Panny HS300/TM300 as B cam to HMC150??

Brad_C

Brad_C

Active member
Looking for a fairly cheap B cam to the HMC150 as I'm already tired of borrowing my friends HV30 and messing with tapes. Im not too interested in the HMC40 as it's out of the price range right now and this "B cam" would be used for some family outings as well.

So does anybody have an HS300 or TM300 and if so, how does it compare with the HMC150. Does it match up fairly well? I figured Panasonic's colors should be fairly consistent among the cams, right?

I'm not beyond buying a Canon HFS100 either. If anybody has any experience with any of these cams (more specifically compared to the HMC150's image) I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Thanks.
-Brad
 
I own the TM300 and have been using it as a B cam. The quality isn't up to par with the HMC 150, but the TM300 comes in handy to cover my occassional mess ups (I shoot a lot of community theatre) , so it does the job I need it to do. Matching white balance is not as close as I'd like. The TM300 will have its whites blown out quicker than the HMC150 and it sometimes shows a little purple tint in the whites.

Also, I find the TM300 to be a little "dense" in its contrast. And the "intellegent mode" is almost useless, I've found. But again, I use the TM300 just to cover up my mistakes when I shoot a two-camera job and, say, an actor enters stage left, and I miss his entrance (as an example).
 
Don't think the HS300 could possibly compare to the HMC150

Don't think the HS300 could possibly compare to the HMC150

I bought the HS250 (which is pretty much the same as the HS300 but without the manual rings). It uses the same chips and system as the HS300. I bought it to use it as a B camera for my HMC-150. I did a lot of research before buying it and everybody were saying that this camera was outstanding and all.

Still thinking how the heck a consumer camera would be able to achieve similar results as a prosumer camera, I bought it, because I was out of the budget for another HMC-150. (Just like you do).

Then the next event came up and I used the HS250 as the B camera and I must say I was very disappointed. Seriously, even when this camera has many manual controls, you can't really make the image look any close to the HMC-150's. The color contrast range is actually really small. Whites are overexposed very quickly and at the same time, blacks are underexposed even on well lit interiors. The lens aperture is too large so it's not good for small rooms or interviews. The 5.1 channel sound is useless because the 5 mics are all together and they all hear the same thing all the time, so it's pretty much like having a mono signal divided in 5 channels.

The unit fully powers on in about 7 seconds... and that's really bad because you can miss a lot of action in 7 seconds.

I could keep saying all the details but in the end, the final word is that once you compare the two images (the HS250 and the HMC150 ones) you will see that the HS250 doesn't look any different than any other handycam out there. So it's like having two HD cameras, but one is definitelly a handycam, and the other is a professional camcorder.
 
I tested my sony SR11 I have by putting a few clips in with my 150 and couldn't tell the difference. I was a bit worried that the 2 wouldn't match up but was surprised. Shot in 1080/30P. Day time shooting. Haven't tested in low light yet.
 
I agree with bearcatrp in the fact that under normal conditions, the results look pretty similar, that's why these handycams get good reviews and comments on some websites.

But it is under special conditions that you can tweak the HMC-150 to get a very good image and a handycam just can't achieve the same results.

There's a lot of special contidions when you're shoting in the field and you need to have the right equipment in order to get the best result.

Sure you're going to be fine under very rare "normal" conditions, but once you move around through the day you will see that your handycam, no matter what model or make it is, won't keep up with any of the PRO lines.

Keep in mind, if you could get the same image quality, the same flexibility and reliability from a handycam as the HMC-150's then it would probably cost as much.... If it costs 5 or 6 times less, then it will look around 3 or 4 times worse when you're shoting the things the PRO cameras are intended to shot in the first place.
 
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