Panasonic GH1 VS Panasonic HMC150

Panasonic GH1 VS Panasonic HMC150

  • Yes HMC150 to GH1

    Votes: 6 7.1%

  • Yes, I will pass on Scarlet and get this GH1

    Votes: 8 9.4%

  • No, are you crazy it is not a video camera

    Votes: 63 74.1%

  • Yes, Trading in my Video Camera for this GH1

    Votes: 12 14.1%
  • Total voters
    85
I guess it all depends on perspective. We all know that having the right tools makes any job easier. I’m no pro, but coming from an HV20 if I were to move up to an HMC it will probably hit me at some point on how bad I really had it with that little consumer cam. But I might not see it the same way if I moved to the Mark ll. They are both highly limited cams in regards to manual functions and workarounds etc. It would be no problem for me to continue working as usual. But for folks like you guys, who are pros, using that DSLR would mean taking many steps backwards in terms of operability. I think for some of you though the ‘Final Picture’ speaks volumes on the possibilities of this camera. Which is why it seems some of you are torn between getting one or just sticking with what you have.
 
The first and last options are too much alike. And there's no option for those who want to own both. The GH1 is supposed to be around 1000 so why couldn't I own that and a video camera?
 
Multiple cams is a good option for sure.. You can always get an inovative filmmaker who wants to throw convention to the wind and shoot on soemething poetic.. like that pixelvision fisher price cam, or the Dogma guy who shot Celebration on a single chip DV.


As stated.. you can use a rock to hammer in nails.. but a nice hammer will do it more efficiently. Either way.. we all win.. I shoot stuff with my SD9 cam all the time. At 400 bucks its a great little covert cam.
 
I don't own an HMC150, but an XHA1. I was thinking of switching to the Pany, but now with the way things are progressing so fast, I think I'll keep what I've got and maybe add some sort of HD capable DSLR this summer or fall. Not as a replacement but as a supplemental camera.

I've got a short script I'd like to make later this summer or early fall with a ton of night scenes in various locations. With one of these HD DSLR's, I'd be able to utilize more ambient streetlight instead of having to drag a ton of lighting, a generator, etc... to the locations. Add in the 35mm DoF without all the hassles of an adapter and I say why not make films with these new style HD cameras. Plus, I'll get a DSLR along with it to boot. To quote the 80's masterpiece Robocop, "I'll buy that for a dollar." Well, probably around a thousand dollars but you get the idea.

Once somebody comes out with a reasonably priced (DVX to EX1 $$ range) AVC-HD or better codec capable 1080 24p pro/prosumer HD video camera with a full frame, APS-C, or micro 4/3 sensor plus interchangeable lens mount and minimal rolling shutter problems my A1 is as good as gone. I've got a hunch that possibly this fall or by CES 2010 there will be an announcement of this magnitude from one of the big camera manufacturers. NAB 2010 at the very latest.
 
I started looking for an HD camcorder a few months ago, read about the D90, the the 5DM2, and finally the GH-1. I was floored by the 5DM2 images...my first post on the subject was titled "Is It the Glass"

Since then I've had quite an education on lens and camera processing. And I can say 'part' of the reason the Canon looks good is the glass. But the glass means little if the two others aren't addressed.

First, is recording, and at 720p24 the HMC150 is probably more than a match for DVCProHD at 720p24 40Mb/s. Less so for 1080p30 which DVCProHD does at 100Mb/s. The Canon did 45Mb/s AVCHD...80% faster than the HMC150. That was the first step. Managing the compression.

The second was an oversampled sensor which probably sounds heretical to a web forum dedicated to cameras that have signficantly undersampled their images. However, the pixels are are only a part of the problem. The real problem is the contrast, measured as MTF percent, across the range of frequencies captured.

Because of artifacts, there are optical and digital low pass filters around the Nyquist frequency. They attenuate the signal near that frequency. As a result part of the recorder image loses clarity...often what we consider quality. The Canon has a 21M photo site sensor (18Mp over the digital area although only 6M photo sites seem to be sampled). The optical and probably the digitial sensor are set to a Nyquist limit of 78 lp/mm, way above the 27lp/mm of 1080p. 1080p sensors, to now the holy grail of prosumer camcorders, have those filters set around 27lp/mm on a 35mm frame (540lp/ph vs 1600lp/ph). That is probably what makes the detail pop.

Add a 35mm sensor which also raises the diffraction effects, and the excellent Canon L glass usually used with the camera, and you have those images.

The D90 never had the recording capablity...25Mb/s MJPEG. The GH-1 may be limited on camera but we are hoping for a live HDMI feed the 5DM2 lacks.

The sensor is smaller but not enough so to be an issue. And it is significantly oversampled. At least 55lp/mm equivalent. The glass isn't as good, but other glass can be fitted.

The answer is the GH-1 should be capable of images the HMC150 (or maybe a successor HMC200) can't conceive of.

The GH-1 isn't nirvana, but then neither is the Canon. There are others coming...it remains to be seen if any have found the magic elixir.

