500 over 300?

C

Christian m

Well-known member
I've been put in kind of a dilemma with my planned 300 purchase...

The 300 will be one or so week late for a job and I've been offered a similar kit with the 500 instead for about 1500$ more with the KJ16ex7.7B IRSE lens, 4 x 16gb cards instead of the 2 x 32gb in 300.

I know there are a few pros and cons with the cmos vs. ccd on the two cameras and the chip sizes.

I do a loot of actionsports and event style video, and are a bit worried the the EVF are as bad as it is according to this forum. Also I'm a bit worried that i might not get used to the EVF and its possible problems before the job as I would get the camera 24 hours befor I'm due for a all day helishoot...thus considering to rent "something" else and then buy the 300 when it finally arrives. For some reason the rentals I've checked also supply the kit EVF so the only alternative with a proper EVF that's HD are to rent the PDW-700, yes the xdcam 422 are the the next thing from the hpx500 to rent...

Or would a 500 kit with a HUGE discount be a better idea than the 300? First shoulder mounted I'll be buying.
 
Christian:

They are both great cams. When you say action sports and events though, red flags are raised in my mind. Have you shot with a CMOS camera before? To me, action sports usually means long lens shots with a ton of fast panning. Events, to me, could mean that flashes are going off at events, weddings, press conferences, etc.? If so, CMOS may not be the best choice for you. OTOH, I have shot the 500 and the VF and screen on the 300 are much nicer, newer technology. But the 500 will do better in low light and will have a shallower depth of field possible. Pluses and minuses on both.

Dan
 
I have the HPX500, and I have no problem getting sharp focus during live events or other such shoots. I always use the focus assist graph and its very helpful. I've had the 500 for over a year and I am very pleased with the camera. Its Low light performance alone is awesome and it sits really nice on my shoulder. If I had the choice of deciding between the 300 and 500 today, i think i would still go with the 500. Actually i think I would still choose it out of all the cameras in its price range or lower, But that's my opinion. I think when its time for me to get a new camera, I'm going to be saving my pennies for the HPX2700 or 3000. I think i will skip the whole CMOS thing until they figure out how to get the global shutter going on it...anyways, thats my 25 cents.
 
Dan,

I'm very aware of the CMOS issues, and that's why my order are on hold. I haven't been able to test the 300 yet as it's delayed. I did shoot one weekend last autumn with the Ex1. Did use a bit of tele, but unable to use the full due to some backfocus problem. The issues the 300 suffers from didn't happen with the ex1 in 720p25 at least, or it was not visible to the extent you would care about. The ergonomics of the ex's though was a complete disaster...which lead me back to pana again.

Hopefully the experience with larger sony system cameras with dodgy viewfinder's will come in handy if i decide to go with the 500.

The only issue that's lead my to doubt the 500 are the EVF. The fact that the 300 has hd chips vs the 500 won't be an issue as the broadcasters seem to favour 2/3" anyway and SD still are the most used format around here.

I'm getting another quote today from the two dealers I have a relationship with, could be interesting to se what they come up with...it's bargain time for P2 camera's thats for sure!
 
Watch this
http://vimeo.com/3082241

It was my first shoot with the 500. Despite the darkness I could use the cam at f8. With ND filters of course get it down to f2.8 easily to achieve shallower DOF when needed.

No CMOS headaches and the EVF was in fact better than expected. It is a weakness, but not as bad as people make it. Getting the 500 WITH lens for onl 1500 more is no brainer to me.

Look at it this way: do you rather watch an image from a 6MP DSLR or a 12MP bridgecam? if you get the DSLR with an equivalent lens you´d never choose a bridgecam with a small sensor
 
alpi69 said:
Watch this
http://vimeo.com/3082241
r
It was my first shoot with the 500. Despite the darkness I could use the cam at f8. With ND filters of course get it down to f2.8 easily to achieve shallower DOF when needed.
Click to expand...
Sweet, what lens did you use on the 500?


I got to test the HPX500, or at least the EVF indoors today. It's not excellent but it will do the job, not as bad as I remembered it to be.

Now the question will be lenses, the two quotes are Canon/Fujinon. Canon KJ16ex7.7B IRSE Vs. Fujinon HAs18X7.6BRM. Ofcourse the Canon has the extender at about the same listprice as fujinon without the extender, anyone been using either of them?
 
Hi,

The KJ16 should be contrasted with the XA17 from Fujinon. These two sets of lense both has 2X options. These are the ones that have Chromatica Aberration Compensation. The HA lens is quite a bit more money and if there are any CA there will be no Compensation for it.

