JVC's Upcoming Camera and the HMC-150

BobDiaz

BobDiaz

The Professor
Like many, I saw the photos of the upcoming JVC camera taken at IBC and wondered how this will compare to the HMC-150. Photos can fool you as to the size of something and when I saw the upcoming JVC Camera at DV Expo, code named "Victoria", it was a LOT smaller than I would have guessed.

JVC calls it a "Palmcorder". One look at the upcoming camera and I could see that it's a whole different market than the HMC-150. "Victoria" appears to be going after the very small, lightweight camera market. This might be ideal for shooting footage where one has to climb mountains or go to an area like Cuba or Iran, where shooting with professional video equipment might cause potential problems.

Everything about this camera is still up in the air, but by NAB 2009, we shold know exactly what the features are...

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Bob Diaz
 
"palmcamcorder" for pro use. hmmm reminds me of the scarlet promise. i like the detachable top handle. very interesting.
 
In looking at the lens, 3.7mm...

If the CCDs are 1/3", that would make the wide angle less than 28mm (35mm film camera equivalent); maybe 26 or 27mm.

If the CCDs are 1/4", that would put the wide angle at around 35mm (35mm film camera equivalent).

It will be interesting to see what they come up with.


Bob Diaz
 
Just looking at the controls on this it looks way too cut down so I don't think you can really compare it to the HMC150. It's kind of like comparing the Sony EX1 to the HMC150... not really a fair comparison.

Unless JVC have announced plans for their version of AVCHD I'd say that this is a budget version of their bigger ProHD HDV cameras. I can see it would be great for hand-held glidecam work but unless it has some cool new features I wouldn't pay any more than about $2,500USD for it.
 
Totally agree that this is not in the same league as the 150. However, it looks like it lacks a tape drive so maybe it records hdv or xdcam to memory cards. JVC have started supporting xdcam on their proHD camcorders so this seems possible. My guess is it will have 1/4 inch CCDs at most based on the lens specs.

It seems like it would be ideal for a keen amateur. Maybe they will sell the handle/xlr addon as an additional cost item. My canon XM2s have a similar arrangement. But it doesn't have the same amount of controls as the 150, and probably not the IQ either, or the low light performance. It would make a good second cam for weddings, but a second 150 would be better :)
 
This could be a great camera for me to take on the road---airlines are getting tighter and tighter about how much you can carry on these days. Right now the Canon HV-30 fills that role, but with many compromises. When is NAB 2009, Bob? Cheers
 
From that report this little camera is a prototype/mock-up and not a product ready for manufacturing & distribution. I would say if you're gonna put off buying a camera because of this you might be waiting for a while, by then other better stuff will be around i.e. Scarlet & improved DSLRs.

Interesting to see that they've gone the SxS route with their professional lines though.
 
Man.. JVC always have the ugliest looking cams.. and that audio thing at the front looks like a brick that they gaffed onto the front of it...
 
JVC said that the camera will sell for under $4,000; however, they would not provide a lot of detail on the camera. When I asked the person from Japan if it recorded using MPEG-2 or MPEG-4, he would not say.

My guess is that the camera will be in the under $3,000 range and fit the market where small and light weight are key parameters. This is a 720p camera and it appears to have 2 slots for memory cards.


Bob Diaz
 
looks like the neighbours wife who is 5ft tall with huge boobs, fun to play with but not the kinda thing you want a long term relationship with.
 
It seems like it is only 1/4 ccd's if the lens is a 37mm...
Personally I am done with 1/4 ccds. 1/3 is the minimum for HD for my preferences.

The removable handle is nice, but seems too tall, hard to fit in smaller bags with the handle on. ALso why is the handle angled forward?
If anything it should be angled backward to avoid the mic in lens when using a wide adapter.

Nice mic inputs.
Nice 2 card at a time.
Nice 35mb capture

Not nice: 1/4 inch ccd's , that are not native 1080. Expecting a very "gritty" and soft image.
 
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yuck

yuck

jvc gets a lot of things right with form factor and 35mbps .mov.....

but then they go and use tiny 1/4" sensors!

and the image has always been dark and grainy.

i love how small and compact and feature-rich it is, but they skimped on the parts that matter most. bummer.
 
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