Panasonic announces UX180 and UX90 pricing & availability

dnavas said:
That Kata looks nice for just the camera..
Click to expand...
It's now a Manfroto and costs more just for the chafe of lable :-( I have the camera, spare battery, a shotgun and reporter mic + cables in mine (some times a Sennheiser G3 radio mic as well) which is enough for run and gun.

Otherwise it is the Peli + Tripod strapped to it for events that need all the gear. With something the size/weight of a loaded Peil the wheels are essential. Even if it is getting from one side of an auditorium or conference centre to the other side. Some of these venues are huge and the access points are often a long way from where you need to be.

I also have a day sack for the laptop though the laptop can also fit in the peli.
 
jagraphics said:
It's now a Manfroto and costs more just for the chafe of lable :-(
Click to expand...

I dunno https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...o_mb_pl_cc_192n_pro_light_camcorder_case.html at $190 is a darn sight less than the Mindshift backpack I linked earlier, and a duffle-bag orientation keeps the weight of the camera off the lens hood (or heaven forfend, the other end of the camera). Unfortunately won't work for carryon, if indeed that is how I want to transport it on a plane, it also won't fit tripod plus fluid head plus camera (but then, they would barely fit in the Mindshift backpack, truth be told, and the amount of cramming does not seem conducive to safe transportation). Some version of this does seem like it would work for camera plus mic plus accessories, which tempts me to consider a Russian Doll setup ("kata" + tripod in peli).

At anyrate, I'm curious what people think about transporting camcorders vertically. Having just looked, it seems quasi-dodgey, but backpacks are terribly convenient....
 
Last edited:
dnavas said:
At anyrate, I'm curious what people think about transporting camcorders vertically. Having just looked, it seems quasi-dodgey, but backpacks are terribly convenient....
Click to expand...

I used a regular old JanSport (i think) school book bag backpack for a canon XF300 carried vertically - lens up with rolled up t-shirts at the bottom to form a barrier and on sides around it. Also fit shotgun and wireless lavs, extra battery and charger. Was very efficient, camera was well padded all around and I always had an extra shirt.
 
Harry Pallenberg said:
I used a regular old JanSport (i think) school book bag backpack for a canon XF300 carried vertically - lens up with rolled up t-shirts at the bottom to form a barrier and on sides around it. Also fit shotgun and wireless lavs, extra battery and charger. Was very efficient, camera was well padded all around and I always had an extra shirt.
Click to expand...

I had never needed a big bag again until I got the x1000. So when I did I went out to the lockup, and got the old camera we bought in 198X that was still in a perfectly good bag. :)
 
To Essentialrc:

Thanks for posting your videos. Good luck with the camera. I wanted to mention what I am seeing in your videos in the spirit of improvement. Your highlights are blowing out and blooming with color. This is usually caused by the picture profile settings set in the menu. I do not own this camera but you would be wise to dig through these settings, tweak them, learn about them and settle upon a refined image. For the most part once you get your image it will be done but it can take a while to get the best of the camera.

4k is great and all but color and image refinement is where it is at for me to get a "pro" look.

I use a KATA backpack for my PX270 for most jobs. A backpack allows me to carry a tripod on my shoulder for one-trip in and out.
 
Appreciate the feedback. I will certainly look at the colour aspect. My key focus at the moment is tracking and keep fast moving subjects in focus. The subject can be on the ground in front of me, against a relatively dark background, and in the sky moving at high speed, against a blue sky, a few seconds later with the cam screaming at me to apply max NDA filter. Everything on auto isn't too bad but I'm trying to use focus assist and maintain the target with red outline on manual. Advice from anyone doing similar work would be appreciated. Would be good to know if you are using auto Iris and auto shutter as well.

Just to add that using the focus ring while holding this relatively heavy cam is also a challenge. I can't use a tripod because it restricts movement of the cam to the extreme angles I sometimes need. Is there any other type of support that would still give me unrestricted movement or do I need to hit the gym?!

Also appreciate the replies regarding transporting the cam. I think I'm actually going to buy a plastic toolbox and line it with foam. Significantly cheaper and can divide it to my requirements.
 
Last edited:
essential_rc said:
Appreciate the feedback. I will certainly look at the colour aspect.
Click to expand...

It's interesting to me, because the HC-X1 in auto mode seems to want to keep things at around 70%, and from what I can tell, your videos are brighter than that. Which scene and gamma are you using?

