HPX-300

[postquis design]

Wondering if anyone here on Revo is shooting with an HPX-300 ???

If so, any feedback would be appreciated. Panasonic is presently running a rebate promotion on the camera ($ 800.00 ) through October 31. Wondering if there have been any recently found new "issues" with the camera since its introduction..... other than the skew in certain recording presets and native issues of working with a CMOS camera.

All ears here......

Ron

[Squeeze]

Hey Ron,

We do have a few producers using this one, hopefully some of them will chime in here. Here's my honest opinion after seeing clips uploaded from the camera-- it's a bit noisy. It has that filmic noise look that some people really like but it's too far for my taste and doesn't really work in a lot of situations. You can get a good shot out of it and we've accepted plenty of shots from it, but you've got to be careful in your shooting and encoding. Honestly for that kind of money, I wouldn't buy it. And I love Panasonic Cameras! Usually I tell people you can't go wrong with them, but this one particular model, I've seen a lot of noise in the shots. So that's my two cents for what they are worth.

Are you looking for something in this particular price range? Do you want a shoulder mount model like this?

[postquis design]

Hey Squeeze,

Thanks for the feedback.... and certainly you are in a position to see it from an un-biased view.... you know how some of us get with their toys...

I have heard about the noise issue.... and as I remember, there is a scene file setting that needs to be turned off or adjusted. But yes, I have heard that issue exists... "out of the box". Also, firmware version could come into play here.

Nonetheless, .... yes, I am looking for a shoulder mount full HD chip camera in this price range. I came close to going with an HPX 500 last year but held off due to viewfinder issues and not having a full rez chipset.

Like you, I usually say yes to Panasonic gear...... but at these below 10K $$$ price points there are always concessions and trade offs.

Thanks for the comments and hopefully some of our other producers will chime in...



Ron

[dangerd]

I am shooting with the HPX300. When I first got it the video looked really bad, it was pretty noisy. With some tweaking it now looks great. I do agree that it is not the most noise free camera but I like it. As far as the CMOS chip I can tell you that CMOS does skew, no way around it. Most of the time it is not a problem but once in a while it shows up. If you are shooting mostly fast action shots than I would not recommend a CMOS camera at all, the 300 or any other.
Over all I would say the 300 is a good buy.
dangerd

[postquis design]

Hey dangerd ...

Thanks for chiming in and sharing your experiences with the camera. I do believe that the factory "Scene file" does need twaking to reduce the noise.

and yes, I hear the skew is most prevalent in 1080/24fps.

I agree, fast motion (ie:sports) would be better served with a CCD chip camera versus a CMOS.

I am looking at documentary shooting as well as for stock footage.

I am leaning towards this camera at the present time.... still all ears for other comments

thanks !

Ron

[dangerd]

I really like this camera, from a camera guy's point of view. Everything about it is where you would expect. It's pretty rugged, you can carry it around like a big gun, whip it out in a second and be shooting a great shot.
Thats mostly how I use it, and I like that.

From the post production side, the 10bit 4:2:2 doesn't hurt for bending color and pixels. You can go a long way with the picture color wise and do nice blending in AE.

If you work on the Mac side importing files (Log and Transfer) and working in FCP or Color is great.

When I work in AE I am on Windows so although on the Mac everything is 10bit 4:2:2 ProRes HQ, Great in Color.

Files have to be Uncompressed 10bit to get to Windows as 10bit.
Not a Problem if you have lots of hard drive.
The other option is to import as DPX on windows.

The range of the lens is pretty good and the CAC works great, so there is almost never any Chromatic Aberration. It does breathe though, so if you pull focus back to front etc., with the lens wide open you might notice it. You can look at this shot:http://www.revostock.com/Stock-Video-Footage/76878/Baseball-to-Glove-Rack-Focus.htm

You can always buy a nice expensive lens, as you have the option to do so, since it is removable. But the stock one is nice for a camera in this price range.

There also is the AVC-I compression. The 100 is great for pixel bending and coloring.
The AVC-I 50 gives you a very nice HD anamorphic, 10bit 4:2:0 picture as good as ANY HDV,
which this basically is EXCEPT
1. It's 10bit
2. It is compressed frame by frame, hence the "I" in AVC-I. Not as a GOP, like HDV.
3. You can double your shooting time per card, so if you can afford it you can shoot 4 1/4 hours on one load in HD on 2 64GB cards.

And lastly Skew.
All CMOS cameras have it. (Reviews I have read say it performs worse than the EX-3)

Given the choice I would go with the Red if I could have afforded it, I thought about waiting for the Scarlet.
I also like the EX3, it has a clean picture like my XL-2 but it's not as rugged a body (the viewfinder looks like it could snap right off! But it IS a good viewfinder.) and from a purely technical, post production standpoint, the pixels are not as bendable. And that's something I like doing.
The 300's viewfinder Kicks Ass, by the way.

