My first Shoot with EX 1

[Emmet Brown]

The last few days i was forced to shoot with an EX1, because the client has already EX1-Footage and dont want to mix Formats. So here my impressions compared to my beloved 301:

Im not a professional Editor, so i cant give a statement about advantage/disadvantage of the codecs. There are Threads enough here.
I just want to tell my impressions of work and feel...

In my Opinion the Ex1 feels very cheap. The Body, Knobs, Labeling... Okay, it was a rental-cam, but most of the Labeling was "washed" away...
Further it is a game of luck to switch the camera off or to switch the 1/8 ND in, because you always push the desired "Plastic"-switch "too far".
Again, it was a rental Cam, but the Battery-Contacts were out of order. So i had have to use "special"-Swit-Batteries with included cable to DC-In....

The Form-factor is awful compared to 301.... Tripod-Work works fine, why not, but Handheld... No Chance!

But im not a scaremonger, who wants only to blaspheme the rivalry product.
The LCD is very sharp and crispy. But you get problems in bright sunlight, because the EVF is bad...

If you have enough time to setting up your scene, the result is very good! We shoot 1080/25p/HQ. The Result was really nice! No Problems with noise or so. And you see the difference resulting of the 1/2 inch-Sensors. Better Low-Light and DOF..

So there are advantages in the resulting Picture, but the way to get it is more difficult and takes much more time in my opinion... No Cam for fast handeld-Work!

Comparing the Price and the serious, professionell Form-factor and Body, the 301 would still be my first choice.


EDIT: Now im a little bit angry: Got a call from client, the sound is sometimes distorted!! We shoot with mixer, soundguy and 416, sounds good on the headphones and the meters were always okay! I searched in the Internet and it seems to be a problem that can be fixed with an firmware update for which you have to send the EX1 to service... Great News, unfortunatly too late! So, whos is guilty? The Soundguy (Its a problem that dont occure on Monitoring, but later in Editing-System...)? We all together, because we didnt playback ANY Clip after copying to Notebook on Location? The Rental Company? Sony? It doesnt matter, because the problem remains the same.... Who would expect this? But its one more reason to me to critizize the EX1.... Sorry....

[Bassman2003]

I hope what everybody has learned over the past two years is not to bash any camera.

There was a time where the EX-1 was talked down a lot mainly due to comments made from non-users.

All of the camera manufacturers are trying to create the best cameras given the technical and economic limitations.

In the end, the images from the camera are beautiful for a $6,100 investment. Actually mine was $5,600 after a $500 rebate.

[cheezweezl]

what is the point of this thread? comparing a shoulder mount cam to a small handheld cam and talking form factor is just rediculous. it's like comparing a pickup truck to a sportscar and talking about towing capacity.

of course if the ENG style and form factor is what matters most to you then the hpx300 is the right choice between the two.

if the cmos full raster chips and avc intra were packed into a hvx200 size cam then you could compare that with an ex1 on all points.

it's really outdated to say that to be "professional" you must use a large shoulder mount camera. that trend died a long time ago. lots and lots of real professional TV is shot in part or completely with small cams like the hvx200, ex1, even the dvx100 still. i owned a hpx500 for a while and still have access to one anytime i need it. i sometimes have a gig pop up that would be better shot with a larger cam but almost never have a client that demands it. this is precisely why i sold mine.

so if you are doing the kind of gigs that require you to have an ENG cam then good for you. but don't fool yourself. small cams are being used on serious projects every day. i just shot a Snoop Dogg music video last week with my EX1. next week i go on a documentary trip that ends up in DC with an interview with president Obama. this is being shot with EX1 and EX3. we could get any cams we want for this gig but since we are traveling a lot and moving fast, we want small cams. as of right now EX1/3 have the best image of any small cam.

i honestly hope panasonic does squeeze full raster chips and avc intra into an hvx200 size cam. if it has the panny magic and doesn't have the current jello issues, i will buy it in a heartbeat. i am not loyal to any brand. i was diehard panasonic until sony changed my mind. i'm ready to jump ship as soon as a nicer ship sails by...

