No30FPS2

Panasonic G7 25FPS to 30FPS

As you probably where able to see in the previous video I decided to replace my 6 year old Sony Nex-5 with a Panasonic G7. I remember thinking 6 years ago that it was sad they where still bringing out PAL (25FPS) and NTSC (30FPS) models of the same camera without allowing you to change it. Guess what, this new Panasonic is locked too! Horrible!

I found a away to change that though! Read my post to see how to change your 25FPS PAL Panasonic G7 to a 30FPS NTSC Panasonic G7!

Youtube video

I also made a quick introductory video about this (more of a rant really) which you can watch here:


There used to be a problem (Why 25FPS and 30FPS exist)

Ok, so in “the old days” there actually was a problem with flicker and recordings. It used to be so that power net flicker (at 50Hz or 60Hz) in your lights and your big tube TV running either 50Hz PAL or 60Hz NTSC would create problems.

But this hasn’t been true for a while now, ever since energy saving lightbulbs and LED lighting this issue just doesn’t exist anymore. These new lamps either flicker inherently because of PWM dimming at several 100’s of Hz or just give off a stable light without 50Hz or 60Hz light because of the driver inside of them.

TV’s changed in the same way. Basically TV’s are basically big LCD screens now and they are built VERY differently from old tube televisions. There is no more 50Hz or 60Hz, there is only frames per second or FPS it is displaying. Actually, most modern TV’s can often display 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60FPS. In the beginning days the backlight could still show a flicker but even then these would be digitally PWM managed at a lot higher Hz rates then the electricity net and thus a different problem. Very modern backlights now use Constant Current instead of Constant voltage to dimm their LED backlights causing no flicker whatsoever.

LCD screens are inherently 60Hz or rather 60FPS, all of them, also in PAL regions. On top of that media consumption has shifted from TV screens to smartphones and computer screens. What do all these new displays have in common? Exactly, they are all fixed 60FPS/Hz displays.

  • Yes I know 24FPS isn't exactly 24FPS and 30FPS isn't exactly 30FPS but rather 23.976FPS and 29.97FPS...mostly

A new problem

How does 25 fit in 60? Well, it doesn’t without some kind of trickery.

A way to fix this is using a something called a “pulldown”. For instance when displaying 24FPS cinema footage on 30FPS NTSC they would use something called a 3-2 pulldown to correct or “fix” the display footage for the different framerate.

But this method still has issues. Sound for instance will run out of pace with the framerate and needs to be slowed down a bit, etc.

In short, there really is no fix without downsides. And this is an issue for converting anything (24, 25, 30) to anything (24, 25, 30).

What mostly happens

A compounding problem is that a lot of media played today, is played back on computers and smartphones, youtube is a prime example of that. What is the problem with that? A computer screen or phone screen will not do any pull down/up at all!

If you are watching 25FPS clip on a 60FPS computer/phone display it will just be choppy. Especially visible during pans or large moving objects.

So, the real fix to the problem is to shoot 30FPS or 60FPS when you can. If you are in the situation where old lights or something else causes interference, you select 25FPS or 50FPS but per default, in my opinion media should be produced for digital screens now a days and those are 60FPS.

A good video of showcasing the problems this causes is this one, watch full screen for best effect:

Very expensive feature?

For some reason, the ability to switch between these frame rates is regarded as a feature. Or at least, that is what it seems like.

Hardware wise there is NO difference in a 25FPS or 30FPS camera. It’s purely a software lock, nothing else. Evidence of that is for instance the Panasonic GH4, the big brother of the G7 which does allow you to select all the rates.

PROGO JY-0508 Professional Video Camera Tripod with Fluid Head Damping

There now is a fix!

Recently I was surfing and I found a video where someone found out how to switch his Panasonic GX8 from 25FPS to 30FPS. He (and some commenters) also stated that this “fix” worked on several different Panasonic camera’s.

So I took the plunge and ordered myself a brand new Panasonic G7 (Arrived with BODY firmware 2.0 and Lens (14-140) firmware 1.1) . But pretty much after 10 minutes of it arriving I tried the fix. And…. full 30FPS and 60FPS unlocked!

