MattinSTL
05-04-2006, 07:21 AM
For the record I just want to say that all the talk about the pd150 having better low light then the DVX... uh, that argument was justified. I wonder how many people pushed this point w/o ever getting to do their own comparison?
When you put 'em side by side and start dialing the iris open on the DVX... let's say in unacceptable conditions but not actually dark... I'm dialing open until I hit a stopping point... the iris is wide open and the picture is still too dark. Then I pick up the pd150 and it's like the dial goes two more stops. (almost)
I have a friend who repeatedly insisted that he wanted a pd150 or vx2100 for doing weddings with natural light... and I repeatedly told him how stupid that was considering how much better the DVX is...
If I do a breakdown of these two cams the DVX will completely crush the pd150 on so many levels... I mean just ergonomically the pd150 even feels odd and awkward... plus the tiny LCD, having to get into menus to adjust audio levels! (what the hell were they THINKING?)... basically this thing isn't HALF as user-friendly as the DVX is... and sometimes I sit there thinking I need to tweak the gamma or black detail... pff... oh yeah... you CAN'T!
But the one thing I'll never argue again is that the pd150/170 isn't noticeably better in low light... I mean it's not even a judgement call... anybody would instantly say "that one's better". The only reason I posted this is 'cause I had SO many people tell me that the difference is insignificant that I just regurgitated that same info to everybody else... having both cams in my possession 24/7 has been a good lesson for me. It's a bummer that Panny can't equal the low light performance on the pd150... it's good enough that I'm having to recalibrate my mind to a new scale of "failing light".
When you put 'em side by side and start dialing the iris open on the DVX... let's say in unacceptable conditions but not actually dark... I'm dialing open until I hit a stopping point... the iris is wide open and the picture is still too dark. Then I pick up the pd150 and it's like the dial goes two more stops. (almost)
I have a friend who repeatedly insisted that he wanted a pd150 or vx2100 for doing weddings with natural light... and I repeatedly told him how stupid that was considering how much better the DVX is...
If I do a breakdown of these two cams the DVX will completely crush the pd150 on so many levels... I mean just ergonomically the pd150 even feels odd and awkward... plus the tiny LCD, having to get into menus to adjust audio levels! (what the hell were they THINKING?)... basically this thing isn't HALF as user-friendly as the DVX is... and sometimes I sit there thinking I need to tweak the gamma or black detail... pff... oh yeah... you CAN'T!
But the one thing I'll never argue again is that the pd150/170 isn't noticeably better in low light... I mean it's not even a judgement call... anybody would instantly say "that one's better". The only reason I posted this is 'cause I had SO many people tell me that the difference is insignificant that I just regurgitated that same info to everybody else... having both cams in my possession 24/7 has been a good lesson for me. It's a bummer that Panny can't equal the low light performance on the pd150... it's good enough that I'm having to recalibrate my mind to a new scale of "failing light".