I did a series of run & gun shooting experiments this weekend w/ the JVC 100 (weather finally nice in Michigan) during daylight hours.
Two things stand out from this testing. First, the camera loves daylight. Wow - the images this thing can make are truly stunning considering the cost of the camera (heck, even at twice the price).
Colors and images were clean, clear and crisp. It took a lot to wash out the image - and believe me I tried. The level of detail the camera picks up is amazing - it really is....
But, this is where my second observation came in - the camera, due to its HD level of detail and non-HD eyepiece, made it very very difficult to run-and-gun focus (particularly hand held and walking). The bright sunlight, while making everything look pretty, also made it very hard to see the blue-outline that the focus assist option provides. It was extremely tiring on the eye to focus using this method.
While I was shooting, I never totally felt I had the focus nailed....
That said, almost all of the shots did come back in focus. I realize that this sort of testing is a worse case scenario (no focus puller, no monitor, walking in bright light, etc), but it was still a little worrisome.
SO, it was nice to see that the shots were largely in focus and that the images were stunning. It reinforced the idea, however, that this camera has more in common with a film camera than it does with even the previous generation of SD video cams, at least in terms of shooting and focusing.
I would think that any sort of heavy location shooting would dictate either a focus puller &/or a shaded HD monitor. For limited location shooting or documentary work, the focus assist option would get you through, but practice using it for at least a weekend before you shoot if you can, remembering that it is taxing on the eye.
As a side note, I also used a homemade stedi-cam. The higher level of detail the JVC provides also, unfortunately, allows even the tiniest bump to be that much more noticable. So back to the drawing board for this. Hope these observations help,
john
Two things stand out from this testing. First, the camera loves daylight. Wow - the images this thing can make are truly stunning considering the cost of the camera (heck, even at twice the price).
Colors and images were clean, clear and crisp. It took a lot to wash out the image - and believe me I tried. The level of detail the camera picks up is amazing - it really is....
But, this is where my second observation came in - the camera, due to its HD level of detail and non-HD eyepiece, made it very very difficult to run-and-gun focus (particularly hand held and walking). The bright sunlight, while making everything look pretty, also made it very hard to see the blue-outline that the focus assist option provides. It was extremely tiring on the eye to focus using this method.
While I was shooting, I never totally felt I had the focus nailed....
That said, almost all of the shots did come back in focus. I realize that this sort of testing is a worse case scenario (no focus puller, no monitor, walking in bright light, etc), but it was still a little worrisome.
SO, it was nice to see that the shots were largely in focus and that the images were stunning. It reinforced the idea, however, that this camera has more in common with a film camera than it does with even the previous generation of SD video cams, at least in terms of shooting and focusing.
I would think that any sort of heavy location shooting would dictate either a focus puller &/or a shaded HD monitor. For limited location shooting or documentary work, the focus assist option would get you through, but practice using it for at least a weekend before you shoot if you can, remembering that it is taxing on the eye.
As a side note, I also used a homemade stedi-cam. The higher level of detail the JVC provides also, unfortunately, allows even the tiniest bump to be that much more noticable. So back to the drawing board for this. Hope these observations help,
john