I’ve been testing and shooting with it a lot and I haven’t been able to find any downsides to applying this fix. What I think it’s doing is putting the camera into some kind of service mode but I kept all my settings and all the functions seem to function as expected just at 30FPS or 60FPS instead of 25FPS or 50FPS! Awesome!

How to fix your camera

On the G7 it works as following:

Step 1

Set your camera to P (or auto) mode and switch it off

Step 2

Press the following buttons at the same time and while doing so, turn the camera on. The buttons are [right (WB) ], [disp.] and [AF/AE lock].

It will take a bit of thumb twisting but it’s doable.

Step 3

When the camera turns on, press the green [playback] button.

Step 4

While in playback press [up (ISO)] and  [AF/AE lock] at the same time and while doing so, turn off the camera.

If everything went correctly it will display a yellow exclamation mark while turning off.

Step 5

You’re done! Turn the camera on and you should now be able to select 30FPS and 60FPS modes!

For me I noticed no difference in using the camera, but as I said, I didn’t use the camera very long without running in this mode. But I have not encountered any problems. The only visible effect other then the frame rates is that while turning the camera off it will show the exclamation mark.

This switch to 30FPS also remains with reboots or changing batteries, SDcards, etc. I also did not need to reformat my SDcard or anything of the sort.

Switching back

If you wish to switch back, you need to do the following:

Step 1

Press [MENU/SET] and [right (WB)] at the same time and while doing so, turn the camera off.

Step 2

This should take you to the initial settings menu. In this menu press [right (WB)] and [right (WB)] again.

This should reset the camera back to the original mode.

Wait, now my videos show all kind of flickering lights and horizontal bars!

Ah, then you have lights which do still flicker harmoniously with the power net. Sadly, there is no real way to fix this other then changing the lights you use while recording video.

If that is not an option, you are stuck at 25FPS / 50FPS.

All done & credits

All done, enjoy shooting in 30FPS or 60FPS!

I originally found this method in a video made by Sergey Svistunov which you can find here: https://youtu.be/Dt-GX5BdcgU. His video also has some comments of people trying it on different Panasonic camera’s!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

36 thoughts on “Panasonic G7 25FPS to 30FPS”

    1. Yeah it should work on the GX80 much in the same way. Instead of using the [DISP] button you should use the [PLAY] button.

      From what I’ve been able to gather though, the button combination for returning the camera to normal isn’t known yet. It should be near the same as posted above, just involving some different buttons.

      1. yep I’ve seen this under original video .. curious to find out ‘way back’ buttons before trying it though.

        1. Alright, I switched my australian PAL model of GX85 to 30fps .. and it works without any issues .. and the footage looks so much smoother on my screen (including on camera’s lcd).
          I don’t miss the way to switch it back to PAL. Before in PAL mode I had 4k at 25 and 24fps, now I have 4k at 30 and 24 – so I can use both. I was not planning on using 25fps anyways. On 1080p, 24fps is gone .. only 60 and 30 is there, but that’s all I’m interested in.

        2. Just make sure camera is in P or AUTO mode when changing between factory and 30/60/120 FPS modes.
          I also noticed it enabled TEST MODE and BACKUP ROM in the settings menu.
          Change is reversible, just a little tricky to do.

          Worked on Leica Typ 114!

  1. Thanks for this nice post. I wonder why it was deceided that the Monitors would use 60Hz also in countries with PAL. Being cinema at 24fps or 48fps, it seems a more logical integration to use 50Hz or 100Hz which has an easy conversion 48fps to 50fps/100fps.

    To change the mode from PAL (25fps) to NTSC (30fps) on the Panasonic DMC-TZ60 or DMC-TS40 you have to press Menu + Rightkey + MovieRec + power on, then go the Playback mode and press Rightkey + powerOff. This is called cancellation of “initial settings”. It’s documented in the Service Manual for example in this one “DMC-TZ40EB DMC-TZ40EE DMC-TZ40EF DMC-TZ40EG” http://www.csportal.panasonic-la.com/descargaspla/PANAMEX/DIGITALES/CAMARAS/ALTO%20ZOOM/DMC-ZS30PU/DOCUMENTO/MANUAL%20DE%20SERVICIO/DMC-ZS30PU%20M%20servicio.pdf
    When exiting the cancellation mode, you can choose ONLY ONE time which is the default region you want your camera, but this only happens one time.

