HMC150 questions answered...

I thought it might be fun to see what the Panasonic HMC-150 was up against, so a quick search came up with the following... In order to keep the playing field level, I've chosen B&H as the source for all the prices. I've also sorted the cameras by price from low to high.


Canon XH-A1 3CCD HDV Camcorder, 1080i, 16:9, 20x Lens, 24f Mode $3,300 ($3,299.95)

Sony HVR-V1U HDV 1080i/24p Cinema Style Camcorder $3,400 ($3,379.95) Add to cart for this low price

Panasonic AG-HMC-150 HD AVCHD 24P CAMCORDER $3,500 ($3,495.00)

JVC GY-HD110U 1/3" 3-CCD Professional HDV Camcorder with 16x Fujinon Lens and 24-Frame Progressive Recording $3,900 ($3,899.95) Add to cart for this low price

Each camera has both its strong and weak points, so it becomes subjective which points are important and which are not. I admit my own bias here, in that to me, the HMC-150 looks to be the most interesting of the 4 cameras.


Bob Diaz
 
Derrick_SA said:
Is the HMC150 ntsc/pal switchable as the spec says?
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I heard it's not switchable. Which spec are you referring to? There was earlier speculation about a firmware update for this but I heard that is also not likely. The path for the HVX200 was to send the camera in to Panasonic and for $300 they would change it over , but I don't think it was ever switchable. Just changed to the other format.
 
BobDiaz said:

Each camera has both its strong and weak points, so it becomes subjective which points are important and which are not. I admit my own bias here, in that to me, the HMC-150 looks to be the most interesting of the 4 cameras.


Bob Diaz
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And the cheaper in the long run if you factor in tape costs. To reduce the risk of dropouts you need pro level tape which can get up to 20 dollars for 1 hour. SDHC: re-usable, no droputs, more storage.
 
Sorry if this has already been answered, but will it be possible to use the century optics lens adapters for the dvx on this camera as well? or will we need to wait for specific adapters for this camera. Thanks in advance

-Jon
 
Nektonic said:
In the mean time, at least I can download some of your clips and the Videomaker clips and test the FCP workflow and transcoding methods. Too bad the Panasonic AVC-HD conversion software doesn't work on Macs. Do you think that if there is enough demand from 150 users that Panasonic will program a Mac version for us Apple people?
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Of the converter? Panasonic won't, because Panasonic didn't make the Windows version either - MainConcept did. So you'd have to nag MainConcept about it.

Panasonic did eventually write P2CMS for both Windows and Mac, so they can get it done, but historically they've supported the Windows platform more fully. Don't know what will happen with AVC-HD, because it's not just a broadcast-only thing, it's appearing on every camcorder price category from the tiniest consumer models on up to the 150, so it would seem reasonable to expect more broad-ranging support.
 
shrigg said:
If I need 4x3 DV I'll just haul the DSR-11 DVCAM deck along. The camera can output my choice of side cropped or letterboxed 4:3 to the composite out. It would be nice if there was Y/C (S-video) output on the camera but I suspect the composite would still be pretty good for creating SD on the fly this way.
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You can also get on-the-fly downconverted HDMI or analog component. I doubt your deck has those inputs, but if you had a deck with analog component input you could use it in that manner.
 
ThatOneJonGuy said:
Sorry if this has already been answered, but will it be possible to use the century optics lens adapters for the dvx on this camera as well?
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I sold off my DVX lens adapters to fund buying HVX lens adapters, so I can't answer definitively. I can say that I took the lens hood off my DVX and mounted it on the bayonet on the 150 and it worked. Based on that, I would suspect that yes, the Century DVX lenses will mount. The question becomes - would you want to? Will those standard-def lenses perform well with an HD camera? I simply don't know the answer to that. But I do suspect that they will fit so you could try.
 
Just got a chance to download the footage and work with the clips.

Edius 4.61 does not like to play the native files, but a quick conversion to Canopus HQ and they are singing along.

The footage is impressive.

I put a sharpen filter on the clips and after all of the talk about inherent softness with Panasonic HD, I have to say this footage has a lot of detail.

To me this workflow of aquiring a little on the soft side and sharpening in post yields great images and has worked well with my DVC-200s.

I am very excited to get these type of images with a $3,500 camera.
 
Has anyone exported some of Barry's footage from final Cut if so what are your settings? like what frame rate and size should I export it? I would assume the same frame rate and size he filmed but I am not sure exactly what setting he used. the Footage looks great in final cut but when I export it you can see some quality is lost so any help would be nice....
 
Barry,

here was some discussion about the low light sensitivity of the 150. I personally think one should take in account the DR, also. I mean, a camera with 9 stops of DR, though being one stop slower, still can have more detail in the shadows than a camera with 7 stops of DR.

So, how in that sense would look slightly underexposed footage of the 150 compared to the DVX for example?

P.S.
If at least the 151 would be PAL/NTSC switchale, that would be great news. I REALLY would like to have that feature.
 
avenue said:
Hey Baryy check my post earlier about exporting sizes you have the answer I am looking for I think?
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I don't use FCP so can't answer FCP-specific questions. I can't imagine why anyone would choose to export at a different size than the original captured size though?
 
avenue said:
Let's take bet's on it 100 to 1 one odds on the DVX :) no offence I bet the 150 is better.
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In 60i I'm sure the DVX will be a lot brighter (the DVX is crazy sensitive in 60i). But once equalized for noise, I bet the 150 will be comparable, and definitely better in progressive. But, that's spitballin', we won't know until the test is run.
 
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