BillP
Well-known member
Now that I've used the camera for a couple of weeks, I thought I'd share my observations:
I purchased the UX180 to replace my AC160A. I like the AC160A, but thought it was a good time to upgrade to something with a sharper image.
Originally I was evaluating the UX180 as a 4K camera, but it's better to consider it as an HD camera, and think of the 4K as icing on the cake.
The reason? First, there is some serious lag on the viewfinder and LCD when in 4K mode, because of the 4K processing. That can make it difficult to manually focus on a moving object because the results of what your hand is doing on the focus ring is shown to you about half a second later. It takes some getting used to. Same lag difficulties on iris adjustments. This processing lag is not nearly as bad in HD mode.
But the auto focus is pretty good if you’re into that sort of thing. I'm old school, all manual, all the time.
Secondly, regarding the 4K, it's good, but not GH4 good. Which is fine, I didn't expect it to be, but when you get used to a certain image quality, it's hard to downgrade. But again, it's not fair to compare the UX180 image to 4K cameras with bigger sensors. Compare it instead to cameras with the typical 3-small sensor setup, that's where it shines.
When shooting with the UX180 in HD mode, side by side with the AC160A, the UX180 is noticeably sharper.
And of course WAY sharper in 4K mode. Color science is almost identical. They match up very well.
In terms of sensitivity, they are about the same. The AC160A's lens opens up more than the F2.8 on the UX180, but the UX180 is cleaner, so you can turn up the gain more. The UX180 maintains a sharper image in low light, so it gets a slight win.
I love the wide angle on the UX180. Why has it taken this long to get a 24mm lens on a camcorder? It's fantastic.
The lens is great overall, great image quality throughout the range. The AC160A had strong vignetting on the telephoto end. None of that on the UX180.
Image stabilization is fantastic on the UX180, especially in HD mode. The great stabilization, coupled with the wide angle lens and the placement of the LCD, makes the UX180 one of, if not the best handheld cameras I've ever used. Very stable images. A pleasure to use.
The LCD has a nice sharp image, but is impossible to see outdoors.
The viewfinder is good, but it's not bright enough. If I could make it brighter, It'd be great.
Now, this gets me to one of my greatest disappointments with the UX180, the auto viewfinder shut-off.
I like having both the LCD and viewfinder on simultaneously. Can’t do it with this camera. I think it’s because it can’t process all the pixels to drive both at the same time.
There is a switch to lock the LCD on, or auto for when your eye approaches the viewfinder, it kicks on. I hate this. There is a delay to the process that slows me down, because I put my eye to the viewfinder and it takes half a second for the viewfinder to kick on (yes you can adjust the sensitivity of the sensor, it didn’t help my situation). Then I wait for my eye to adjust to the brightness of the image because my eye was staring into a black void, then wait while my eye focuses. The whole process adds like 2 seconds, which doesn’t sound like much, but it gets old really quick when you need to check the viewfinder fast.
The best solution I can hope for, via a firmware update, is to let the user lock the viewfinder on, as with the lcd.
…I see a bright external on camera monitor purchase in my future.
Other observations:
I really miss the manual zoom. Panasonic has had it since the DVX100. My shooting style evolved around that feature. I would quickly snap in manually to adjust my focus and snap back out. It was so fast and reliable, it’s one of the big reasons I stuck with Panasonic through the years.
The UX180 has a fast zoom, not nearly as fast as a manual snap zoom, but I think it’ll suffice.
Losing the manual zoom has helped with the smoothness of the power zoom. Much improved over the abruptness of the AC160A and HMC150. Better stops and starts. Not broadcast quality level, but better.
Highlights can sometimes look a little wonky, weird color shifts. Noticeable on highlight gradients (puffy cloud contours will take on weird blue hue-shifts, etc.)
I tried in vain to dial this out with the scene file adjustments, to no avail. I’ve just been spoiled by the Canon C-series highlight rolloff.
I like all of the recording options, something to cover every situation, AVCHD up to 60p 4K. Very versatile.
The 120fps slow motion is useless, bad image quality. The 4K 60p is where it’s at, use that for slo-mo.
Plenty of customization options to help you get the camera the way you want it. Very extensive.
Perfect size, not too small or too big. Good weight. Significantly smaller and lighter than the AC160A.
Battery attachment is deep, so going with the big bulky battery won’t cause it to stick out too far.
Don’t expect extreme shallow depth of field with this camera. Which is good, because chasing focus is not fun.
I would compare the depth of field characteristics resembling the look of a broadcast 2/3” camera with an F1.8 lens. Think of the DoF of Live News ENG.
If you punch in, you’ll have no trouble getting your background out of focus and helping your subject pop.
I haven’t gone too in depth with audio testing. I’ve shot one interview so far with it, and no issues popped up, sounded fine.
