HMC-150 contenders?
- Thread starter USLatin
- Start date
Michael Kraus
New member
I don't know of any tapeless comparisons within that price range, however spec wise I would say that the Canon XH-A1 and the upcoming Sony FX1000 are certainly good competition for the HMC150
Adam J McKay
Veteran
The xh-a1... I have seen some pretty amazing stuff shot on that camera.
Yea, I was thinking about that one.. it does give excellent images, tape..
The max resolution:
150 = 1920 x 1080
XH = 1440 x 1080
Equivalent zooms as 35mm lenses would be:
(Wider is better IMO, and for shooting on fishing boats, so the 150 wins this one)
150 = 28mm to 368mm
XH = 32.5mm to 650mm
Weight:
150 = 3.7lbs
XH = 4.6lbs
Price:
150 = ~$3,500
XH = ~$2,600
Workflow with FC:
150 = now you need transcode (about real-time speed) but FCS3 should be native!
XH = you will always have to capture tapes (about real-time speed)
I would love to compare the 1440 x 1080 cropped to 720 and compare that to 720 from the 150... the main point would be sensitivity. Cause I wouldn't mind the color from the XH... I agree with you, it does create quite the nice images... then again it seems the 150 has it beat on most everything else... I guess there is nothing else other than the XH-A1 since nobody mentioned anything else and I couldn't come up with anything else either...
I'll guess I'll mention the XH to him, and let him pick.
The max resolution:
150 = 1920 x 1080
XH = 1440 x 1080
Equivalent zooms as 35mm lenses would be:
(Wider is better IMO, and for shooting on fishing boats, so the 150 wins this one)
150 = 28mm to 368mm
XH = 32.5mm to 650mm
Weight:
150 = 3.7lbs
XH = 4.6lbs
Price:
150 = ~$3,500
XH = ~$2,600
Workflow with FC:
150 = now you need transcode (about real-time speed) but FCS3 should be native!
XH = you will always have to capture tapes (about real-time speed)
I would love to compare the 1440 x 1080 cropped to 720 and compare that to 720 from the 150... the main point would be sensitivity. Cause I wouldn't mind the color from the XH... I agree with you, it does create quite the nice images... then again it seems the 150 has it beat on most everything else... I guess there is nothing else other than the XH-A1 since nobody mentioned anything else and I couldn't come up with anything else either...
I'll guess I'll mention the XH to him, and let him pick.
Adam J McKay
Veteran
I never knew the XH's lens had a fixed aperture..! That is great for people trying to get started into the world of manual exposure
I should point that out, though the wider end will likely a bigger deal to him.
I didn't know that either and I owned the camera for a while....how sad is that.
There are deffinately some short comings with the XH however it makes it up in price. I would have really loved the ability to shoot 720p and 60p/f at least then you could have been able to rock some sort of slow motion. I am also the tape nazi, I enjoy the archiveability but I hate capturing...soooo much.
I ended up selling it for a DVX which I am going to keep rocking until Scarlet.
Yes, but lets remember that these are the recording format resolutions.
The Canon's sensor resolution is greater than that of the Panasonic. From my understanding, the 150's chips should be similar (if not the same) to that of the HVX200A or HPX170.
In my experiences, the Canon has looked a good amount sharper ...
I was at B&H the other day and my friends there were testing out the camera ... not bad ... but I still think the Canon is a better camera at this point.
I think the main sharpness culprit, or help, is the sweet glass on the Canon... that's probably what keeps it so sharp... that's my guess anyway. But you make a great point... do you know the native resolution for both? Now that you opened up this can or worms you have to look them up and post them. 
LOL, well I know the Canon is 1440 x 1080 native. I'm not sure about the HMC-150, but if its like the HVX and HPX, then its 960 x 540.
And that glass on the camera is pretty nice. I own the Canon XL-H1s and its an amazing camera, especially when you capture from the HD-SDI RAW ... what a difference in image quality ...
And that glass on the camera is pretty nice. I own the Canon XL-H1s and its an amazing camera, especially when you capture from the HD-SDI RAW ... what a difference in image quality ...
960 x 540??? wow... I know where this conversation is headed... what we should do is just compare the 720 cropped out of 1440 x 1080 vs. the in camera 720p from the HMC and base our opinions on that, to save us from having to get uber-technical and only end up realizing that we are guessing the Panasonic numbers anyway.
I wonder if there is any way to get the two together... I have an HVX and don't know anyone with either the HMC or XH-A1 so I am no help. What do you guys have available to you?
I wonder if there is any way to get the two together... I have an HVX and don't know anyone with either the HMC or XH-A1 so I am no help. What do you guys have available to you?
Mike Harvey
Veteran
The HMC's sensors use the same pixel shift as the HVX and HPX, so the effective resolution should be similar to the A1. Plus, the HMC uses a better (at least from a recording standpoint), higher resolution codec than the A1.
I know on another thread someone put up some stills from the two. Don't know about footage though.
I know on another thread someone put up some stills from the two. Don't know about footage though.
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yes, remember though that the Panasonics employ pixel shift in both directions, yielding resolution higher than those numbers.
I did a shoot with the Canon XL-H1 (to HDV tape) and the Panasonic HVX200 (to P2) together and the footage from the HVX was noticeably softer ... enough where cutting them together made it seem quite noticeable. We ended up using the Canon footage only. Since the XH-A1 is very similar specs wise, I would venture that it would be noticeably sharper than the HMC-150.
But I think the resolution is certainly there for both cameras ... what really is different here is workflow. Both are quite capable ...