Please compare other cameras to the HMC40 here, Thanks.
- Thread starter BobDiaz
- Start date
Robert M Wright
Well-known member
Certainly not at the price.
I sort of wonder why anyone is buying the HMC70 or Sony's HD1000U.
Barry_Green
Moderator
Best way to know would be to ask them. For a quick answer, schools are buying up HMC70s ravenously. It does what they want, it's shoulder-mount, it has real BNC connectors, it doesn't break, and it's dirt cheap.
Different customers have different needs. Which is why all these products are on the market. And you can pretty much bet that if a product has been on the market for a year, there's probably someone who's buying it. Sometimes these companies get it wrong (the HDX400 didn't last long, for example; seems nobody wanted a $40,000 1080i-only camera that used 720p chips). But if it's still on the market, it's probably on the market because people still want it.
DVX100 is still on the market. And doing so well, in fact, that Sony just recently re-launced a 1/3" DV tape camera! You may ask "who on earth would buy that?" but the point is -- people do.
Barry_Green
Moderator
The focus ring is great, it's just like the 150. The servo zoom is way more flexible than the 150. You get smooth transitions and lots of speeds, from super-slow crawl to kind of fast, and all sorts of variations inbetween.
BobDiaz
The Professor
There's a switch that selects between: FOCUS and (ZOOM / IRIS). The last is chosen in a menu setting. Regarding the feel, here's what I found:
FOCUS: The action seemed smooth and repeatable. With the image magnified, it was easy to find the correct focus. There are no markings on the ring, BUT you can see a reading in the viewfinder "MF00" (very close) ---> "MF99" (maximum distance).
ZOOM: The lens seemed to respond very well to my turning the ring. I don't use this feature, because the zoom lever works SO well. The zoom position can appear on the display as "Z00" (wide angle) --> "Z99" (maximum telephoto).
IRIS: So much better than the little wheel to control the iris. I can quickly go to the correct setting with the larger ring, than with the smaller wheel.
Bob Diaz
I like that Sony cams display distance in meters. This Mxx mumbo-jumbo tells me nothing.
Robert M Wright
Well-known member
I wish.
Barry_Green
Moderator
It doesn't have that, no. Only the 00-99 scale.
Robert M Wright
Well-known member
Is there any reference for translating these mystery units to a conventional unit of measurement?
Hmm, I am not sure whether my message has been deleted or did not I submit it at all. Anyway, with current $500 rebate the Sony V1U can be purchased for $2.7K. This includes XLR block and a shotgun mic. The HMC40 with XLR and decent mic will cost about $2.3K. This seems like a big difference, but Sony's batteries are cheaper about 50%, even original ones, and you can find knockoffs even cheaper; no knockoff batteries for the HMC. Crappy LANC controllers can be found for as low as $25, good luck finding a Panasonic controller that costs less than $150. HDV is much easier on the computer for editing and viewing, but is worse quality than AVCHD, especially Sony's variant of HDV. Lens adapters are different issue. Sure, you can find an inexpensive 72mm adapter from Raynox, but it will still cost more than a 43mm or 52mm adapter for the HMC40, and the OEM Sony adapters are arm and leg, for example the WA adapter for the V1/FX7 costs whopping $500. I have a $70 WA adapter for my Panasonic SD1 (52mm via a 43mm-to-52mm step-up ring) and it works just fine. but maybe will be not hi-res enough for the HMC40.
For those who do not need progressive, the FX7 is a direct competitor to the HMC40.
BobDiaz
The Professor
The Interlaced vs. Progressive gets into a very subjective area, so I'll put in in terms of my own feelings...
IMHO: I feel that interlaced is a bad way to shoot video. For static images it's possible to have software combine both fields giving you the full 1080 lines. However, for dynamic (moving) images it would take some real processing power to try to fix this. Thus, the vertical resolution for motion is only 540 lines.
As for slow motion and freeze frames, it works correctly with progressive, but with interlaced, it's a mess. A freeze frame either has feathering OR can only use one field (resulting in a drop in vertical resolution).
Because not everyone is alike and the needs are different, in a limited way, yes the FX7 could compare, but for most there's a big difference.
Bob Diaz
Robert M Wright
Well-known member
I way prefer shooting progressive footage, but shooting interlaced footage is just fine for a lot of real-world purposes, like for SD delivery on DVD (or the web for that matter). If you know what you are doing, you can take (good) 1080i60 (with either 1920 or 1440 vertical lines) source footage and make either a 60i or 30p DVD that looks just great.
60i DVD will never look great on a large plasma screen, the lines are just too thick, so flicker is too noticeable.
Interlaced HD is almost OK. Watch some good HD with moving and static images, like those travel shows on PBS. When a camera points to a, say, ancient church and the tilts, you will notice immediate loss of detail.
Interlaced HD is almost OK. Watch some good HD with moving and static images, like those travel shows on PBS. When a camera points to a, say, ancient church and the tilts, you will notice immediate loss of detail.
For me, it's the resolution (or lack of) that is far worse than the flicker.
SD content never looks good upscaled on the HDTV IMO...a blurry flickery mess is even worse.