In general, I've found outdoor shots need an ND filter of some kind. I haven't played with different gammas, but maybe selecting one with a higher dynamic range would work better (filmlike3)? And by better, I guess I mean "less clipping". If the majority of your shots need 1/16 or 1/64, maybe better to leave it there and let gain take care of the few darker scenes? I have noticed that the camera doesn't really like taking the iris down all the way, and I haven't found a setting that would encourage it to use the full spectrum. Closing the iris would help the auto-focus a lot, I would think?

My key focus at the moment is tracking and keep fast moving subjects in focus. The subject can be on the ground in front of me, against a relatively dark background, and in the sky moving at high speed, against a blue sky, a few seconds later with the cam screaming at me to apply max NDA filter. Everything on auto isn't too bad but I'm trying to use focus assist and maintain the target with red outline on manual. Advice from anyone doing similar work would be appreciated. Would be good to know if you are using auto Iris and auto shutter as well.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, all my fast moving targets are falling off a diving board, so there's not a lot that's going to take me by surprise as it will you :(

Just to add that using the focus ring while holding this relatively heavy cam is also a challenge. I can't use a tripod because it restricts movement of the cam to the extreme angles I sometimes need. Is there any other type of support that would still give me unrestricted movement or do I need to hit the gym?!
Click to expand...

Here's how my inner monologue for my first handhold went "the picture is drifting to the left, move the camera to the right .. the right .. it's still drifting ... [$%^&]" I use a tripod now. Five pounds isn't really a lot of weight, but it's a workout for stabilizers in my forearm that haven't seen that kind of stress. The eyepiece can help, though in my case my glass rims push the camera in odd and exciting ways. I would bet that the muscles develop, but if I were you, I'd be thinking of some kind of shoulder mount or other methods to brace the camera. I'm with you -- I don't think a tripod setup would work well if there's a lot of overhead passes.
 
I'm using the default scene file Dave. The first one on the list I guess. Not something I've played with yet. I'll try filmlike3 as you state. I hear what you are saying about setting the ND filter for the sky (I guess with 80% zebra) and then let auto gain crank up the brightness when I'm looking at the ground. I'll try that out.

Your targets only fall?! You lucky chap. Mine go in any direction, without any advance notice, at over 200mph sometimes! Wouldn't mind if the pilot gave me a little notice what move he was going to make.

I'm thinking throwing some weights on a daily basis is probably my only solution...even a shoulder mount is bound to be restrictive but I'll do some research.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
essential_rc said:
I'm using the default scene file Dave. The first one on the list I guess. Not something I've played with yet. I'll try filmlike3 as you state. I hear what you are saying about setting the ND filter for the sky (I guess with 80% zebra) and then let auto gain crank up the brightness when I'm looking at the ground. I'll try that out.
Click to expand...

It's not a trialed suggestion, but my understanding of filmlike3 is that it should give you ten-ish+ stops. I haven't used it yet, so I don't know how it looks, but I don't expect auto-gain to give you much more leeway, and like I said, the camera seems loathe to use high iris values. Maybe that plus high shutter values in the sky will be enough? I don't expect it to work all that well, but it was the best suggestion I had. What I would also experiment with is to take control of the iris, close it nearly all the way, and let auto focus deal with ground/close shots. The closed iris should give you a deeper depth of field so that you don't always need to be on the focus ring, and you can open the iris on the ground when things aren't moving as fast and let auto-focus do its thing. I believe there are adjustments that allow auto-focus to react faster as well, which I think you'd need to use.

I wish I had any other tips for you, but the last time I shot something moving fast in the air, it lumbered, and I still managed to screw up the shot and spent days in post trying to hand re-center it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cJuPCYiZMs You're already doing way better than that!

Your targets only fall?! You lucky chap. Mine go in any direction, without any advance notice, at over 200mph sometimes! Wouldn't mind if the pilot gave me a little notice what move he was going to make.
Click to expand...

Well, if they go any direction but down, it's a bad day. My problem is in the same space as yours though, in that my subjects are often fiercely backlit, so I'm hoping to piggyback off some of your experience when diving season restarts :)

Yes, I know, I promised diving shots -- practice started yesterday, but it was raining.

-Dave
 
Shot diving last night. Lighting was ~stadium bright. At f3.6 I was at 11db keeping the boards right at about 80%. 4k60p shots came out great. FHD120p, though ... let's say you wouldn't want to broadcast what you get, but it's useful for instruction. Noticeably dimmer, less detailed, and noisy. I somehow lost focus on one of those shots as well. I'm going to try again tonight and upload later. Cameraman gets a 'D' for having all of his muscle-memory backwards now that he's got a tripod with a stick. I have to keep telling myself "down is up, up is down". I also need to remember to white balance BEFORE the start....

