The GH1 hacker interviewed: Panasonic GH2 prediction, Olympus hack and why the GH1 is better than the Canon 5D!
Mirrorlessrumors had the pleasure to meet the famous hacker Vitaly Kiselev. Yes, it is the guy that hacked our GH1 and GF1 cameras!
I am going to post a small part of the interview here:
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MR: What motivated you to work hard on the GH1 hack? Was it the DVXuser community?
VK: Generally speaking, yes. I would especially like to say a big thanks to Dvxuser admins and Barry Green personally. Next thing that motivated me: the enormous GH1 potential.
MR: What do you mean by “potential”?
VK: I mean that Panasonic amazingly lost the VDSLR battle to Canon, having a much better camera. 
MR: How was that possible?
VK: You just need to remember the history: 2009.
MR: Why?
VK: Do you remember? You had the GH1 announcement and. oops. from nowhere ML (Magic Lantern) for
the Canon 5D MKII appears Canon 5D MKII
MR: Why is the GH1 a better camera…and why did Canon win the battle?
VK: GH1 is just one step ahead. A good viewfinder, screen suitable for video shooting. AVCHD is not limited in length. In reality they had to win all. They just made three main errors. And I am worried that they can do it again with the GH2.
MR: And the errors are?
VK: 1) They sell kit only. With high priced kit lens it is a bad decision. People do not have options.
2) They did not do any tests for its AVCHD encoder. Even 24Mbit setting (and this is within standards) could be much better. This is a software only error, easy to fix.
3) They did not understand who opinion makers are. They spend millions on marketing for average Joe, but average Joe reads specialized forums and opinion makers.
They must make features and have people to deal with opinion makers. Canon did exactly this. Not from the start, but they started moving.
MR: In some countries (like UK) body only option is available. Maybe what we miss here are more “dedicated” video lenses.
VK: As for body only version. UK is a bad example with very high prices
MR: Why do you think Panasonic will repeat the mistake with the GH2 (or GH3)?
VK: From my sources (this is not a high level management), they all think that as soon as they reveal GH2, all problems will be solved. Instantly. No need to ask for things the users need, no need to deal with opinion makers. No. They know better. Normally this is good sign of a disaster.
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Read the whole interview here: http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/an-interview-with-vitaly-kiselev-the-gh1gf1-hacker/
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Recent comments
Comment from Erik: The Canon 5D doesn't do video, maybe you...
Comment from rUY: The delay feel like as if it is some kin...
Comment from Michael Meissner: Given that Panasonic has changed the fir...
Comment from Jay: I posted my first hacked GF1 thanks to V...
kesztió
2 years ago |Hey, Admin, is there a confirmation that somebody from Panasonic (marketing departament maybe?) watches 43rumors.com regularly? If so, yo may even know people from Panasonic team who really care about 43rumors.com news and opinions, arent’t you?
Oh, no, I’m just dreaming…
admin
2 years ago |Panasonic is reading us
Duarte Bruno
2 years ago |This man is invaluable! Both as a techie and as a market observer. I wish more manufacturers would pay attention to his words!
Long live Vitaly.
Michael
2 years ago |From that interview is Vitaly Kiselev seems to be like wise man. People like him make products better than original manufacturers do. Totally agree what he says about feedback – sometimes it looks like that Olympus and Panasonic ever listen photographers/filmakers just their marketing division. In the other hand I think they can’t make mistake this time, because of fact that other companies are working on mirrorless cameras too. A some competition battle will be better for us – users of their products. Photokina will show what they are capable of.
gekopaca
2 years ago |I hope Pana & Oly directors will read that interview…
From now we’re lucky with m4/3 (versus Sony & Samsung); I hope it will continue!
Ganec
2 years ago |> I think that the next winner will be one that makes real adapters for their EVF cameras. With full autofocus and aperture control. It is not that hard. Not easy, but not that hard. Like a $50 adapter with AF and aperture control for any Canon lens. And, boom. Canon lost many-many body buyers.
