Panasonic announces UX180 and UX90 pricing & availability

Even the shutter can't be adjusted which is too bad. I had a good idea for a low light video by setting the gain to 0 and shutter to something like 24/30 or under especially if the camera is on a tripod. Instead, the shutter is locked to either 48 or 60 (depending on the recording format) and gain stays at auto. Would have been very nice to have had more control over the picture while in IR mode.
 
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Barry_Green said:
The auto gain could be used as you describe, yes. I'm not a big fan of gain at all, but if you needed to use it, it wouldn't be that much. The difference from f/2.8 to f/4.5 is only about 1 1/3 stops, so about 7 or 8 db of gain would compensate.
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Barry I got in my UX90 and wanted to ask you, I have a shoot coming up that is an all day and wanted to shoot with the unlimited recording up to 96gb. So far I have been shooting AVCHD with the HMC80, which would be a better codec for editing the .mov or the mp4 at 1080p 30fps 50mb?
 
At 50mbps, you'd get about three hours of continuous recording in a 96gb file. The camera doesn't stop recording at that point; it'll just close out the current file and start recording a new file seamlessly, so that's why it's "unlimited" but also 96gb; the maximum file size it can make is 96gb but it can record continuously.

Use SDXC cards to save yourself enormous headaches. An SDHC card will work, but it'll be splitting files every 4 gigabytes. With SDXC, you get the 96gb file sizes, so many fewer file segments.

As for editing, that's up to how you edit -- if you're on a Mac you'll probably find the .MOV file format preferable; on Windows generally all the NLEs will work fine with .MP4. The recorded content is identical, so it's just down to which you prefer for your NLE.
 
Barry_Green said:
At 50mbps, you'd get about three hours of continuous recording in a 96gb file. The camera doesn't stop recording at that point; it'll just close out the current file and start recording a new file seamlessly, so that's why it's "unlimited" but also 96gb; the maximum file size it can make is 96gb but it can record continuously.

Use SDXC cards to save yourself enormous headaches. An SDHC card will work, but it'll be splitting files every 4 gigabytes. With SDXC, you get the 96gb file sizes, so many fewer file segments.

As for editing, that's up to how you edit -- if you're on a Mac you'll probably find the .MOV file format preferable; on Windows generally all the NLEs will work fine with .MP4. The recorded content is identical, so it's just down to which you prefer for your NLE.
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Thanks Barry, I do use a windows PC. I just received my Panasonic FZ2500 as a companion for the UX90, and I am impressed as it even has more format options including 4k DCI. I plan to use them together for interviews with the UX90 as my main camera and the FZ25000 as my B cutaway camera.
 
Camera Expert said:
This video was shot in 4K60p using the UX180 camcorder. Everything was in auto. I used a lossless editor to put the clips together and so their was no re-compression (except for a few frames where the clips touch each other) before I uploaded it. It's only showing me 1080p60 at this time. I also uploaded a sample 4K file directly from the card and even that video doesn't go higher than 1080p60 yet. Yes I did check the properties on the videos before I uploaded it.
For anyone who has uploaded native 4K60p files to YouTube from either the UX180 or HC-X1, what was the duration of your clip and how long did it take to see a 4K60p option on the video? I just read elsewhere that it can take a while.
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HIGHSENS mode would have been a good feature to try before using the gain in my opinion.

In my experience 4K option on YouTube can take several hours to appear. If I publish late evening it's normally there in the morning.
 
I'm filming outside most of the time and would appreciate some advice on a mic windshield for the UX-180. I dont really need to invest in a mic at the moment unless that's the only option.
 
Barry_Green said:
I have had a chance to test both the UX90 and the UX180 now, and while I don't have confirmation from the factory, my initial impression is that Sumfun is probably right here. The UX90 and the UX180 are NOT the same camera. The UX180 is about a full f-stop faster, and has a much wider FOV when shooting UHD, and it supports UHD at 50/60p. They're obviously quite different.

As far as the external camera body goes, the UX90 and UX180 pretty much share the same body other than the SDI port and the viewfinders. But under the hood there's a significant difference. I would definitely say that nobody should be using UX90 footage to gauge UX180 performance, and nobody should go looking at UX180 images and think that the UX90 will deliver the same images, because - they won't.



That actually seems downright reasonable, based on my experimentation with a very early UX180 and a pretty-far-along UX90. But I haven't seen an HC-X1 so cannot speak to that.
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Barry I was reading your above statement and was curious if the UX90 and UX180 use a different sensor?
 
