HMC150 viewfinder vs Sony nx5 viewfinder

N

neils

Member
I want to sell my Canon XH-A1 next days to buy a new tapeless camera.
I have to choice between Panas HMC150 and Sonys NX5 or ax2000.
Which camera do you prefer?

For me, the handling is more important than the picture quality, because I think both cameras produce good pictures.
A few years ago I owned a DVX100 and I loved it. With the Canon I didn't fall in love.
What's about the Sony?

How is the viewfinder quality. Is it possible to work with it and use the flip screen for focosing? Is the screen resolution high enough?

What are your experiences?

Thanks and greets,
neils
 
The HMC150's an excellent camera, but the viewfinder certainly isn't anything to write home about. I don't know what the Sony's viewfinder is like.

The HMC150's LCD panel has an excellent peaking feature, "EVF DTL", which makes it practical to get good focus with. Combined with the magnified focus assist, it's pretty easy to get good sharp focus with just the camera.
 
I wound up with the NX5 after obtaining and returning an HMC150. Buid quality is superior, as is autofocus speed, and viewfinder/lcd.
 
The HMC150 and the NX5U are probably the most commonly compared video cameras in the price range. I personally own a HMC150 and have loved using it since I bought it. I too owned a DVX100 before the 150, so for me, I wanted something that would be familiar, but improve upon the shortcomings of the DVX100. The Panasonic has a slightly wider lens, but not as long. It also has a slightly larger LCD, but not as high res as the Sony. The Panasonic is going to be around $750 less than the Sony though. Before you make a decision check out the following links:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=201495

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=200126
 
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If you love the dvx100 youll love the 150. Its wonderful to handle.
Havent used an nxcam yet. But im sure its pretty good. Just decide on the features you need and your budget.
 
Thanks for your answers!

There are only two points I think about:
1) Is the viewfinder / LCD good enough to work with? The LCD of my Xh-A1 is terrible and it's impossible to controll focus on it. In my opinion the best picture is nothing if it is out of focus! The viewfinder /LCD is the interface between you and your camera.

2) Is the handling with only two rings (focus and zoom) ok for me. The Xh-A1 has an extra ring for iris. This is perfect – but if I'm thinking about it, I remember that the DVX has only two rings too... and it works.

At the moment I tend to the cheaper Pana and save the money differeneces (about 1000 Euro) for extra stuff.
Or I buy a AX2000 – but this cam can't record in 720p/50.

It's realy hard...
 
The Sony has LCOS viewfinder, same as on the Z5/Z7 and similar to what Panasonic has on the HPX300. It is high-res (1.2Mpix). LCOS does not show all the colors at once, but shows them in order, similar to interlacing, but in this case it is color interlacing. Flip-out LCD is 900kPix. Both are significantly higher-res than the 150.

Interesting that resolution of the HPX300 LCOS viewfinder is exactly the same as on the Sonys. Same vendor?

I think that LCD/EVF resolution is the single major area in which the 150 is inferior to the Sonys.
 
Yes. That is the only thing I would change on the camera is to have an HD LCD/viewfinder.

I was comparing the HMC-150 to the EX-1 at 720p today for steadicam work and for all intensive purposes, the HMC is pretty much equal to the EX-1. Plus I think it handles motion better than the EX with its move-blurry, stop razor sharp behavior.

Not bad for a camera that costs $3000 less plus is much lighter.

I would love to upgrade the LCD/viewfinder as I do not want a CMOS to replace this CCD camera but I do not think that would be possible.
 
I looked at the NX5U and 150 at the HD Expo in LA a little while ago, and found--as others here have noted--that the Sony has the better LCD.

But you can still use the Pana's and with all the focus assist features it has, in the end you may get better results with the Pana.
 
In the parade-raining department, I would be somewhat leery of purchasing any new device of this complexity in its first production-run. I share the excitement of such an exciting new camera, but I don't think I know of a single new camcorder by any manufacturer that didn't have first-run problems. By now the 150 should have all its bugs worked out (of course, it might be time for a new model.) Just saying, if I wanted an NX5, I'd wait a few months...
 
You do bring up a good point about not getting a camera in the first production run. I witnessed it first hand with the NX5U that I got from the Sony Demo Pool. It was serial number 10 and it had a bad back focus problem.

On the LCD front, the LCD on the NX5U is sharper than the HMC150, no doubt about it. That's the positive to the LCD on the NX5U. There are a few negatives to the LCD on the NX5U. It is smaller than the HMC150. It is a 16x9 LCD which means that all of that screen info is over the picture. I really like the fact that the HMC150's LCD is 4x3 letterboxed, so a lot of screen info is in the black part of the letterbox and not over the picture. The NX5Us LCD is a touch screen display, so you do put finger prints on the screen to acces parts of the menu. The big negative to this is that the LCD is glossy. Finger prints do not show up too bad when shooting indoors, but when shooting outdoors, the finger prints really showup on the glossy screen of the NX5U.

One of the things that Sony did get right on the NX5U is the ability to use expanded focus while recording...just like the HMC150. This is a first for a sub $5000 camera for Sony.
 
Yesterday I tested the NX5 live in a store.
The LCD and viewfinder are impossible good. They are really sharp and although the infos on the screens are very small you are able to read them without problems.
Furthermore the cam has an extreme good handling.
At the moment i tender to the AX because of it's good price and same handling like the NX – although the AX has some disadvantages: no 720p and the zoom and focus are not labeld with numbers on the LCD/vf. That's really angry if you want to repeat an exactly shot... Good is that you don't need to switch between manuel focus/zoom during auto-mode.
 
I hear ya my dvx brother I HATE my XHA1 view finder it is worthless to focus no matter what in low light the focus bites you think it would be better after all its an L series lens canon really dropped the ball on the XHA1 view finder. I shot video for TV News here in my hometown and my XHA1 is history i will keep it as a back up camera but im ordering a Sony nx5u in a few days
 
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