thefilmaddict
Veteran
I tested my camera today. I've had it for about a week. I purchased a 4 GB P2 card a few days ago so that I could start testing and recording in HD (I ordered 2 8GB cards and a P2 store on the same day I ordered the camera, but I'm still waiting for those items to arrive). Here are my observations (my opinions):
THINGS I LIKED:
1. The camera is well built. It's very solid and seems rugged. The lens is very nice. This camera is sort of a hybrid between a full sized pro camera and a pro-sumer dv camera. I say that because although it has a focus control and manual zoom control for instance, it does not have an iris wheel on the lens. This is no big deal as all of the controls are in the right places and accomplish all of the tasks a pro camera can perform (this is not a complaint).
2. When I first got the camera, it seemed a little overwhelming because of all of the menu options and settings. After a few days of playing with the camera and looking over the manual, I found that the camera is actually pretty simple and logical to use -- Good job Panasonic (and that's from someone who has never used a DVX before)!
3. The batteries last a long time. I spent hours setting up shots while leaving the camera on so that I could monitor the frame. I didn't need to change batteries very often. I'm guessing I could get through a day of shooting with just three batteries.
4. The first thing I shot was outdoor footage in a graveyard (I'm a little crazy). It was late afternoon and the sun was low in the sky. I shot in 720 24PN. I used the following settings (based on things Barry has said for lower noise and what I thought I would like -- I basically added a little more chroma and brought the blacks down a tiny bit): Detail Level -3, Detail Coring +7, Chroma Level +2, Master Ped -1, and Gamma Cinelike D. The graveyard footage looks amazing. It really has the look and feel of film. I was (am) very impressed.
5. While shooting, I used all manual controls for iris and focus, but I would occasionally switch to manual iris to see what the camera thought the exposure should be at. The auto iris control did a very nice job picking the proper exposure. Rarely did I have to sway from what the camera thought the iris should be set at.
6. The camera would also tell me to switch ND filters from time to time (this was/is very helpful).
7. I did some variable frame rate shots. The results were amazing. I've never seen a video camera in this price range pull off such clean and beautiful slow motion. This is a very cool feature.
8. The P2 card worked great. It worked flawlessly with Final Cut Pro HD. It's nice not having to use tape(s). P2 will be even quicker if Final Cut Pro figures out how to use the files in their native form. I hope this is coming soon.
9. I loved editing in DVCPRO HD. It really allows me to manipulate the video using color correction. I've edited HDV before and it was a slow and painful experience (lots of rendering effects and a big render before output). DVCPRO HD is great!
THINGS I DID NOT LIKE:
1. The LCD screen is not very sharp. It's hard to tell if things are in focus. You have to use the focus assist feature every time (which is not always the most accurate way to focus). It helps big time, but it is a little soft, too. It was difficult to focus some shots.
2. Although the P2 card worked well, I hated the 4GB cards capacity for HD shooting. It is not able to handle very much HD footage. I filled it up quickly. The 2 8GB cards I have on order will surely help, but they are very pricey. Give us a break Panasonic! Also, 16GB cards would make 1080 shooting more reasonable with this camera. If P2 cards do not have the ability to grow in size, I'm guessing P2 will be a failure. I don't want this to happen.
3. I don't like that the XLR inputs are on the front of the camera. This is an awkward place to put them.
4. The resolution of the camera is good, but you sure notice how lacking it is when you switch to an HD channel using the big dollar HD cameras. Honestly, although the HVX200 is much better than my Sony HC1 ($1000 HDV camera), it's resolution seems very similar. I've never tested the Canon XLH1, but I'm sure the higher resolution helps the image pop off the screen. I wonder if Panasonic didn't want to up the resolution on the camera in fear that it would be too similar to their big dollar varicams or if they just used much cheaper parts that just can't give the higher resolution. Because all of the other HDV cameras in this price range have higher resolution, I'm guessing Panasonic just didn't want to compete with its higher end 720p cameras.
NOTE:
I've heard a lot of people make excuses for this camera saying it's only $6000, but who are you trying to kid? By the time you buy P2 cards, this camera is much closer to $10,000.
