HPX170 Lens Wobble Improved

Well, the joystick was a feature from the DVX everyone wanted to see make a comeback. I personally like it more than those cumbersome 90 degree little rubber buttons. Ugh those annoyed me.
 
DanHD said:
after actually looking at those pictures of the HPX stripped down and revealed to us, I am at least confident that this is truly a design and not a flaw.

This shock mount feature was meant to be there, although we're so used to our Tank-like HVX's to want it.
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The shockmount was definitely meant to be there, won't argue that. It just doesn't work like it should. It's either a design flaw, or an assembly flaw. A flaw nonetheless.
 
Anyway this is the only 'issue' until now and if there aren't others problems to be revealed, this is not a big drama for the first batch of a camera that seems fantastic in all its other features.

This should be said
 
Well now I'm in a predicament.

I just sold off my HVX and I am camera-less. But I have a music vid shoot lined up for next week, alot of lowlight stuff (in a warehouse) and I was counting on using the HPX170 with my Brevis and my zeiss primes.


I mean, because the brevis screws into the HPX lens threads and is also supported by a rail mount, I shouldn't see any lens wobble right?

I think using this camera with a rail mount and an adapter should solve the issue
 
DanHD said:
Well now I'm in a predicament.

I just sold off my HVX and I am camera-less. But I have a music vid shoot lined up for next week, alot of lowlight stuff (in a warehouse) and I was counting on using the HPX170 with my Brevis and my zeiss primes.


I mean, because the brevis screws into the HPX lens threads and is also supported by a rail mount, I shouldn't see any lens wobble right?

I think using this camera with a rail mount and an adapter should solve the issue
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Yes, you should be fine... but if you have some wobble then you might have one of the "bad batch" cameras, however you should be able to deliver a fine product, albeit possibly with some wobble that might limit or slow you down a bit. If you have rails and a "bad batch camera" it isn't like the whole thing will fall apart.... anywho... that's what I gather from what I read here. You could get a 200A though, maybe a used one too. That is a great "hold me over" option.

I am really looking forward to seeing some ZF + 170/200a stuff!
 
DanHD said:
Well now I'm in a predicament.
I mean, because the brevis screws into the HPX lens threads and is also supported by a rail mount, I shouldn't see any lens wobble right?

I think using this camera with a rail mount and an adapter should solve the issue
Click to expand...

I've tested the camera with SGPro: if the rig is well mounted and the adapter is firmly boltened to its support and the camera simply 'watch' in it, there's not any issue: the image is rock solid.
The image is stable also if you use follow focus on the photo lens.

Anyway for me the camera is usable with its stock lens also, at least for the moment, because I normally avoid to touch the lens when fully zoomed, in every camera. If I need to rackfocus normally I use a remote.

The camera is not unusable while we wait for the fix!!!

Gary
 
Gary Senda said:
there aren't 'bad batch cameras'. They all have almost the same lens play.
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Well I am sorry. Forget what I said... I am trying to stay away from the thread until I am done with some of this work I have here. I haven't read every post.. I shouldn't have posted that. :lipsrseal
 
There isn't any problem: the thread is very long and there are o lot of wrong points of view: it is very difficult to orient
 
For the moment these things are sure (I believe):
- the lens is really shock-mounted
- the lens moves laterally because there are only two screws: 1 on the top and 1 on the bottom
- the lateral movement should be avoided by two foam blocks at the side of the lens, but there is a mistake (the thickness of the blocks? the features of the material?) so the structure is too much elastic and the lens has an exagerated play
- the issue can be easily fixed increasing the rigidity of this sistem with more foam or changing the blocks material
- the lens and the ccd are a single assembly: when the lens moves the ccd moves with it, so the wobble is for the assembly movements and not for the lens only movement
- there is no dust issue related to the shock mount design

I think this can be considered a good starting point

Gary
 
Gary Senda said:
For the moment these things are sure (I believe):...
- the lens and the ccd are a single assembly: when the lens moves the ccd moves with it, so the wobble is for the assembly movements and not for the lens only movement...
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??? Is that correct? I don't believe so as if it were, there'd be no image shift.
 
It is correct. For all practical purposes the lens assembly IS the camera.. so you're shifting the camera's position. It's actually a shift in perspective, rather than image shifting.
 
If it were just the lens shifting and not the CCDs, there would be some distortion in the image... something like tilt-shift lens in still photography. There would also be some serious focus issues as well.
 
wow.

Just played arounf with the HPX at Ablecine and did some tests.


Freakin gorgeous images.

We compared em to the EX in shop, and they looked incredibly similar in terms of noise and clarity. The EX had this video like quality to it though, and the HPX looked very warm and approachable. I was surprised at how good it looked (uncompressed)


but anyways, the one I looked at in the shop had some lens play as well =[

and so did the HMC..actually more than the HPX.
 
DanHD said:
wow.

Just played arounf with the HPX at Ablecine and did some tests.


Freakin gorgeous images.

We compared em to the EX in shop, and they looked incredibly similar in terms of noise and clarity. The EX had this video like quality to it though, and the HPX looked very warm and approachable. I was surprised at how good it looked (uncompressed)


but anyways, the one I looked at in the shop had some lens play as well =[

and so did the HMC..actually more than the HPX.
Click to expand...

did you happen to compare the images of the hpx and the hmc while you were there?
 
No. But I would assume the HMC would put out a slightly degraded image compared to the HVX because of it's lower bitrate and color sampling, as well as the motion artifacts inherent in long gop. although I've heard that AVC can be pushed to the limit and you'll see no artifacts, as opposed to HDV, which is a nightmare to say the least lol

Don't get me wrong the HMC is a good little camera but you get what you pay for


and anyways, in this case, you're paying for a whole lotta lens play on both cameras.
 
The EX had this video like quality to it though, and the HPX looked very warm and approachable.
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For the record, to be fair the factory default setting for the EX1 is 1080/60i, very bland but very sharp and video-ish looking. Going 30p or 24p and a couple quick adjustments in the Picture Profile, such as choosing Cine 4, a quick adjustment on the black levels, choosing hi-sat matrix and voila, in 12 seconds you have a completely different image being recorded... much richer and deeper and sweeter looking. It's like an entirely different camera than the out-of-the-box default setting.
 
dcnblues said:
??? Is that correct? I don't believe so as if it were, there'd be no image shift.
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It's correct. If you look at the second lens picture of the dissassembled HPX170, all the way to the right is a silver bracket. That silver bracket is basically sitting on top of the CCD block. The CCD block is screwed onto the lens assembly and as Jan brought out earlier that there is a seal between the two of them.

I wouldn't worry about the dust in the the lens assembly but still use standard precautions for dust in the focus/zoom rings.

Andrew Hoffman
 
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