HPX250: HPX-250's lens softness at 3.9mm (wide end) survey

[lonewolf2koc@hotmail.com]

At extreme wide (3.9mm), the Panasonic lens on HPX-250 exhibits left and right corners softness for interior shot from full wide open iris to f/8. All ND filters off. Gain was set at 0 dB. Tried various gamma modes. No luck. It's soft at full wide open. Has to be optical issues. Cam has no filter. Checked for lens impact. None found. Cam was set at 1080i rec mode. I didn't have chance to test outdoor. I suspect outdoor will perform better than indoor shot. Mid zoom range is quite good. But the extreme end is a bit soft, but not as bad at the wide end.

Does anybody else have this softness at wide zoom range issue? Holding off the order til I get some additional references.. It's not a cheap buy considering only about 15% of final usage.

 

[Bruce196]

I was using a 250 yesterday on a live 4 camera HDSDI mini OB as a test. The 250 ended up being the safety wide as when intercut with Fujinon HD lenses on HDCAM and PMW-500 cameras it compared very favourably, in fact no one noticed on 15ft wide screens. I was testing the camera to see if there was enough light on a typical awards dinner event set to be able to use it and it was pretty good. I think the lens on the Panasonic is very good especially when judged against 50,000 dollar HD kits where the lenses are 20,000 dollars each.

 

[lonewolf2koc@hotmail.com]

I'll setup a loaner for closer look on the lens. Perhaps this batch of cam is flawed optically. Call it a spade a spade: This is one tough competitor to 2/3" 1080p cams (HPX3K series) and Fujinon HA14x4.5 & HA22x7.3 lenses. Canon, I'm sure they're excellent lenses as well. But don't have the $$$ to own both brands.

It appears that I will be needing a super small POV cam (Go Pro), iPhone or Android for rough storyboard visuals, tourist style hybrid (Canon 5D, 7D), Handycam style video cam (this HPX250 where I can hold it just on one hand), 2/3" cam such as the HPX3K## series for serious prod work. There's no one cam or lens fit all anytime soon. Fortunately this HPX-250 is not too far off with the HPX3K series and will intercut just fine w/ tweaks in Da Vinci Resolve.