AC160 First hands on impressions: AC160 vs HMC150

Yeah it's already been mentioned I accidentally had white balance on 3.2K. Learn the hard way if you set ATW with a user button and power cycle the unit it doesn't remember it. Thanks pointing out. I'll replace the vid with a color corrected version. Was definitely NOT a camera issue.
 
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its really disappointing that the 130/160 don't have magnified focus like the hmc150/hpx170, thats the one feature i really miss on the af101 as well
 
Working at the end of the zoom range

Working at the end of the zoom range

Did my first shoot with the AC-160 of a moderately-lit religious ceremony. Most of the time, I was operating within (using the OSD numbers) 85-99. At that end of the range, the light loss is significant, requiring operation with 6dB of gain. While clearly not an apples-apples comparison (especially in the zoom ratio), my previous camera, the DVX-100B, never needed additional gain under the same lighting conditions. The good news is that 6 dB of gain is much cleaner on the AC-160 than on the DVX.

VERY, VERY, VERY happy that the jerky start of the DVX's servo zoom has not been carried forward...just wish that the max speed was a tad faster.

Controls are logically placed, and the waveform display is a a phenomenal addition...never completely trusted zebras.

The handle feels very substantial (compared to other cameras that cost much more), and the inclusion of threaded slots for accessories was very thoughtful.

Love the simultaneous recording to both memory cards...extra piece of mind for once-in-a-lifetime events.

One thing that took me by surprise was the VU display. Unlike the DVX, there is only a single red segment, right at 0 dB, so it's very easy to clip without warning. Maybe with practice this will be a non issue, but it would be nice to see the segments between -12 dB and 0dB be yellow or red. Perhaps in a future firmware update?????

Overall, I'm very pleased, and glad that I was able to wait for this camera to be released.
 
On the volume display, there is only the one red dot, yes. Sounds like you haven't used any intermediate Panasonic between the DVX and the AC160. They moved to the one-red-dot-only-at-clipping way back on the HVX200. Audio guys know that red is bad, and so when the DVX showed red during still-good audio, that wasn't a good thing. So they added vertical bar markers at -12dB, and changed it so that it's only red when it's actually clipping. It's been that way on all their HD cameras.

Just take note of that vertical line on the audio meters, that's -12dB. You get six dots after that before it clips, so it's giving you the same information, just in a more standard way so that established audio guys won't grossly under-record the audio (like was happening with the DVX; they'd back the volume down to never see red, and that wasn't how the DVX was supposed to be used).
 
You're absolutely right, Barry...haven't needed to shoot with any intermediate Panasonic camera since the DVX. Like I said, I'm sure that with a few more shoots under my belt, it'll be a non issue...just need to get used to the "not so new" way.

Thanks!
 
Phil1076 said:
it seems like a solid cam for wedding stuff.
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I do mostly wedding work with my HMC150. With all the flashes that go off around me, I don't think I'd want to use a CMOS camera any time soon. That's probably the biggest positive of a CCD sensor in regards to weddings. Flashes look normal, and even beuatiful when seen in slo-mo. On a CMOS chip, they're downright ugly.
 
D.R. Gates said:
I do mostly wedding work with my HMC150. With all the flashes that go off around me, I don't think I'd want to use a CMOS camera any time soon. That's probably the biggest positive of a CCD sensor in regards to weddings. Flashes look normal, and even beuatiful when seen in slo-mo. On a CMOS chip, they're downright ugly.
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I believe that the new Panasonic HPX250 has solved that problem with CMOS. Checkout its feature set.
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Jonathana said:
But no such compensation in the 160? Thought the two cameras shared the same sensor...
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That's right. No FBC in the 160 or 130. The sensor is the same for all three cameras, but the signal processing is different. It appears to me that Panasonic started with the DSP code of the 370 for the 250, and they started with the DSP code of the AF100 for the 160 and 130.
 
