PRE PRODUCTION HPX300 Hands On 'review'

J

Joe Lawry

Well-known member
Just managed to be in the right place at the right time when Rick Haywood the Broadcast manager of Panasonic NZ walked into my local dealer with a PREPRODUCTION HPX300.

First thoughts, slightly smaller than a 500, but not by much, sits nicely on the shoulder, slightly back heavy but not by much.

Build quality is the same as the 500, not amazing but still suitable for the price range the product is in.

The Viewfinder is interesting.. the new technology in there does some strange things when you are shooting over exposed footage (we were testing the CAC at the time) and you see 3 flickers of OSD all slightly skewed apart from each other each in RGB.. we weren't sure if this was something to do with the fact it was still a preproduction model.

The LCD is amazing, i'd directly compare it to the LCD on the Z7/Z5 sony camera, not quite as good as the EX LCD but a billion times better than the 170/200's LCD - YAY

All the controls were where they should have been, just like a broadcast camera.

The kit lens was alright, nice and wide and the reach was good, however it did feel slightly cheap in certain places.. the iris dial was the main thing i noticed. Just seemed plasticy.

The variable zoom trigger was good, it had a quick jump in and you could also push and pull very slowly. There is no adjustment on the speed though, so no constant speed.

The lens did some pretty sharp however, it took stopping down past F9.6 to see any noticeable softness in the lens.

We had the camera hooked up to a 24" panny HD LCD via HDSDI and the pictures looked great. I unfortunately didnt have any cards with me otherwise would have shot some stuff.

The CAC function is great, and we tested it throughly pushing it to the extreme. We setup a fluro light with a louver on it to give us some edging to study. Shooting straight into the light with CAC on and the lens open there was still a bit of CA going on... but that was a pretty extreme test. Will definitely see if i can do some real world testing when a production unit arrives - next month i've been told.

All in all a great camera.. BUT, and unfortunately there is a great big but. The 3MOS chips left more to be desired.. not res wide.. the camera was very sharp.. but in regards to CMOS skewing..

I pointed the camera at some vertical bars and ****.. there was some bad skewing going on.. Worse than the EX cameras unfortunately.

I also noticed that there was a bit of general wobble when shooting off the shoulder on the long end of the lens. A real shame.

Let me know if you have any questions, about the camera.. im sure i can answer some, but this is all i could think of for now.

and once again this was a PRE PRODUCTION MODEL ONLY.
 
Joe, thanks for your time on posting this. I have a couple of questions for you :) :

1- Low light- How was it compared to the HVX200/HPX170?

2- Signal to noise? Are you an HVX/HPX170 user? How does it fare?

3- Weight? Is it as heavy as the HPX500?

4- Difficult one: Have you used a 5d Mark II? Can you compare both cameras in the SKEW department? Only the skew, not DOF, low light, manual functions. This we all know :)

5- When is it becoming available in New Zealand?

Thanks again!
 
SPZ,

I can only answer a few of your questions, as i only had a play for half an hour and most of it was spent on general image quality in good light.

Signal to noise, i have an original HVX which as we all know, has a few noise issues. The 300 seemed pretty good however, everything we pointed it at was well lit.

Weight wise it was nice, definitely ligher than a 500, but still a nice bit of weight on your shoulder. It felt very comfortable.

I havent used a MKII sorry, but from what i saw.. it was as bad as the HV20 footage i have seen.... so bad, worse than my EX1.

I've been told they were will have their first stock sometime next month, so i'd say it'll be available late March.

Sorry i cant be any more helpful, the visit was mainly to show the store the product,, and i just happened to be there.

The camera will now be in Australia, not sure where it was flying too, but i was told it was being put on a plane at 1pm which was about 3 hours ago.
 
No problem, that was quite helpfull enough!

I'll probably check out the camera sometime in the future. Its not a surprise for me that Sony is more advanced in the Cmos department vs Panasonic. They invested much in the technology- bought plants, etc. Panasonic went a different route, and are playing catch up. Canon, on the other hand, should be technologically on par, if not ahead of Sony in Cmos technology. Probably the true contender will come from Canon...

What I find interesting is that Panasonic is Pioneering technology on Still Photo cameras, and are to announce a video capable Cam from their Still Camera division, a product they are confident enough to separate from the G1, their first mini 4/3 camera. I just don't understand why this technology and platform is not available to us:

Imagine a Mini 4/3, AVC INTRA, HPX170/HVX200 sized camcorder for 6000...This would be trully revolutionary, and a real Scarlet contender....
 
So you saw what I believe to be probably one of the first PAL units???

Don't think it will come anywhere near Canberra... probably will end up a Lemac's...

Cheers
 
Yea it was pal, what i completely forgot to check was to see if it was switchable..

i saw a preproduction HPX172 as soon as it arrived on our shores.. and at that stage, it was switchable..
 
Joe Lawry said:
All in all a great camera.. BUT, and unfortunately there is a great big but. The 3MOS chips left more to be desired.. not res wide.. the camera was very sharp.. but in regards to CMOS skewing..

I pointed the camera at some vertical bars and shi*.. there was some bad skewing going on.. Worse than the EX cameras unfortunately.

