Build Quality of HMC40

Cranky said:
I was talking about the flip-up eyepiece. Mark said that the viewfinder pivot does not feel loose or wobbly, so I assume that what I experienced at NAB has to be attributed to a hastily glued together preproduction unit.
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Well I have had the camera for a little over a week. I think the viewfinder is a bit on the wobbly side. It slides back and tilts up, so the mechanism needs some play on multiple axis. It should last, but as mentioned you will need to treat the camera like a $2k investment.:)

I think the decision to slide the viewfinder backwards is what allows it to move about 70 degrees. The little JVC GY-HM100 specs indicate it only tilts up about 45 degrees. I am pretty happy with the way the viewfinder works. But I do echo Barry's comment about the eyecup being usable for right-eye dominant only. I too am left eye dominant and I am taking a look at the i-cuff.
 
rich_r said:
Well I have had the camera for a little over a week. I think the viewfinder is a bit on the wobbly side. It slides back and tilts up, so the mechanism needs some play on multiple axis. It should last, but as mentioned you will need to treat the camera like a $2k investment.:)

I think the decision to slide the viewfinder backwards is what allows it to move about 70 degrees. The little JVC GY-HM100 specs indicate it only tilts up about 45 degrees. I am pretty happy with the way the viewfinder works. But I do echo Barry's comment about the eyecup being usable for right-eye dominant only. I too am left eye dominant and I am taking a look at the i-cuff.
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I am left eye as well and wear glasses so the eyecup does not work well at all for me :(
 
rich_r said:
I think the decision to slide the viewfinder backwards is what allows it to move about 70 degrees. The little JVC GY-HM100 specs indicate it only tilts up about 45 degrees. I am pretty happy with the way the viewfinder works. But I do echo Barry's comment about the eyecup being usable for right-eye dominant only. I too am left eye dominant and I am taking a look at the i-cuff.
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I think for more tilt as well as getting the viewfinder into a usable horizontal position when a 5,800 mAh battery is attached, since the pack's quite large. As for the eyecup, I hadn't thought much about that, but it makes sense about not being able to switch for left-eye dominant people.
 
David S. said:
We've had the cam for two weeks....

...We like it as a companion to our 170, and other than low light issues, it produces some pretty darn good images.
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David:

Have you had the opportunity to shoot both the 170 & 40 in a moderate indoor low light setting and did the footage mix okay for you?

Im wondering where the cutoff point is where they can be successfully mixed together for projects in lower light.

I may not have given the 40 enough of a chance when I tested it with my 150. In my brief two days of testing, I looked at light in the lower acceptable limits for even the 150, in that case the 40 is totally unusable to match 150 footage without seeing a huge change between cameras shots.

Now that is getting later in the year and it gets dark earlier, and I have shoots coming up, I was just too paranoid to keep the 40. Keep us updated on how the 40 is partnering with the 170.
 
Okay, the definitive, official word from the product manager for Panasonic:

The HMC40's chassis is carbon fiber. It ain't plastic.
 
At work we use 4 DVC30s- which is what the 40 is modeled after. We put our cameras though hell, and I can assure you the viewfinder isn't going anywhere.
 
jeff9329 said:
David:

Have you had the opportunity to shoot both the 170 & 40 in a moderate indoor low light setting and did the footage mix okay for you?
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Not yet.

We will at a presentation in a couple of weeks, but I plan to do some testing beforehand.

We knew the issues going and didn't expect the 40 to really shine when not much is shining, so we elected to treat it as a B Roll exclusively in those situations.

No 1/4 cam is going to be a stellar in low light.

But its sharpness is something pretty darn good.

I'll give it a try this weekend.
 
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