  2. Thanks for nice post!
    Is there any way we can revert back to PAL mode?
    PS interested to apply this to LX100 and GX80..

    1. The button combination differs per camera but it’s possible on all of them. Try the buttons in the comments or in the linked youtube video to see if anyone else found the combination!

  3. Just bought this camera and was sorely disappointed to find this limitation. Tried the trick and it works! I’m SO happy I found this, thankyou!

    The only annoying thing is the persistent exclamation mark icon when turning off, but .. whatever.

    I’m completely bemused why Panasonic just doesn’t let us select whichever frame rate we would like, 25/30/50/60 all from the same menu without undocumented finger yoga engineer secret hacks. We’re becoming globalised, we use the same tech the world over, NTSC vs PAL is dead, there is zero reason for regional restrictions anymore.

    Hopefully they make the options available in a future firmware update .. and don’t take this button combo away! Is there any more information/documentation about what button combo’s there are and what they do?

  4. Hi,

    I just got an NTSC G7 and am from a PAL region. Do you have any crack to reverse from 30fps to 25 fps?

    1. In theory you should be able to do this but I don’t talk about it in my post. Check the video I linked in my post, in the last step, where you can select a country to “restore to” you should be able to select a PAL country and that might work. Let us know if you figured it out! 🙂

  5. Thank you for this.
    I had avoided buying Panasonic cameras because they are PAL only.
    30fps is much smoother than 25fps.
    I really don’t understand why Panasonic policy is to limit their cameras to 25 fps, whilst Sony make all their cams 30fps switchable.

  6. The light flickering is shutter speed related, not frame rate.
    If you are in a 50Hz zone, set shutter speed to 1/50sec and lights won’t flicker, this is the same for 25fps and 30fps.

    1. The shutter speed controls how long the shutter is open for on each frame, but the frame rate controls how often the shutter opens. If you have a light that flickers at 50Hz, then it is inevitable that filming at 30fps will mean that the light will be at different parts of its phase each time the shutter opens, therefore different brightness, at the times that the shutter opens. Only by filming at 25fps will it always be at the same part of its phase. You might see a marginal improvement in flicker from some lights by using a longer shutter just because you’re capturing a slightly larger part of the phase, but it’s still fundamentally out of sync.

      1. While I agree with you, I also disagree. As I mention a lot of lights nowadays (such as PWM pulsed LED lights, etc.) don’t flicker at the frequency of mains power. TV’s and monitors either also use PWM or Direct DC control. So in my environment, nothing is using the 50Hz flicker rate. But my camera is still locked to it, which I find to be a locked value remnant of the past. Especially considering I make YouTube content which will be displayed on 60Hz monitors 90% of the time! Which matches very badly.

  7. Thanks very much for posting this. I’m hoping it will be possible to do something similar on the new G80/G85 (why they’ve given it different model numbers in different countries is beyond me…). It’s such a ridiculous limitation.

  8. Thank you for this information… you just saved a shoot this afternoon where I promised my client a locked off G7 shot for the edit.

    I had looked at panasonic’s spec for the camera which is very misleading as it shows both frame rates without mentioning regionality

    Usual manufacturers attempt to prevent domestic cameras being used in the professional marketplace!

  9. Aaaah…. now I have a big problem

    Your reverse hack to get back to 50fps does not seem to work. There seems to be a step missing?

    Has anyone else stranded themselves?

    Most of my work is for the UK market so this is bad news if I cant restore the camera… wouldnt have followed the hack had I not been reassured that there were instructions to revert back.

    Any ideas out there?

  10. Heres the problem

    You have set up these instructions and titled them for a G7 but you have done this by following a video fo the GX8. The ‘switching back’ instructions work for the GX8 in the video but not for my G7.

    I get the feeling that you diddnt try the ‘switching back’ sequence before posting which has led to my sticky situation.