Jonathana said:
But no such compensation in the 160? Thought the two cameras shared the same sensor...
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They have the same sensor, yes. But everything else is different. Think of it like two computers that share the same keyboard. What's really important is what's in the computer, and in the 160 vs 250 they have different computers attached to those sensors.
 
LanceOregon said:
I believe that the new Panasonic HPX250 has solved that problem with CMOS. Checkout its feature set.
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But this is a thread about the 160, not the 250. So my original concern still holds based on the follow-up replies.

I wasn't even aware of FBC until it was brought up here. Looking at some online clips, it's rather impressive. Not perfect, but better than as-is.

But considering this technology was released by Panasonic nearly TWO YEARS ago, there really is no excuse for it not to be in these new line of cameras.
 
D.R. Gates said:
But this is a thread about the 160, not the 250. So my original concern still holds based on the follow-up replies.

I wasn't even aware of FBC until it was brought up here. Looking at some online clips, it's rather impressive. Not perfect, but better than as-is.

But considering this technology was released by Panasonic nearly TWO YEARS ago, there really is no excuse for it not to be in these new line of cameras.
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Are you sure of that? I thought that the Flash Band compensation is a brand new feature introduced this year. What camcorder had the feature almost two years ago?
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Hpx370
Has flash band compensation. It's the only other camera that has it.
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The EX1/EX3 range do it in software, but with all the footage we've taken with them, no-one ever complained about it, and if we were slo-moing a wedding section, you could easily fix it with a white frame or two.

I received my AC130 today, and 1st impressions are.

1. Bigger than expected. Longer than EX 1, wider than EX 1, and even the lens cover is larger than EX 1., but isn't quite as heavy, and much better balanced in the hand (Thank God).

2. EVF is great, especially for an old fella like me who needs to put his glasses on to see the LCD properly.

3. The EVF Detail combined with the Focus Assist effectively means you have two settings for the peaking if you need it, as it's much more pronounced with EVF DTL on.

4. One thing that hasn't really been mentioned before, is a big improvement over the HMC 150, is the mic. input level now has 3 settings, -40 added to -50 -60.

Now if you are in a noisey room (with a band or stageshow) with a shotgun mic like a Senheiser, you have more headroom before you start distorting the mic pre-amps!


-1. The only negative so far is I also have the "Can simul record using Low Capac Slot 1" message, even though I have two new Panasonic 32 GB cards in it. I did use one of the cards in my AF100 last week, but reformated both cards in the 130 to no avail. Very annoying really!

-2. Oh yes, if only the camera could remember that you had the Focus Assist turned on when you power off and on again, it would be a much better option for us run and gun types!

-3. In simu. record mode, it won't play back any footage using the rec. check button. This is pretty poor implementation on Panasonics behalf I reckon, and sort of defeats the purpose of having Simultaneous record if you can't quickly check anything! Especially when you switch modes back from "play" to "record", you now get the "can simul rec using low Capac Slot 1" message as well!



I'm using it for a wedding tomorrow, so it will get it's first real run, but if things go to plan, there will be two EX 1's on ebay very soon, but my -3 above, really needs fixing!


Cheers,

Vaughan
 
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If you can, can you tell me if this is noticeably heavier/lighter than a Canon XL2? That's what I have now. . .one thing I was looking forward to if/when I upgraded was the fact that most HD cameras (at least in the class/price range I'm considering) now are smaller/lighter than the giant XL form factor. I am definitely getting tired of handholding the XL2.
 
Josh Bass said:
If you can, can you tell me if this is noticeably heavier/lighter than a Canon XL2?
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The XL2 is 3.5kg (7.8 lbs) including battery and lens, and the AC160 weighs about 2.4kg (5.4lbs) excluding battery, probably about 3kg with battery. People are reporting that it feels nicely balanced and not too heavy.
 
The hpx300 had it too, but that's a discontinued model so I didn't think of it. Hpx300 didn't have it when it shipped; it was added a few months later but was always planned to be in it.
 
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