Anyone know if HPX250 focus ring will have hard stops?
- Thread starter MPGordon
- Start date
Whats the current state of affairs with whats known on the HPX250? I'm SERIOUSLY thinking of getting one but details about it appear so thin on the ground its hard to make any sort of informed decision. I'm coming from an ageing HVX200 (2006 vintage!)
Cheers
Indy
EDIT: Is there even a speculative date other than Fall/Autumn?
Cheers
Indy
EDIT: Is there even a speculative date other than Fall/Autumn?
Mike Harvey
Veteran
Really? I was under the impression that the AC130/AC160/HPX250 would have a real mechanical focus ring.
Thanks for the update, Faust. While I love the weight, balance and picture quality of the HPX170, I could never stand the focus ring. I was really hoping the HPX250 would have a focus ring more like the EX1/3. Not sure if the lack of hard stops will be a deal breaker, but it does bump the camera down a few notches.
andythefilmer
Veteran
You can always manually write in stops. I got some white gaff tape, put it between the focus and zoom ring and then put a mark on the actual ring with the ft/m on the tape. I just reset it if I accidentally move it too much. Works just fine
That's what many of us were strongly hoping, but there's no mechanical focus ring and it seems things won't change before the official releasing time (Fall 2011 is everything we know at the moment).
No doubt it helps but you always have to be very careful while focusing, focus ring can be frequently overspun with the actual distances shifted beyond the tape marks...
How do you reset this?
Talking about manual focusing, there's nothing like a tough and reliable mechanical device for getting proper focus quickly and safely...
According to Panasonic it's suppose to be mecanical, page two, they wrote something about lens and rings :
http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/broch_pdf/ag-hpx250.pdf
The brochure makes no mention of mechanical focusing.
"The lens is provided with three rings -- a mechanical (cam-type) zoom ring, a focus ring and an iris ring -- for the same kind of manual operation that you get with an interchangeable lens."
When it says "same manual operation as with interchangeable lenses" it means that Panasonic, for the first time on its handheld camcorders, put an iris ring right where a professional cameraman expects to find it, i.e. on the lens block, just behind zoom and focus ring.
Something definitely better than a tiny silly wheel partially hidden somewhere in the chassis among buttons and levers.
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Mike Harvey
Veteran
However, Jan does say explicitly at :50 that all three rings on the lenses of the "triplets" (AC130/AC160/HPX250) will be mechanical.
And I am so thankful for this it's not even funny...
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Not me, two forum mates were in Bologna where a dealer showed an exclusive preview of the new camcorders.
And they played a little with the Hpx250, focus and iris rings spun infinitely.
Was she wrong?
The interview dates back to April and certainly Jan had tons of questions to answer and a lot of stressing work to do to at NAB.
Or was she right?
After all, iris stopping, focusing and optical zooming are all mechanical matters if we consider what basically happens inside lenses.
Apart from that, how could we expect hard stopped rings when all that was shown until 4 days ago were mock-ups and 3D images with the same focus ring as in the Hpx170?
With no m/ft marks nor f-stop values printed beside the rings?
Anyway, "Mechanically engaged" rings (focus/iris) are not exactly what people have played with in Bologna, believe it or not...
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Just read a post by Christopher Young over at dvinfo.net. He says he "had a ‘hands on’ look at the HPX250 at our SMPTE expo" in Sydney. Here's what he has to say about the focus ring:
"The biggest lens downer for me was the 'endless focus' ring. Round and round with no end stops!! It works but Canon wins hands down in that dept with its switch to manual end stops."
I'm sad to hear this. I was really hoping the HPX250 would have mechanical focusing. Oh, well.
If anyone wants to read Christopher's full post, you can find it here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/panason...4419-xf300s-new-competitor-2.html#post1669639
"The biggest lens downer for me was the 'endless focus' ring. Round and round with no end stops!! It works but Canon wins hands down in that dept with its switch to manual end stops."
I'm sad to hear this. I was really hoping the HPX250 would have mechanical focusing. Oh, well.
If anyone wants to read Christopher's full post, you can find it here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/panason...4419-xf300s-new-competitor-2.html#post1669639
Barry_Green
Moderator
The Panasonics have had good-as-manual-focusing since the original DVX100. It's true that the ring doesn't stop, but other than that it acts exactly like a mechanical ring would. Meaning there's no slop or rubber in the focusing - the ring is completely precise and absolutely as repeatable as any mechanical focus ring. That's one thing they do better than anybody else -- the precision of the manual focus.
You can totally use tape marks on your ring, you could actually label them with distance markings, and you'd have a completely accurate focus ring. You'd just have to recalibrate it to infinity any time you went past minimum or inf. But compare that to the horrendous focus action on something like the XL2 or XLH1, and it's just night and day (and week and month) different.
I haven't used an HPX250, I don't know if it has the same precision as all the prior cameras have had, but I would certainly think it's reasonable to expect that it will have.
Not all "infinitely spinning" focus rings are the same.
You can totally use tape marks on your ring, you could actually label them with distance markings, and you'd have a completely accurate focus ring. You'd just have to recalibrate it to infinity any time you went past minimum or inf. But compare that to the horrendous focus action on something like the XL2 or XLH1, and it's just night and day (and week and month) different.
I haven't used an HPX250, I don't know if it has the same precision as all the prior cameras have had, but I would certainly think it's reasonable to expect that it will have.
Not all "infinitely spinning" focus rings are the same.