[Jan_Crittenden]

it has the panny magic and doesn't have the current jello issues,

There are no jello issues. If you move any CMOS camera badly you will have issues and that doesn't change from manufacturer to manufacturer. If it is a CMOS camera at the lower end it will have a rolling shutter.

[cheezweezl]

thanks jan,

sure i understand how a rolling shutter works and the issues it brings. i am speaking of the excessive jello when shooting 1080/24p on the hpx300. has this problem been addressed?

i don't agree that it doesn't change from one camera to another. the RED has a rolling shutter but a faster scan than most resulting in less jello. the EX cams have more jello than the RED. the hpx300 has more jello than the EX in 1080/24p mode.

i wouldn't describe the camera movement needed to induce rolling shutter jello as "badly". shaky handheld movement is a legitimate "look" some desire, and fast pans are certainly a real technique that suffer from rolling shutter effects.

[Jan_Crittenden]

thanks jan,
sure i understand how a rolling shutter works and the issues it brings. i am speaking of the excessive jello when shooting 1080/24p on the hpx300. has this problem been addressed?



It isn't excessive. See the issue in all of this was that when swishing the camera about next to the EX1, it looked worse. But when you put both cameras at a viable pan rate to keep from introducing motion stutter in the video, neither camera has it.



i don't agree that it doesn't change from one camera to another. the RED has a rolling shutter but a faster scan than most resulting in less jello. the EX cams have more jello than the RED. the hpx300 has more jello than the EX in 1080/24p mode.

With a faster shutter, the less the footage looks like 24P capture.


i wouldn't describe the camera movement needed to induce rolling shutter jello as "badly". shaky handheld movement is a legitimate "look" some desire, and fast pans are certainly a real technique that suffer from rolling shutter effects.

You can move the camera as quickly as the Sony camera. But the reason I say badly shaking, is due to the fact that the reason taht any one thinks that the camera has the issue is that the video that was show, showed it compared as badly shaking video. Frankly I wouldn't have accepted video from either camera.

I have a 24P/1080 hand held sequence that doesn't have skew. Somewhere around here is the MP4 of that. You can move the camera and you can use 24P/1080. There are number of strategies for coping with the rolling shutter. But now we are off the topic of this thread. If you want to look at the original files, send me a PM and I will send you a link.

Thanks,

Jan

[cheezweezl]

It isn't excessive. See the issue in all of this was that when swishing the camera about next to the EX1, it looked worse. But when you put both cameras at a viable pan rate to keep from introducing motion stutter in the video, neither camera has it.




With a faster shutter, the less the footage looks like 24P capture.



You can move the camera as quickly as the Sony camera. But the reason I say badly shaking, is due to the fact that the reason taht any one thinks that the camera has the issue is that the video that was show, showed it compared as badly shaking video. Frankly I wouldn't have accepted video from either camera.

I have a 24P/1080 hand held sequence that doesn't have skew. Somewhere around here is the MP4 of that. You can move the camera and you can use 24P/1080. There are number of strategies for coping with the rolling shutter. But now we are off the topic of this thread. If you want to look at the original files, send me a PM and I will send you a link.

Thanks,

Jan

When referring to the RED, I wasn't talking about shutter speed, i was talking about scan speed. i am no expert but from what i understand, with rolling shutter, shutter speed dictates how long each pixel is exposed to light or "turned on". the rate at which the entire chip is scanned however does not change. this makes sense as cranking up your shutter speed does not help with jello. it only makes it more choppy. the RED has an overall faster scan rate thanks to firmware updates (hint hint) that has reduced the jello to almost nothing on that cam.

as far as the comparison between the ex and hpx300, i guess we are just going to have to disagree. the ex is not perfect. if you are long on the lens and bump the camera, jello. like you said, you have to be careful. the point i was attempting to make is that the hpx300, the new cam, shows considerably worse jello under the same circumstances. i have experienced this first hand. the ex is bad enough. i don't need worse. so unless this problem has been addressed, i maintain my stance.

