Take a look at this article from luminous landscape about hacking your GH1 so that it can take full HD videos. Looks like a nifty little hack!

Apparently similar hacks are being worked on for the GF1 too.

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Interesting move by MR to support the illegal hacking of a Panasonic product... I wonder if dpreview will be so brave?

I think it's a fantastic development... and thankfully, noone seems to have 'bricked' their GH1 so it's looking good!

Cheers

Brian

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Founder, Olympus Photo Safari Group
http://www.ukphotosafari.org

I don't know where MR is hosting his site, but reverse engineering and firmware modifications are legal in Europe, and may be legal in the US[1] as well under the fair use doctrine, as long as the mod is not intended as a circumvention of a legit restriction put in place to protect some interests belonging to IP right holders.

You may lose your warranty in the process, but it doesn't mean you don't have the right to do it. What we're speaking about is a set of patches free of any Panasonic IP, that are to be applied individually by the camera owners over their own legit copy of the firmware.

The only potentially illegal part here is the reverse engineering necessary to build the patches, but many places on earth explicitly allow it. For instance, Europe, and Russia (where many reverse engineers operate from).

Each time someone uses 'illegal' without checking the reality of an existing legal statute or case of precedent, in conjunction with 'hacking', the industry wins in seeding in the minds of ordinary persons that tempering with software is crime. And it's completely wrong. Besides, a kitty dies somewhere.

[1] I'm not qualified enough in the arcane of common law.

I could well be wrong, but I got the impression hacker13 is based in Russia... perhaps illicit would have been a better term - I doubt that hacker13 will be prosecuted for this work.

The smart thing for Panasonic to do for future generations of the GH1... would be to leave the door open for further hacks. They can sell the crippled camera to avoid video related tax and not lose out demand due to the earlier model being more capable.

Cheers

Brian

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Founder, Olympus Photo Safari Group
http://www.ukphotosafari.org

Just a quick (and last, I promise) message on the subject of legality, because this is an important one in those days and age.

Imagine for a second you think you can improve a Beatles' song by playing a flute line. You record your own line following the rhythm of the original piece, release it with instructions on how to merge it with the listener's copy of the song. The notes you're playing are in tune but different from every other lines of the piece.

Where's the illegality or the wrong ? Nowhere.

You discover a hidden track of music on a CD and reveal a way to play it. Where's the illegality ?

Why on earth are softwares differently treated than other intellectual work ?

There may be limiting statutes I'm not aware of depending on where you live, you, the owner of the product, but applying the mod is under your own responsibility, and there's no reason on earth the author should be considered like a thief if he created his mod according to the statutes of his country. Which is the case.

The hack also offers features such as extending the 30 minute video limit and offering support to 3rd party batteries. These two features work for both the GH1 and GF1.

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Let's say Panasonic sell the camera with the 30 minute video limit, in order to avoid paying/charging extra tax for it being a video camera - and this hack unlocks that capability... who will be liable for paying the extra tax? Panasonic, me or hacker13?

Cheers

Brian

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Founder, Olympus Photo Safari Group
http://www.ukphotosafari.org

You should, as the owner. Owning something is the absolute power to exercise the 3 kind of rights one can get on things : the right to benefit from the revenues the thing can produce, the right to use the thing for yourself, and the right to dispose of the thing at will, by loaning it, selling it, destroying it, or dumping it.