Last Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the panasonic Broadcast Offices in HK (Shun Hing Group), and got a chance to try the AG-HVX200 with the Brevis and the Panasonic new 8" monitor.
First of all, many thanks to MR. Philip Wu, Chief Manager of the Panasonic Broadcast AV division in HK, for his time and availability for this testing- Anyone in HK, please don't hesitate to go to Panasonic Broadcast Directly for your HVX or Panasonic professional products needs- Excelent costumer service!
First of all, I'm a very happy HVX Operator/Producer/Editor. The HVX helped us in some of the major international TV Promotions we did this year. You can check them out in some of my previous posts.
I have been a "fan"of Panasonic Video camcorders for a while, since the DVX, with the native 25p option. The HVX was a natural progressive step, and it never fails to impress in picture quality/handling and performance.
However, the HVX is still a fixed lens offering, and anyone with experience in the TV commercial business knows that, in a narrative presentation, in order to achieve "big budget level" looks, one needs the possibility of using different type of lenses.
For the budget filmmaker/producer, the option was, a few years ago, to either rent a 2/3 camera with digiprimes, shoot on film, or go for a very expensive mini35 adapter adapted to mini dv cameras- this is not, however, what we can get today.
With the appearance of budget 35mm adapters that provide surprisingly good results (the Micro 35mm, or M2, the Brevis or the SGpro, among others) it is now possible to achieve, with a much more affordable price, 35mm DOF look and beautiful film bokeh, with the use of Still film lenses that are relatively cheap on the second hand market.
The pluses of this option far outweight the minuses, but this is not what I want to discuss here.
Having invested myself, with my own limited ressources, on the Brevis 35mm, I was really impressed on what I could achieve with this adapter- However, I had to face a big downpoint when I used the adapter in real world shooting situation. It was very, very hard to focus and Frame, due to the flip nature of the adapter, and the very poor LCD of the camera. This is true for all 1/3 HD cameras, I believe, excluding the JVC with the focus in Red feature ,which is the big selling point, for me, of the Panasonic 8" that I tested.
What basically this means is that, for someone shooting an HVX with a 35mm adaptor, the Panasonic BTLH8w is a MUST HAVE. Why? Here's an example:
I was shooting a scene for my short film at night, Guerrila Style (no permits, on the street, no power generator, handheld Photo lights)and was using the Brevis. You have to set up the HVX with the brevis by focusing first the internal lens on the Adapter, then attach the still film lens and focus it. If the focus of the HVX with the brevis goes just a little out, the image will not be sharp, or in focus. And this focus goes easilly out, due to there not be an option to deactivate the HVX focus ring after setting it up. What this meant is that it was practically impossible to do any handheld shooting/ Steadicam shooting, or follow focusing, looking at the on camera LCD. If the scene was on a studio, with staged markings, on a tripod, it would work. For Guerrila style shooting, it is almost impossible. This, however, is a scenario that would absolutelly change with the Panasonic monitor. Why?
Focus in Red, and Waveform. The Panasonic monitor was lightweight enough to be mounted on the top shoe of the camera. It can be mounted upside down, and, the battery pach can be mounted on a belt. With the brevis on, the camera is still handheldable- heavy, of course, but manageable.
So why all this praising of "Focus in Red" ? basically, what made my scenario described before a nightmare is completely eliminated with this function. The object in focus is immediately revealed with a highlight in red. If my "back focus" (which basically is what the hvx lens is doing on the Brevis) is of, I simply look ant the monitor and the red Lines and work with the still lens to achieve my optimal focus in SECONDS- Making handheld/ Steadicam, Guerrila style shooting with a 35mm adapter a lot more practical. A scene that I could only get, due to technical difficulties, in 45minutes, would take about 10 minutes or so with this monitor. And it would avoid the "guessing" and praying for the frame to be in focus on the best take.
The monitor also includes an option for 1:1 pixel for pixel viewing- this means you can see the actual 1920x1080 parcel that the 800x480 monitor can display- something like the Focus assist on the HVX, but a lot sharper.
And it comes with built in waveform monitors. This can help in the editing room if you don't have waveform monitors for CC.
Suffice to say, the monitor exceeded my expectations, and I am awaiting its arrival this December. I heavily recommend it for anyone with a 35mm adapter. The Focus in Red feature is a must for any monitor. The price is expensive, sure, but you won't bother with any other external monitor again- And these features work trough both component and HD-SDI. Which would mean this monitor can be good for an HVX or a F900/RED/ HPX3000 or 500.
My only gripe, now, is on how to get the most affordable power solution for it- Anton Bauer, IDX, anything more affordable than this?