In the end, I really liked the ergonomics of this camera, I am coming from an XL-2, which I love!
There is a lot to like technically too.
The picture is great in most cases as long as you find the settings you like and realize that like any camera it has it's strength and weakness and work with them.

I was at work when I wrote the last post, and had to rush off so hopefully the rest of this will help you out.
I had the hardest time picking a camera but here I am with a 300, so I guess it's a pretty good camera.

If you can get your hands on whatever cameras you are considering buying and try them, that is always best way to evaluate.
All my HD shots as of today on Revostock are from the 300, so you can look at the stills and get an idea how it looks, although I may have bent some pixels .

Soon I leave for New Zealand where I will shoot with a friends HVX200, the 300 is too big to take on vacation!
Like I said, every camera has it's strong and weak points.

dangerd

[postquis design]

Hey dangerd,

Great post ! .... thanks for taking the time... It will be valuable info for others in the future too!

When looking at the technical specs.... the 10 bit 4:2:2 color space is more important to me for the exact reasons you stated. In addition, it comes in handy when doing green screen and not being able to come out HDSDI live at the time of the shooting.

I am on the Mac in both AE and FCP so no issues there for me and the AVC-I codec has had great reviews from editors and compositors from a color correction viewpoint. MANY say you can really push this codec when "bending the pixels".

As you said, all cameras have strong and weak points..... and certainly down in this price range they do.

I am curious if your experience with the skew issue has shown up in formats OTHER than 1080/24p which I understand it is most prevalent in ????

thanks again !

Ron

[dangerd]

Up untill about 3 days ago I had not noticed any skew in shots at
all, but I shot a guy hitting a drive golfing, close up at 60p over 24 with at I believe a
1000th shutter and if you look frame by frame you can see the driver is badly skewed.
This shot was at 720pn and extreemly long lensed. It is up for review now, maybe it will pass
and you can see it
the skew is pretty bad on this one but at normal speed it's an effect. That's my story and I am sticking to it. I would say the shot is a worst case sceniro, and it's the first time I have really noticed the skew at all.
Dangerd

[postquis design]

dangerd,

I look forward to checking out that clip hopefully....

2 other accessory questions for you or anyone else out there shooting with the HPX300

--- Are you using any matte box with it ?
--- Have you had the camera on any jibs... even the shorter one-man set-up ones ????


Ron

[dangerd]

I just bought a matte box for it.You can see what it looks like here:
(sorry about giant url's I'm on my iPod)

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php? ... ostcount=9

I read Mountainmedia's review and thought it sounded
pretty good and I am glad to say that it exceeded my expectations.
This matte box is real nice,
it comes with a large and small top
eyebrow, the side wings, masks,filter trays (one rotates) and the attachment that hooks
the rods to the shade for adding rods later if you want.
There is a version with rods for a little more
money $425 I think.
This is everything you need, and at $200 usd it is a great deal.
Or you can buy a chrosel for around $900 at B&H, can't go wrong with that.
Dangerd


http://cgi.ebay.com/Jumbo-Video-Matte-B ... 6652wt_956

[dangerd]

One more thing I almost forgot to say, in regards to the jib.
Some friends of mine worked on a show called "The Lake",
Jason Priestley I believe is the director. It's on HULU. All shot on the 300 with lots
of jib and dolly moves.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/88429/the-lak ... vepisode,1

[postquis design]

dangerd,

Yes, I saw that review of the matte box you have..... good to hear from a third party who also has it. I have a Petroff Matte Box and Follow Focus on my DVX100B and have been quite happy with the build quality of it but it too like the Chroziel comes at a price. Both filter stages rotate on this Petroff and that has come in handy.

Thanks for the link on the 300 with the jib work. Will check it out.

Will keep an eye or two open for that golf shot you referenced also.

Ron

[dangerd]

Here is a still frame of the most skewed frame I could find of the golf swing.
Keep in mind that it is 720 24pn @ 60 frames with a 1000 shutter speed.
This is the worst case skew I could find.



And a link to the file on Revostock so you can see it in motion.
http://www.revostock.com/Stock-Video-Fo ... Motion.htm

[postquis design]

dangerd,

Thanks for taking the time to grab that "worst case scenario still" in you clip..... appreciate it.

HEY, .... and who's to say that isn't the result of some... " natural torque " in his swing !!! .....

FYI ..... I hear Panasonic has released new firmware .... now 9.3 .... and in the release notes it looks like the noise in 1080/24P and 30P modes has been reduced.

Ron

[dangerd]

Thanks for the info about the update. I am in New Zealand shooting on my friends HPX200 as the 300 was just too big with the tripod and all to get on the airplane without using the shipping company. The 200 though is working out fine as I can carry it everywhere with me as I travel.
Hopefully I will come home with some nice shots, I have found for stock footage that the 200 is a bit harder to get set up and shooting though, some of which has to do with the tripod I am using, it does not have a bowl head and I have to level it with the legs.
Overall the picture is good though. Got some nice rafting shots today. Will have a lot of work to edit when I get home! I will update my 300 when I get home, right now my buddy is having fun shooting on it!