Whats alot of hours on a HPX?

S

Shenanigans

Member
Upgrading from my 7D to a HPx170. IM looking at 2 of them from craigslist, both 1 owner and used professionally for news. The first one has 1000hrs on it, I told him I was actually looking at a couple of them and he said $1500 flat, and the reason he was getting rid of it was because he got a new job and used their cameras. The 2nd one only has 60hrs on it, and the guy is asking $2000, and the reason hes getting rid of it is cause he got a film camera and doesnt use it very much anymore. Clearly their both a really good deal, and i wanna save as much as possible. SO HOW MUCH DO THE HOURS ON THE HPX REALLY MATTER?
 
It only matters for the mechanical bits. Old LCDs seem pretty good, but the only wear issues centre on the hinges, the flaps and switches. I still have my old Betacams, which have worn out mechanisms, but everything else, after what? 20 years? still work nearly as good as new. The cheaper cameras with plastic bodies and parts show wear quicker, and maybe look tatty, but reliability seems pretty good to me. I have two HD cameras, one with high hours and one with low hours, and I just grab the closest without a thought. The old one has a dab of glue on one tiny crack, but makes no difference.
 
The hours aren't a fraction as important as how they were used... a camera that lived its life shooting every day, all day in a studio will have higher hours than a camera used by an outdoor adventure videographer, but stands a better chance of good condition.

One example: one of our local news stations runs an HPX170 in a locked position (mounted to the wall, actually) as their "newsroom" live camera. They've used the same camera every single newscast (~3-5x per day) since mid-2008.
 
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Yeah, if the camera hasn't been banged around, the hours of use are almost meaningless. It meant something when it referred to tape head use, but there's really nothing to wear out in the 170.
 
First item that usually needs repair is the iris wheel. Gets full of dirt and hampers electrical contact. Not normally an expensive repair.
 
Shenanigans said:
Upgrading from my 7D to a HPx170. IM looking at 2 of them from craigslist
Click to expand...

It's a good way to get into the "multi-cam" side of the business. The hard part would be finding someone who can operate these cameras with you on a paid gig. You can't be in 3 places at once. A freelance cameraman would normally have his own equipment, so that would nullify your investment. A "friend" would normally be unable to make camera B or C shine. With new camera models coming out almost every 2 months, even a video enthusiast can be expected to have his own HD cam these days...
 
1000 hours is high to me. usually went i see cameras with that many hours the camera's condition typically reflects it.
the last b-stock AG-HPX170 that we had in June sold for $1995 had 16 hours and a new warranty.
I'd try to get the 60 hour camera closer to the market price of $1500 that i'm seeing on used HPX170s on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Camcorders-...1&LH_Complete=1&_fsct=&_nkw=ag-hpx170&_sop=15





Shenanigans said:
Upgrading from my 7D to a HPx170. IM looking at 2 of them from craigslist, both 1 owner and used professionally for news. The first one has 1000hrs on it, I told him I was actually looking at a couple of them and he said $1500 flat, and the reason he was getting rid of it was because he got a new job and used their cameras. The 2nd one only has 60hrs on it, and the guy is asking $2000, and the reason hes getting rid of it is cause he got a film camera and doesnt use it very much anymore. Clearly their both a really good deal, and i wanna save as much as possible. SO HOW MUCH DO THE HOURS ON THE HPX REALLY MATTER?
Click to expand...
 
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