Will upload video tonight or tomorrow (hopefully).

-Dave
 
FHD Super Slow takes a noticeable resolution loss. If you're trying to integrate 120fps into a UHD/60p production, yeah, that's gonna be a noticeable change. It's not so noticeable in a 1080p project, but it's a big resolution hit as compared to UHD/60p. It's about the same as the DVX200 120fps, with one big improvement in that you don't lose any field of view when going to 120fps on the UX180. On the DVX200 you lost res at faster than 60 fps, and then you also lost field of view at 120 fps. So the UX180's 120fps is better, but still, it's not the same quality as 1080/60p.
 
The most annoying thing about the super-slow mode isn't even the resolution loss and loss of lighting, it's that I have to go into two completely separate menus to turn it on (because I can't turn it on when UHD60p is active, and the HD30p I need to select is on a different page of resolution settings, even -- grr!).

Friday I caught a bunch of 1m practice right as the sun went down, so lighting conditions got progressively more challenging. WB was all over the place because of the same reason (didn't help that I can't get a really good bead on white at the far side of the pool, which has different lighting than the near side). I believe I started the shoot at -3db, and wound up at 14db. I'd rather not go higher than 11db, really (which is where the 3m shots at the end were taken) given the graininess that creeps in, but I'd *also* like to be shooting with a higher shutter rate (2-3x of where these are taken). It's going to be another couple of years (or another 0 on the price) before I have what I would want. I also really need to reset my zebras higher, or I'm going to continue to underexpose....

It was chilly, but not cold for 1m. At the end of 3m practice it was 40 degrees, which is definitely not a temperature I'd like to be in a bathing suit!

The slow-mo video:

4K60p shots:
 
Last edited:
The diving videos tell me I would "never" use the super slow. You can't even get a freeze frame out of it that doesn't have motion blur. I'll stick with 4k 50p shutter speed adjustment that i can later create my own slow-motion.
 
Yeah, I need higher shutter rates -- the freeze frames on 60p are worse. 500 in daylight should be *really* nice.
That said, that was the same as my conclusion, however my daughter much prefers the slo-mo (go figure).
I'll definitely be experimenting with the optical flow slow-mo, but unfortunately that doesn't really get you information about timing certain hand movements :shrug:
 
My first solid day out with the UX180...this time shooting at an RC car racing championship. Feel I'm very much learning the basics and got a lot to improve on with this camcorder but hey you have to get it wrong before you get it right I guess. Shooting with 80% zebra mostly at the ground obviously (which makes a nice change) but some of the cars look too bright and over-exposed. I guess one click up on NDA filter would have eliminated that? And the cars lacking in some sharpness/motion blur on the close track side shots. High shutter speeds above 60 would minimise this? Was under the impression shutter should not get changed unless really necessary. Difficult to know the quality of the footage until back at my desktop PC. It's a start. Any input on the key changes I could make next time out at this type of event.

On the positive side...I'm not having any problems holding this cam for long periods, panning and zooming. Credit to Panasonic for making something this complex that is this light. OIS is amazing. I am hand holding the cam all the time and it smooths out to an acceptable level I think. And loving the macro level function. Will be using that a lot more.

EDIT: So having shutter at 1/60 and running at 60 fps would have been the problem! Looking forward to trying 1/120 at 60 fps next time out. Probably obvious to most but new for me having changed up from a handycam.

 
Last edited:
Does recording to SDXC card on the UX90 have the 4gb file size limit? If I am recording a two hour event in .mov will it be in one file or broken down to several files?
 
Ken1212 said:
Does recording to SDXC card on the UX90 have the 4gb file size limit? If I am recording a two hour event in .mov will it be in one file or broken down to several files?
Click to expand...

If you're recording SDXC, then you can get 96 gigabytes of continuous recording. The UX90 in HD records at 50 mbps, so you'd get about 2 minutes per gigabyte; one 64gb card should deliver a two-hour performance in one contiguous file. If you're recording UHD, it's about 1 minute per gigabyte, so you'd either need two cards (and therefore you'd get two files, of course) or you'd need a 128gb card, in which case you'll still get two files - one will be 96gb long, and the other will be 32gb long.

The 4GB file limit is due to the SDHC card's use of FAT32, which has a 4-gb file size limit. The only time you'll get split files on an SDXC card is either a) you exceed 96gb in one recording, or b) you're shooting AVCHD (which splits files on its own, at 2gb file sizes, regardless of what kind of card you're using).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top