Among camcorders one has: the Red One. It has an oversampled 4k+ sensor recording in an elaborate wavelet RAW format at 288Mb/s. And of course great glass. Maybe this year, and certainly with in two, we will probably see quite a few cameras finding the elixir. Canon's prosumer camcorders need a boost and I'm sure Sony's DSLR division is looking for a way to take a bite out of Nikon and Canon.
 
DavidNJ said:
The answer is the GH-1 should be capable of images the HMC150 (or maybe a successor HMC200) can't conceive of.

The GH-1 isn't nirvana, but then neither is the Canon. There are others coming...it remains to be seen if any have found the magic elixir.
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So, What if I used a GH1 with just sdhc cards (without hdmi tether)?

Are those images going to be better or worse than if I used an HMC150?
 
not as good but still good.

e.g. simple scenes would probably be fine but really complex scenes (disco lights or tons of complex movements) would give hmc a bigger advantage i believe.
 
dcloud said:
not as good but still good.

e.g. simple scenes would probably be fine but really complex scenes (disco lights or tons of complex movements) would give hmc a bigger advantage i believe.
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So as far as static, slow moving, or slow panning shots the GH1 will in all probabilitly have better image quality???
 
I'm looking really closely at the GH1. We'll have to see how video from the production model looks, for sure...but on my budget the GH1 is a stretch. I am hoping that it will produce video superior to their consumer HD cameras. I have used a DVX in the past...if the quality can match the DVX that's good enough for me, for now.
 
If you check the specs for the new Panasonic HDC-HS300K they are very similar to the GH1 with the exception of the bigger sensor on the GH1. The predecessor to the 300 shoots very good video and this one should be better. We have to wait to see on the jello effect, hopefully it is minimal. The GH1 should have much better quality than the DVX 100 with shallow DOF to boot.
 
in another thread, gh 1 vs hmc170, people were saying that the gh 1 was producing a better image, with a wider dynamic range, beautiful overexposure role off and a sharper image overall.

and now i am hearing that the hmc150 produces a better image, this is confusing me!! :undecided
 
chrismagicc said:
in another thread, gh 1 vs hmc170, people were saying that the gh 1 was producing a better image, with a wider dynamic range, beautiful overexposure role off and a sharper image overall.

and now i am hearing that the hmc150 produces a better image, this is confusing me!! :undecided
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If you ask in the HMC forum you will hear that the HMC produces a better image, in the GH1 forum you will hear that the GH1 produces a better image. What did you expect? :2vrolijk_08:

Seriously, those two cameras couldn't be more different. The HMC is a semiprofessional broadcast quality video camera with all the bells and whistles you could expect (zebra, waveform, XLR input, different recording modes, scene files, user buttons etc. etc.) and the GH1 is a high end consumer photo camera with exchangeable lenses. The HMC has got three CCDs and a global shutter whereas the GH1 has got one pretty large CMOS sensor with a rolling shutter.

Honestly, you don't treat either camera for the other. I have an HMC and I might get an additional GH1 but I would never give my HMC away for the GH1. They're different tools for different needs. You simply need to know what you want.
 
pailes said:
If you ask in the HMC forum you will hear that the HMC produces a better image, in the GH1 forum you will hear that the GH1 produces a better image. What did you expect? :2vrolijk_08:

Seriously, those two cameras couldn't be more different. The HMC is a semiprofessional broadcast quality video camera with all the bells and whistles you could expect (zebra, waveform, XLR input, different recording modes, scene files, user buttons etc. etc.) and the GH1 is a high end consumer photo camera with exchangeable lenses. The HMC has got three CCDs and a global shutter whereas the GH1 has got one pretty large CMOS sensor with a rolling shutter.

Honestly, you don't treat either camera for the other. I have an HMC and I might get an additional GH1 but I would never give my HMC away for the GH1. They're different tools for different needs. You simply need to know what you want.
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agreed.

id kill for a gh1/hmc hybrid though :P
 
Gh1 has way too many headaches and workarounds from what I've read in the GH1 forum. They all seem to be trying to "cheat or trick" the camera someway to get it to work like a dedicated video camera,,, and no manual controls? or limited,,,, I couldn't give a rats bum what image it could ,can , or might produce, its not the right tool for me. I'm still buying the HMC in August.
 
shaun1970 said:
Gh1 has way too many headaches and workarounds from what I've read in the GH1 forum. They all seem to be trying to "cheat or trick" the camera someway to get it to work like a dedicated video camera,,, and no manual controls? or limited,,,, I couldn't give a rats bum what image it could ,can , or might produce, its not the right tool for me. I'm still buying the HMC in August.
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what the hell are you talking about?

except for the mud issue, gh1 is a great camera with FULL manual controls. (no audio control though!)
 
Footage looks notchy, like all GH1 footage I've seen. The camera can't handle any movement. In that 1st clip, everyshot when the car goes by, it basically jumps its way across the screen, while the background looks amazing, anything that moves at any speed in the shot get all jumpy, like it skips frames.
 
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