Help: want to buy hpx500, lots of questions

Tomas Riuka

Tomas Riuka

Well-known member
Hi,

i'm currently shooting mostly weddings with my Canon Xh A1, though sometimes
i do shoot ads, shorts etc, and i'm looking to buy a camera for myself, as A1 i'm
using, is company's, not mine. I read this forum lots of times, but still have a lot
of questions...

1. What lenses would you suggest me for a reasonable amount of money, up to 10k, i need some standard lenses and some ultra wide angle lens for use
with steadicam, as i do a lot of shooting with steadicam, i want 90 degree lens,
but paying 20k is way out of my budget....

on some lenses on bhphoto i noticed saying "manual iris, manual focus", does
this mean, that hpx500 will not autofocus and won't have automatic iris control?

maybe i can buy some good SD lense cheaper? i read that thread about SD lens on HPX500, seems to give normal results...

2. what is the workflow of p2 ? do i have to purchase something extra to download shot material from p2 cards?

any other ideas before i purchase the camera?
 
Tomas Riuka said:
Hi,

1. What lenses would you suggest me for a reasonable amount of money, up to 10k, i need some standard lenses and some ultra wide angle lens for use
with steadicam, as i do a lot of shooting with steadicam, i want 90 degree lens,
but paying 20k is way out of my budget....

on some lenses on bhphoto i noticed saying "manual iris, manual focus", does
this mean, that hpx500 will not autofocus and won't have automatic iris control?

maybe i can buy some good SD lense cheaper? i read that thread about SD lens on HPX500, seems to give normal results...
Click to expand...

People have been able to get good results with SD. The way you are talking however suggest youre talking about primes, which are very expensive. You would do fine to get a quality zoom within your budget. Then rent primes where needed.

The HPX uses professional lenses which are manual focus.

2. what is the workflow of p2 ? do i have to purchase something extra to download shot material from p2 cards?

any other ideas before i purchase the camera?
Click to expand...

The p2 workflow depends on you mainly. How do you want to tackle it? What have you already got?

Generally, people are using pro pana solutions or/ offloading to a pc laptop that has a PCMCIA slot or to a macbook pro with a dual adapter into the sxs slot. Of course for either you need a suitable HDD to transfer to.
 
Cant you also use the camera itself to offload to a computer?

Probably not the most ideal solution, but it could work until you could buy a 5 card reader or something along those lines.
 
ef03 said:
Cant you also use the camera itself to offload to a computer?

Probably not the most ideal solution, but it could work until you could buy a 5 card reader or something along those lines.
Click to expand...

Indeed you can. I often do to my desktop.
 
Thanks Noel,

do you have any suggestions for the zoom lenses for my needs? something general and ultra wide .. ?
 
a note on the steadicam aspect.... a standard eng zoom in the neighborhood of 9mm on the wide end is fine for steadicam. the dof is pretty deep at this focal length so you can leave it set around 6 feet. i shot this way yesterday on steadicam and it looks great. if you have light and can stop down a bit, you will have even deeper DOF and greater sharpness.

you can pay big bucks for a wide angle if you need to shoot in tight spaces but not really necessary for the sake of steadicam use only.
 
If you are used to the Canon, have you shot with a full size cam? I just added the HPX to my HVX and it is a real change in weight, batteries, support, etc...

As far as P2, I offload to my laptop via USB. 4 16gig cards should get you plenty of time in 720pn mode, though I don't shoot weddings.

I have a Fujinon 16x9.5 SD lens I got for $350 and just bought yesterday a Canon WIde Angle for $225. The Fujinon has some breathing, but not a bad picture. Focus is critical no matter what and you'll need practice with the 500 and its assist function to do well. I'd practice a lot before I walked into my first wedding.
 
auto focus is for sissies anyway. raise your game and grab that focus ring by the balls. you'll come out stronger and ready for battle (or weddings).
 
manual focus for me is not a problem, but it does become a problem on steadicam :) how do i focus while operating steadicam? so i should have auto focus... OR... i can set focus to infinity and have pretty much everything focused from minimum object distance, am i right?

i'm looking at this lens: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/252989-REG/Fujinon_A13X6_3BERM_A13x63BERM_2_3_13x_ENG_EFP.html

servo iris, manual focus. servo iris will automatically adjust exposure, white focus set to infinity,
will let me have evertyhing focused from minimum object distance to infinity, please
correct me if i'm wrong...
 
Last edited:
Get a HPX170 as your B-cam. No focus control needed at 28mm with its 1/3" sensors. Very light and therefore cheaper steady cam rig possible. (Seen that way you would probably get the HPX170 for free) Footage of the 170 will intercut nicely with the 500.

+All the other advantages of a B-cam on weddings like the crucial moment when the bridal couple says their "yes" . (Reverse angle of the pastor, the face of the mother in law etc...)
 
Tomas Riuka said:
manual focus for me is not a problem, but it does become a problem on steadicam :) how do i focus while operating steadicam? so i should have auto focus... OR... i can set focus to infinity and have pretty much everything focused from minimum object distance, am i right?
Click to expand...

on the steadi, for wide shots (most of your shots) just set the focus at the average distance your subject will be. a good rule of thumb is 6 feet. if you have the light, stop down a bit and your dof gets even deeper.

for tighter shots, you will need a remote follow focus and an AC. you shouldn't try to pull focus and operate at the same time on steadi as on or both elements will suffer.

pretty much any eng zoom will allow deep dof on the short end of the lens.

i just shot a bunch of steadicam over the weekend. my subject was running around and moving differet distances from the camera. i set focus at 6 feet and everything looks great. my stop was f5.6 at the time.

---crazy!!! i was just about to hit the submit button and we had an earthquake!!! gotta love california.---
 
ok, but i'm talking about shooting the whole wedding with steadicam, what i do now, so i can't set focus to "around" 6 feet, cause i come 3 ft, 10ft , 20 ft...

what happens when i set focus to infinity? can someone tell me exactly how close can i come to the object when focus is infinity ?
 
i understand what you are saying. i wouldn't expect you to keep your subjects at 6 feet all the time. when shooting wide which is what you would be doing on a steadi at a wedding, the depth of field is so deep that if set at 6 feet, everything is in focus.

if you are shooting telephoto on the steadi then you need a focus puller. however if you are good enough on a steadi to shoot telephoto and require an AC, then you shouldn't be doing weddings....

setting to infinity will cause close subjects to be soft. 6 feet is the happy spot that gives you good close focus as well as the far away stuff.

as far as shooting tele on steadi using autofocus, i haven't seen any autofocus work well enough for me to trust it in that capacity, especially doing event stuff where you can't always yell cut and do something over.
 
i'm still pretty much new with steadicam as this is my first year, so i'm just practicing... still no complex shooting with telefocus and remote focus puller...
it's too early for me...

ok, anyways, with manual focus lens, i should be alright working with steadicam
for now, this is what worried me most...

so i guess i'm going for hpx500 instead of ex3 with this lens http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/252989-REG/Fujinon_A13X6_3BERM_A13x63BERM_2_3_13x_ENG_EFP.html

what do you think? or any other suggestions for a reasonable amount of
money and as much wide angle as possible?
 
check this out.
at 9mm which is the wide end of a normal eng lens, and at f5.6, and the focus set at 6 feet, the in-focus area is 2.8 feet to infinity.

if set to infinity, your in-focus area is 5 feet to infinity.

5 to 6 feet is the best place to set your focus.

i used this handy lens calculator provided by fujinon to get my info.

set the camera type to 2/3" 16:9



http://fujinon.com/Broadcast/Optcal/LensCalculator.aspx
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top