Need HPX300 expert for hire

R

romy101

Active member
I am ready to throw this camera in the trash and start over with another brand. Fortunately I have recovered half of the cost already in production. Before I do that I am hoping to find someone competent that can help me get this camera evaluated.

Everyone says it looks like crap, but everyone has their own lives to take care of. So I will pay for someones time.

Panasonic says send it in. Don't know how they will fix the crazy moquito noise all over the place. They said shoot in 720p, problem is I paid 8 grand for a 1080p camera. If indeed the camera is just not as good as other cameras in the price bracket then I need to look elsewhere.

Two clients already commented on the SD looking footage, when I filmed in 1080p. Tomorrow I am borrowing my friends EX1 for a studio shoot while mine sits on the side.

Any takers out there that can help me? I can pay with credit card or paypal.
 
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Can you post some raw footage? maybe its just your settings? And what NLE are you rendering with and what format are you rendering to?
 
If we saw stills, we could possibly help you out here. But if your in New York, I could possibly help a little later in the month.
 
Here is a link to footage.

http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/for_panasonic.zip


Here is some more footage
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/avcintratest.zip
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/avcintratest1.zip


Here are screen shots from my system. Frame grabs from premiere pro.

HPX300
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/hpx300.png
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/badimg.jpg
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/hpx300_hands.jpg

Other cameras
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/nx5u.png
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/ex1.png
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/goodimg.jpg
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/xha1.jpg


All together
http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/all.jpg


I am working with Premiere Pro on the PC. I hope its settings but that would mean I am a total moron. I bought this camera in November and have spent countles weeks with this frustration.

If I wasnt so afraid of snow I would fly with the camera to you and pay for a half day of your time.

It seems as though recording something still like a chart looks fine but there is some smeering going on when there is movement. Weird. No detail in the hair for instance between the strands. Smudgy look to everything, and that noise is crazy.
 
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try resetting the camera, updating the firmware, checking your scene files, etc. Those kinds of things are usually the cause of trouble. If its not one of those, I would actually recommend bringing it in to an authorized service center to get it looked at. Its an expensive piece of equipment, and it should be in proper working order.
 
I reset it a bunch of times. Firmware is the up to date one listed on Panasonics website. Before I send it in I wanted to make sure it was not just the way it is as a camera.

Can someone please upload a raw video file for me to download. I need the entire contents directory. If I could see what 1080p footage is supposed to look like then I can conclusively know if my camera is bad. Then I will send it in. Right now I only have the ability to compare it to other brand cameras.
 
What is that? Does that only set black levels? Will it also cure smudgy video? I also have used scene files from the Panny website too.
 
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Hallo romy! I've seen your footage and i've to say that for me is only a setting problem. It seems that the backfocus is not set properly. I know that you have set it a lot of times but i've noticed on my experience that the backfocus on this lens is not so stable. What are your settings? Are you using the cinelikemode? It's known that the 301 is a grainy camera so are you shooting at gain -3? Usually i set my detail levels at -4 or -2 and if i'm shooting nature footage with more contrasted green or brown i set my coring to +4. But i have to say that the strange thing is that you are shooting at 720 and not at 1080.... i've seen real problems with this camera only at 1080p ( not 1080i). I've shoot a videoclip in 720 25pn with green screen and i've noticed noise only because we used a detail at +3 and pedestal at -100. When i came back i will post some frames of that work so you can see if there are difference between your footage and mine.The last comment that i've to do is this: if you're not satisfied with your camera before you sell it or bring it back, go to the store were you buy it ( i've give back my 371 for a 301 because i was not satisfied at all, take my car and drive for 1600km in a day!) and make a test with another 301 in the store. Then if you experience the same problems or you don't like the result...give it back!

I hope that you can resolve this issue!
Bests,
Roberto
 
Thanks for the advice. Ive set backfocus as exact as I can, but tell me something, when I zoom in and focus then zoom out to frame, doesnt that make more range in front and behind the subject all be in focus anyway, thus expanding the focus range? I will post some 1080p footage I am filming today both on the same subject with and EX1 and HPX300.
 
Me and my buddy were filming today. We used the BBC settings provided by another user on this forum, we also used scene files provided by panasonic. We zoomed in and focused on the star chart, zoomed out and backfocused, zoomed in and focued and back again, to set the backfocus. We also factory rest. We run at -3 gain, white balance and recorded in 1080p 30. Both of us see a stark difference between the HPX and the EX1. Here is footage shot today of both cameras.

Unfortunately the place I bought it from was not a place like B&H where you can return. They would give me a problem returning it. They only want to get Panasonic on the line to help. They are also not technically savvy themselves. Please look at the footage and let me know what you think.

http://www.vspworldwide.com/clientfiles/download/hpx300/avc_compare_010611.zip
 
Yes I did. Read the material and black balanced. Even after black balancing I still saw noise though on the waveform.
 
Hi roomy! I've seen your footage and i think that you have to go phisically to a Panasonic store and test the camera with another one. You have a 5 year warranty on this camera! Or you can sand it to Panasonic's lab for tests. I don't know if it's the same but in Europe we have a free of charge spedition for the Germany Panasonic's lab. They are superfast,give to you another camera if the tests will take more time and they can see if the camera has any problem. Well it's free,why don't use it! I've seen that you have more cameras to work with so you can wait their response and continue to work with another camera.

Hope you find a solution,
bests,
Roberto
 
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