wanna go 422

D

Danny1280

Well-known member
I have an HMC150 and I want 422 abiilty. I could either
1) get the atamos ninja (when it comes out) and use it with the 150
2) sell the 150 and get an hpx170

Pros & cons to each?
 
Why do you want to go 4:2:2? Are you planning on doing a lot of post work/color grading? Green screen/keying stuff?
 
I would hold off on the Atomos Ninja until we have a clear idea of the build quality and performance.
 
P2 is a big con for my style shooting, give us more details about why you need 422 and we can better assist. Other options are a nanoflash or even a blackmagic capture box with a laptop.
 
I'm also interested in this (now beginning to shoot a lot of green screen) what exactly is it that the nanoflash and blackmagic devices do to the camera? Do they basically just record externally in 4:2:2? or is it more complicated than that?
 
Chase Martin said:
I'm also interested in this (now beginning to shoot a lot of green screen) what exactly is it that the nanoflash and blackmagic devices do to the camera? Do they basically just record externally in 4:2:2? or is it more complicated than that?
Click to expand...

The short answer is yes. AVCHD is 4:2:0. Most of the recorders (nanoflash, Atomos Ninja, etc...) record in 4:2:2 (and some do it in 10bit), and the BlackMagic devices allow you to record to your computer in 4:2:2 as well. That said... while I haven't done it myself, I've heard that AVCHD from the HMC150 actually green screens well.
 
Mike Harvey said:
The short answer is yes. AVCHD is 4:2:0. Most of the recorders (nanoflash, Atomos Ninja, etc...) record in 4:2:2 (and some do it in 10bit), and the BlackMagic devices allow you to record to your computer in 4:2:2 as well. That said... while I haven't done it myself, I've heard that AVCHD from the HMC150 actually green screens well.
Click to expand...


Oh, that sounds awesome, I'm going to look into those. I haven't run into any serious issues yet, but I am curious about all that 422 has been made out to be. Recording 10 bit would also be pretty sweet.

Thanks for your help!

Chase
 
Sounds cool at this price point. However..... in the specs they do not list 1080p30 or 720p30 as supported inputs. :-(
 
A heads up, your HMC150 will not output 10-bit. The only sub $10,000 cameras that will is the sony EX series. (and I think some random canon with an HD-SDI output)

I would try keying your avchd footage first and see how it goes. I'd recommend Keylight, I've gotten perfect keys off of some garbage footage. If you're using after effects it should be bundled with it. If you set your shot and lighting up right you'd be surprised how easy it is to pull a very good key. I guess what I'm saying is do some experimenting with what you currently have and see if the extra $1000+ investment will be worth it for your needs :)
 
Panasonic AF100 does 4:2:2 AVCHD, does it not? More of a traditional film style camera than run and gun though.
 
OH.. OK Barry, thought I read somewhere they were doing some 4:2:2 Variant of AVCHD on that camera. Thanks for the clarification. (Though a 4:2:2 Variant would be awesome. lol)
 
AVCHD is 4:2:0. You can, however, connect an HDMI or HD-SDI recorder to the AF100 and get a 4:2:2 intraframe recording that way.
 
I want 422 in order to be acceptable for broadcast. Beginning work on a couple documentaries, and "just in case," would like to know I wasn't ruled out of certain venues due to codec. Also, I'm one of my biggest complaints with the hmc150 is the harsh highlights. I wondered if the hpx170 was better with highlights, and/or if an external recorder would improve that? I don't want to consider a more expensive recorder because it would cost more than my camera.
 
An external recorder would not have any effect on your dynamic range, your highlights would still clip at the exact same level. If you're interested and curious about uncompressed capture, I could sell you my brand new blackmagic intensity pro hdmi capture card for like 120 bucks if you buy it soon. Not trying to hijack your thread!
 
Thanks for the quick response, fohdeesha. Would using a recorder, or a capture card like yours, give me the same quality as what I'd get from an hpx170. Taking into consideration the difference between proRes and DVCProHD? BTW, does your card work with a macbook pro?
 
Well quality is a very subjective term that can mean a lot of things, but if you are talking about in terms of recording format - yes. Better, in fact, as you can choose the bitrate to be much higher, and record in a full raster 1920x1080 codec, compared to dvcproHD's 1440x1080 resolution. It would also be 4:2:2 just like dvcpro hd. Prores 422 is a much higher "quality" codec than dvcpro HD, mainly due to the fact it does not downsample to 1440x1080.

It's a pci-e card, for use in a desktop, so it wouldn't work with a laptop. if you had a desktop mac with a supporting pci-e slot however it would work just fine. here it is - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...c_Design_BINTSPRO_Intensity_Pro_HDMI_and.html
 
Danny, keep in mind for all practical purposes the HPX170 and HMC150 are the same camera. Same lens, same chips... what the HPX170 has going for it is DVCProHD, P2, Firewire, and a HD-SDI connector. Most folks here who have seen side by side comparisons say they can't see much if any difference in image quality between the two cameras.
 
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