to be honest the 300 and ex have similar images. sharpness and resolution is awesome on the 300. on par with the ex if not slightly better. avc intra is a better codec no doubt. i'm kind of over the shoulder mount form factor but i could deal with it. it's the extra added jello that really turns me off. it just should have been an improvement on the current (3 year old) technology, not the same or worse.

we all know rolling shutter can be improved. RED did it. even your own gh1 has less jello than the 300.

i can't wait to see the next handheld cam from panny. i hope you guys nail it.

PS the point of this thread was to compare the ex1 to the 300. as far as i see, we are still on it.

[Jan_Crittenden]

as far as the comparison between the ex and hpx300, i guess we are just going to have to disagree. the ex is not perfect. if you are long on the lens and bump the camera, jello. like you said, you have to be careful. the point i was attempting to make is that the hpx300, the new cam, shows considerably worse jello under the same circumstances. i have experienced this first hand. the ex is bad enough. i don't need worse. so unless this problem has been addressed, i maintain my stance.

Actually the two cameras are pretty comparable when it comes to shooting video that you get paid for, not errors in the way you handle the camera. Those circumstances you mention are not typically how you would use the camera. Additionally when we look at the sensitivity that the EX1 has to Infrared, light sources, the HPX300 wins hands down and then again we have the Flash Band Compensation that we will be delivering for the HPX in July. So yeah we will have to agree to disagree as I think you can make better pictures in wider variety of situations with the HPX300.

And no they didn't nail the jello on the GH1. It is as much there as it is on any other CMOS imager.

[cheezweezl]

And no they didn't nail the jello on the GH1. It is as much there as it is on any other CMOS imager.

gotcha. so as much as the 300 at 1080/24P? wow.

i won't argue. i haven't shot with the gh1 so i have no room to talk. the best info i have is from kholi hicks. he said the jello is minimal and on par with the RED. he is pretty well respected around here so i took him at his word. is he mistaken?

[Jan_Crittenden]

It is all in how you move the camera, and the length of the lens you have on it.

[cheezweezl]

ya i think he knows that. i think a lot of people know that. i'm sure he considered that when making the statement. i'm just looking for a straight answer. is the jello/skew on the gh1 as bad as the 300 at 1080/24p?

i realize the two cams are different chip sizes therefore different lens lengths to achieve similar framing. however, this means longer lenses overall on the gh1. i don't know if this would make it worse on the gh1 but certainly wouldn't help. kholi claims very little jello.

[Eric1138]

Let me say up front, I am seriously considering buying the 300. I was sold on the EX3 until I saw the 300. But I went and shot some test footage at a local rental house and was surprised at how easy it was to see the "jello" effect everyone is talking about.

I found that panning somewhat quick caused it. While I wouldn't always be moving the camera in this fashion, you can see from the sample clip that not all the moves are that abrupt. I included at the end of the clip a shot from an EX1 where I really was trying to see it's rolling shutter.

Seeing how most of my work is corporate, talking head video production I'm not too concerned, but it does make me think...

It was shot in 1080 24P....it's a QT file, 41MB.

(link removed)

[Emmet Brown]

@ cheezweezl: Youre right, i didnt want compare sportscar and pickup truck, just different cars in the almost same pricerange. And yes, both cameras have advantage/disadvantage in different points. As i said, the resulting Picture of the EX1 was really good and i like it much!
I just wanted to share my impressions and my own and lonely opinion. I dont want to manipulate the opinion of the reader... Isnt it the Spirit of a Forum like this?
If i had enough money, i would buy an EX1/EX3 too, just to have the possibility to choose the right Camera for the right Job... :-)

[DEPTH OF PHIL]

Wow Eric, that is a great side by side comparison, as Bill Cosby used to say
Hey kids, get out of that Jello tree!
Cheers

