HMC40 - First Look

The biggest issue I see with the 3.5 mm jack is that the mikes you can use are the lower cost stereo mikes. You might be able to come up with an adapter to break out the stereo plug into 2 mono plugs, but both mikes are still going to be the cheaper mikes.

Now we could get into the issue of, "good enough" and depending on one's point of view, maybe the audio from a lower cost mike is good enough for you. Subject to what you are doing, it's likely to be better to run an unbalanced cable near the source of the audio, than to try and get it across the room with the on camera mikes.

I'm struggling to figure out where I'm going to get the money from to get the HMC-40, so if the additional cost of going XLR breaks the bank, so I understand the need to keep costs down.

No matter what you chose to use, always wear a headset to monitor the audio when recording. This avoids very unpleasant surprises later on. (Hum and other unexpected noises...)


Bob Diaz
 
BobDiaz said:
The biggest issue I see with the 3.5 mm jack is that the mikes you can use are the lower cost stereo mikes.
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BobDiaz said:
I'm struggling to figure out where I'm going to get the money from to get the HMC-40, so if the additional cost of going XLR breaks the bank, so I understand the need to keep costs down.
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I just have sold the HDR-HC1, this is 1/3 of the HMC40 price. I have another two consumer camcorders (see, I am more of a hardware whore than a shooter). Might sell another one, but keep the SD1, after all it has 1/4-inch 3CCD, not jellovision ;-)
 
I'm using that pearstone transformer adapter cable on my gs500 with a rode ntg-2 and a 20ft headphone extension cable (to be replaced with a good xlr cable soon) with no interferance yet.

A juicedlink offers a much better preamp than my little camera, but i'm saving for a hmc150 of my own (hmc40's sensor doesn't suit my needs, but i really want one anyway).
 
A friend of mine and I do one and two camera shoots of live performance, mostly school stuff, e.g. recitals, plays, musicals, etc. We're currently using Canon prosumer SD cams and looking at the move to HD in order to get superior SD DVD. We make use of the 20x zoom and good low light performance of our cams. We've experienced some of the issues that tape can have, so we'd like to go tapeless. We were attracted to the HMC40 by its cost but its low light performance appears to put it out of bounds for us. I gather the 150 has similar low light performance to my GL2 (".37lx at 1/8s slow shutter". +18dB is max available gain. I take this to be 2.4lx at 150's +12dB 1/24s) So we now think a 150 with 2x extender will be the best match to our needs. It has XLR, which we value. We don't care much for the wide lens. We like the extender in preference to 2x digital zoom because use of digital zoom locks out 30p and 24p shoots. We can be the better part of 100 feet away from the action that we're tight on, and directors like to use low and/or contrasty lighting for effect. (Can't wait to see what DRS does with this!) We sometimes shoot full open with +6 or +12dB because of dark lighting. We sometimes shoot for more than 80 minutes straight, which rules out HDV. I'd appreciate any comments on this logic, and answers to the following questions.
1. Based on the numbers above, does it look like the GL2 and 150 are similar speed? If they are then I really don't think we can give up 3 stops for the 40.
2. I really like the iris behavior on the 40, but the 150 doesn't autogain when you hit bottom, does it? How easy is it to boost the gain when you need to? Is it a step function or can it be gradually increased?
Thanks!
 
Gain on the 150 is added by flipping a switch to L, M, or H position. You can set the level of gain you want, and the camera will gradually transition up to that level.
 
also, the lowlight on the 150 is much better than that of a gl2, from what i understand it bests the sony vx2100
 
USB speed

USB speed

Is the 150's USB port a "full speed" or "high speed" 2.0? [Gotta love those marketing types who dreamed up the term "full speed" to mean 1.0 compatible (slow) speed.] I'm wondering about file upload times off the camera.
 
After having it for almost 2 weeks I am very happy with it. I know there are low light limitations as well as CMOS issues, but I can deal with those.

Have the large 5800mA battery and it is good for around 7 hours. Tried my Canon .7 WA adapter on it and worked fine. The Rode Videomic is good until I can get the XLR adapter/Mic. Libec LANC works perfect.

I think for $2k it is a great deal and nothing out there right now is comparable for the price.
 
I saw the HMC40 at WEVA in Orlando. Panasonic ran a lot of demo footage shot in a variety of locations and I thought it was pretty impressive. It ain't a 150 in low light, but it still was decent enough. I can see where it would be a very useful cam to have when you qant to be a touch more discreet. I may consider one as a backup to my 150.
 
Due to this and this issue I decided to buy a JVC GY-HM100.

First observations (compared to HMC40/41):
- Resolution of HM100 is lower. (But similar to Sonys HVR-Z 5.)
- Higher dynamic (shadows and lights with more details)
- Better workflow.
- Better in low light when low light mode is used.
- More wide angle, app. 62°.
 
Harald said:
Due to this and this issue I decided to buy a JVC GY-HM100.

First observations (compared to HMC40/41):
- Resolution of HM100 is lower. (But similar to Sonys HVR-Z 5.)
- Higher dynamic (shadows and lights with more details)
- Better workflow.
- Better in low light when low light mode is used.
- More wide angle, app. 62°.
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I would have just bought the 150 instead for about the same price! :).
 
matt s. said:
I would have just bought the 150 instead for about the same price! :).
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Against:

- Same license issue with 150/151.
- The 150/151 is little to large for my purpose.
- In Germany JVC lowered the price for the HM100 app. 20% until end of September. Official reason IBC 2009...
- A German magazine stated that the picture quality of HM100 is ahead of 151 in some circumstances. I have not double checked that. But I'm sure this can not be said generally.
 
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An observation about the "Photo" function. Unlike my other camcorders (Sanyo HD1000, Sony HD1000, HV20) you can not take pictures while recording video. Only when in the Photo mode. At first I was disappointed, but after taking some frame grabs from 720 60P footage (they look very good), I am fine with it.
 
Barry_Green said:
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Sensitivity -- okay, so here's the bad news. We knew it wasn't going to be nearly as sensitive as the HMC150; when you cram 4x as many pixels onto a smaller chip, you can expect a drop in sensitivity. Mathematically, I would have guessed about 3 stops' less sensitive. The pixels are 4x as many, meaning 1/4 the size, meaning 1/4 as sensitive (2 stops), but also the chips are smaller (1/4" instead of 1/3") making the pixels even smaller, so... yeah, 3 stops. When I observed the two cameras side by side, yeah, looked about 3 stops different. When I shot a grayscale chart, lighting for best response, with the HMC40 at f/2.8, the HMC150 needed to be at f/8 to deliver the same brightness level. So... yep. 3 stops. The HMC150 is about 3 stops faster than the HMC40. Which, when rating the HMC150 at 500 ISO, that puts the HMC40 at about 64 ISO. Not exactly a speed king. Plenty fine for outdoors, but indoors you're going to either need lots of light, or lots of gain. Fortunately the HMC40 provides bucketloads of gain, up to +34dB! That's nearly four stops' worth of gain. That gets you your sensitivity back, at the expense of noise. How much noise? That will be answered in future test reports.
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Barry,

I assume that the ISO you stated was at 0dB of gain, correct?

If so, then +6dB gain puts ISO at twice the number; 128 for HMC40 and 1,000 for HMC150.


Bob Diaz
 
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