Video review of HPX 301e

philip bloom

philip bloom

Veteran
I was lucky enough to be invited down to Panasonic HQ today to be given an HPX 301e to play with for a few hours and to shoot a review video on it.

The 301e is the European version of the 300 and luckily for us EU chaps we have an advantage over the former colonists in that our camera is a "world camera", that means it is fully switchable between 50 and 60hz. Perfect for globetrotters like me who will work for anyone and have no loyalty to any country!

First impressions were very positive. Very solid, great ergonomics, amazing flexibility in recording modes, superb LCD screen and EVF. Nice enough lens for the price. light but heavy enough for handheld work and beautifully balance.

Basically this is the Panasonic camera I have been waiting for. Do I wish it was 1/2"? Of course! But at this price point you can only get so much...there have been compromises and some corners cut but nothing major. Just about every feature you want on there is on there (and then some!)

One thing I need to investigate further is I found the image noisier than the EX3. I need to check with Panny to check what their camera details settings were set too as I didn't check.

We shot the review on a 171 and looking at those pictures next to the 301e is like night and day. Almost like looking at SD compared to HD.

I still prefer the SxS workflow as am a macbook pro freak through and through and I hate the dual adapter almost as much as I hate the movie Mamma Mia. Man does it make my mac crash.

Now I have a lot of editing to make my nonsensical gobbledegook comprehensible and of course make sure I get the facts right! I hope to have the video up, with a written review to go with it by the end of the week. As soon as it is ready i will post the link here.

So far...so good!
 
I think I read somewhere that the factory setting for master pedestal was like +14 ?!!?

But that might be why the image appeared to be more noisy than one would expect.
 
baquajim said:
I think I read somewhere that the factory setting for master pedestal was like +14 ?!!?

But that might be why the image appeared to be more noisy than one would expect.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I'd say. I cannot fathom why they'd put the master pedestal up at that level, when the image looks soooo much better if you crank it down some. We routinely used -12 to even -20 in Africa; -20 resulted in some crushed blacks but we loved the contrast it added in the image. And it is like a noise "vacuum", sweeping it away.
 
am sure that is what it is. Panasonic are calling me today to let me know what the settings are on the camera I used. I never even thought to check as I was only using it for a couple of hours.

I didn't use the Ultimate, just the stock lens. But got some lovely stuff out of it!
 
We just used the P2 Portable on my Mac as a card reader in Africa, or just plugged the camera in directly.

I don't have any plans of picking up a dual adaptor for my Intel Macbook Pro.

When I had the 300 here in Iowa, I just used my P2 Store as a card reader. Worked just fine.
 
the new p2 gear which is coming out shortly is awesome. It kicks the butt of the convergent design box. AVi 100 from any camera? c'mon! that's great AND battery powered AND more importantly over the Convergent design it has an LCD so you know you are recording! Am def getting one of those!
 
alexdias said:
...and all of that for as little as U$5K !!!
That's a lot of dough!
Click to expand...

yes and no...in the professional market for a recorder capable of that quality it is astonishing. Don't get me wrong. Would love it to be a third of the price but things just aren't like that unfortunately
 
That portable P2 recorder is 5K plus the additional cost of the P2 cards. 2 32gig cards will be more expensive than the upcoming Nanoflash. But if you are commited to P2 workflow, then cool....
 
Philip, what Vinten head and sticks are you using in the pictures. Was it perfect? Or did you
feel like you needed a bigger system? Thanks,
Mike Favazza
 
MikeDPLD said:
Philip, what Vinten head and sticks are you using in the pictures. Was it perfect? Or did you
feel like you needed a bigger system? Thanks,
Mike Favazza
Click to expand...

it's a vinten vision 11 with fibertec legs. more than ok for this camera. it can take much much heavier rigs
 
zeke said:
That portable P2 recorder is 5K plus the additional cost of the P2 cards. 2 32gig cards will be more expensive than the upcoming Nanoflash. But if you are commited to P2 workflow, then cool....
Click to expand...

the nanoflash looks wicked. It just needs a way of properly knowing your stuff is recorded on there without having a monitor plugged into it...the cool thing about p2 gear thingy. but yes, the box plus p2 media= mega bucks...but still way cheaper recording method than a full deck!
 
Thanks for the video review Philip! It's more entertaining than what we got from our Panasonic training. I hope our rep doesn't see this post haha :). Ofcourse our training is more thorough and technical and hey it is training!
 
EC Junior said:
Thanks for the video review Philip! It's more entertaining than what we got from our Panasonic training. I hope our rep doesn't see this post haha :). Ofcourse our training is more thorough and technical and hey it is training!
Click to expand...

Panasonic will be putting it on their website which is cool! I have never been the most technically minded cameraman, I always skew my reviews more to actually using them...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top