Have you heard about a new HMC model coming out in October?

B

Bill10

Member
I was talking to a Panasonic dealer today about hmc150. He thought they were coming out maybe in October with a HMC model that fits between the HMC40 and HMC150. I think the difference is the new model will also record in standard definition vs only HD for HMC150. Not sure what other differences.


I guess some people would rather have the SD option so they don't have to convert it on a software package to get it to SD vs the camcorder already recording as SD. I thought the HMC150 could record as SD but I guess not.

I am not sure if I got all that right since I don't even own a hmc150 yet.
 
No, HMC70 is an old model that I think is discontinued.

There's a new HMC80 coming out shortly, it's a shoulder-mount fullsize camera with a lot of similarity to the HMC40, but with more buttons and controls and real BNC video outputs and XLRs and all that. MSRP is $2895. It's the replacement for the HMC70 and a huge upgrade to it.
 
Barry I have been looking all over the web for a used "the HMC150 Book" and can't find one. I guess I might have to spend the $70 plus shipping.
 
Barry, when is your af-100 book coming out? I ask, because I'm pretty much 100% sure I'm buying the camera when it comes out (assuming what Jan says checks out) for a project I'm planning, and I'd really like to have the book as soon as possible given the start date on the project I'd like as much time with the camera as possible while holding the book... I think that would be invaluable. I realize you don't have a precise date, but assuming the af-100 comes out in December, by when do you think you'll have the book ready for purchasing? TIA.
 
Haven't even seen an AF100 yet, so ... it would be way premature to speculate on a release date! :)

Traditionally it's taken a minimum of three months, but that's for revisions to existing books to accomodate new cameras, and design time and printing time and whatnot. For a brand new camera, it might take six months. Gotta learn the stuff before I can teach it. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks Barry. I understand your points, but find your timetable very disappointing. I wanted to shoot with it by spring 2011. If it takes you 6 months to learn the camera, what am I supposed to think about the dp who is going to be using it in less than 6 months after it comes out? That he hasn't fully learned it?
 
Barry didn't say it takes him 6 months to learn the camera, he said 6 months to learn and then write a book about it. Understand, you don't just learn the camera and the book pops out of your rear end :) . Writing a book isn't something that can be done overnight or a weekend. It takes time to write, revise, get feedback from the publisher, revise again, print, and distribute.

Plus, I knew my HMC150 pretty darn well after only a few weeks. Maybe not to Barry Green's level of expertise, but enough to work with it without problems and post helpful tips to others on this website. A camera is a camera. Most of what I knew from my DVX and the shoulder mount cameras I was using applied to my HMC150, so it isn't like one needs to reinvent the wheel every time one gets a new camera. But to write a book from scratch, my guess is he basically has to.
 
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OldCorpse said:
Thanks Barry. I understand your points, but find your timetable very disappointing. I wanted to shoot with it by spring 2011. If it takes you 6 months to learn the camera, what am I supposed to think about the dp who is going to be using it in less than 6 months after it comes out? That he hasn't fully learned it?
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Thats crazy, learn the camera yourself. You act like your entitled for him writing the book just for your needs. Its disappointing that you are not smart enough to do it on your own.
 
OldCorpse said:
Thanks Barry. I understand your points, but find your timetable very disappointing. I wanted to shoot with it by spring 2011. If it takes you 6 months to learn the camera, what am I supposed to think about the dp who is going to be using it in less than 6 months after it comes out? That he hasn't fully learned it?
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If you can't use the camera without reading a book on it perhaps you are in the wrong field. Barry's HMC book helped me with some great tips and things I overlooked, but it did NOT teach me how to use the camera entirely.
 
Many things determine how quickly it will happen. If the internal governing software is very similar to the HPX/HVX/HMC150, then the book will happen MUCH quicker. But if it's a totally different unit, then it could be up to six months. The HVX Book took about six months to research, rewrite, design, print, and release. The latest revision to The HMC Book took about two months, start to finish, because so much of the information from the prior version was still applicable. I didn't have to start from scratch.

Plus, it all depends on if I'm able to get my hands on a pre-release model. Sometimes they have been accommodating in getting me access to a pre-release model. Other times I'm in the same boat as everyone else, placing an order and waiting for B&H or Abel or someone to ship it.

So, you asked how quickly it would be done, and I gave a conservative estimate that it could be up to six months. On the other hand, it's possible that if they give me one of the engineering samples that they use at a trade show, a few months in advance, and if the fundamental software is the same or similar (same DETAIL LEVEL/CHROMA PHASE/GAMMA/etc) layout as the prior cameras, then it's possible I could have a book done within about a month of camcorder release.

It all depends. Look at the HPX300, vs. the HPX500. The HPX500 was basically the same governing software as the HVX200, so if I had pursued a book on the HPX500 it could have been done fairly quickly. But the HPX300 is designed and built by a totally different factory! It's designed by the factory that makes the AJ series, the HPX3000/3700 and 2000/2700. It's different. Some things are the same, but some are quite different.

I don't know what the AF100 will be. It's a new lettering system, for example. It's not an "HMC"100, it's an "AF"100. What does that mean? I don't know yet. As soon as it makes its first public appearance, we'll know an awful lot more about what the timeline could/should be.

So -- let's just say that unless there's something radically different about the AF100, I should have a book done on it sometime between January and June.

I do appreciate the interest, and I'm sorry I can't give you a more definitive answer, but -- I want to make sure that the eventual book serves its ultimate purpose of being a well-researched, thoroughly accurate, and indispensably useful tool. So I gotta do it right, and that means it'll take as much time as it takes. The sooner I can get a unit, and the more similar it is to the HMC products in operation, the faster the turnaround time will be. The longer I have to wait, and the more new-from-the-ground-up it is, the longer it will take.
 
I like your style Barry. You give very detailed thoughtful (good PR) answers instead of some flippant answers like "I'll get to it when I have time" or " just practice with the camera until I write the book". You don't belittle someone.
 
Thanks Bill10. I view my job as to empower people, not to belittle them. I follow Zig Ziglar's line of "You can get anything in the world you want, if you just help enough other people get what they want."

:thumbsup:
 
Thanks Barry, always a class act. I wish everyone was a class act, but as we can see, it just isn't so. Anyhow, everything has its time and place.
 
jtopp said:
Thats crazy, learn the camera yourself. You act like your entitled for him writing the book just for your needs. Its disappointing that you are not smart enough to do it on your own.
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Dude....that is downright rude! I think that perhaps you should "curb your enthusiasm"
and spare us all the pain of cringing when reading your post.
Get it?
 
OldCorpse said:
Thanks Barry. I understand your points, but find your timetable very disappointing. I wanted to shoot with it by spring 2011. If it takes you 6 months to learn the camera, what am I supposed to think about the dp who is going to be using it in less than 6 months after it comes out? That he hasn't fully learned it?
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Are you serious? I have just written a 2nd edition of a book, 'Way Beyond Monochrome'. It's taken 6 years to research, check, check again, layout, proofread, do the illustrations, get a contract, proofread again, check the wet proofs...... I hope your response is tongue in cheek.
 
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