How is this camera

lhmaloney

lhmaloney

Well-known member
I've been working and living under a rock as of late so I havent been as tech saavy, so im just finding out about this camera and now Im baffled @ the fact that its an hd cam @ dvx prices. ANYone can tell me how this cam measures up to the HVX 200
 
HMC150! This is similar to this same question on this thread:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=159865



Barry_Green
Moderator

Used HVXs are going for pretty cheap, so I can see the dilemma. It all depends on your budget. AVCHD is designed to be affordable. You can get a 32GB card for under $80. The HMC150's picture is going to be superior to the original HVX200s in most ways; you'll be trading 4:2:0 long-GOP against 4:2:2 intraframe, but the sensitivity increase, noise reduction, and overall more accurate image of the 150 should erase that gap for most low-budget uses. If you're working in news, no question, get the HVX and use the extensive P2 infrastructure out there. But if it's for personal projects, I'd think you might be happier with the 150, provided you work out your edit station questions beforehand.
 
I think its way better on so many levels than the original HVX200. I owned that camera for 3 years and haven't missed it except for the timelapse option. That's the only thing I miss about the HVX.
 
Same CCD block as the HVX200a, which is greatly improved over the original HVX. It really depends on what you're looking for or what's important. If you want to go completely tapeless, but have already invested in the P2 workflow, check out the HPX170. It's basically the same camera as the HMC150, but with P2 and a few more bells and whistles that the DVCProHD codec allows for, but AVCHD doesn't (variable framerate, etc...). Folks have posted stills from both cameras and the picture quality is practically identical

Note, there *are* editing issues, as the AVCHD format (especially at the highest bitrate) is very processor intensive. I've been getting around this by using the AVCHD-->DVCProHD transcoder that Panasonic provides on their website until Prospect HD v4 is released. Even after transcoding, the footage looks awfully darn good. The newest versions of Vegas and Edius don't seem to have any issues with a good computer. Adobe CS4 (what I have) is buggy... how buggy seems to vary from person to person. Final Cut Pro and I believe Avid don't support native editing, but I know with the latest version of FCP, it will allow you to transcode ProRes 422.

Really, I love my HMC150. I can't state that enough. After tweaking with the scene file setup for two weeks, I have a picture that I love. Ridiculously long record times, no tape hits or dropped frames with fairly cheap media, good low light... this camera is a great value for it's price. Same with the HPX170 if you are heavily invested in the P2 workflow.
 
No, I'll be ready to upgrade to a HVX in about 2 months or so, until I found out about the HMC, because if I can get the same images from the hmc, I can invest more money I save from not buying a HVX in things I need, like an adapter. I use CS4 most of the time, but I also has vegas, both on windows and we all know how buggy that can be
 
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