Is there such an adapter? I want one to my PEN…
Nathan
2 years ago |The reason nobody makes full electronic adapters is that lens systems are proprietary, and the interfaces between lens and camera are many times not remotely similar. If even a third party manufacturer wanted to produce such an adapter, it would be easy to imagine that the licensing costs for the lens mount would cost more than 50 dollars, so I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a 50 dollar mount adapter.
It would be nice if the manufacturers would share information, but free choice isn’t really what they’re about. They actually want you to be locked into your lens choices when you make your choice of camera body. This approach has served them quite well. Remember that the entire point of going into business is to benefit yourself and your shareholders, not the customer or the photography community. Sure, if you want your product to sell, it has to offer some benefit to the purchaser, but there is no motivation in any camera company to truly open their system to their competitors with nothing in return.
YouDidntDidYou
2 years ago |I think Vitaly’s views are wrong on a couple of things, the GH1 wasn’t aimed at aspiring filmmakers but was rather adopted by them, I think Panasonic were thinking more of video and photo journalists as well as frequent travellers who wouldn’t have the same standards and needs as aspiring filmmakers(with it’s DSLR type build, aspect ratios, film modes,intelligent auto, build quality etc).
Pansonic would of have had a hard job beating the Canon 5D MKII because many Canon and Nikon users have very entrenched views and still wouldn’t of purchased the GH1 even if it had been 3 times better.
I would like to see Panasonic cameras from the off in body form as well as kit not exactly sure what their rational is, have they ever been asked directly in an interview? But I don’t think it made a massive difference to GH1 sales.
I do believe Olympus and Pansonic do take into account on forums:
originally posted on a forum 8th Sept 2008
1. square format
2. pinhole simulation mode/add grain mode/lomo simulation mode
3. something to do with infra red photography?
4. moveable spot focus
5. personalised camera skins
4 out of 5 implemented in micro four thirds.
I think he is right regarding Canon and FF but wrong on Sony they are way too proprietary (which doesn’t go down to well film makers) but they do have good logistics (but I’m seeing a lot more Lumix in a lot more places in the UK)
I think the GH2 will solve a lot of problems…
***too many I thinks***
AL
2 years ago |@Ganec & Nathan. Thank God there are plenty fast & beautiful _manual_ lenses we can use!
youknowmyname
2 years ago |Sigma’s SA mount is just about the EOS mount with different wiring and an alternate mount plate, there have been conversions of Sigma SD14 SLRs to EOS mount (not complicated).
Sigma are a FT consortium member and make FT mount lenses which can also be made to fit micro-FT with an adapter. If anyone could make an adapter for EOS to micro-FT, Sigma could
Ube
2 years ago |Vitaly is perceptive and his singular efforts to improve the GH1 and other Panasonic cameras could motivate r&d to implement features in the GH2 that will benefit us all. We’ll see very soon.
My speculation is that Panasonic (and Olympus) are a bit surprized and delighted by the success of the GH1 and they know they have only a brief period before Canon and Nikon wade in. This is their chance to consolidate a user base with cameras and lenses that provide advantages that users appreciate such as small size, 1080 60p, less noise, etc. And, as a photographic system, they must offer camera-only buying options so a user can pick and choose the combinations they need.
Jay
2 years ago |I posted my first hacked GF1 thanks to Vitaly! Just to be able to pick manual controls is amazing!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E682Ycub6B8
Michael Meissner
2 years ago |Given that Panasonic has changed the firmware so the newer GH1′s cannot be modified (at the present time), I don’t think delighted is the operative word. In particular, I suspect Panasonic is afraid it is going to steal market share from the AG-AF100 and other future cameras. The fact that most of the GH1 users would never consider buying the AG-AF100 due to cost, and the hack before it was closed down on new models, brought more users to the product is immaterial.
In the world of product segmentation, where some features are disabled in firmware, if users can buy a cheaper body and upgrade the firmware without paying extra to have the features in the higher end body, means a lot lower return on investment.
rUY
2 years ago |The delay feel like as if it is some kind of last minute change. Good strategy though if they are unsure if there are some more EVILs by other group. but have to be very strong improvement and make it the final winner. Come on! Panny, show us some surprises.
Erik
2 years ago |The Canon 5D doesn’t do video, maybe you meant the 5D2?