GH1 / GF1 Firmware Hack

The Panasonic GF1 is a fantastic (and compact) camera for stills and video that uses the almost the same hardware as Panasonic's high-end GH series of cameras.

My GF-1 as shot by my cell phone.

There is a hack available that enables the GF1 to shoot in full 24 frame per second, 1080p with full manual exposure controls just like its larger brethren.

Install instructions and sample video after the jump.




To help distinguish the product lines, Panosonic has unnecessarily limited the GF1 by taking out 1080P (HD) recording modes and manual exposure control from the GF1.

A Russian hacker named Vitaly Kiselev has fixed this with a firmware hack.

The instructions posted online weren't clear about where to download each part of the hack, so I've posted the sources here and a step by step here.

As always with this sort of thing, proceed at your own risk.

1. Download the latest GF1 Firmware from Panasonic Here (click on the proper body).  Save the file to your desktop.

2. Download the latest Ptool Here. Save it to your desktop as well.

3. Now that you have both the firmware and PTool saved, follow these instructions to modify your firmware adding the features you want.

4. Once your firmware is modified, save it to the root of your SD card, restart your camera, and press the "play button"

5. That's it!

Here's a demo video of hacked GF1 from youtube. Not bad for a tiny little camera.[Not shot by me]