Best,

Jan
 
I agree Alpi - i mean if some of the rumours of issues with the hpx300 are resolved or are not nearly as bad then lets face it - regardless it would be an amazing camera for that price point. Real ergonomics real romance haha. Compared to the cost of an hpx500 for the guy wanting some semblance of the controls within a real manual camera (more or less) then it would be a great deal.

I myself use the hpx500 and i dont think anyone can realistically compare the hpx300 and hpx500. The truth is - and i hate to say it, but to prance up and down over res alone is really quite juvenile. Of course its a big selling point of the hpx300 (albeit as part of its great on paper package.) But anyone that would consider hpx300 or hpx500 has little enough experience in my book to use an hpx500 properly :P

Miooow how catty i know lol :P (and don't get me started over the gimps that argued for Ex1's over 500s.... baahahaha.)

If i cant afford an hpx500 and i want a shoulder set up with respectable controls and flexibility id get a 300.
 
The 300 was the plan, but a job opened up that includes two full days with a heli for shooting. Of course the it's weather dependent, but I get my salary anyway:thumbup:

I was a bit afraid of the EVF on the 500 but after testing it today it will get the job done. As for now it looks like it will be the 500 on me, not the 300.
 
Christian m said:
The 300 was the plan, but a job opened up that includes two full days with a heli for shooting. Of course the it's weather dependent, but I get my salary anyway:thumbup:

I was a bit afraid of the EVF on the 500 but after testing it today it will get the job done. As for now it looks like it will be the 500 on me, not the 300.
Click to expand...

If you're in a helicopter, you should be shooting wide, unless you have a gyro. And at that distance, air to ground, you won't have any problems focusing.

The 500 viewfinder is no worse than my BetaSP cameras. I've had no problems.

JohnnyD
 
Painfully aware of that we probably will need to be quite wide angle to get stable shots, no gyro to stabilize. I know they considered a Wescam/Cineflex with operator, but it was way over budget....
The pilot, flown with him before but not filming, really know how to manoeuvre the heli so smooth movement pretty close with the machine was part of the plan.

The biggest gamble anyway are holding up the money the 500 will be, but since I get to keep the helishots for my own archive I reckon the 500 over 300 will pay for itself.
 
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I would never consider a CMOS/rolling shutter camera for helicopter duty. Repetitive vibrations are what generally can cause that really bad Jellocam effect that you have seen on some clips floating around.

Dan
 
JohnnyD said:
If you're in a helicopter, you should be shooting wide, unless you have a gyro. And at that distance, air to ground, you won't have any problems focusing.

The 500 viewfinder is no worse than my BetaSP cameras. I've had no problems.

JohnnyD
Click to expand...

Don't see how you can say that, mine is FAR worse than ANY BSP or DVCAM VF I have ever used. Which is why I switched it out for the VF-20 last week.

Much better now.
 
mcgeedigital said:
Don't see how you can say that, mine is FAR worse than ANY BSP or DVCAM VF I have ever used. Which is why I switched it out for the VF-20 last week.

Much better now.
Click to expand...

Maybe I got lucky. My 500 VF is as sharp as my BVP and DXC cameras. I guess someone did a good job tweaking the High Voltage focus,etc. I did have one VF from Sony that was a little soft, but that's not bad out of six. But, the zebra sucks on the 500 on ANY VF.

JohnnyD
 
After a weekend with shooting the VF seems to be the only bad thing on the 500, it deserves a better VF, without the focus assist in difficult situations it's a bit hard to get focus quickly...but that might just be me being very picky.

Apart from that the images out of the box looks pretty good, not as sterile as sony's. Combined with probably one of the best pilots in Europe, nice weather and the result was some amazing footage.
 
Christian m said:
After a weekend with shooting the VF seems to be the only bad thing on the 500, it deserves a better VF, without the focus assist in difficult situations it's a bit hard to get focus quickly...but that might just be me being very picky.

Apart from that the images out of the box looks pretty good, not as sterile as sony's. Combined with probably one of the best pilots in Europe, nice weather and the result was some amazing footage.
Click to expand...

Post some clips!
 
I've had my 500 for a little over a year now and to me this is a no brainer.
I wouldn't even think of buying a camera that was limited in what it could shoot. The extra money you spend buying the 500 would be made up for by you not having to turn down a job in the future because the 300 would have a problem shooting it.
 
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