Hvx200 Not Optically Centered

TimurCivan, does your agument apply to the Schnieder Optics 2.0x Teleconverter made for the HVX200 specifically?
 
WA lens/Teleconverter..... ( but the teleconverter is still by Scheider, not panny. though panny doesm ake a WA/Tele and for DVX anamorphic lenses) )

But thats not the point, the point is, attaching the 3rd party 35 adapter and expecting "factory quailty integration" like perfect performance is asking alot. If Panasonic made a 35 adapter, the ni would say, yes it should be perfect, they make it.
 
TimurCivan said:
WA lens/Teleconverter..... ( but the teleconverter is still by Scheider, not panny. though panny doesm ake a WA/Tele and for DVX anamorphic lenses) )

But thats not the point, the point is, attaching the 3rd party 35 adapter and expecting "factory quailty integration" like perfect performance is asking alot. If Panasonic made a 35 adapter, the ni would say, yes it should be perfect, they make it.
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So, you're saying, whatever brand of camera you buy, you should stick with the accessories made for it by the same company. And if they don't make it themselves, tough.
 
BenB said:
So, you're saying, whatever brand of camera you buy, you should stick with the accessories made for it by the same company. And if they don't make it themselves, tough.
Click to expand...

Geez.... talk about twisting someone's words around!
 
epicedium said:
As I said, the real question is whether you can demonstrate a negative impact on the image in anything like "normal use" ... bolting on an acromat and 35mm adapter is great, but if it relys on more manufacturing accuracy than "normal use", then it's not *really* Panasonic's fault, or problem.
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Exactly! And considering these after market attachments are just that (designed after the camera went to market), you cant expect Panasonic to do R & D to see if these would cause a problem with their camera when attached, as they are not considered "normal use". The camera was designed with a fixed lens for a reason.
 
Some of you got me wrong. To cut the long story short, as far as Panny is involved, your camera starts at the battery at the back and finishes at the lens thread at the front. If you attach a Panasonic mada or recommended accessory and it doesn't do what's supposed to, then you have a case, otherwise if you're aware of possible problems you should try and pair a camera and a 35mm adapter before buying or any other plasmatic rotational integrated filter you feel you need in your work. HVX is not designed for these applications, full stop,
 
Yes BenB you should only stick with the approved accessories if you want support from Panasonic and for it to work 100% of the time. edit - And The Engineer beat me to it....
 
To keep with the car analogy, the public transport I'm on now can't compare to a new VW Beetle. $17k is a lot of money, and for that the Beetle will do some great things. But you can't expect it to be built to the same standards as an Audi, even though they are from the same company. There's a reason the Audi costs twice as much.

The beetle is still a fine vehicle, and compared to riding the bus, it's a dream come true. But it has it's limits.



(like all analogies, this one is flawed, and comes with no warrantees of fitness for any particular purpose, either expressed or implied)
:)
 
BenB said:
So, you're saying, whatever brand of camera you buy, you should stick with the accessories made for it by the same company. And if they don't make it themselves, tough.
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yes. if you want factory support on the acessories.

i dont necesarily follow that mantra. but if the lens is not 100peercent centered nd it doent inhibit the basic function of the camera thats not the manufacturers fault. if your front thread assembly gets dammaged by a 35 adapter thats not panasonics perogative to fix user "abuse" either.

its the same with automotive parts too. using non oem parts voids youur warrantee.... hence the vw with a jet argument is valid.
 
My lens is a unconfortably off center. I first noticed it when stacking an ND and Polarizer. I assumed when I bought the camera that I wouldnt have to do any tests to confirm the integrity of the image. Now I may have to.

That being said Panasonic is Marketing the HVX as a professional tool and as such should back it up, in my experience they have. I had a pair of major malfunctions early on and they took care of it. Is this issue acceptable, that remains to be seen. If I have focus issues then no, if the only consequence is that I have to zoom into my adapter 2mm more then oh well.

The cost of the camera or how it compares to a Varicam, Jetta, Chevrolet, your granny's Olds or a jar of raisins are all irrelevant. What is relevant is whether or not they fulfill their promise to the consumer. word.
 
i appreciate the post of all of you also the engineer.i respect his opinion even if i don't accept his answer.i can accept all but i don't accept that some hvx200 are ok and other not.i don't accept that all HVX cameras are not made alike.
i think that this can be a point of agreement:beer:
 
A couple of things from the fray:

1. I've seen higher-end Sony 1/2" and 2/3" cameras delivered for first use with defects. In fact, it is sort of the norm to have a minor issue or two in my experience.

These have always been remedied, if not with a little confusion thrown in.

There was one situation on The Real Deal where we had an intermittent audio issue, where there seemed to be dead spots between 10 and 2 on both audio pots (1/3; 2/4). Deal was the first series the brand new XDCam350 was used on and Sony really jumped through hoops to sort the problem.

I think Panasonic has been okay on the battery tabs and so forth, but it takes some doing to get a mfg. to recognize a wider problem.

2. This argument that we shouldn't accessorize a $5k camera is utterly ridiculous. Panasonic, Sony, Arri, Panavision, Thomson and every other camera mfg. relies on accessories to make their camera configurations whole. Take lenses for starters.

The HVX200 is shown as accessorized with third-party peripherals in Panasonic's own collateral. I've seen PDF documents prepared by Panasonic's marketing department with matte boxes, follow focus, Israeli arms and monitors. Not to mention the licensed FS units.