4b: Also, the camera disappoints me in the resolution department in the 1080 mode. The resolution when switching to this mode is the same as when it is in the 720p mode. Sure, some of you have looked over the footage and say it's cleaner, but when you heard that Panasonic was including a 1080 24p mode, didn't you think that the resolution would go up a little when switching to this mode? I sure did. Good advertising Panasonic, you hooked me! Sorry if I sound angry, I am a little.
5. I also shot interior shots using my light kits. I really wanted to see how this camera would handle dramatic lighting. I shot a typical interview type setup (using 4 lights: A key, a fill, a backlight and a background light). This was a bit trickier to shoot than the graveyard. This camera does weird things in the darker areas of the frames. The noise can be very heavy in gradient areas (where the light goes from light to dark). This is a huge problem as I like to light very dramatic scenes (I sometimes even like to light with 1 light). You can't blame the noise on compression. You can see it before it goes to P2. I'm not sure how to handle this. I spent a long time trying to light in a way that hides the noise. I did get decent results, but it was painful. You can light the center of a white wall and bring the iris control up and down and watch the noise dance all around in the areas where the light starts to fall off. I would love to know how to get around this noise issue (Please help)! The camera also seems to add noise when the white balance is off (this is not good as sometimes I like to white balance with orange or blue in front of the lens to warm up or cool down a scene when you take the gel away). What's up with that?
6. On a few occasions I shot scenes that had big red objects in them. The camera did not handle these objects very well. They were very over saturated and caused some weird noise in one of the shots. I hope this only happened because I had my chroma at plus 2. I will have to turn it down to zero and do more testing.
7. Although I like the look of 24pn, it's very hard to do camera moves in that mode. Very slow moves in wide angle were OK, but if I sped up, it looked very strobe like. I don't notice that in action films. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to add pull down in Final Cut Pro or just get used to slowing down my camera moves?
That's the good, the bad and the ugly. This camera has the potential to be very good. I just have to learn how to work within its limits.
I look forward to hearing from HVX200 owners who have some advice. This was my first time out with the camera, so don't take my finding as the last word. I own this little baby now, so we are all in the same boat.
NOTE: I have video that shows everything I mentioned above. If you guys want, I will post it (just tell me how to do it). If video files are too much, I could provide still frames.
THANKS!!!
THINGS I LIKED:
1. The camera is well built. It's very solid and seems rugged. The lens is very nice. This camera is sort of a hybrid between a full sized pro camera and a pro-sumer dv camera. I say that because although it has a focus control and manual zoom control for instance, it does not have an iris wheel on the lens. This is no big deal as all of the controls are in the right places and accomplish all of the tasks a pro camera can perform (this is not a complaint).
2. When I first got the camera, it seemed a little overwhelming because of all of the menu options and settings. After a few days of playing with the camera and looking over the manual, I found that the camera is actually pretty simple and logical to use -- Good job Panasonic (and that's from someone who has never used a DVX before)!
3. The batteries last a long time. I spent hours setting up shots while leaving the camera on so that I could monitor the frame. I didn't need to change batteries very often. I'm guessing I could get through a day of shooting with just three batteries.
4. The first thing I shot was outdoor footage in a graveyard (I'm a little crazy). It was late afternoon and the sun was low in the sky. I shot in 720 24PN. I used the following settings (based on things Barry has said for lower noise and what I thought I would like -- I basically added a little more chroma and brought the blacks down a tiny bit): Detail Level -3, Detail Coring +7, Chroma Level +2, Master Ped -1, and Gamma Cinelike D. The graveyard footage looks amazing. It really has the look and feel of film. I was (am) very impressed.
5. While shooting, I used all manual controls for iris and focus, but I would occasionally switch to manual iris to see what the camera thought the exposure should be at. The auto iris control did a very nice job picking the proper exposure. Rarely did I have to sway from what the camera thought the iris should be set at.
6. The camera would also tell me to switch ND filters from time to time (this was/is very helpful).
7. I did some variable frame rate shots. The results were amazing. I've never seen a video camera in this price range pull off such clean and beautiful slow motion. This is a very cool feature.
8. The P2 card worked great. It worked flawlessly with Final Cut Pro HD. It's nice not having to use tape(s). P2 will be even quicker if Final Cut Pro figures out how to use the files in their native form. I hope this is coming soon.
