Hmc150 vs ex1

Retrospective

Retrospective

Well-known member
Hey guys, I'm wondering if there was any previous comparison in terms of quality between the HMC150 and the Sony EX1? Which is better in low light, etc..?


Thanks!
 
Well you'll probably get a completely different answer if you go ask the same question on the EX1 forum, but here goes: I shot both cameras simultaneously on a darkened stage and there were some differences. Costing nearly twice as much DOES give the EX1 a few advantages, such as the 1/2" sensor and an f/1.6 lens all the way through. Also the far superior LCD made me think the EX1 was much better at the time I was shooting. But when we got home and looked at the footage, the EX1 was not any brighter. The two intercut well together with the Panasonic having nicer color (both cameras had optimized scene settings).

Hope this helps
 
Check out page 7:
ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/manuals/AG-HMC150_brochure.pdf

In PH mode the HMC150 will record an average of 21Mbps, with a peak bit rate of 24Mbps. It's sort of like when you are compressing a video clip for the web and you set your bit rate to 400kbps. In the end, the file is going to try and stay around 400kbps, but may drift upward to 425, 450, etc...The same thing holds true with the HMC150. Use VLC to monitor the stream rate of a clip that was shot with the HMC150. It never stays right at the recorded bit rate.
 
i too was tossing around going with the 150 or the ex1. i chose to go with the 150. although the sony camera has a more professional codec, it may be more than my needs. i can easily justify the cost of a $3300 camera more than i can $6300. i have a full time job and use my 150 on my freelance projects(and a little with my work projects, i'd rather use my 150 than my works A1). it suits my needs 110%.
 
manglerBMX said:
i too was tossing around going with the 150 or the ex1. i chose to go with the 150. although the sony camera has a more professional codec, it may be more than my needs. i can easily justify the cost of a $3300 camera more than i can $6300. ........
Click to expand...

Same here.

Having an FX-1, I gave the EX-1 some real thought but the 150 just made far more financial sense to me.
I did want the 1/2 sensors I must say and this is my first 'Panny' but the 150 has done all that I've asked and I believe it could do a heck of a lot more.
 
If you have only $3,500, you can only get a 150.
If you have $6,500, you may get either. If you see the footage from the 150 and are happy with it, then no need to get the Sony.

If you look at the 150, and constantly are trying to figure out how to make it a little better,
then eventually, you will want the EX-1

There are two things here that will determine the outcome;

1. Which can you afford?
2. Are you happy with the image of the 150.

The 150 has an image you can be happy with, but do a couple outside wide shots,
a couple shots of moving water, trees that are blowing, and some low light interiors.

If you like the results, then that is all you need.
 
Both are good cameras, but because of the major price difference, any comparison becomes difficult.

COST: Well, the HMC-150 wins this, it's about 1/2 the cost of the EX-1.

SHARPNESS: The EX-1 wins here, it helps to have a 1/2" image sensor.

HAND HELD USE: The HMC-150 wins; not that you can't hand hold an EX-1, but it's not as easy as the HMC-150.

WORKFLOW: MPEG-2 is easier to edit than AVCHD, so the EX-1 wins here.

MEMORY CARD COST: The HMC-150 wins this one; SDHC is much cheaper than SxS on a per minute or per GB bases.

LOW LIGHT: In interlaced mode, the EX-1 is reported to have an ISO of 800, in progressive mode it's ISO is 400. The HMC-150 is reported to have an ISO of 500. This comparison is a bit of a wash, because it does NOT take into account the noise injected into the picture.

There's more that I could say, but there's bigger questions that should be answered first...


The bigger question is, "What do you want to do and what do you want in a camera?"

That could help everyone narrow down our answers.



Bob Diaz
 
Another thing to note is that adding gain really does not add noise with the HMC150. The EX1 adds noise when gained up.
 
The HMC150 DOES sounds financially appealing to me, also the low light performance is awesome :) Unless Canon releases an AVCHD cam in January to match the HMC150 then we'll see.

Its for short films, I got used to the small form factor of HV30 and love the fact that I could just take it out of the bag and shoot with minimal or can be preconfigured. It's one of the things I hate about 35mm adapter is the initial setup time, weight, brittleness,etc.. when you don't have control over a lot of things when shooting outside or any "subway" like shots.

I'll be getting the HMC150 next month, this will be my camera before I will be even eligible to purchase Red's Scarlet, Red 1 owners have the first batch -_-
 
shrigg said:
Another thing to note is that adding gain really does not add noise with the HMC150. The EX1 adds noise when gained up.

PerroneFord said:
What?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Very true. When you turn the gain up on the HMC150, the visible noise is much more smooth in appearance. It doesn't give that "graininess look" that many other cameras produce. The noise on the HMC150 is even less noticeable while the footage is moving.
 
BobDiaz said:
MEMORY CARD COST: The HMC-150 wins this one; SDHC is much cheaper than SxS on a per minute or per GB bases.
Click to expand...

I thought the EX1 had a pretty simple work around to where you can use cheap SDHC cards. The kensington adapter? Something like that?
 
seven.b said:
I thought the EX1 had a pretty simple work around to where you can use cheap SDHC cards. The kensington adapter? Something like that?
Click to expand...

Yes that's right, it's called the KxS solution, however it is not endorsed by Sony and it is limited to shooting at the standard frame rates (no overcranking) because of the limited bandwidth the KxS solution offers.
 
Evro said:
Yes that's right, it's called the KxS solution, however it is not endorsed by Sony and it is limited to shooting at the standard frame rates (no overcranking) because of the limited bandwidth the KxS solution offers.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, this is incorrect. While the KxS solution is not endorsed by Sony, they absolutely CAN overcrank. However, they cannot overcrank to the same degree as the SxS cards.

It is also incorrect to say that the problem lies within the SDHC cards. The problem lies within the interface of the adapter card. This has been proven out which is why you can take a Sandisk Ultra2 card that overcranks reliably at 40fps and stick it into a different adapter card, and it won't overcrank at all. Or you can take a Kensington adapter, and put in a class 6 Transcend card and may not be able to overcrank it much.

The idea of using adapter cards for this functionality is wonderful for us cheapskates that couldn't get it done any other way. But they certainly do have their limitations in their current iteration. Help appears to be on the way though, so we'll see where we stand in 90 days or so.
 
How does AVCHD compensate is there is a ton of changing random information, say fluttering leaves, and the bitrate is maxed out??
 
Which one to choose would seem to depend a lot on whether you really need the full rez from the 1/2" chips of the EX1. If not, I'd go Panasonic and save some moolah. If I didn't have to have the minimum high-def specs that the EX1 hits, I would've probably gone Panasonic for the CCD chips. It all depends what your market is.
 
I know Guy Barwood personally (one of the pioneers of the KxS system) and all of that considered, I too was at a crossroads 2 months ago when I was trying to decide if I should go for an EX1 or two HMCs. I decided to go for the two HMCs because I couldn't convince myself that I was getting double the value from the EX1. Although the EX1's image would have intercut better with our Canon XH-A1s, I really wanted to go tapeless while also trying to run a viable wedding video business.

I still think the EX1 is the better camera but then at almost double the cost of the HMC it bloody well should be. Panasonic's timing for the release of the HMC was a Godsend for my business. According to DVT in Sydney (my local Panasonic dealer) there will be no new HMC152 stocks in Australia until the new year with a possible price increase.
 
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