I also noticed that there was a bit of general wobble when shooting off the shoulder on the long end of the lens. A real shame.
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Hi Joe,

Unless you had an EX1 next to it to compare the skew and wobble, I think you need reconsider your statement. I have found in my investigation that the two cameras are very similar on this issue. It really depend more on how you get used to shooting with the camera, if youexpect it to respond like a CCD, well there is the first mistake. You really need to adjust the shooting style in my opinion. With a shorter lens the wobble/skew would be less. In looking at the footage that Barry Green came back from Africa with, with most shot with an even longer lens 21X, it can be worked with.

Best,

Jan
 
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Im sorry jan, you are right, i didnt have an ex1 right next to me.

Am definitely keen to test out a production model when they arrive, and if i get the chance i will put it up against my EX1.

I was on the long end of the 17x lens so everything was rather exaggerated, i will do the same test with my EX1 zoomed right in and see how it compares with what i remember.

I did whip side to side on the wide end of the lens and i didnt see any noticeable skew.

I wasnt expecting the chips to perform like a CCD, from shooting on the EX1 for the last 2 months i've learnt to deal with the CMOS issues and im sure people will have no issues with the camera if they know how to use CMOS chips.
 
Right, so i just went and did a test with my EX1.

Threw it into 1080 50i - the same setting we were playing with the HPX300 in.

Turned the OIS off. Cause of course.. the hpx doesnt have it.

Zoomed right in on a bunch of vertical bars.. and went wild.

Wow, i guess what i just learnt was the fact that shooting progressive masks skew.. because at 1080i on the EX1 there was a hell of a lot of skew going on. Not not as much as i saw with the HPX300, however it was very close.. and the bars i had been shooting were about the same distance away.

Now the only thing i can think that would alter this test was the focal length of the lens.. a 14x compared to a 17x.. and that would definitely make a difference in skew exaggeration.

Still, need to get the cameras side by side and test it..
 
And remember that the long end o f the 17X is longer than that of the EX1. But I have watched to footage than Kevin and Barry brought back and anybody that comes into our booth at NAB will see it as well, they were working on the long end of a 21X 2/3" lens. So the take away on this is learning how to control the tool you have been given so that you can get the shot you are supposed to get. Filmmakers have been doing this all of their professional lives. There is just one more tool in the tool belt now.

All the best,

Jan
 
The amount of skew is directly proportional to the image magnification, because the skew is all determined by relative movement. So the longer you zoom in, the more skew you'll see. I've seen people post examples from the EX1 that say "what skew, what wobble, there's no problem" and of course their footage is shot at full wide angle. Well, yeah, at full wide angle the relative motion of any object on the screen is pretty minimal. But if you zoom in to max telephoto you'll see all sorts of rubbery skew no matter how slightly you move the camera.

The HPX300 at full telephoto will show more skew than the EX1 at full telephoto, because the HPX300's telephoto is significantly more telephoto than the EX1's. The EX1 is a 14:1 zoom, the HPX300 is a 17:1, and the HPX300's using a 1/3" chip which means that even though the focal length difference is about the same (77mm vs. 81mm) the image magnification on the HPX300 is quite a bit more due to the smaller chip size. Which means you get more telephoto reach, but you also get more skew. The two go hand in hand.

Put an EX1 and an HPX300 at the same field of view, and you should see the same skew/wobble on both.
 
nice price--will want to see at NAB.

Aussies eat your hearts out :)

Barry where is your footage posted?
 
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Very nice price... shame its going to cost a bit more outside of the usa due to the exchange rates. I've been quoted 20,000 NZD, which is around 10,500 USD.
 
Joe Lawry said:
Very nice price... shame its going to cost a bit more outside of the usa due to the exchange rates. I've been quoted 20,000 NZD, which is around 10,500 USD.
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Youre even worse off than here in AUS. About $13000 just on the exchange on BH's price. Or 15k at the price NZ you were quoted. No doubt thats about where it will sit here as well.
 
Wow, $8,495.00!! I was thinking $8,995.00. It is looking a little bit tempting to sell the 170 and go for it. But jeez, I still need a little, small, light camera for a lot of shooting. I really need both. Oh well, maybe if I need a tax write off by December.

Dang, that is a smoking good deal. Richard Andrewski showed me this site so you can get two really long run batteries in AB mount and the charger for around $1,000.00. And these suckers would have a lot longer run time than the AB Dionic 90s, these are 150 WH batteries too http://www.batteries4broadcast.com/combo_order_gm.htm

My DV-6SB doesn't break a sweat with a 14lb (according to Barry) load so perhaps I can swing it by the end of the year. Having shot with the EX1, I agree with Jan and Barry, you do see the skew and it is up to you to use the camera in sitautions where you have control over not having to shoot the skew and other rolling shutter artifact situations. Plus I would still have the 170 in tow to handle situations like Red Carpet premiers with lots of flashes going off, etc.

Hmm...

Dan
 
Noel Evans said:
Youre even worse off than here in AUS. About $13000 just on the exchange on BH's price. Or 15k at the price NZ you were quoted. No doubt thats about where it will sit here as well.
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Gotta love it. Not.

its great for the second hand market... i could get ALOT for my original HVX down here as a kit due to the current price of the 202/172 - Which are both currently retailing at just under $10,000 NZD... its insane.
 
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