HMC150 vs Other AVCHD Options

Drl Ahye

Drl Ahye

Active member
I've been following the HMC150 closely for a while. I have a DVX100b which still has some life in it since most of the beauty comes from good lighting.
Anyways I love how there's a growing community around the HMC150. Most of you guys are more than happy with your purchase. If I had $3500 I would be on the boat with you guys already.

This is not really a question about how good the HMC150 is, it's more of a question of the other options that I've seen out there. Canon is touting their line of consumer AVCHD camcorders that shoot 24p and they are about to release the HF S10 model. There are 35mm adapters out there that would work on it so the manual features like a focus ring would be the same as if I had a HMC150 with an adapter on it.

See: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/c...ategoryid=177&modelid=17993#ModelTechSpecsAct

They record to 24Mbps to SDHC cards and have a lot of the manual features. The colors on the HMC150 should be better. If the HF S10s are 3 times better than the HV30s and will cost around $1500 that would be great since HV30 footage looks great for the priceline.
I think all of this has made me doubt getting an HMC150 which I'm saving up for.

I barely see any new HMC footy on here and even less with the 35mm adapter. I love the size of the HMC150, it is not toyish like these consumer cameras but with an adapter, rails, monitor, mattebox and good lighting, I doubt a client would see it as a less professional camcorder.
Can people share their views on this and help me out?
 
Drl Ahye said:
I've been following the HMC150 closely for a while. I have a DVX100b which still has some life in it since most of the beauty comes from good lighting.
Anyways I love how there's a growing community around the HMC150. Most of you guys are more than happy with your purchase. If I had $3500 I would be on the boat with you guys already.

This is not really a question about how good the HMC150 is, it's more of a question of the other options that I've seen out there. Canon is touting their line of consumer AVCHD camcorders that shoot 24p and they are about to release the HF S10 model. There are 35mm adapters out there that would work on it so the manual features like a focus ring would be the same as if I had a HMC150 with an adapter on it.

See: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/c...ategoryid=177&modelid=17993#ModelTechSpecsAct

They record to 24Mbps to SDHC cards and have a lot of the manual features. The colors on the HMC150 should be better. If the HF S10s are 3 times better than the HV30s and will cost around $1500 that would be great since HV30 footage looks great for the priceline.
I think all of this has made me doubt getting an HMC150 which I'm saving up for.

I barely see any new HMC footy on here and even less with the 35mm adapter. I love the size of the HMC150, it is not toyish like these consumer cameras but with an adapter, rails, monitor, mattebox and good lighting, I doubt a client would see it as a less professional camcorder.
Can people share their views on this and help me out?
Click to expand...

The Canon HF s10 will be smaller, not as good in low light, and less manual on the controls. The Panasonic gives you control. It is like driving a manual transmission over an automatic.

I have seen both and they both have their place, and price.
You first have to ask how much do you want to spend.
It will be more about price than anything else in that segment.

You can shoot Great footage with the Canon HF s10 as long as you have light.
I have played with both, and they look similiar except the canon does not have the gain that the HMC150 has. Turn on the gain and you are basically getting that much more image in low light.

The Panasonic will give you usable image with it's gain, even at it's highest setting.

If you have enough money, you might want to get both.
The canon works nice as a full time hand held camera.

If I could only have one, I would get the HMC150 if I were using it to make money, but for home use, I would get the Canon.
 
LoL...You're right I should get both.
I wish it were that easy.

I need to use it to make money. I want the HMC150 but the Canon line interests me because you could produce a good low budget film on it and if I ever need a quick portable setup that I could carry with me it would be awesome.

I have a DVX and I know it would be a pain to lug an HMC around everywhere. Do you think it would be best to try the Canon before I make plunge for the HMC?

If everyone on here donated $50 we could get one and do comparisions. PM if you're interested =)

I really wanna see some nice filmic HMC footage but everyone seems to be in the testing stage still.
 
