about to purchase an HPX- questions..

[sonic freak]

I'm considering buying at HPX500 and all the goodies that will have to go with it. I have an HVX and know they will work well together, but I can't believe they threw the same LCD monitor on the HPX. I know I won't use it MOST of the time, but for some stuff I'm shooting I may not be hooked up to an external HD monitor. I'm shooting a couple pilots that will be very run and gun, but I need broadcast quality, and so I may every once in a while need to rely on the HPX500 LCD (with focus assist & EVF DTL) for focus.

So i'm just wondering how usable the LCD is with anyone out there when you're not doing just static shots? Can you nail decent focus manually, or is it a nightmare? (because for me I can nail it with my HVX cause it's smaller and I've got it wired....)

:dankk2:

[Barry_Green]

The 500 doesn't use the same type of focus assist (i.e., it doesn't have the magnified window). It uses a totally different type of focus assist, which is a histogram-looking graph. Sometimes it works absolutely fantastic. Sometimes, I'm not so sure. I really wish they had the magnification too, but they don't. Usually works pretty well though.

I finally broke down and got a BT-LH80 and it's the greatest thing and solves all focus questions now and forever.

[Noel Evans]

So i'm just wondering how usable the LCD is with anyone out there when you're not doing just static shots? Can you nail decent focus manually, or is it a nightmare? (because for me I can nail it with my HVX cause it's smaller and I've got it wired....)

:dankk2:

I can nail a static focus with the EVF 95% of the time. Not bad, but with risk. LCD is pretty useless. I almost forgot mine had an LCD I use the LH80 so much, apart from the fact the cam wont output an external of the p2 thumbs.

[Barry_Green]

I can nail a static focus with the EVF 95% of the time. Not bad, but with risk. LCD is pretty useless. I almost forgot mine had an LCD I use the LH80 so much, apart from the fact the cam wont output an external of the p2 thumbs.
I believe it will, but not through component, you'd have to route a secondary cable and go from the composite video to the composite input on the LH80, and then toggle the input. Goofy, I know, but it should work (noting that I haven't actually tried this, but I'm pretty sure it'll work.)

[Noel Evans]

Cheers Barry. Though it plays perfectly well.

[sonic freak]

I actually shot with an HPX500 today. A Panasonic rep brought one to me and I messed around with it a bit. I tried to match scene file settings with my HVX200 to compare low light/noise and such, we'll see. It's strange the rep told me ESPN will accept Varicam footage but nothing from the HPX3000. Any P2 actually.

[cwpost]

Hmmm, that's a strange thing for him (the rep) to say, especially since I've collected quite a few checks from ESPN for jobs where we used my HPX500. I guess they were satisfied since they didn't stop payment on them.

[Barry_Green]

It wouldn't be a matter of not being satisfied, it sounds more like a matter of demanding tape instead of predigitized footage. An HPX3000 will deliver a much better image than the Varicam.

[sonic freak]

Yeah, it was strange. Barry is right, he said it was a tape vs. P2 thing. But I've seen that fishing show thread where they shoot on 2 HPX500's on espn2 and all that..

[cwpost]

I deliver scenics all the time to various sports broadcasts, most trucks can take a harddrive to load their evs or fastforwards up with footage. Just got to talk the producers into how easy it is! Once they see it, it's really not a battle. Most like just loading clips rather than shuttling tapes.

[davhud]

Panasonic has done a terrible job of making producers aware of the advantages of using the P2 system. It's almost like they don't care or expect everyone else to pitch it for them.
Also the software support for P2 from Panny is pretty bad. P2cms has got to be one of the worst interfaces I've ever seen. That is if you can even figure it out from the manual thats written in english as she is spoken.
It would really help market penetration if they would streamline the P2 workflow or at least make it more transparent to non tech types like producers.

[cwpost]

I agree, their support does make it difficult sometimes to market P2 to others that aren't quite sure about it.

[Noel Evans]

Panasonic has done a terrible job of making producers aware of the advantages of using the P2 system

Im 50/50. As far as networks go there has been a lot of marketing, so Im not having issues there. But outside that, unless the producer is particularly used to p2, you have to work it.