Thinking of buying HMC40... Advice?

lime light power

lime light power

Member
General newbie to videography / cinematography, but pretty good with a still camera and catch on fast. I need to do videos for a project, for the time being recording interviews mostly 75% of which will be inside in a staged / controlled setting... other will be "on the spot" exterior.

For the time being we are simply going to be cutting and posting the clips online, but I would also like to keep footage incase we're ever interested in doing more - ie. DVD, professional work related promotional film, documentary. I love the ease of having a memory card (have worked with tape in the past and it drove me a little crazy, but good quality)...

Just curious what people thought on the HMC40... is it going to cover our needs? Ease of use, flexibility, good quality, etc, etc...

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I wanted to start with the basics... Some of the feedback from the other threads has been really helpful, but looking for a little more...

Thanks,

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy
 
Pros of the HMC40 -

1. Super sharp resolution and high IQ
2. Great flexibility on resolutions/framerates
3. All the image adjustments you could want
4. Great price/value
5. Definitely easy to use and portable

Cons of HMC 40

1. Not great in low light....but you're shooting in a controlled setting or outdoors.
2. Less physical controls than cams like the HMC150/A1s
3. LCD is not the greatest
4. No truly manual ND filter selection....it's controlled by the IRIS. Same goes for the gain selection.
 
Don't think it twice with the HMC40 you can output any format, ON LINE 720x1280, take a look

[video]http://video.felipehenao.com/fhintro.html[/video]
 
pulpfiction007 said:
Cons of HMC 40

1. Not great in low light....but you're shooting in a controlled setting or outdoors.
2. Less physical controls than cams like the HMC150/A1s
3. LCD is not the greatest
4. No truly manual ND filter selection....it's controlled by the IRIS. Same goes for the gain selection.
Click to expand...

- Lighting I can deal with / control
- Controls, I think I can live with
- LCD - not a problem
- Other Threads complained about the ND Filter - I'll have to read up a bit more on that to get comfortable with the capabilities

We are planning to do some "creative softening" of the images later in post production, I'll poke around thread for software suggestions (other than Premier) to help with that, So I guess what I'm trying to get a grip on... the HMC40 will give nice crisp images / resolution and will provide a good basis for creating nice pro-sumer videos...

Any suggestion on mic's? I think we def need a wireless system... again, willing to spend a little money, but not a fortune?

Thx,

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy
 
lime light power said:
Thanks for the video... if that's "right out of the box" without any major adjustments or "extras" then I think we're looking pretty good. Nice Sample.

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy
Click to expand...

Minor color adjustments in color with Sony Vegas, and for sure effects with Aftereffects.
This one shows the punch of cine gamma type V ( one of the options in camera HMC40 )
http://video.felipehenao.com/San_Marcos.html
For that trip I used an extremely lightweight tripod ( 1.5 pounds ) so some scenes are a little shacky
 
Felipe Henao said:
Sony Vegas is a fantastic editing software, and there is a plug in to soften images .
http://www.newbluefx.com/video-essentials-iv.html
Wireless from Sony is fine, this is the best I've try
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...3032_UWP_V1_Wireless_Lavalier_Microphone.html

However nothing compares to an external audio recorder like Zoom H4 or Tascam, no interference and recording to 24 bits 96 KHZ
gives you a lot of room for manipulation in post.
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

This is exactly why I think I want to explore in all the different threads... my mind is already racing in a million different directions. Very helpful... have to think about sound... for the time being for what we want today "integrated sound" is fine, but you are absolutely right, if we are thinking of maybe taking this to the professional / documentary level later we might want to have external audio... uggghhh... decisions, decisions.

To keep the line of questioning on track... the HMC40 works great for pro-sumer needs, any image softening / alteration I need can easily be accomplished in post production with a nice software suite... basically, rather than blow our budget on a fantastic camera, I'd rather have a really nice camera with good ability to "after effect" to get the look we need. From what it sounds like the HMC40 will do the job, and what I need to think about next is the software suite? Correct?

BTW: I really like Red Giant...

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy
 
Felipe Henao said:
Minor color adjustments in color with Sony Vegas, and for sure effects with Aftereffects.
This one shows the punch of cine gamma type V ( one of the options in camera HMC40 )
http://video.felipehenao.com/San_Marcos.html
For that trip I used an extremely lightweight tripod ( 1.5 pounds ) so some scenes are a little shacky
Click to expand...

Nice... good definition on the colors coming through which makes me happy (confident-ish)... I'm assuming from your profile this was all shot in Columbia.... as a side note, I had a farm in Uruguay for about 4 years... think I have some photos from it on my personal site... my Spanish is a little rusty though, sorry... anyway... another good clip...

Thank you,

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy
 
lime light power said:
Nice... good definition on the colors coming through which makes me happy (confident-ish)... I'm assuming from your profile this was all shot in Columbia.... as a side note, I had a farm in Uruguay for about 4 years... think I have some photos from it on my personal site... my Spanish is a little rusty though, sorry... anyway... another good clip...

Thank you,

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy
Click to expand...

Any time, Clean energy is what this planet needs, and go for it HMC40 is a great camera
 
One other minor caution about the HMC40 is that it doesn't natively come with balanced inputs for professional microphones. The Panasonic XLR adapter adds another $300 or so to the price, but even then, the quality of the mic preamps (noise level) and sound is not quite state of the art. The HMC80 shoulder mount sister to the '40 is a little better in this respect.

This may or may not matter to you much depending on your subject matter, shooting style, and what audio equipment you already own or intend to use with the camera.