Barry_Green said:
At 50mbps, you'd get about three hours of continuous recording in a 96gb file. The camera doesn't stop recording at that point; it'll just close out the current file and start recording a new file seamlessly, so that's why it's "unlimited" but also 96gb; the maximum file size it can make is 96gb but it can record continuously.

Use SDXC cards to save yourself enormous headaches. An SDHC card will work, but it'll be splitting files every 4 gigabytes. With SDXC, you get the 96gb file sizes, so many fewer file segments.

As for editing, that's up to how you edit -- if you're on a Mac you'll probably find the .MOV file format preferable; on Windows generally all the NLEs will work fine with .MP4. The recorded content is identical, so it's just down to which you prefer for your NLE.
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Barry I had may first studio shoot with the UX90 today and having issue getting both good skin tone color and maintaining true color of attire. I used tungsten lights with a black background the best skin color was at about 3200K, however the attire needed like 2500k for the blue jacket to look blue but then my skin tone was way off (blueish). I used the FZ2500 as a B camera and it had more green at the same kelvin which produced more accurate colors of the attire. Is there a way to fine tune color by adding some green in camera . Trying to match the two cameras so I don't have to do to much post work. By the way I was on F1 setting. Thanks
 
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Were you manually dialing in the color with the variable preset? The best way to get accurate color is to do an actual manual white balance, not to dial in the color temperature.

As for adding color in-camera, it's not as simple on a UX90 as it is on the UX180; on the UX180 you have the 16-pole color matrix and can dial it in any which-way you want. On the UX90 you can adjust the red and blue individually, either using the RB COLOR BALANCE or the ATW TARGET setting depending on whether you're using manual or automatic white balance. You would probably want to experiment with the color matrix option too; there are five color matrices and you may find one more to your liking than another; it's possible NORM2 would have given you what you're after.
 
essential_rc said:
HIGHSENS mode would have been a good feature to try before using the gain in my opinion.

In my experience 4K option on YouTube can take several hours to appear. If I publish late evening it's normally there in the morning.
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Yeah I probably could have used that instead of allowing the camera to go crazy on the gain.

I do know that the UX90 would have been even worse shooting that. People who has the UX90 might want to consider shooting in HD if their isn't much lighting. When shooting videos of a lion dance competition in a restaurant, I got some shots of people setting things up in 4K at first but right before the competition started, I got too freaked out looking at the extra noise on the screen that I decided to shoot it in HD instead. If I have had the UX180 at the time, I would have kept it at 4K.
 
Used the slow motion feature outdoors in 24p. Seams a little soft. I used a shutter of 120.
Would be good if their was a shutter of 240. I might have used it instead of 120.
Also would be good if their was sound. Hey, I think having sound in slowmotion is better than nothing. Panasonic should really consider adding sound on future models.
Ice Skating in Slow motion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmCA8M8NXFM&list=PLfiUWslpPfwxqRiTeFDUNY-DHI_zJkBHH&index=17

Same place but in normal motion using 4K 60p.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY4py4tU4Fw&index=19&list=PLfiUWslpPfwxqRiTeFDUNY-DHI_zJkBHH
It may still be in 1080p60 but it'll eventually turn to 4K 60p.

Was trying to set the shutter to 120 in the first clip that shows the ladies cheering but it wasn't locked and the camera decided to chance it to 100. It has a mind of it's own. Was shot in 4K 60p. I was setting it very quickly. Anyway, the rest of the scenes are random around the Faneuil Hall MarketPlace area in Boston.

I thought the sky looked a bit cool when it was starting to get a little dark so I decided to take a quick video using the pure 24p mode that gives you a little bit more resolution than the other modes.

Other clips I have of the UX90 and UX180 is in this playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfiUWslpPfwxqRiTeFDUNY-DHI_zJkBHH


Tomorrow they'll have people doing lion dancing all over Chinatown in New York. I've decided to take a trip and get some videos of that. On Sunday, it's the Lunar New Year parade. I'll be shooting all that in 4K 60p.

For people who are editing H.264 or H.265 files, if your not doing anything fancy, you could try using a lossless editor. One of them is called TMPGEnc MPEG Smart Renderer. That works fine with 4K files. I used it for these clips. Another lossless editor is called SolveigMM Video slitter. It works great for HD files but when I tried using it with 4K files from the UX90 back in November, the exported video was showing glitches. Hopefully it get's fixed soon.