[cheezweezl]

Eric, this video is great. shows that both cameras exibit skew but shows how extreme the skew is on the 300. this was my experience as well. i wouldn't call the two examples "comparable" or "similar" at all. clearly the 300 has quite a bit more skew and wobble than the ex. i see noticable skew on moderate speed pans on the 300. it takes a much quicker pan to get this effect on the ex.

jan, care to chime in here? has this problem been addressed? will it be? clearly this is not something that can be written off to rolling shutter alone. plenty of rolling shutter cams are showing less jello. even the 300 shows less jello in other record formats than 1080/24p

emmett, it's not about price range when talking about form factor. these are two different cams. the 300 is a shoulder cam. the ex1 is a handheld cam. the ex3 is a disaster. lol... i happen to agree with your opinion though. the ex1 blows if you try to hold it like an eng cam for any amount of time. it leans to the left and kills your wrist. holding it from the top handle or rotating the grip and holding it gunstock style works great. the rotating grip on the ex1 is genius btw... if i needed to be shoulder mount all the time, i would have to buy a shoulder rig or a different cam. my argument was that these cams are apples and oranges in terms of form factor. comparing footage however, is relevant.

[Jan_Crittenden]

Hi,

The reality is that if you were to move the camera and you knew how it was going to respond do you think that you would move in the exact way that would cause the worst result? I fully believe that you wouldn't. The video that is above shows a move made with the camera that frankly I don't believe I have ever seen in any film I have ever sat through. The only thing that the clip says is that the camera is a CMOS imager. Now what do you do about it? Learn to control it.

Skew can be controlled by how you choose to move the camera, the selection of which part of the zoom range and the direction of the pan. and there are a couple of other tricks as well. If you are coming from a CCD to a CMOS, I am sure it can be anxiety producing, because you have never been there before, but if you take a little time to harness it, you shouldn't have a problem. That is part of learning how to use a new tool.

The reality is with the HPX300 you won't have to worry about whether there is any infrared contamination in the light souce so that your blacks can turn purple or brown because the 300 has a very good IR filter. And the lens has Chroma Aberration Compensation regardless of whther it is moving or standing still because the algoritm in the HPX300 is an active algorithm, always working with the lens lookup table.

I have an instructional video that is in the last steps of compression that I will be uploading in a couple of days that aactually addresses how to move a camera with a CMOS imager. And none of the suggestions include moving the camera like what is shown in the clip. Because you can always make a CMOS imager do that, how do you get it not to do that and still move the camera? That is the topic the this video. Soon.

Thanks,

Jan

[cheezweezl]

lol. reminds me of that old joke where the guy goes to the doctor. he wiggles his arm and says "it hurts when i do this" so the doc says "well, stop doing that".

so are you really saying that sony, red, and others are wasting their time by improving the jello situation and that the jello level in the 300 is as good as it should ever be? is panasonic's stance that we should alter the way we shoot and be willing to give up fast pans and any jerky movement?

if you've never seen any film that wasn't shot 100% on sticks with perfect slow 7 second pans, then i would suggest you check out "saving private ryan" and "children of men" to start. both are cinematic works of art and involve some seriously shaky camera work. of course this is on the extreme end of things but the closer we can get to that capabilty with cmos, the better.

i think most of us here understand that currently there are limitations on what we can do with cmos, red included. the issue you seem to be avoiding is that when shooting with the 300, you are much more limited than if you were shooting with an ex, or a red. just like there are moves you can make on the red that you can't make on the ex or 300. just like there are moves you can make with a ccd cam that you can't do with any cmos cam. it's not just about cmos and rolling shutter. all cmos/rolling shutter cams ARE NOT equal. it's about jello/skew and how much of it there is. the 300 shows the most between it, ex, and red.

i dig what you are saying about the IR issue. it seems the 300 handles it pretty well. the ex cams definitely have this issue. fortunately dropping a filter in front does the trick. hopefully sony fixes this on the next model. will panny fix this jello? or, like the doctor from the joke, simply say "well, don't do that"?

