Can the HVX/P2 handle cold weather? Um, yeah...

B

Barry_Green

Moderator
Check this out!

HVX_42.jpg


This photo is from Mike Single, and yes, that's the south pole he's at!
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Mike won the 2000 Emmy® Award in Individual Achievement: Cinematography for the Antarctic-based film The Crystal Ocean and has been using the AG-HVX200 and the Panasonic Varicam in Antarctica over the last month.
 
Wow...very cool (literally!). I need to go someplace extreme to shoot a doc with my hvx. It's pretty awesome seeing this brand new camera going to new places. I wonder who's gonna be the first to take this baby underwater. Oh and someone give NASA an hvx for the next shuttle launch please!!!
 
A picture is nice to see. But I want to hear about how the shooting went down there. Good stuff Barry.
 
Barry,

I am meeting with Mike in about an hour so will post his comments. From what he has told us the HVX worked really well in the cold. It was -42c with a wind chill of -60c when that photo was taken. We will have pics soon from both the HVX and Varicam from the Antarctic summer! Will keep ypu posted. By the way we also had an HVX200 up in a Pitt Special doinng aerobatics and pulling 4G, never even blinked.

Rick
 
I shot some outdoor stuff with the HVX on sunday for about 90 minutes. It held up well but do be warned that the LCD becomes a little sluggish. The cold seems to affect the image and cause a ghosting effect on fast moving object. This is only on the LCD.

While I'm speaking of the LCD, my buddy who owns a DVX checked out my HVX and his first comments were how the LCD seemed to be a step backwards. He noted it wasn't as sharp and that it was seriously effected by off axis viewing. We pulled out the DVX and compared and sure as s**t the DVX LCD was better. With the HVX you really only get a sharp contrasty image when looking almost straight on. I was trying to look over his shoulder while he filmed and could not make out anything on the LCD except that "negative" effect that you see when off center. The same thing on the DVX was exponentially better. Even when was off from center the image stayed clear. It's not a deal breaker but the LCD on the HVX seems to be the weakest link. I have gotten used to it but when switching from HVX there is a night and day difference.
 
Does he have an "A" or a "B" (or a 100?) The LCD was changed for the DVX100B; I'm pretty sure that the DVX100B and HVX use the same LCD. At least, they're the same size & shape and the specs published are the same for both of them.
 
Barry_Green said:
Does he have an "A" or a "B" (or a 100?) The LCD was changed for the DVX100B; I'm pretty sure that the DVX100B and HVX use the same LCD. At least, they're the same size & shape and the specs published are the same for both of them.
Click to expand...

Barry,
It is a 100 (non A or B). I have been informed by Andrew Hoffman at Specialized Communications that the part number for the LCD on the HVX and DVX100B are indeed the same. However both are different part numbers from the original 100 and the 100a. The word is that they changed to a new part to get better resolution for the new cameras. I have spoke to others and nobody seems to think it looks higher res. Most think it looks softer in general. One thing is for sure it is much less useful now that it has such poor off-center performance. It seems you need to be looking dead on center to get anywhere the quality of the origianl dvx100 screen, A little left, right, up or down and the contrast falls way off really fast.

I love the camera but I can't help but feel Panasonic saved some money by going with a cheaper LCD on the HVX and DVX100B. I just have to learn to work around it as the feature set that the camera has is unsurpassed.

Let me add that the ghosting effect I saw when out in the cold with the HVX200 was not present on the DVX100 in the same weather conditions. I did however see this big time on the XL2 LCD when i had that camera.
 
Code: 
"This photo is from Mike Single, and yes, that's the south pole he's at!"

Hey Barry you're forgetting it's the height of Summer at the South Pole!! :D

Yeah, I know. I'm a pain.
 
Another thing. Panasonic can get HVX200's to the South Pole and we have to wait 3 more months here in Europe!

I want to be a penguin in my next life :(
 
Not quite the south pole (although it is "summer" there), but I was outside shooting with my HVX200 today. I still don't have any P2 cards just yet, but the DV tape transport works flawlessly here in Colorado and it was 11 degrees F and snowing. I can't wait to get a P2 card (I'm holding out for the 8GB cards) so I can try some HD in the snow... I'm supposed to be shooting some ski and snowboard stuff here in the near future, I may have to buy a couple 4GB cards anyway to get it done.
 
That's a great photo! It looks like the HVX200 is showing up in a lot of interesting places lately (The Olympics, Iraq, etc...).

I was editing today and in a b-roll shot I saw that the HVX200 shooting a well lit interview. I paused the frame and told my producer I just bought one of those cameras. She told me that the camera was used to shoot a last minute HD interview for a very popular sports channel (I won't say who because I'm not sure they want me advertising what they are working o just yet). I have edited for this channel and know that on this particular program they typically shoot with the Sony HD camera (the 900, right?).

I asked why did they use this much cheaper camera. My producer said that they had no choice as it was a last minute do or die shoot. I am digging around to find out how they liked the footage shot by the HVX200. It would be awesome if they were impressed by it.
 
I spoke with Mike Single (the South Pole Cameraman) and he tells me that he shot for about an hour with the HVX. The camera had no protection against the cold and worked fine. The only thing was that the flip out LCD started to show a fair bit of lag as it turned from a Liquid Crystal to a Solid Crystal display. He managed to record the whole hour on a single battery no problem. I have seen the pictures and they look stunning, Mike has a gift for making every shot look like a postcard.

Oh and a slight apology for stating that the HVX200 pulled 4G in a Pitt Special, the cameraman tells me it was 7G!
 
Rick_Haywood said:
I spoke with Mike Single (the South Pole Cameraman) and he tells me that he shot for about an hour with the HVX. The camera had no protection against the cold and worked fine. The only thing was that the flip out LCD started to show a fair bit of lag as it turned from a Liquid Crystal to a Solid Crystal display. He managed to record the whole hour on a single battery no problem. I have seen the pictures and they look stunning, Mike has a gift for making every shot look like a postcard.
Click to expand...

How cold was it down there? I've been doing more testing here with our cold snap the last couple days. I shot a full 60 minute DV tape early this morning and it was -11 F outside (about -24 to you Celcius guys) - no extra protection on the camera and it all worked just fine. The battery still had plenty left over. I did see some issues with the LCD after about 40 minutes outside, but nothing unexpected or too much of a problem.

I'd imagine that P2 cards will function just fine as well, but I haven't got any cards to try yet, so I'm just shooting DV.
 
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