IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Panasonic's new DVX100 is called the HMC151. They've abandoned Mini DV tape, bypassed HDV and gone AVCHD (MPEG 4) straight to SD card. At Earls Court this week (the Video Forum) I had a good look at the 151 as a replacement for my Sony Z1.

Interestingly all the tech bods and gurus over at DV Doctor say the 151 works at its best in the 720p mode rather than the 1920 x 1080 its capable of.

Weddings and events shooters will be buying into the 151 because of the workflow advantages (90 mins on one card) but why-oh-why doesn't it have two card slots for a seamless switchover? I can see the 151A's spec even now.

When I switched from the VX2000 to the Z1 I really missed the longer telephoto reach of the VX2k. I still miss it, yet the 151 has even less tele than the Z1. And why does the brochure not give the lens' focal lengths? This is a camera brochure, chaps. Makes interesting reading as they're often economical with the truth. I see Panasonic have had to increase their warranty period as Sony have been ahead of them in this dept for a long time.

And no hood shutter which I've come to really appreciate. Panny's 'focus assist' is not explained in the 151 brochure either. If it's not the same as the Z1/5 I don't want it, sorry.

Not only that but the lens is f/3 at full tele, whereas the Z1 is nearly half a stop faster at f/2.8. Now wedding shooters are always clamouring for better low light performance, so I'm guessing the 151 will have to face up to the Z5 in the gloom before too long. I suspect that Sony's CMOS will help a lot here. I'd also like to see the 151 alongside the Z1 in +18dB mode. The Z1 is eminently usable at this setting, but the 151 won't allow the gain switch to go to +18dB and I wonder - cynically - why?

The 151A will also have slow shutter speeds. At the moment the 151 bottoms out at 1/12th sec, but Sonys have long gone down to 1/3rd sec, 2 stops better. I use 1/3rd sec on every single shoot, I promise you. And 1/6th. They give effect as well as zero dB exposure, whereas 1/12th just looks like 'jerky footage'.

151 Good points:

Price, weight, big 4:3 side screen with lots of the tech spam outside the picture area. 3 NDs. 28 mm equiv lens. Last clip delete. Built-in stereo mics. AVCHD to SD card, should be more reliable. CCDs for much better flash handling.

Sorry if this all sounds a bit negative, but I must remember the wadge of cash saved over a Z5 with CF writer is considerable, so I shouldn't be too harsh.

tom.

Tom,
Ian Morris and I did the rounds of the the show on Wednesday afternoon, we looked at the Panasonic HMC151, the Sony Z5 and the two new JVC camcorders - the GY-HM100 and the GY-HM700. Did you look at the last two - I was quite excited about those JVC models and had a long chat with the German head techie. Both for example offer a very wide range of formats, use the Sony EX1/3 codec plus QToutput, data rates 19/25/35Mbps and both have TWO SD-HC cards and will switch seamlessly from one to the other not dropping a frame (or that is what he said). This latter function has go to be the way - you can feed it cards for ever and a day - unlimited recording without a break!
The GY-HM700 has the best flip-out screen I have ever seen at any price with some new tech I did not follow and a resolution of 850*480 - or was I dreaming - that's the same as a widescreen NTSC SD TV. The 700 could be pricey £5000? but the 100 is affordable - not sure on prices neither launched till May.

It's a real pity the 100 has the least wide 'wide angle' ever seen just 39 mm (35mill equiv.) Incidentally when are we going to start talking in degrees rather than the increasingly mystifying 35mm equivelents!

Incicdentally we could not get a definitive view on how easy it is to edit native AVCHD without a lot of transcoding mullarky - I have not seen any realworld info on that one - Hey ho.

Peter
FFM

Good to read your thoughts Peter.

I did look at the little ''TRV900'' HM100 from JVC but not the HM700 as such a shoulder-mount design doesn't interest me in the slightest. Leastways not if such a bulky camera only feeds 1"/3 chips as it's more a photographic issue (DOF and diffraction) than technical quality that drags it down. The point where the lens meets the body looks where it will simply snap in two. Both these cameras show that Panasonic isn't tied to expensive P2 technology which is a real plus point for them.

The little HM100 is good in that it can be stripped of handle, XLRs and shotgun mic and then used far more unobtrusively, and I'd think this will endear it to many especially when they see its twin SD cards, big LCD screen and 1920 x 1080 shooting.

The downside is the tiny ¼" chips used (though I'm pleased to see they're CCD). The camera really does need more than one ND filter because f/4 will be as small as you can go realistically. The 10x zoom has a nice lens shutter built in, but the lack of wide-angle is just silly on a 'covert-cam'. And I just couldn't find how to adjust the iris manually and this is worrying indeed. Even JVC's glossy Highway magazine fails to mention this. It's a camera first and foremost, and to omit details of maximum apertures, viewfinder readouts, manual iris and shutter speed control is not good enough JVC.

If you had a Sony PDX10 the HM100 would suit you fine.

tom.