[Jan_Crittenden]

so are you really saying that sony, red, and others are wasting their time by improving the jello situation and that the jello level in the 300 is as good as it should ever be? is panasonic's stance that we should alter the way we shoot and be willing to give up fast pans and any jerky movement?

I am saying that you can control the skew just by knowing how the camera responds and move the camera accordingly. People have been doing it all along with the EX series of cameras or actualy any of the CMOS imagers.


if you've never seen any film that wasn't shot 100% on sticks with perfect slow 7 second pans, then i would suggest you check out "saving private ryan" and "children of men" to start. both are cinematic works of art and involve some seriously shaky camera work. of course this is on the extreme end of things but the closer we can get to that capabilty with cmos, the better.

The instructional video I am talking about does include a good amount of hand held work, yes you can have this camera off of a tripod and move the camera quickly. And you can move the HPX300 off sticks. And in some of those really shaky scenes in those particular fims, I rather doubt that you would even notice skewing. ANd that would be more attributable to the fact that you were involved with the story and not looking at the cinema.



i dig what you are saying about the IR issue. it seems the 300 handles it pretty well. the ex cams definitely have this issue. fortunately dropping a filter in front does the trick. hopefully sony fixes this on the next model. will panny fix this jello? or, like the doctor from the joke, simply say "well, don't do that"?

I can't say whether Panasonic will fix it or not as I am not on the engineering side of things. I am saying that it isn't so bad that it is unusuable which seems to be your point, and that simply is not true. I do know that the engineering group will be offering an update in a couple of weeks for resolving the flash band or that partial exposure phenomenon of the CMOS imager. That can't be fixed with a filter either. And no amount of filter is going to turn the 4:2:0 recording into 10 bit 4:2:2. What I am saying is that the HPX300 is a great camera with a feature set that is unparalleled in the industry and to blow it off because it has a CMOS skew that can be controlled, seems well, rather silly.

[cheezweezl]

i'm not saying that the 300 is unusable. that would be silly. i'm only saying that the jello is worse on the 300 than the ex or red. much worse. and that the proper thing to do is to fix it. i'm no engineer so i can't say that it can get better than what the red is demonstrating at this point (i'm guessing it can). but based on the red, i can say that it can be better than what the 300 currently demonstrates.

does it have to do with chip size? that just occurred to me.

jello level best to worst: red, ex, 300.

chip size biggest to smallest: red, ex, 300.

hmmmm...... anybody have an idea on this?

kudos on the flash band thing. if it works, it will be a great accomplishment.

[cheezweezl]

And no amount of filter is going to turn the 4:2:0 recording into 10 bit 4:2:2.

nobody is debating that 10 bit 4:2:2 avc intra is better than 4:2:0 xdcam ex. i wish the ex had an option for a higher bit rate. i guess sony wanted to maximize recording time to to make tapeless recording more economical. makes sense for most users. personally i don't care if i'm burning a gig a minute if it means better quality. in fact i am currently looking into a aja iohd so i can get 10 bit 4:2:2 pro res out of my ex1 via hd-sdi for some situations such as greenscreen and lots of color grads that show the xdcam codec's limitations.

with that said, i think the xdcam format has gotten a bad rap. for most situations it is great. my biggest gripe is that if i shoot a big color grad such as a blue sky, i can see stair stepping in the color where i would like to see smooth transitions. of course, like the cmos situation i shoot around it or deal with it in post. on the plus side, i can lift the living crap out of the mids before the ugly noise shows up. this is not possible with dvcpro hd. the noise is just waiting there and a small mid lift shows it big time. i haven't cut any avc intra yet so i don't know how it behaves. your thoughts?

like i said before, when panny puts a full raster, avc intra, hvx200 size camera together, i will buy it, provided the jello factor is on par with the competition.

[Jan_Crittenden]

I fully believe that you make way more of this than it is. If it was as much of an issue as you seem to think it is people would be sending their cameras back saying that they are unusable. Simply not happening.