- Greg
 
For typical audio for video, the recording ability of the HMC40, with the Panny XLR adapter is plent good enough, especially if it is doc work. I wouldn't record a music vid with it. The "iris + ND device is different for sure, but after using it for a while, it works well enough. In fact for quick setup, it is great. The bigger issue is when shooting in bright daylight, in order to keep your iris in a good range for good lens performance, you will need additional ND filters.

I have used this cam quite a bit, often from a backpack, and for what it is, it is a great little cam with stunning IQ and enough features and mojo to make you very happy.

Grant
 
Good stuff... the more I'm searching around and the more video tests I'm finding, the more or getting comfortable with the camera. I pretty much figured out that the best solution to the ND was to get a bunch of additional filters and test those out. I like the backpack comment, for our exterior interviews that is exactly what we need - what I want to do is to launch a small "tube channel" which does interviews with people who have converted their homes / businesses to renewable energy... (a friend of mine did the install at the South Beach Whole Foods to name just one "good one"... I'd like people to talk about why they made the choice, what the whole process was, how effectively their system works, etc, etc... I think that the more comfortable the public gets with renewables, the more action people will take... as a consultant for the industry, I think this will really help... sorry to digress, but you guys can now sort of see where I'm headed with this... outdoor shooting of sites, some outdoor interviews, most of them inside though... so portability is a must. I've worked on projects all up and down the Eastern seaboard, so I need to be able to travel with the equipment... sound I can work with, if it ends up being too hard to deal with outside I would record the full interview inside and then cut in the video still photos of the install over the interview...

With all that in mind, any other "sound advice" (pun intended)...

Thx,

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy
 
lime light power said:
Good stuff... the more I'm searching around and the more video tests I'm finding, the more or getting comfortable with the camera. I pretty much figured out that the best solution to the ND was to get a bunch of additional filters and test those out. I like the backpack comment, for our exterior interviews that is exactly what we need - what I want to do is to launch a small "tube channel" which does interviews with people who have converted their homes / businesses to renewable energy... (a friend of mine did the install at the South Beach Whole Foods to name just one "good one"... I'd like people to talk about why they made the choice, what the whole process was, how effectively their system works, etc, etc... I think that the more comfortable the public gets with renewables, the more action people will take... as a consultant for the industry, I think this will really help... sorry to digress, but you guys can now sort of see where I'm headed with this... outdoor shooting of sites, some outdoor interviews, most of them inside though... so portability is a must. I've worked on projects all up and down the Eastern seaboard, so I need to be able to travel with the equipment... sound I can work with, if it ends up being too hard to deal with outside I would record the full interview inside and then cut in the video still photos of the install over the interview...

With all that in mind, any other "sound advice" (pun intended)...

Thx,

Ken
Lime Light Renewable Energy
Click to expand...

Ken, as far as the ND filters, the reason for shooting speed at double the frame rate and not higher speeds, is to keep the motion blur , which is the blur caused by movement , I personally don't find that motion blur is a rule to record, IF I would like to use creatively the motion blur then I use a ND filter, this one to start :
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/724941-REG/B_W_66_098600_43mm_Digital_Pro_102.html
BUT if I just don't want motion blur I adjust the speed as high as 1/1000 if necesary.
Regarding the audio, the external audio recorder with lavalier and a slate to sync audio is a very safe option ( You have to invest some time learning a very simple technique ).
This is the equipment you will need :
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/699403-REG/Zoom_H1_H1_Ultra_Portable_Digital_Audio.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._505U_EX505U_Unidirectional_Lavalier_Mic.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...6401174_Soft_Photo_Electronics_Wide_Body.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/566288-REG/Ikan_PS01_PS01_9x11_White_Production.html
 
Just got my HMC40 and for me a "con" (others have previously mentioned in other posts so I knew about it) is the very small and poor resolution viewfinder (EVF). My habit is to use EVF for shooting (particular in sunlight) and so far I find the HMC40 EVF does not give me a good representation of the shot--unlike the EVF in my old VX2000 which for me at least let me see a good representation of shot. I am just a hobbyist so don't particularly want to invest in some external monitor and I also have to say I have not really tried the HMC40 LCD in bright sunlight. For the money I agree with all the "pros." Another reason I bought the HMC40 was small size and light weight for air travel trips so that ruled out the shoulder mount HMC80 (I think it is) which might be a cost effective option for you---if you don't want (like me) to spend more money.
 
Denniscasey said:
Just got my HMC40 and for me a "con" (others have previously mentioned in other posts so I knew about it) is the very small and poor resolution viewfinder (EVF). My habit is to use EVF for shooting (particular in sunlight) and so far I find the HMC40 EVF does not give me a good representation of the shot--unlike the EVF in my old VX2000 which for me at least let me see a good representation of shot. I am just a hobbyist so don't particularly want to invest in some external monitor and I also have to say I have not really tried the HMC40 LCD in bright sunlight. For the money I agree with all the "pros." Another reason I bought the HMC40 was small size and light weight for air travel trips so that ruled out the shoulder mount HMC80 (I think it is) which might be a cost effective option for you---if you don't want (like me) to spend more money.
Click to expand...

Once you know how to use your camera properly, and understand that your viewers are low resolution, but the camera delivers oustanding
footage, then you can trust what you are doing, don't forget to experiment with the scenes, use cine gamma.
USE THE WAVE FORM MONITOR, never over expose, better a little under than over.
WHITE BALANCE manually not the stablished balances,
BUY A GRAY CARD
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._DL_1712QD_12_LiteDisc_QD_Exposure_White.html

Don't pretend to learn in one day, make 100 movies to start learning
 
Dennis,

One thing about the evf, make sure and check the diopter adjustment everytime you turn on the cam.

Grant
 
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