9. I loved editing in DVCPRO HD. It really allows me to manipulate the video using color correction. I've edited HDV before and it was a slow and painful experience (lots of rendering effects and a big render before output). DVCPRO HD is great!
THINGS I DID NOT LIKE:
1. The LCD screen is not very sharp. It's hard to tell if things are in focus. You have to use the focus assist feature every time (which is not always the most accurate way to focus). It helps big time, but it is a little soft, too. It was difficult to focus some shots.
2. Although the P2 card worked well, I hated the 4GB cards capacity for HD shooting. It is not able to handle very much HD footage. I filled it up quickly. The 2 8GB cards I have on order will surely help, but they are very pricey. Give us a break Panasonic! Also, 16GB cards would make 1080 shooting more reasonable with this camera. If P2 cards do not have the ability to grow in size, I'm guessing P2 will be a failure. I don't want this to happen.
3. I don't like that the XLR inputs are on the front of the camera. This is an awkward place to put them.
4. The resolution of the camera is good, but you sure notice how lacking it is when you switch to an HD channel using the big dollar HD cameras. Honestly, although the HVX200 is much better than my Sony HC1 ($1000 HDV camera), it's resolution seems very similar. I've never tested the Canon XLH1, but I'm sure the higher resolution helps the image pop off the screen. I wonder if Panasonic didn't want to up the resolution on the camera in fear that it would be too similar to their big dollar varicams or if they just used much cheaper parts that just can't give the higher resolution. Because all of the other HDV cameras in this price range have higher resolution, I'm guessing Panasonic just didn't want to compete with its higher end 720p cameras.
NOTE:
I've heard a lot of people make excuses for this camera saying it's only $6000, but who are you trying to kid? By the time you buy P2 cards, this camera is much closer to $10,000.
4b: Also, the camera disappoints me in the resolution department in the 1080 mode. The resolution when switching to this mode is the same as when it is in the 720p mode. Sure, some of you have looked over the footage and say it's cleaner, but when you heard that Panasonic was including a 1080 24p mode, didn't you think that the resolution would go up a little when switching to this mode? I sure did. Good advertising Panasonic, you hooked me! Sorry if I sound angry, I am a little.
5. I also shot interior shots using my light kits. I really wanted to see how this camera would handle dramatic lighting. I shot a typical interview type setup (using 4 lights: A key, a fill, a backlight and a background light). This was a bit trickier to shoot than the graveyard. This camera does weird things in the darker areas of the frames. The noise can be very heavy in gradient areas (where the light goes from light to dark). This is a huge problem as I like to light very dramatic scenes (I sometimes even like to light with 1 light). You can't blame the noise on compression. You can see it before it goes to P2. I'm not sure how to handle this. I spent a long time trying to light in a way that hides the noise. I did get decent results, but it was painful. You can light the center of a white wall and bring the iris control up and down and watch the noise dance all around in the areas where the light starts to fall off. I would love to know how to get around this noise issue (Please help)! The camera also seems to add noise when the white balance is off (this is not good as sometimes I like to white balance with orange or blue in front of the lens to warm up or cool down a scene when you take the gel away). What's up with that?
6. On a few occasions I shot scenes that had big red objects in them. The camera did not handle these objects very well. They were very over saturated and caused some weird noise in one of the shots. I hope this only happened because I had my chroma at plus 2. I will have to turn it down to zero and do more testing.
7. Although I like the look of 24pn, it's very hard to do camera moves in that mode. Very slow moves in wide angle were OK, but if I sped up, it looked very strobe like. I don't notice that in action films. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to add pull down in Final Cut Pro or just get used to slowing down my camera moves?
That's the good, the bad and the ugly. This camera has the potential to be very good. I just have to learn how to work within its limits.
I look forward to hearing from HVX200 owners who have some advice. This was my first time out with the camera, so don't take my finding as the last word. I own this little baby now, so we are all in the same boat.
NOTE: I have video that shows everything I mentioned above. If you guys want, I will post it (just tell me how to do it). If video files are too much, I could provide still frames.
THANKS!!!
