HPX500 viewfinder upgrade - AG-VF20WBP

Grant Peacock

Grant Peacock

Active member
I've just fitted this upgraded B/W viewfinder to the HPX500, but so far, the image is small, with a substantial black border around it. It's considerably smaller than was produced with the original viewfinder.

I suspect that there's some further communication needed between the viewfinder and camera. I have not found anything in the 500 or the VF20 owner manuals. What would be the way to get the viewfinder to respond properly?

Update, later in the day - playing with this issue further, the image goes full screen in SD modes, but consistently reverts back to the smaller image area each time the camera is reset to an HD format. Pretty weird; nothing seen in any doc's about this.
 
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I still have the VF20WBP (NTSC version) with the legacy SDX900. Clear, sharp for 480i/p. Real broadcast quality VF during its glory 2004 Era. I'm surprised that it even work on the HPX-500. Others told me there're a bit of distortion issues but it's much better than the factory OEM vf. But for real HD res, AJ-HVF21KG or better is more suitable. If you ever play to update any of their newer camcorder, this VF21 will work fine on all of their 2009-2014(?) bodies.
 
Thanks Lone Wolf. This is tricky. I have found no listing anywhere in docs or within Panasonic's info resources, as to which viewfinders are compatible with the HPX-500. With your lead, I removed the AJ-HVF21G from an HPX-2000, and tried it out on the 500. Nothing but jibberish on screen. I'm not able to tell, yet, what the differences are between the 21G and 21KG. Let me know, please, if you know a way to match viewfinders to cameras.

Thanks again.
 
vanvideo said:
I'm not familiar with the AG-VF20AWB, but is it an HD EVF? If so, the 500 only works with SD EVFs.
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I recall that the AJ-VF20WBE is the PAL version. Never heard of AG-VF20AWB. Many years ago I used the HPX2000. You should be able to use the AJ-VF20 SD viewfinder on the HPX-2000. It's a much better quality cam than the HPX500. 12-axis independent adjustment makes a considerable difference in quality. Panasonic rep told me that the HPX2000's DSP is based from the SDX900-HDX900.

The "G" simply means gray. Standard color since 2011. But after that, they came out w/ "K". If you see anything w/ K, it's in black color finish. There're no differences in features or quality. Just different color finish to match the cam body. AG-H21VFG should work on HDX900, HPX2000, HPX2700-3700. It should even work with the PX5000G. HPX500 is prior to 2007, so they took some cost cutting measures to keep the CRT VF in SD. Just verified that the HPX-600 will work w/ the AG-HVF21KG but not the HPX-500.

I also have the GPS module (AG-GPS910G). Thank goodness that it works on the SDX900-HPX3700. No changes. They don't have the "K" model to make it completely black. This is a rarity as not too many people use this option.

 
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Just gently nudging us back to my original topic - my AG-HPX500P will not work with the AJ-VF20WBP (I now understand that the P suffix determines that this is the NTSC-market version). Since first posting to this thread, I found a Panasonic brochure for the AG-HPX500P that specifies that the AJ-VF20WB is an optional accessory for this camera. So I think I have verified that this viewfinder should work. The question is now : Why WON'T it?

It would be pretty silly if Panasonic offered this viewfinder option, while this particular model of viewfinder would only work with the camera acquiring in SD camera modes. Can any HPX-500 users out there that they do have this combination working together? Thanks much. For the rest of the week's shoots, I am back to the original 1.5" viewfinder that the camera shipped with.
 
Grant Peacock said:
Just gently nudging us back to my original topic - my AG-HPX500P will not work with the AJ-VF20WBP (I now understand that the P suffix determines that this is the NTSC-market version). Since first posting to this thread, I found a Panasonic brochure for the AG-HPX500P that specifies that the AJ-VF20WB is an optional accessory for this camera. So I think I have verified that this viewfinder should work. The question is now : Why WON'T it?

It would be pretty silly if Panasonic offered this viewfinder option, while this particular model of viewfinder would only work with the camera acquiring in SD camera modes. Can any HPX-500 users out there that they do have this combination working together? Thanks much. For the rest of the week's shoots, I am back to the original 1.5" viewfinder that the camera shipped with.
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Here is our recent experience:


We have 2 of the AJ-VFW20WBP viewfinders. 4 HPX500's.


On one of the HPX500 all works as expected.


One the other 3 cameras the viewfinder will light all internal lights, such as tally, warning, record, battery, and save - all the time.


They work fine with the standard viewfinders that they came with.


All cameras seem to have the same firmware!


What difference would cause this behavior?


We are really stumped!

The sizing is simply related to setting the sd scaling output to squeeze. Seems like the viewfinder senses the anamorphic 16x9 input then switches to full widescreen output. Unfortunately that puts the side flip out monitor into the improper aspect so if you use it often you better get used to seeing anamorphic display on a 4:3! We shoot multicamera all the time, so the 20's go on handheld and the studio rigs always get an 8" anyway - so no big deal for us.

If only we could get them to work on more than just one camera!
 
I have 2 HPX500 with AJ-VFW20WBP viewfinders and this is what worked for me. Go into the menu and scroll down to DISPLAY SETUP enter and scroll down to DOWNCON MODE - there are 3 selections, choose SQUEEZE. That should work.
 
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