Why I think the HD100 is the best of the bunch!

M

mmm

Veteran
Firstly, I finally got around to buying one today! So that makes me biased as I must justify my purchase to myself.

But anyway:

IMO there is far too much nitpicky, ***** fighting on these sites about irrelevant figures and "this camera has 10 lines more res than this one."

Looking at the XLH1, Z1 and HD100 side-by-side on a 1080 monitor set on the same scene, there is nothing really between them. They are all sharp, but not as sharp as an F900. If I had to bother ranking them it would be: H1, HD100 and Z1 last.

What really matters is getting the shots and CONTENT. When was the last time you watched a film or program and said "I wish that was shot on a different camera?"

Never? Well, maybe Open Water or 28 Day later, but we are beyond that now.

The usability of the HD100 is just fantastic. It is a true pro camera, solid and with everything lying where it should. It requires a more professional shooting style than other "prosumer" cameras which is great for aspiring cameramen - i.e. most people here. I think this makes it the best camera for getting the best shots... IMO

However, it isn't perfect but what is:

I'm going to miss OIS. The lens breathes and has slightly worse CA than the competition. Er... the LCDs aren't great.... hmmm... running out of things... split screen can be seen if you really try to find it.

The IDX offer (now 1/2 price in UK) is a must and just really tips the balance (literally and metaphorically) to this being a truly great camera. I just wanna run out and film everything the world has to throw at me - like I did when I got my first handycam at 12. It's a great feeling to have regained and I hope whatever camera people choose it will do the same for them!
:)
 
Great stuff mmm. Can't wait to see some shots of Big Ben, Victoria Station, Piccadilly Circus, and the Chunnel. Hope you can post some London content.
 
stephenlnoe said:
Great stuff mmm. Can't wait to see some shots of Big Ben, Victoria Station, Piccadilly Circus, and the Chunnel. Hope you can post some London content.
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I'm not a big fan of London to be honest but I'll try and post a different side to England. I'm going to try and capture my local owl and kestrels tomorrow.
 
mmm said:
IMO there is far too much nitpicky, ***** fighting on these sites about irrelevant figures and "this camera has 10 lines more res than this one."
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Exactly. No one in the general public goes to a resolution chart festival or spends a night out at the test pattern.
 
Congrats! And that's interesting after so many posts around HVX sub-forum, like me, to see that without not even one sole conversation between us, we have the same ranking (and the same contenders...). Why will it be?... :D
 
mmm said:
When was the last time you watched a film or program and said "I wish that was shot on a different camera?" :)
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Hahaha. Tha was hilarious! I can really imagine a huge crowd inside a movie theater bumming hard like "Hum...It could have been such a great picture...if only Welles had used other camera..."

Seriously now, you have made a very very good point that nobody seems to get. At the end it comes down to how the final footage looks. People make these comparations like if they chose one of these cameras over the other it would be like choosing 35mm over 16mm....don't fool yourselves, my friends. I think that once certains cameras reach a certain quality level it becomes more of a visal style option.
 
However, on the other side of the coin, the crowd does remember great shots. How about that camera move in "Amelie" when she's skipping stones on the water. How about the rowboat in the swans scene in "Notebook"?
There are plenty of awards for cinematography and in this case, I think, it's best to put your best foot forward with the amount of money you have. After all, this is a "Technical ART" visually.
 
I agree with you, but when we are talking about cameras like the HVX, Z1, HD100, etc, I truly belive that with the right cinematography, CC and post you can achieve very very similar results. That is what I mean. For instance, if the same feature lenght was shot with any of these cameras the EXACT SAME WAY, it wouldn't mean you would not be awarded for (say) cinematography just because you shot with one camera or the other. We are not comparing a HVX to a NV-GS300. That is what I mean. I would "compare this comparison" to comparing different film sensitivities and emulsion.
 
rawfa said:
I agree with you, but when we are talking about cameras like the HVX, Z1, HD100, etc, I truly belive that with the right cinematography, CC and post you can achieve very very similar results. That is what I mean. For instance, if the same feature lenght was shot with any of these cameras the EXACT SAME WAY, it wouldn't mean you would not be awarded for (say) cinematography just because you shot with one camera or the other. We are not comparing a HVX to a NV-GS300. That is what I mean. I would "compare this comparison" to comparing different film sensitivities and emulsion.
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I can't agree simply because the ZI is interlaced and even your average viewer distinguishes the film look of 24p from the video look.
 
This is very easy to solve in post. Did you see Macgreagors' Secret Garden? You're going to tell me that the average user can tell it's video look? I don't think so.
 
rawfa said:
This is very easy to solve in post. Did you see Macgreagors' Secret Garden? You're going to tell me that the average user can tell it's video look? I don't think so.
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You can do a lot in post, but I think that the Z1 is better suited to a video look. Of course you can still achieve great things with a Z1, it is just a slightly different tool.

If you wanna shoot HD interlaced, don't get the HD100. If you want HD progressive, the Z1 is not the best choice IMO.
 
Lets not leave out the ability to choose the right lense for the shot, record to hard disc, record better quality sound and in the end talent or not the ability to produce a better product.
 
[SIZE=+0]And l must also not leave out the fact, that come this tuesday 3-21 I will become a proud owner of a GY-HD 100U and the first place Im taking this camera to test it out is the Island of O'AHU.[/SIZE]
 
rawfa said:
This is very easy to solve in post. Did you see Macgreagors' Secret Garden? You're going to tell me that the average user can tell it's video look? I don't think so.
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You specifically wrote "SHOT THE EXACT SAME WAY". And my response to that was that the Z! would be a very different look even to a non-educated observer. If you want to talk about post processing then you may as well add in a dozen other cameras and a lot of different post applications.
 
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