The Irish TRex
Well-known member
Experience #2
So I shot another wedding on Friday with the two PX270's and most of my original experience would be echoed again. However, this time I was prepared with more rented batteries and larger media so the shoot went much more smoothly. Overall, I felt faster with everything. The extra zoom reach and slow creeping zoom have come in handy many times already. The LCD is great with one big issue which I'll explain below. The 10bit 4:2:2 is awesome although truthfully, one wouldn't know the difference while shooting and those things will shine probably when I get to editing these in a couple months. We have another wedding this weekend and then I'll have to decide if I plan to keep them or not. I do believe at least one will be a part of our arsenal going forward but I'm not 100% sure yet. Without rambling on here...I'll point out my favorite points and gripes many of which are repeats of my first shoot. Again, this is all just MY experience...
LOVE:
Slow Zoom - It's awesome knowing we can zoom SOOO slow if we want to. The rocker is very easy to manipulate. It's also great being able to dial in the speed of the top rocker if you want.
LCD - The viewing angle is great and it's close to 6 times the resolution of what I was used to on the HMC's so it's shocking to be able to actually dial in focus. I haven't used the EVF much but the colors do look considerably more punchy than the somewhat flat colors in the LCD. I'd say the EVF looks more like what the output will look like. I know I could adjust the LCD's settings but I'm lazy like that and I'm fine with it.
FBC - Has helped already keep the flash banding at bay. Nice since I'm used to no banding coming from CCD sensor.
1080p60 at 10bit 4:2:2 50Mbps. - Can't say I've seen the fruits of this yet, but I'm sure I will later when editing and viewing.
No lens cap - Liking that feature.
The multiple media slots - Nice to have. There's even a little side slot up by the handle where I think you can put an SD card in and record a separate simultaneous proxy recording if you'd like. Doubt I'll do that but it's cool to know what's possible.
Low Light Performance - Exceeded my expectations. Or at the very least, it's what I had hoped for in a small sensor camera. See my previous post for details.
DON'T LOVE
LCD - As good as this thing is (and it's SOO much better than what I had) I wish it wasn't as reflective as it is. It's like looking in a mirror during the daytime. The LCD of the HMC150 was awful, but at least it was more matte finish. This is my biggest gripe. Granted, if you want to check your hair during the shoot you might like it a lot.
LCD Location - With an accessory on the shoe mount you can't close the LCD which would probably help save battery which would be a good thing since this camera loves battery juice.
Battery Readout - This has been covered well before this post so I'll leave it at that. Wish you could read out how much time was remaining. I also still don't love that when the battery does get within a minute or so of running out, the recording stops without warning.
"Camera Rolling" - I personally wish it was a bit more obvious when you are rolling. This is such a personal gripe, but it's a tiny little red REC icon that's almost lost on the screen. I wish there was a way to make this stand out more. Would be a nice safety net when you are running and gunning.
Back XLR placement - Not a huge fan, but most won't care. We just have something mounted to the side of the camera which gets in the way of this so we can't use it. Oh well.
No 4k - I know, I know. This can't really be a gripe. But you know what it's part of what is making me think twice about keeping both of these vs. getting a couple additional GH4's or some other 4k capable camera instead. For today, it's perfect. And there are so many advantages to this camera over a GH4 that I'm glad I have it. Just a thought.
Auto Focus Issue? - There's a weird thing I started noticing at the last wedding. This might just be me. I just don't know yet. Often times I'll run around not shooting but have the camera in hand. Most of the day is shot in MF, so it's not an issue but when AF is on, I started noticing that when I pulled up the camera to my eye the AF might have been on infinity...but yet the picture was soft. A quick tap of the zoom rocker and it INSTANTLY went away and everything was crystal clear again. I thought it was my eyes at first. Then I thought "maybe it's hot in here and it's fogging up my LCD". But neither of those were true. Then I thought, maybe it's getting focus on the floor when my hand is down and when I pick it up it needs to adjust to things now 8-10 feet away. But then why would the focus distance readout be at infinity. And why does a quick tap of the zoom instantly SNAP the softness away. It's not like it then adjusts and finds focus...it snaps instantly into focus. Seems odd. It happened several times over the night during dancing stuff where I often am running around in AF. There was decent light with our on camera LED's so I'm not sure what's up here. Again, this may be me, but it's something I definitely took note of on my 2nd day out with the camera.
