HPX170 "soft" image?

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BigRedBarn

Member
I have been playing with some sample footage from a few HD formats: HPX170 DVCProHD HDX900 DVCProHD HPX300 ProRes (originally shot in AVCIntra100 I think) Sony EX1 ProRes (originally shot in xdcam format I think) Anyway, both the 900 and and 170 have a "softer" image than the 300 or EX1. By softer I mean a very slightly blurring of details and a slight over-saturation of the colors. The 300 seems to have a shaper overall image but similar pastel tone to colors. Surprisingly, the EX1 seems to have the sharpest image and most true colors of them all, but it's almost like someone applied a sharpness filter and overly sharpened the image. Is anyone else seeing this trend when comparing the cameras? I really want to like the HPX170 but only if I can give it a more of a "Discovery Channel Dirty Jobs" look. Meaning a sharper image without being too sharp and slightly more vibrant colors without looking l like a VHS tape playing on a TV with the color saturation knob maxed out. Does the HPX book touch on these topics? Perhaps I'm just seeing camera operator error?
 
I had the same impression in re the Ex series images... over-sharpened and in fact, recently sold my EX3 for that and many other reasons, not the least of which was its terrible ergonomics.
As for the HPX 300 producing a sharper image than the 170, it might have something to do with the full raster CMOS chips of the 300 and its optics vs the CCDs and pixel shifting of the 170 but I own and use both and find that they inter-cut fairly well. Now, as for your preference in the 170's image color output, that's where the scene files come into play and I'd venture to guess that you could make the 170 produce as much or as little color as you may desire. So, to say that "the Ex1 produced the most true colors..." is meaningless since both the Ex and HPX series cameras have the ability to output an incredibly wide range of image variations, in terms of hue and saturation. Therefore, when you made your comparative analysis were all of the cameras in question setup the same or was your impression based solely upon out-of-the box settings? If the latter... I'm sure you get the point.

In closing, IMO, I would hardly call the HPX170's image "soft," that said, the 300 does produce a sharper image when viewed side-by-side with a similar image output from the 170 for the reasons stated above. But these are two entirely different cameras, with different capabilities, price point and intended purposes and comparing them makes little sense.
 
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mule ferguson said:
Read Barry Green's book and watch the Bootcamp video.
Mule Ferguson
Click to expand...

I assume that you are addressing BigRedBarn? If so, although your suggestion is well taken, I suspect that the OP is still in the research stage of his quest and is in need of more general information vis-a-vis which in-camera factors influence the final image.
 
I set the detail level on my HPX170 to +3. It is not as sharp as the EX1 but it is close enough for the look I am currently trying to achieve.
 
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