HVX - ease of use vs flexibility

[jdv]

I strongly doubt that any DVX shooter is going to just pick up an HD100 and start shooting a film with it and be pleased with the results they get; it takes the experience of a Nate Weaver or a Tim Dashwood to extract the best from it.

-This brings up something that I've been wondering - The extensive menu(s) in the JVC100 apparently can give a DP who knows the JVC well a great deal of flexibility in terms of look (SSE/lens problems notwithstanding).

- The drawback being that you must have done extensive testing with the camera first, then save what you've learned and hope that the conditions on location match up to what you experimented with...

- The DVX's ease of use is legandary, and I believe it's been reported that the HVX will have the same gamma/cine presets already programed into the camera.

- I assume these HVX presets will look great, and that an unexperienced shooter could pick up, go, and get decent results (assumming everything else is 'there') -but will the option for extensive image teaking exist in a similar manner to the JVC? More extensive? What about ease of use...Thanks,
John

 

[Barry_Green]

From the menus I saw at ResFest, I'd say that the JVC has significantly more paintability. The HVX looks to have the same settings as the DVX plus it also has the "News Gamma"; there may be other changes but the menu structure looked very familiar. The HD100 has extensive control over the image.

It's not like the DVX/HVX will be a "slouch" in this department; after all, here's some examples I was able to get entirely in-camera in the DVX (i.e., none of this was done in post, these looks are all done entirely by manipulating the in-camera menus):

But don't sell the HD100's capabilities short. Its menu settings look more like an SDX900's than the DVX/HVX do.

 

[jdv]

Thanks Barry. Do you view the lack of extensive tweeking as a negative when compared to the JVC100, and if so one that might be addressed in a HVXb version down the line? John

 

[Barry_Green]

Well, no, it's not necessarily a "negative" -- I mean, it's got extensive image painting capability. But the JVC has more. I'd view it as a negative if it didn't have "enough", but it does. The only thing I've wished for on the DVX (and presume it will also be the case with the HVX) would be more capability to adjust on the green/magenta axis. Other than that, I think it's fairly robust. Not as extensive as the HD100, but well-rounded enough that you can do most anything that you'd want.