Hope these impressions help anyone on the fence looking for an LCD/ Ext Viewfinder...
First of all, many thanks to MR. Philip Wu, Chief Manager of the Panasonic Broadcast AV division in HK, for his time and availability for this testing- Anyone in HK, please don't hesitate to go to Panasonic Broadcast Directly for your HVX or Panasonic professional products needs- Excelent costumer service!
First of all, I'm a very happy HVX Operator/Producer/Editor. The HVX helped us in some of the major international TV Promotions we did this year. You can check them out in some of my previous posts.
I have been a "fan"of Panasonic Video camcorders for a while, since the DVX, with the native 25p option. The HVX was a natural progressive step, and it never fails to impress in picture quality/handling and performance.
However, the HVX is still a fixed lens offering, and anyone with experience in the TV commercial business knows that, in a narrative presentation, in order to achieve "big budget level" looks, one needs the possibility of using different type of lenses.
For the budget filmmaker/producer, the option was, a few years ago, to either rent a 2/3 camera with digiprimes, shoot on film, or go for a very expensive mini35 adapter adapted to mini dv cameras- this is not, however, what we can get today.
With the appearance of budget 35mm adapters that provide surprisingly good results (the Micro 35mm, or M2, the Brevis or the SGpro, among others) it is now possible to achieve, with a much more affordable price, 35mm DOF look and beautiful film bokeh, with the use of Still film lenses that are relatively cheap on the second hand market.
The pluses of this option far outweight the minuses, but this is not what I want to discuss here.
Having invested myself, with my own limited ressources, on the Brevis 35mm, I was really impressed on what I could achieve with this adapter- However, I had to face a big downpoint when I used the adapter in real world shooting situation. It was very, very hard to focus and Frame, due to the flip nature of the adapter, and the very poor LCD of the camera. This is true for all 1/3 HD cameras, I believe, excluding the JVC with the focus in Red feature ,which is the big selling point, for me, of the Panasonic 8" that I tested.
What basically this means is that, for someone shooting an HVX with a 35mm adaptor, the Panasonic BTLH8w is a MUST HAVE. Why? Here's an example:
I was shooting a scene for my short film at night, Guerrila Style (no permits, on the street, no power generator, handheld Photo lights)and was using the Brevis. You have to set up the HVX with the brevis by focusing first the internal lens on the Adapter, then attach the still film lens and focus it. If the focus of the HVX with the brevis goes just a little out, the image will not be sharp, or in focus. And this focus goes easilly out, due to there not be an option to deactivate the HVX focus ring after setting it up. What this meant is that it was practically impossible to do any handheld shooting/ Steadicam shooting, or follow focusing, looking at the on camera LCD. If the scene was on a studio, with staged markings, on a tripod, it would work. For Guerrila style shooting, it is almost impossible. This, however, is a scenario that would absolutelly change with the Panasonic monitor. Why?
Focus in Red, and Waveform. The Panasonic monitor was lightweight enough to be mounted on the top shoe of the camera. It can be mounted upside down, and, the battery pach can be mounted on a belt. With the brevis on, the camera is still handheldable- heavy, of course, but manageable.
So why all this praising of "Focus in Red" ? basically, what made my scenario described before a nightmare is completely eliminated with this function. The object in focus is immediately revealed with a highlight in red. If my "back focus" (which basically is what the hvx lens is doing on the Brevis) is of, I simply look ant the monitor and the red Lines and work with the still lens to achieve my optimal focus in SECONDS- Making handheld/ Steadicam, Guerrila style shooting with a 35mm adapter a lot more practical. A scene that I could only get, due to technical difficulties, in 45minutes, would take about 10 minutes or so with this monitor. And it would avoid the "guessing" and praying for the frame to be in focus on the best take.
The monitor also includes an option for 1:1 pixel for pixel viewing- this means you can see the actual 1920x1080 parcel that the 800x480 monitor can display- something like the Focus assist on the HVX, but a lot sharper.
And it comes with built in waveform monitors. This can help in the editing room if you don't have waveform monitors for CC.
Suffice to say, the monitor exceeded my expectations, and I am awaiting its arrival this December. I heavily recommend it for anyone with a 35mm adapter. The Focus in Red feature is a must for any monitor. The price is expensive, sure, but you won't bother with any other external monitor again- And these features work trough both component and HD-SDI. Which would mean this monitor can be good for an HVX or a F900/RED/ HPX3000 or 500.
My only gripe, now, is on how to get the most affordable power solution for it- Anton Bauer, IDX, anything more affordable than this?
Hope these impressions help anyone on the fence looking for an LCD/ Ext Viewfinder...
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