I kind of miss my HVX

M

mcbob

Veteran
Cleaning up media lately.

A few very long-ago projects popped up in the review process with freshly transcoded DVCPROHD aplenty... kind of soft, a little underexposed, but so damned rich, natural, and ready to go, straight out of the cam. All this came from a package that was easy to handhold with that nice, zippy zoom when you needed to smash in or out.

Yeah, I didn't get to mess with shallow DOF unless at full tele, never futzed with changing a lens unless it was the ultrawide adapter, had to offload media more often than wives change minds, but... in some ways, some of that work was... free. A bit riskier. More creative, maybe, BECAUSE of the limited toolset.

Don't sit and remind me of the bad things, because they're already brewing up in my memory.... just a moment to remember the good times.
 
I dont know the camera but have been involved in the 'fs7 is a beast' thread - exponing how Ive gone back to using my ex1 on some shoots.

Camcoders of that era seem to have a certain something..what is it..?

Semi tactile manual lens (compared to yuk fly by wire)
3 chips not over stuffed with pixels?
 
If my HPX170 had been a bit sharper at 1080Pn, I'd still be using it, but the world passed it by for pro work. A few years ago I traded up to the PX270 which is in most every way the same style, but has very sharp IQ by comparison and has more features than you could ever use. The 270 has MOS sensors instead of CCD which is possibly the largest difference. Out of the box, it is less organic and a bit clinical. But after some tweaking of the scene files, it really is about everything you could hope for in a HandyCam. Not only is it significantly sharper that the HVX and HPX cams, it also has a very decent EVF and flip-out lcd. Although I use an external monitor at times, I never feel like I really need one to achieve focus which was always a major gripe on my previous handycams.

G
 
I think many of us love & miss some of the cameras we used back in the day...it's a combination of catalysts that lead to that happier association.
 
ha, I hear you...some people never had the opportunity to shoot on tape cameras so it's all relative.
 
I revisited an HVX200 early this year briefly and it brought me right back to 2006 when DV tapes were still king, tapeless was just slowly beginning to make its way into the market and cameras like the HVX and Sony Z1 were disrupting the DV filmmaking SD game. I will always have a love and appreciation for the 3 CCD SD and HD line of cameras. Hell, im still using one (Sony F900/3). CCD cameras have always to me produced a better image overall with cameras like the F900 and Varicam H having almost alexa like skin tone.. lets not forget the loved F35.. that camera to me still is the most cinematic digital camera alive. There are negatives in any form of tech no there is no reason to complain about the ones we all saw with DV tapes and so on. I really think the companies made a poor move with CMOS.. i understand the reason to a degree but I will never in my mind believe a CMOS image is as good or as natural looking as a CCD image. I know im probably in a minority group with that mindset but so be it. The HVX200 IS a beautiful camera, capable of beautiful images in the right hands.
 
The one thing I miss about tape is the instant archive there is to it. Whether it was VHS, Video8/Hi8 or DV/HDV, most of my older tapes are still playable today.
 
i still have and love my hpx170. i half-assedly tried to sell the kit here briefly last week. but it got pulled down (i think maybe for too many posted photos or something?)
it's still a totally viable b-roll camera. but its hard to believe how much sharper even an iphone 7+ is by comparison.

still. you can't beat:
- no jello
- servo zoom
- built in XLR
- built in ND
- rock-solid recording media (though i don't miss the frequent card swaps and need for an assistant for long-form jobs)
- that "look" no need to fart around with luts!
- no overheating, recording time limits, or an external monitor just to judge FOCUS!, etc...
 
mcbob said:
Cleaning up media lately.

A few very long-ago projects popped up in the review process with freshly transcoded DVCPROHD aplenty... kind of soft, a little underexposed, but so damned rich, natural, and ready to go, straight out of the cam. All this came from a package that was easy to handhold with that nice, zippy zoom when you needed to smash in or out.

Yeah, I didn't get to mess with shallow DOF unless at full tele, never futzed with changing a lens unless it was the ultrawide adapter, had to offload media more often than wives change minds, but... in some ways, some of that work was... free. A bit riskier. More creative, maybe, BECAUSE of the limited toolset.

Don't sit and remind me of the bad things, because they're already brewing up in my memory.... just a moment to remember the good times.
Click to expand...

Just doing the same thing. I sold mine years ago but I forgot how great my HVX looked. The pebble grain is perfect -- just like super 16mm and warm pleasing colors. What a great cam...
 
The HVX200 I used stopped working many years ago but I don't miss it. At the time it was pretty cool but modern cameras are just so much better to work with. As for IQ, yeah it looked great on occasion.
 
In a needless thread revival, I had a chance a month or so ago to shoot with the HVX's cousin, the HMC150.

The almost-720p image, noise, and dynamic unrange cured me of missing that family of cameras :D
 
I don’t miss these cameras, because i can always work backwords with the cameras i have now, or just buy an old working model.
 
I'm amazed whenever I pick up cams like a HVX200, Z1P, etc how small they are compared to most of the cameras (+ rigs) we shoot on nowadays. I remember back when I owned a Sony FX7 (With a "Juicedlink XLR adaptor", of course!), and then I used a Canon XF300 for the first time and thought the thing was a tank. I saw that same XF300 the other day sitting on a colleagues shelf and the thing was tiny.

Most of the lenses I use these days weigh as much as those older camcorders did, not to mention all the extra monitors, v-locks, shoulder rigs/rails, etc.
 
Jarek Zabczynski said:
4 minutes per card was awesome!

Said no one ever...lol...na...I loved the HVX.
Click to expand...

Ironically, that is the exact length of a 400ft mag shooting 4 perf 35mm, which was the common setup for handheld and Steadicam. Nothing like a 2 minute shot with the resulting discussions "should we reload?" once you hit the mid-mark, wondering if the next take would roll out before completion.
 
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