    Perhaps you should re write the post making it obvious that this seems to be a one way ticket for the G7

    Anyone want to buy an NTSC G7 body? 🙁

  11. Panic over

    There was a stage missing, camera has to be set to P before running the ‘Switching back’ hack

    Anyone want to buy a pal G7 ? 🙂

  12. Panic over

    There was a stage missing, camera has to be set to P before running the ‘Switching back’ hack

    Anyone want to buy a pal G7 body ? 🙂

  13. Great! Can report this also works a a EU FZ1000. Also gives the yellow exclamation mark when turned off. Fine with that, I can now record in 30 and 60 and mix it with my iPhone footage 🙂

  14. my G7 did this: I can record 30FPS, but every time I turn it off, or it entered standby, I get the warning symbol. Additionally, my SDCARD has an issue that means I can’t plug it into my SDCARD reader on my mac, I have to use the USB cable. But this doesn’t work anymore. Will try to change it back to 25FPS mode and see if everything’s fine gain.

  15. Yeah resetting worked, but WARNING it’ll wipe the whole camera’s custom settings. I wonder why the USB-to-PC connection broke after the hack?

  16. Anyone managed to find out the key combo for the LX10/LX15. Also, with other models, does it work for the HFR modes (100/120fps)? My whole workflow is 30fps and the LX10/15 allows me to chose either 25 or 30 – but the slow motion feature is locked at 120fps.

  17. DMC-FZ1000

    CRUCIAL STEP IS MISSING!!!!

    ENSURE PHOTO DIAL IS SET TO SINGLE SHOT MODE ON TOP LEFT OF CAMERA. BUTTON COMBINATION WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT THIS.

    1. Bro you’re a savior. Thank you so much. The reason why this is missing in the tutorials is because it’s only on the new 2.2 firmware that this is mandatory. Thanks again!

  18. Does this also fix the PAL “29 minute” video limit?

    I understand the SD card may still hold the data in 29 minute chunks, but can the camera continuously record beyond 29 minutes (without having to re-press the button)

      1. I have the European G80 model – unfortunately, because the Australian or some say even Russian models (G85) this limitation on video recording do not have. The limitation is imposed due to customs tariffs in the EU market – there are higher taxes for videocameras, and this limitation makes the camera non-videocamera then. This is a stupid reasoning, because I would gladly pay the higher tax in order not to have this limitation in the camera. Neither of the manufacturers provide this option, though. Anyway, in some models, when switching to the NTSC mode, the 29minutes and 59 secunds limitations goes off. It happened to me once when I did the switch. However, when trying the same again (after returning to the PAL set up), the time limitation remained in place no matter what the other settings were. I was thus no able to replicate the switch and do not know why not. I tried to de-update the system back from 1,4 version of the firmware to 1,1 with the idea of re-updating the G80 with the G85 firmware. The problem is that this is not possible if and when recording the firmware onto an SD card in a PC, because the camera would not read any lower update from the SD card, and has a write-protection to the disk when trying the same via the USB cable connection from a PC. However, logically, if and when a camera is in service for repairs, including software or changing of components in memory, new firmware must be installed. Thus, the service must have it and means to access the system. The camera allows export of some of the system stuff, but I do not know what and how and am not sure in what mode. The time limitation has nothing to do with the temperature of the processor since, once the 30 minute recording is up, one could start it again for another 30 minutes without necessity of “cooling” the camera down. The limitation is imposed by the software only — it is hard to believe that Panasonic would make way different models and not those with limited modifications — since even the EU models have the NTSC in them, and work in the service mode, then the recording time limitation surely could be deactivated. Since the system could be updated, there then is a flash ROM in which, if able to access, one with some knowledge could possibly deactivate the time limitation by erasing or otherwise disabling the code.

  19. Hack from pal to ntsc 25/30fps worked fine for me on Lumix LX100 MK 1

    I just did exactly the steps mentioned in the post.

    Noticed side effect:
    Yellow. Exclamation mark whilst turning off the camera.

  20. If it doesn’t work for you, before you start the described process, make sure to turn the left dial on top of the camera completely to the left (single shot) before you start this process.

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