The HPX300 is a great camera and shortly you will start to see programming that has been shot with it. And the skew factor is controllable.

[cheezweezl]

jan,

you can spin it however you like but i still have yet to hear a straight answer. let me make it as simple as possible. the skew/jello on the 300 in all other modes besides 1080/24p is acceptable. 1080/24p shows dramatically more jello than any other mode and any other cam on our list.

will panny fix the problem? will you admit it's a problem? simply put, either panasonic designed the cam with this issue intentionally or it was something they couldn't fix. which is it?

[AJ101]

what is the point of having all that resolution and a suitable codec to record it to?

I don't get the EX resolution, resolution, resolution argument,

It like two identical 300hp cars with different size wheels. The one has fat slicks while the other runs on thin 155, Which one do you think is going to fall over at the first turn?

Now you decide which is the EX............

[Jan_Crittenden]

will panny fix the problem? will you admit it's a problem?

While I will say that in comparing the HPX with the EX in quickly changing directions the HPX300 shows more skew. But if you attempt to capture video that you will be paid for, I think the difference is minimal. So in the end use, I do not see the problem, although I think before I had some experiece with it, I may have thought so. What I am seeing is that experienced shooters are bring home great video and yes at 24PN/1080.



simply put, either panasonic designed the cam with this issue intentionally or it was something they couldn't fix. which is it?

I am going out there to say that they designed it to give the closest emulation of 24P motion blur that they could, knowing that in order to get good motion rendition you would be moving the camera more carefully. To change it so that it has less skew would take out resolution and sensitivity. Not a happy alternative. That said it makes great pictures.

Best,

Jan

[conrad_johnson]

Yeah, I'm not sure why this is such a deal breaker for some people. How often do you need to shoot like that?

It's like understanding that digital video looks bad overexposed, then going out and overexposing everything and saying "hey, look how terrible this looks"

I think Jan has it right in understanding the limitations of the instrument you're using.

Bottom line is: it's an $8000 camera with lens and a bunch of pro features and an awesome codec. Kind of unbeatable for that price currently.

[conrad_johnson]

The only flaw I see in Jan's logic is the camera doesn't make great pictures, you do.

[David Saraceno]

I'm not certain I fully appreciate where this mostly two person exchange is going.

It's a given that you can produce skew in 1080/24p with the HPX300. Knowing that, it also is a given that you can steps to minimize or attenuate that skew depending on how and what you shoot.

Or you can shoot in other modes to further minimize or eliminate the skew.

These are facts that I believe we all have in our knowledge base when making a decision to purchase and what to shoot after we purchase.

But the dialogue is beginning to sound like a cross examination in a courtroom.

And that's why I don't practice law any more. :)

Would it be possible to move away from this?

best

[Jan_Crittenden]

The only flaw I see in Jan's logic is the camera doesn't make great pictures, you do.


Conrad, you are right I am so busted on that one, but let's try this, this camera does a great job of recording the creative input. The camera is a tool, use it accordingly and it will serve well.

Thanks,

Jan

[Eric1138]

I should point out that when I went to test the camera, I knew about the skew issues, but it wasn't until I was moving the camera around to grab another shot that I noticed it. Jan and others are right in that if know how to move the camera, the skew isn't as bad or really there.

And let me say also that the test footage I shot looks great - really great! Just about everything I've seen from the camera looks amazing. The clip I posted was just some outtakes and me trying to see what it took to create the skew issue.

The only thing that worries me is that while I think every camera op should know the limitations of their camera, they also shouldn't be inhibited by it as well. Are the moves I was doing to produce the skew issues ones that I would normally do - probably not. However, it's hard to say what can happen on a shoot and what a director or client may all of a sudden want...and I can't tell them, "Well, a quick pan over to this or that is going to make some of the stuff in the frame look odd. Sorry - I need a different camera for that."

