AG-HPX370 or AG-HPX500??

[Ryan Pratzel]

I own a 500, 170 and 250 and have used the 370 many times.

If I was buying a new camera today (I just bought a 250), I would go with the 370 over the 500. The 500 is a great camera, but the full 1080 appeal of the 370 is a better long-term solution. AVC-INTRA is also a good reason. If you are going to shoot a lot of green screen work, the 10-bit codec is better than DVCPRO HD.

The 370 is selling for $7200 right now with the Panasonic rebate. That includes a lens. The 500 will cost you 15-20k by the time you buy glass.

Both cameras have HD-SDI out, so you can hook into an external monitor. We use both FSI and Panasonic monitors with our cameras in the field.

The 500 is a great workhorse and is a great full-sized camera, but the 370 has a true HD LCD and a better viewfinder.

Ryan Pratzel
Executive Producer | Creative Liquid Productions
creativeliquid.com

[Rob Ainscough]

Awesome, thank you for the response!

Does the 370 support external mounted LCD and zoom wheel?

Cheers, Rob.

[Steve Eisen]

I own the HPX-500 and HPX-170. Looking to trade up to the HPX-250! Anybody need a 170?

I can agree what Ryan says about AVC-Intra for the HPX-370. On the other hand, The HPX-500’s 2/3″ chip is very nice. Great depth of field. You also get 4 independent channels of audio.

Either way, you are getting a great camera that will last a very long time. I would hold off purchasing anything until after NAB if possible.

[Rob Ainscough] “Does the 370 support external mounted LCD and zoom wheel?”
You can mount an external LCD and can support Zoom/Focus for the lens.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Ian Liuzzi-fedun]

500 sucks – low quality imagers – pixel shift!!!!!

[Steve Eisen]

I’ve never had a problem with mine.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Ian Liuzzi-fedun]

Didn’t say you had a problem but the 500 i like the 200a with 2/3″ imagers.

[Chris Tompkins]

[Ian Liuzzi-Fedun] ” Didn’t say you had a problem but the 500 i like the 200a with 2/3″ imagers.”

Your confused.

The 200 is a 1/3 CCD camera.
The 500 is a 2/3 CCD camera.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

[Adam Smith]

2/3″ chips are not small, unless you’re comparing to a DSLR or one of the new digital cinema cameras.

The HVX-200 and 200a both use 1/3″ chips. However you’re right in that both 200 and 500 use pixel-shift to pull a higher resolution image from their sensors. In my understanding, this makes them a little softer but more light sensitive, and any image noise will be smaller than comparable cameras.

As to the original question – I’ve had a 500 for several years now and I’m a big fan, but I’d have to do a close feature and image comparison these days to decide between the 500 and 370. The difference in Depth of Field would be the biggest issue for me in picking the 370, but honestly, these days if you want DOF there are lots of choices that do it better. Not saying it’s a slam-dunk for the 370, but for roughly half the price and 3 years in tech advancements… it’d certainly be up to the older camera to prove that it’s worth the difference.

– – –
Video Photographer / Avid & Final Cut Editor

[Rob Ainscough]

Thanks for all the input, I went with the 370 … hopefully it will not be a dinosaur tech by next week and something I can live and grow with 😉

Cheers, Rob.