This camera is fitted for accessorization, with professional XLR connectors, 1/4-20 tapped mounting surfaces and a "bayonet" lens specifically there to take glass that Panasonic does not manufacture.

So, if there is an issue in the optical block or within the alignment of the optics to the focal plane that adversely affects the image, it must be sorted as a manufacturing defect. The price of the camera doesn't matter. Panasonic markets the HVX200 expressly and specifically as a cutting-edge, precision piece of technology - one that surpasses all of the comparable competition in image quality.

If the variance in manufacturing tolerances is causing issues with the ability to capture accurate images (stated and intended use of the camera), then it deserves attention.

e
 
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WAG: I am guessing that the image block is probably not affixed by a high tolerance wedge devise, rather is it probably screwed or pinned into place. I bet the technitian disassembeled the camera, reset the image block, and put it all back together to test it. This has to be a pretty time consuming effort, and microns matter... It probably is a bit better, but the technitian probably was not willing to go through the same procedure a second or third time to get it perfect. Especially if Panasonic only alloted a block of hours for the repair. My father was a service writer for an auto dealer for years, and he always ran into problems like this.


Bob
 
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I have been using the Century Extreme Fisheye on the HVX and the upper left corner is slightly vignetted. We have 4 HVX's in our company and they all vignette with this lens. My buddy has one that has no vignetting. Pretty Lame for us but it illustrates the differerent placement of the imager from camera to camera.
 
My $30,000 LDK 91 has vignetting in the top corner when I add a Century wide angle adapter. Not Phillips/Thompsons problem.
In fact you can make it worse or better by holding the lens with pressure.

If you aren't seeing it through the stock equipment it's not a flaw. It meets the standard.
If you are seeing it through the stock lens, it's a flaw.
Nice if you don't see it with an adapter, but not a defect.
 
overlandfilms said:
A couple of things from the fray:

1. I've seen higher-end Sony 1/2" and 2/3" cameras delivered for first use with defects. In fact, it is sort of the norm to have a minor issue or two in my experience.

These have always been remedied, if not with a little confusion thrown in.

There was one situation on The Real Deal where we had an intermittent audio issue, where there seemed to be dead spots between 10 and 2 on both audio pots (1/3; 2/4). Deal was the first series the brand new XDCam350 was used on and Sony really jumped through hoops to sort the problem.

I think Panasonic has been okay on the battery tabs and so forth, but it takes some doing to get a mfg. to recognize a wider problem.

2. This argument that we shouldn't accessorize a $5k camera is utterly ridiculous. Panasonic, Sony, Arri, Panavision, Thomson and every other camera mfg. relies on accessories to make their camera configurations whole. Take lenses for starters.

The HVX200 is shown as accessorized with third-party peripherals in Panasonic's own collateral. I've seen PDF documents prepared by Panasonic's marketing department with matte boxes, follow focus, Israeli arms and monitors. Not to mention the licensed FS units.

This camera is fitted for accessorization, with professional XLR connectors, 1/4-20 tapped mounting surfaces and a "bayonet" lens specifically there to take glass that Panasonic does not manufacture.

So, if there is an issue in the optical block or within the alignment of the optics to the focal plane that adversely affects the image, it must be sorted as a manufacturing defect. The price of the camera doesn't matter. Panasonic markets the HVX200 expressly and specifically as a cutting-edge, precision piece of technology - one that surpasses all of the comparable competition in image quality.

If the variance in manufacturing tolerances is causing issues with the ability to capture accurate images (stated and intended use of the camera), then it deserves attention.

e
Click to expand...

All with you there, it seem mine his problematic.
 
I had the same problem with my dvx100b. I just customized my m2 plate and now it lines up perfect. Why complain about something that is as easily corrected as this. Fix it and move on. In a perfect world you would be able to buy a camera that performs like a Spec RED for the same price as an HVX200 and have no problems out of it because its a perfect world, but the truth is that because we demand so much developers jump through hoops and sometimes the end results don't reach the expectations that we desire. On the scale of great disappointments this falls short.

We are film makers. Our imagination is what drives us. We should use it once in a while instead of pacing the floor.

I would rather the complaint be why doesn't Panasonic create an affordable camera that has a direct lens attachment like the RED. I believe that Panasonic, Sony, & Canon have been around alot longer than Oakley (RED). Lets get real.
 
Here is a shot of My HVX, which exhibits the problem:

HVXOffset.jpg


The people who this seems to be a real problem for are those like me who are extending the lens barrel by using a 35mm lens adapter like the Micro35. My specific issue is that I cannot zoom out to the recommended setting of Z72 as I begin to see the edge at Z75. This is preventing me from getting good edge to edge sharpness that I require.

I want to stress the point that I really like what the camera can do; for the price tag it cannot be beat. But my intent is to use 35mm Canon lenses via the RR Micro35 adapter and a custom lens controller that I am building, so getting it corrected will be pretty important to me.

Going to call Panasonic tech support to see what they can do.

Bob
 
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I also noticed my HVX was off center when using my Brevis35. However, the image qaulity doesn't seem to be affected, and I'mgetting consistant edge to edge sharpness and no vignetting with my lens. So it's fine by me. We are, after all, pushing the stock optics beyond the design.
 
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