HPX300 vs HD-250u / Live event decision

[Clintizzle]

Hi All.

I'm currently debating between purchasing 3 HPX300's or 3 JVC HD-250u's for live event coverage, I am wondering your opinions as to whether either camera has a clear advantage over the other.

These cameras will spend 90% of their time indoors in a church, covering live music as well as speaking. They will be live switched via HD-SDI and recorded to Hard drive and broadcasted to various plasma TV's around the facility.

This means:
1. recording format REALLY doesn't matter that much. 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0 and which codec is used is largely superfluous to what we are using these cameras for - rarely will their footage be seen in the edit bay. They will be used somewhat for production shoots, but that is not why we are purchasing them.
2. low light performance is of great importance, in numerous situations we are dealing with high contrast lighting. Also dark environments with splashes of color from PAR lights and MAC movers will be encountered a lot.
3. Cameras will OFTEN be at max telephoto to get tight shots of band members and individuals speaking.
4. Cameras will be on tripods, with zoom/focus controls for about 100% of their life.

SO:

what do you think?

1/3 CMOS vs 1/3 CCD:
- CMOS wobble going to be a big problem for the amount of telephoto shooting done?

2.2 megapixel CMOS vs 1.4 megapixel CCD:
- tons of pixels crammed onto same sized chip in the case of the HPX300 means worse low light performance than the JVC's? worse noise encountered in the lower end of the spectrum in the case of the Panny?

- Both of these cameras, if we are ignoring recording mediums and talking strictly HD-SDI: will compete evenly in the world of codec quality? JVC will not exhibit more macro-blocking if we are HD-SDI out? I know this was a terrible problem with the HD-100u's when using the HDV tape deck.

Thanks in advance for your opinions, if anyone has experience with the HD-250u let me know

*Oh we probably are going to be renting both cameras for a shootout. I think i'll post some comparision footage in case someone else is encountering an issue like this.*

[Bassman2003]

What about the new JVC-700 vs the Hpx-300?

[hammerhorror]

I can tell you from experience that the JVC HD-250 has poor low light performance. I currently use one for a tv show I'm shooting for and find myself always bumping up the gain, even in average lighting conditions.

I would recommend either the JVC 700 or the Panasonic HPX-300 (as the previous post mentions).

[xmephestox]

just remember hpx 300 is rolling shutter cmos. if there are gonna be a lot of camera flashes or any kind of strobe lights at this event, your better off going with a CCD camera.

[kabtv]

What about the new JVC-700 vs the Hpx-300?


nice idea :)

[EC Junior]

What about the new JVC-700 vs the Hpx-300?

Remember the JVC GY-HM700 has no Gen-Lock / TC.
They would be conflicting HD250 / 200 studio cameras.

[Bassman2003]

Are you shooting 720p or 1080p?

If you are shooting 720p, then the 1/3" chip cameras will be more alike than different when the recording codec is taken out of the mix.

1080p. then the higher resolution chips might be worth it, but these differences need to be seen, not just quantified.

I would be thinking about skew if there is going to be a lot of movement shooting at the tele end of the lens. Just a fact with CMOS video chips.

It is early to judge these cameras as the HPX-300 and the JVC 700 are not out yet.

How much telephoto do you need?

Maybe get one camera with a lot of reach and the other two with "normal" ranges. This might free up your camera choices.

Maybe an HPX-500 with a long lens (could be SD), an HPX-300 and an HPX-170. This would cost about the same as three HPX-300s and might give you some coverage options.

Put the HPX-300 on the widest shot for more detail and less skew.

Just some thoughts...

[Clintizzle]

Thanks for your opinion hammerhorror. Thats too bad to hear about the JVC's and their poor low light.

- I did look into that new 700 series JVC cam, but for what we are doing with live switching and recording, TC and Genlock are highly desired. That unfortunately puts it out of the running.

- The centre camera will be riding much more on the long end of the tele since it is the headshot cam. The other two will be getting head to toe shots.

* I could see the advantage of have one HPX 500 and 2 HPX 300's only thing i would be worried about is: 2/3 CCD compared to 1/3 CMOS = how totally different are these cams gonna look like?

@bassman2003. that is a good point about 720 vs 1080p. Because this is live event coverage we would be shooting 1080i which all of these cameras can natively produce, but 720 would definitely minimize the resolving differences of these cams.

I guess it comes down to which cam performs the best in our situation. In that case a shootout comparison looks to be the best way to go about testing.

thanks for the replies erryone

[goetzpd]

Where did the results go?

This is something new from JVC:

KA-HD300PKG Mobile Studio Adapter

No info on line but PM me if you want me to email a PDF that isn't online.