In summary, you get a lot of camera for the money. It’s a camera that I can recommend.
I purchased the UX180 to replace my AC160A. I like the AC160A, but thought it was a good time to upgrade to something with a sharper image.
Originally I was evaluating the UX180 as a 4K camera, but it's better to consider it as an HD camera, and think of the 4K as icing on the cake.
The reason? First, there is some serious lag on the viewfinder and LCD when in 4K mode, because of the 4K processing. That can make it difficult to manually focus on a moving object because the results of what your hand is doing on the focus ring is shown to you about half a second later. It takes some getting used to. Same lag difficulties on iris adjustments. This processing lag is not nearly as bad in HD mode.
But the auto focus is pretty good if you’re into that sort of thing. I'm old school, all manual, all the time.
Secondly, regarding the 4K, it's good, but not GH4 good. Which is fine, I didn't expect it to be, but when you get used to a certain image quality, it's hard to downgrade. But again, it's not fair to compare the UX180 image to 4K cameras with bigger sensors. Compare it instead to cameras with the typical 3-small sensor setup, that's where it shines.
When shooting with the UX180 in HD mode, side by side with the AC160A, the UX180 is noticeably sharper.
And of course WAY sharper in 4K mode. Color science is almost identical. They match up very well.
In terms of sensitivity, they are about the same. The AC160A's lens opens up more than the F2.8 on the UX180, but the UX180 is cleaner, so you can turn up the gain more. The UX180 maintains a sharper image in low light, so it gets a slight win.
I love the wide angle on the UX180. Why has it taken this long to get a 24mm lens on a camcorder? It's fantastic.
The lens is great overall, great image quality throughout the range. The AC160A had strong vignetting on the telephoto end. None of that on the UX180.
Image stabilization is fantastic on the UX180, especially in HD mode. The great stabilization, coupled with the wide angle lens and the placement of the LCD, makes the UX180 one of, if not the best handheld cameras I've ever used. Very stable images. A pleasure to use.
The LCD has a nice sharp image, but is impossible to see outdoors.
The viewfinder is good, but it's not bright enough. If I could make it brighter, It'd be great.
Now, this gets me to one of my greatest disappointments with the UX180, the auto viewfinder shut-off.
I like having both the LCD and viewfinder on simultaneously. Can’t do it with this camera. I think it’s because it can’t process all the pixels to drive both at the same time.
There is a switch to lock the LCD on, or auto for when your eye approaches the viewfinder, it kicks on. I hate this. There is a delay to the process that slows me down, because I put my eye to the viewfinder and it takes half a second for the viewfinder to kick on (yes you can adjust the sensitivity of the sensor, it didn’t help my situation). Then I wait for my eye to adjust to the brightness of the image because my eye was staring into a black void, then wait while my eye focuses. The whole process adds like 2 seconds, which doesn’t sound like much, but it gets old really quick when you need to check the viewfinder fast.
The best solution I can hope for, via a firmware update, is to let the user lock the viewfinder on, as with the lcd.
…I see a bright external on camera monitor purchase in my future.
Other observations:
I really miss the manual zoom. Panasonic has had it since the DVX100. My shooting style evolved around that feature. I would quickly snap in manually to adjust my focus and snap back out. It was so fast and reliable, it’s one of the big reasons I stuck with Panasonic through the years.
The UX180 has a fast zoom, not nearly as fast as a manual snap zoom, but I think it’ll suffice.
Losing the manual zoom has helped with the smoothness of the power zoom. Much improved over the abruptness of the AC160A and HMC150. Better stops and starts. Not broadcast quality level, but better.
Highlights can sometimes look a little wonky, weird color shifts. Noticeable on highlight gradients (puffy cloud contours will take on weird blue hue-shifts, etc.)
I tried in vain to dial this out with the scene file adjustments, to no avail. I’ve just been spoiled by the Canon C-series highlight rolloff.
I like all of the recording options, something to cover every situation, AVCHD up to 60p 4K. Very versatile.
The 120fps slow motion is useless, bad image quality. The 4K 60p is where it’s at, use that for slo-mo.
Plenty of customization options to help you get the camera the way you want it. Very extensive.
Perfect size, not too small or too big. Good weight. Significantly smaller and lighter than the AC160A.
Battery attachment is deep, so going with the big bulky battery won’t cause it to stick out too far.
Don’t expect extreme shallow depth of field with this camera. Which is good, because chasing focus is not fun.
I would compare the depth of field characteristics resembling the look of a broadcast 2/3” camera with an F1.8 lens. Think of the DoF of Live News ENG.
If you punch in, you’ll have no trouble getting your background out of focus and helping your subject pop.
I haven’t gone too in depth with audio testing. I’ve shot one interview so far with it, and no issues popped up, sounded fine.
In summary, you get a lot of camera for the money. It’s a camera that I can recommend.