Iris Ring - I may be the alone on this one but I like not having the Iris ring as a separate ring on the lens. I find myself knocking it accidentally since my left hand naturally settles near there. I'm sure I'll get over this soon enough. The sensitivity of all rings are great and feel great as does the whole camera in hand.
That's it. It's a huge upgrade from what I had and every camera will have their ups and downs and my downs are really me being picky. These cameras don't really get the big reviews that other DSLR and Mirrorless cameras get so I figured I'd share. Again, this is all usability stuff. After my first little low light test on day 1, I haven't really even looked at the output in detail from the two weddings we've shot. I did have an interesting chat with the photographer worth noting. Photographers are usually shocked when we roll up to higher end weddings without DSLRs. When I was dealing with lights for the reception (we often backlight the "main events" to add beauty and depth and a bump in overall light as well) he said, "well I'm not sure about lighting but that's why most people don't use those cameras and have moved on to cameras like these (pointing to his camera)". Again, I laughed it off and mostly remarked it's more the look than the low light that I was trying to manipulate. But sometimes I feel like saying "good luck taking your little DSLR and getting a 10 bit 4:2:2 50Mbps shot with a focal range of 28-616mm all while grabbing two XLR audio inputs and sending out an uncompressed secured SDI signal. Maybe you should just stick to getting one frame per second while I work on getting 60. I'm sure your moment in time will be great but trust me when I say that I have the same shot but mine moves, has audio, and includes everything that led up to that one moment and everything that came after." But instead I smiled and stayed friends. He did have very nice HDR shots which I can't get, but that's okay. I'm pretty happy with what I got too.
Happy shooting everyone...
So I shot another wedding on Friday with the two PX270's and most of my original experience would be echoed again. However, this time I was prepared with more rented batteries and larger media so the shoot went much more smoothly. Overall, I felt faster with everything. The extra zoom reach and slow creeping zoom have come in handy many times already. The LCD is great with one big issue which I'll explain below. The 10bit 4:2:2 is awesome although truthfully, one wouldn't know the difference while shooting and those things will shine probably when I get to editing these in a couple months. We have another wedding this weekend and then I'll have to decide if I plan to keep them or not. I do believe at least one will be a part of our arsenal going forward but I'm not 100% sure yet. Without rambling on here...I'll point out my favorite points and gripes many of which are repeats of my first shoot. Again, this is all just MY experience...
LOVE:
Slow Zoom - It's awesome knowing we can zoom SOOO slow if we want to. The rocker is very easy to manipulate. It's also great being able to dial in the speed of the top rocker if you want.
LCD - The viewing angle is great and it's close to 6 times the resolution of what I was used to on the HMC's so it's shocking to be able to actually dial in focus. I haven't used the EVF much but the colors do look considerably more punchy than the somewhat flat colors in the LCD. I'd say the EVF looks more like what the output will look like. I know I could adjust the LCD's settings but I'm lazy like that and I'm fine with it.
FBC - Has helped already keep the flash banding at bay. Nice since I'm used to no banding coming from CCD sensor.
1080p60 at 10bit 4:2:2 50Mbps. - Can't say I've seen the fruits of this yet, but I'm sure I will later when editing and viewing.
No lens cap - Liking that feature.
The multiple media slots - Nice to have. There's even a little side slot up by the handle where I think you can put an SD card in and record a separate simultaneous proxy recording if you'd like. Doubt I'll do that but it's cool to know what's possible.
Low Light Performance - Exceeded my expectations. Or at the very least, it's what I had hoped for in a small sensor camera. See my previous post for details.