Drl Ahye said:
I have a DVX100b which still has some life in it since most of the beauty comes from good lighting.
Click to expand...

Most intelligent comment I have seen on this or any other message boards for a long time.

I understand the draw of the film look and have done a fair amount of shooting with 35mm adapters. But at the end of the day I want a camera that was designed to work right in the first place. I get tired really fast having to build and breakdown the kludgy adapter rig all the time. My 2 cents, go with the HMC. It's a proven tool set that will feel a lot like your DVX100b

BTW my DVX100_ is still going strong too. Congrats.
 
caseyhayward said:
Most intelligent comment I have seen on this or any other message boards for a long time.

I understand the draw of the film look and have done a fair amount of shooting with 35mm adapters. But at the end of the day I want a camera that was designed to work right in the first place. I get tired really fast having to build and breakdown the kludgy adapter rig all the time. My 2 cents, go with the HMC. It's a proven tool set that will feel a lot like your DVX100b

BTW my DVX100_ is still going strong too. Congrats.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm getting hyped for the HMC again.
It's just getting the money is the issue. I'm scared to sell my DVX too, it's my baby.
Panny for the win. Scarlet eat your heartlet out.

I just look forward to seeing more great HMC footy on here more often.
C'mon guys post more post more. We need to perfect the image.
 
Drl Ahye said:
I just look forward to seeing more great HMC footy on here more often.
C'mon guys post more post more. We need to perfect the image.
Click to expand...

Go to Vimeo and search HMC150... 213 videos at last check. Some crap. Many not. Some quite good. Granted, they've all gone through Vimeo's compression, but it gives you an idea.
 
If you want to make an impression on the client get a hpx 500 with mattebox.
Ive seen crazy budgets get the green light after producers seen this setup.
But then again you and I dont have the money.
I believe the main reason why you dont see much yet is because most of the old true DVX 100 A/B users upgraded to the hvx 200/200a and now maybe even the hpx 170.

But now the hmc150 is here, it looks and smells like the hpx 170 but it costs almost 2grand less and so does the recording media ,SD cards are extremely cheap.
I expect to see more dvx 100a/b users go for the hmc150 this year and even more hvx users . But ofcourse this also depends on what your doing and who your working for:
Broadcast ,Film , BTS, internet, event, personal use etc...

I love my hmc 150 had to say goobye to XHA1 .Most of the time your clients wont even know what you are using.

These were all shot with the HMC 150 and not CC , a little brightness and contrast:
http://www.vimeo.com/3179458
 
Nice footage Everts, thanks for showing me that. I get what you're saying about DVXUsers migrating to HVX. I rather migrate to the HMC because it's tapeless and doesn't need expensive P2s and harddrives. I'd just keep the SDHC card as a hardcopy instead of keeping the media on a bunch of hard drives.

Rolling and Global Shutter is a good point David, I didn't think about that difference.
 
Barry has an interesting article in the Articles section here about global versus rolling shutter.

It's a must read
 
I checked it out. yeah I didn't know the CMOS messed up with changing exposures.
Why don't they use the global shutter with CMOS and fix it?
 
If you will use the cam to make money with, you really need the HMC150. Clients may not take you seriously if you show up for ashoot with a small consumer cam. And that can cost you much more than the diff ib cam prices.
 
Hey Sewolla, according to your point "If you will use the cam to make money with, you really need the HMC150" ... do you mean, HMC150 is a Must+Worth+Quality to Owned One?:Drogar-Dum(DBG):

I really hands with itchy to grab 1 or 2...haaaa...
 
Drl Ahye said:
I checked it out. yeah I didn't know the CMOS messed up with changing exposures.
Why don't they use the global shutter with CMOS and fix it?
Click to expand...
Because a global shutter brings its own set of compromises, including a loss of sensitivity and an increase in complexity and price. They can't get the performance they want out of a global shutter system yet. Give it a few years and it might be there.
 
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