You do save a lot of time rendering using them. I do wish Premiere Pro CC was able to smart render H.264 files.
 
Hi
Another newbie question
I am trying (I am learning) to find setup for WB at home,
HC X1 is on the table
UHD50p
Scene file: still
Iris fully open
Shutter 1/50
Gain 6db
Choose Ach, put white card to find wb and get OK and 4840K, here is the picture



Change to PRST/VAR and setup 4840K, here is the picture



What classes I missed:)?
What I am doing wrong?
Tnx
 
paja said:
Hi
Another newbie question
I am trying (I am learning) to find setup for WB at home,
HC X1 is on the table
UHD50p
Scene file: still
Iris fully open
Shutter 1/50
Gain 6db
Choose Ach, put white card to find wb and get OK and 4840K, here is the picture



Change to PRST/VAR and setup 4840K, here is the picture



What classes I missed:)?
What I am doing wrong?
Tnx
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When you use presets, cameras assume that all things are equal. In this case it doesn't account for the green spike in the light in this room. When you manually balance it sees all the colours and adjusts for them, thus why manually it looks right and preset looks green. Its your decision to decide does the green stay or go.

As an example. Shooting an exterior street scene. The practical street lamps may have a green tinge to them, one that can be seen with the naked eye. When you then go and add a bunch of other lighting whether HMI or tungsten, if you manually balance the green of those lights should reduce. The camera will account for them. If you dial it in or use a preset the camera will not and those green lights will still be green even if the preset number you use is the same as the manual white balance. Your HMI or tungsten, what ever you chose should however be balanced relatively accurately. You might decide you want the green so dialing in is a better option. There are some cases where you can't see the green so easily such as a fluoro unit / practical, this is where colour meters are useful, though it should show in your cameras EVF / screen / ext. monitor, so you will know it's there.

Now the downside to manual white balance is the camera sees the green and then boosts colours to make it appear white. That may not always be a great thing depending on your sensor and how it works etc. If its boosting a lot of blue channel for example that could add noise to a varying degree.

In the case I used before with the street lights, now it may not be practical to swap out street lights in and addition I may want the street to appear natural, so I'd leave the green and light the way I normally would. If its all natural light say for a doco etc. I'd shoot it naturally. Thus one of the reasons I rarely ever manually white balance anything instead opting to dial in my white balances. This goes a little against what Barry says above at first appearance, however we are aiming for the same goal and in that case I would have checked light colours as well so that issue was removed first.

For one lamp in a room like your shot, I'd probably replace the lamp before shooting to remove green rather than asking the camera to.
 
Noel Evans said:
When you use presets, cameras assume that all things are equal. In this case it doesn't account for the green spike in the light in this room. When you manually balance it sees all the colours and adjusts for them, thus why manually it looks right and preset looks green. Its your decision to decide does the green stay or go.

As an example. Shooting an exterior street scene. The practical street lamps may have a green tinge to them, one that can be seen with the naked eye. When you then go and add a bunch of other lighting whether HMI or tungsten, if you manually balance the green of those lights should reduce. The camera will account for them. If you dial it in or use a preset the camera will not and those green lights will still be green even if the preset number you use is the same as the manual white balance. Your HMI or tungsten, what ever you chose should however be balanced relatively accurately. You might decide you want the green so dialing in is a better option. There are some cases where you can't see the green so easily such as a fluoro unit / practical, this is where colour meters are useful, though it should show in your cameras EVF / screen / ext. monitor, so you will know it's there.

Now the downside to manual white balance is the camera sees the green and then boosts colours to make it appear white. That may not always be a great thing depending on your sensor and how it works etc. If its boosting a lot of blue channel for example that could add noise to a varying degree.

In the case I used before with the street lights, now it may not be practical to swap out street lights in and addition I may want the street to appear natural, so I'd leave the green and light the way I normally would. If its all natural light say for a doco etc. I'd shoot it naturally. Thus one of the reasons I rarely ever manually white balance anything instead opting to dial in my white balances. This goes a little against what Barry says above at first appearance, however we are aiming for the same goal and in that case I would have checked light colours as well so that issue was removed first.

For one lamp in a room like your shot, I'd probably replace the lamp before shooting to remove green rather than asking the camera to.
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Hi Noel,
thank you very much for the answer, useful information for me
Regards
 
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