DON'T LOVE
LCD - As good as this thing is (and it's SOO much better than what I had) I wish it wasn't as reflective as it is. It's like looking in a mirror during the daytime. The LCD of the HMC150 was awful, but at least it was more matte finish. This is my biggest gripe. Granted, if you want to check your hair during the shoot you might like it a lot.
LCD Location - With an accessory on the shoe mount you can't close the LCD which would probably help save battery which would be a good thing since this camera loves battery juice.
Battery Readout - This has been covered well before this post so I'll leave it at that. Wish you could read out how much time was remaining. I also still don't love that when the battery does get within a minute or so of running out, the recording stops without warning.
"Camera Rolling" - I personally wish it was a bit more obvious when you are rolling. This is such a personal gripe, but it's a tiny little red REC icon that's almost lost on the screen. I wish there was a way to make this stand out more. Would be a nice safety net when you are running and gunning.
Back XLR placement - Not a huge fan, but most won't care. We just have something mounted to the side of the camera which gets in the way of this so we can't use it. Oh well.
No 4k - I know, I know. This can't really be a gripe. But you know what it's part of what is making me think twice about keeping both of these vs. getting a couple additional GH4's or some other 4k capable camera instead. For today, it's perfect. And there are so many advantages to this camera over a GH4 that I'm glad I have it. Just a thought.
Auto Focus Issue? - There's a weird thing I started noticing at the last wedding. This might just be me. I just don't know yet. Often times I'll run around not shooting but have the camera in hand. Most of the day is shot in MF, so it's not an issue but when AF is on, I started noticing that when I pulled up the camera to my eye the AF might have been on infinity...but yet the picture was soft. A quick tap of the zoom rocker and it INSTANTLY went away and everything was crystal clear again. I thought it was my eyes at first. Then I thought "maybe it's hot in here and it's fogging up my LCD". But neither of those were true. Then I thought, maybe it's getting focus on the floor when my hand is down and when I pick it up it needs to adjust to things now 8-10 feet away. But then why would the focus distance readout be at infinity. And why does a quick tap of the zoom instantly SNAP the softness away. It's not like it then adjusts and finds focus...it snaps instantly into focus. Seems odd. It happened several times over the night during dancing stuff where I often am running around in AF. There was decent light with our on camera LED's so I'm not sure what's up here. Again, this may be me, but it's something I definitely took note of on my 2nd day out with the camera.
Iris Ring - I may be the alone on this one but I like not having the Iris ring as a separate ring on the lens. I find myself knocking it accidentally since my left hand naturally settles near there. I'm sure I'll get over this soon enough. The sensitivity of all rings are great and feel great as does the whole camera in hand.
That's it. It's a huge upgrade from what I had and every camera will have their ups and downs and my downs are really me being picky. These cameras don't really get the big reviews that other DSLR and Mirrorless cameras get so I figured I'd share. Again, this is all usability stuff. After my first little low light test on day 1, I haven't really even looked at the output in detail from the two weddings we've shot. I did have an interesting chat with the photographer worth noting. Photographers are usually shocked when we roll up to higher end weddings without DSLRs. When I was dealing with lights for the reception (we often backlight the "main events" to add beauty and depth and a bump in overall light as well) he said, "well I'm not sure about lighting but that's why most people don't use those cameras and have moved on to cameras like these (pointing to his camera)". Again, I laughed it off and mostly remarked it's more the look than the low light that I was trying to manipulate. But sometimes I feel like saying "good luck taking your little DSLR and getting a 10 bit 4:2:2 50Mbps shot with a focal range of 28-616mm all while grabbing two XLR audio inputs and sending out an uncompressed secured SDI signal. Maybe you should just stick to getting one frame per second while I work on getting 60. I'm sure your moment in time will be great but trust me when I say that I have the same shot but mine moves, has audio, and includes everything that led up to that one moment and everything that came after." But instead I smiled and stayed friends.
He did have very nice HDR shots which I can't get, but that's okay. I'm pretty happy with what I got too. Happy shooting everyone...
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