I’ve had an HVX200 for a couple of weeks now, so I thought some people might be interested in my thoughts so far. Please feel free to comment or correct me as appropriate.
First, let me just say that as a professional stills photographer who only graduated to Video about three years ago, the HVX200 has surpassed my expectations as far as Image Quality and Colour are concerned. And when it comes to Focus and Exposure control, the HVX still has some way to go but it beats my previous camera, the Sony HVR-Z1, hands down.
What I’m writing here are some simple improvements I wish Panasonic had considered at the design stage.
The ability to shoot at various Frame Rates is fantastic – but the HVX requires the operator to dig deep into the Menu in order to change Codec – so if you’re like me and want to shoot your main footage in 1080, but also want to shoot some slow motion scenes, you have to change between 720 and 1080.
I already have my Frame Rates included in my customised Scene Files (currently based on a modification of Barry Green’s “Detail” file which I think is great) so I just turn the Scene File knob to select whichever I want but then it takes up to THIRTEEN Menu Button presses to change from 720p to 1080i. That’s too much, especially when you take into account the awful layout and position of the Navigation Buttons. Why couldn’t the up and down buttons be in relation to “up” and “down” on the display? (And while we’re on the subject of button positions – have you ever tried to play back a clip whilst handholding the HVX? It’s not easy)!
I’d love to know why Panasonic chose to allocate such rare and obscure operations as “Backlight” and “Fade to White” to the User Buttons. How many professional operators use those particular features? Not many, I’m sure.
Why on earth can’t we assign Codec changes to the User Buttons? Surely it would be easy enough to protect them from accidental use (and arguably, the result of an accidental Codec change couldn’t be much worse than accidentally inserting a “fade to white” or even backlight compensation).
But don’t get me wrong – I just LOVE this camera!
I only wish it were easier to change codec.
I tried saving different User Files with the various Codec settings included – but have you ever tried quickly changing User Files . . ? Don’t go there!
Finally.
Watching the last three seconds of my clip is pretty useless to me – so why can’t the "Rec Check" button be changed to a ZAP THAT LAST CLIP button. I know whether my last clip's useless or not, so if it's scrap, I want to ditch it and get on with the shoot rather than undertake a minimum of TEN Menu Button presses as currently required to ditch a clip. I don't have time to piddle with the menu buttons when I'm shooting action.
C’mon, tell me what you think!
Andy
First, let me just say that as a professional stills photographer who only graduated to Video about three years ago, the HVX200 has surpassed my expectations as far as Image Quality and Colour are concerned. And when it comes to Focus and Exposure control, the HVX still has some way to go but it beats my previous camera, the Sony HVR-Z1, hands down.
What I’m writing here are some simple improvements I wish Panasonic had considered at the design stage.
The ability to shoot at various Frame Rates is fantastic – but the HVX requires the operator to dig deep into the Menu in order to change Codec – so if you’re like me and want to shoot your main footage in 1080, but also want to shoot some slow motion scenes, you have to change between 720 and 1080.
I already have my Frame Rates included in my customised Scene Files (currently based on a modification of Barry Green’s “Detail” file which I think is great) so I just turn the Scene File knob to select whichever I want but then it takes up to THIRTEEN Menu Button presses to change from 720p to 1080i. That’s too much, especially when you take into account the awful layout and position of the Navigation Buttons. Why couldn’t the up and down buttons be in relation to “up” and “down” on the display? (And while we’re on the subject of button positions – have you ever tried to play back a clip whilst handholding the HVX? It’s not easy)!
I’d love to know why Panasonic chose to allocate such rare and obscure operations as “Backlight” and “Fade to White” to the User Buttons. How many professional operators use those particular features? Not many, I’m sure.
Why on earth can’t we assign Codec changes to the User Buttons? Surely it would be easy enough to protect them from accidental use (and arguably, the result of an accidental Codec change couldn’t be much worse than accidentally inserting a “fade to white” or even backlight compensation).
But don’t get me wrong – I just LOVE this camera!
I only wish it were easier to change codec.
I tried saving different User Files with the various Codec settings included – but have you ever tried quickly changing User Files . . ? Don’t go there!
Finally.
Watching the last three seconds of my clip is pretty useless to me – so why can’t the "Rec Check" button be changed to a ZAP THAT LAST CLIP button. I know whether my last clip's useless or not, so if it's scrap, I want to ditch it and get on with the shoot rather than undertake a minimum of TEN Menu Button presses as currently required to ditch a clip. I don't have time to piddle with the menu buttons when I'm shooting action.
C’mon, tell me what you think!
Andy
