-the-shelf camera is governed to 720p)? And you can shoot very very well in AVCHD too.

Check out this footage from a hacked GH1 (now affectionately dubbed "GH13" after Tester 13) - click HD and go full screen for the best viewing:



Keep in mind the Lumix GH1 is only a $1149 camera! You can't beat that value today in my books.

Here is the breakdown of exactly what equipment Beampath3D is using in case you want to chime in:
1. 2X GH1’s with the GH13 hack.
2. 2X SanDisk Extreme 16GB cards.
3. 2X Olympus 9-18mm lenses (among other lenses).
4. 3D Film Factory Mirrorbox (aka beamsplitter). We’re using the INDIE RIG, but the 3D-BS MINI RIG would be ideally suited to the GH1.
5. Peter Wimmer’s free 3D Camera Sync Tester software running on a PC with an old-style CRT display.
6. Dual-trace oscilloscope. Just about any dual-trace scope will work, but we’re using a Hantek DSO-2150 USB-based scope. They are cheap and effective.
7. Breakout cables for the Mic/Remote jack.
8. Breakout cables for the AV Out/Digital jack. We cut the computer-plug ends off of two spare GH1 USB cables.
9. Twinned shutter-release remote switch, which places the appropriate resistance value to toggle recording onto the remote pins of each GH1 simultaneously.
10. Twin power control. This is the heart of our attempt to sync the GH1s and it MAY be destructive to the cameras (however we’ve been at this for two months and have yet to have a single hiccup). We’re eternally switching the external power input to both cameras, while leaving the cameral power switches in the ON position. A diagram of our simple power control is available.

All of this makes for some pretty cool 3D hacking and a great 3D Geek Alert. Can't wait to see their results! Perhaps even adopt their set up myself - at least until the RED Scarlet comes on stream anyway :-) More info when I get it!