Does this change my mind about wanting to buy it - not sure. I think I'm going to rent it for a couple shoots and see how it performs. Based on that - I'll make my decision. I've used the EX cameras and I like them...the skew issues on them don't seem as bad. But I like the codec and look of Panasonic better so I'll give it a shot...why can't someone make the perfect camera??

I also want to add a thanks to Jan for posting in this forum. I know you must be busy, and to take time out and post here and answer questions and such is a real help...it's a comfort knowing someone from Panasonic cares enough to do that. It's one of the reasons I own your company's gear.

[Dgross Pro]

I was considering purchasing the Sony EX3, but was informed of the new HPX 300, and I
should take a look at that camera. I did like just about everything that I read and the
video reviews were all positive. But than the rolling shutter issues surfaced. As I recall
Panasonic said they would have a fix for it in July. I took their word for it and I invested in the camera and all of the support gear, which as you are well aware is substantial.
But now I am hearing that there is not a fix and we will have to change our shooting
style to match the camera. Is this true, and am I to believe that Panasonic is backing out of their previous claim and leaving me in holding the bag?

[Jan_Crittenden]

Hi,

The upgrade that is coming in July is the Flash Band Compensation. That may happen as early as next week. As far as the skew issue, it has never been promised that it will be fixed. We have indeed studied it, which is what we said we would do and in the final analyisis, it does not appear to be as big of an issue and changing it would have greater detriment than leaving it. If just checking to see if a camera skews, yes it does, can you control, I think so.

Best regards,

Jan

[David Saraceno]

the rolling shutter issues surfaced.

As I recall Panasonic said they would have a fix for it in July. I took their word for it and I invested in the camera and all of the support gear, which as you are well aware is substantial.

Could you possibly point us to where Panasonic indicated it would have a fix for the rolling shutter issue?

I've been monitoring this site and others since the issue arose, and I can't find any representation that Panasonic indicated it would have a "fix" for it?

Help us out

[cheezweezl]

thanks for the straight answer. finally...

[Cees Mutsaers]

When this FCB upgrade is available does it mean that the new cams shipped already have it implemented or one always have to upgrade it yourself? By the way is it possible to switch the FCB off in the menu?



Hi,

The upgrade that is coming in July is the Flash Band Compensation. That may happen as early as next week. As far as the skew issue, it has never been promised that it will be fixed. We have indeed studied it, which is what we said we would do and in the final analyisis, it does not appear to be as big of an issue and changing it would have greater detriment than leaving it. If just checking to see if a camera skews, yes it does, can you control, I think so.

Best regards,

Jan

[Jan_Crittenden]

The Cameras that are made follwing the Upgrade will be shipped with it installed. So it is assigned to a User Button, and thus can be toggled on and off.

Best,

Jan

[JRJphoto]

I've been using the 300 for several weeks and I love it. I have zero issues with rolling shutter because I know how to use my tools. I haven't shot a situation with strobes yet but I'm sure when I do the FBC update will come in handy. As it is, I'm largely in control of whatever I shoot and since I haven't been trying to whip pan on zoomed in shots of a lightning storm, the 300's been really great.

It's also a joy to use on the shoulder, and it's light weight makes accessories like matteboxes, monitors, follow focus gears, DOF adapters or whatever not feel so bad. I haven't regretted purchasing the 300 at all.

And to get back to the OT: Don't try and compare apples to oranges. But I do feel your pain and prefer full-size bodies to the little handycam rigs, myself, any day.

[hotchkiss]

I'm loving my 300 as well. It is so nice to be shooting with the ergonomics and lens of a full size camera- without the full size camera weight! I have a 150W battery, a 4x5 matte box and rail support, but the camera is comfortable on the shoulder and very well balanced.

My small cams are great and I'll still use them a lot, but I've under estimated how nice it would be to shoot with a full size camera again... ;-)

Now, with the flash band compensation and the new firmware with noise reduction, I'm just plain stoked with this camera.

Thank you Jan and Panasonic!