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OT: Opinions on how video from Panasonic HMC-150 will hold up in post?
Sorry if this post is off-topic, but I want to get opinions from FCP editors on how the AVCCAM codec of the Pana AG-HMC150 is holding up in post. This camera is essentially an AG-HPX170 that records in AVCCAM on lower cost media, but with a few features missing like multiple frame rates.
The general word on camera forums is that the high quality setting (21Mpbs) in 720p is holding up very well to color correction and green screen torture tests.
It does appear that there are some problems importing the files in FCP 6.0.4, but I’m assuming that Apple will correct this in the near future (maybe a big assumption).
If you’ve dealt with footage from this camera in post, I’d appreciate your assessment of it.
thanks,
Russ
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1 Reply
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The HMC-150 uses a 4:2:0 color space which might make it less likely to hold up very well in post, though I’m interested to hear what people are saying about keying with it, especially if they’re saying good things. I recently cut a piece for a band that used an XL2 for close ups, and an SD9 for a master angle. The SD9’s maximum data rate is lower than the HMC’s, and they shot at a medium data rate. That said, I was extremely impressed with how the footage looked. I applied mild color correction and it still looked great.
There are two factors to consider in this situation though, which is that my final output was for an SD DVD, and also that the footage was transcoded to ProRes422 upon ingest. Due to the 4:2:0 color space, if you blow out your highlights, don’t count on pulling any detail back out in post (not like you would with DVCPRO HD’s 4:2:2 color space) but I was extremely impressed with how the footage looked, and am currently eyeballing the HMC150 myself.
P.S. If any of you use the SD9, that zoom mic feature is awful! Bleck! I don’t know if you can disable it, but if you can, do!
Richard Sanchez
North Hollywood, CA“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks
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