[Jeff Regan]

We have an HPX170 and EX1 and Letus Ultimates. The HVX200 and EX1 optimization kits consist of a step down ring, 82mm and 77mm, respectively and achromat closeup lens(same lens for both).

The HPX170 requires a 72mm step down ring and uses the same achromat as above. The achromat comes with the Ultimate, but costs extra with other Letus adapters, I believe.

Letus Direct is not part of Letus Corporation. Email or open a support ticket to either and you will get a reply.

Without the achromat, even if you can get proper close focus, it won’t be good edge to edge.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

We have an EX1 in our rental inventory and I didn’t like the standard picture profile look at all, it just looked like a hyper sharp video camera to me, not filmic. Once I did some scene files it looks much better to me. Also, shooting in 1080/60i really reveals the shortcomings of the 4:2:0 Long GOP low bit rate XDCAM EX codec.

AVC-Intra, being a 10-bit codec has 4X the shades of gray(1024) vs. any 8-bit codec(256). Much more tonality and room for grading and color correction.

The look of any camera is very subjective and there are so many image control parameters that can be addressed in digital video cameras that it should not be too difficult to find a pleasing look or looks.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

John,

I have watched both the interior and exterior tests of both cameras. The HPX300 looks like HD to me, not dissimilar to the 700. The 700 has so much chromatic aberration that it’s distracting–the stock Canon lens looks like crap on the exteriors.

As far as a 700 being like an EX1 on the inside, how do you figure?
The EX1 uses 1/2″ CMOS full raster imagers, the 700 uses 1/3″ lower resolution CCD’s that are pixel shifted to derive an HD image.

The 700 XDCAM EX recorder is an optional separate unit. I don’t see much similarity except for the MPEG2 based codecs. The 300 and EX1 are much more similar at the front end due to both having full raster CMOS sensors, albeit the EX1 has the 1/2″ advantage. Once you get to the codecs, the 300 leaves the 700 and EX1 for dead due to its AVC-Intra 100 format.

Again, if the 700 looks right to you, go for it, I’m just perplexed because I don’t see what you’re seeing, but I try to not make judgments from highly compressed net streams. Although, the CA error with that Canon lens on the 700 is distressing. Didn’t see a bit of CA with the 300, probably due to the CAC circuit.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

The lack of Native frame rate modes with the HPG20 P2 Portable is very unfortunate. The much less expensive FireStore FS-100 can record in Native modes as well as Quick Time files, so Panasonic missed the mark here. Of course the FireStore doesn’t record in AVC-Intra. I can’t help but think they are protecting the HPM110 and 200 recorders.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

Yes, I’m surprised at how quiet the EX1/3 are. Part of it is the 1/2″ vs. 1/3″ sensor size, but Sony seems to have a very clean camera that is pretty close in sensitivity to Panasonic 2/3″ cameras in 720P. It slower in 1080.

I think the Sony 350 is priced a bit high, although the stock lens is very cheap. I just can’t help thinking that the HPX2700 can be had for the same price–except for viewfinder and lens and P2 cards, which add up quickly.

I really hope you get a chance to see a 700 and 300 side by side somehow. The exterior footage you posted on Vimeo looks more similar than different to me. I’m a big fan of AVC-Intra, and having to step down to 8-bit, 4:2:0, Long GOP at a low bit rate would be depressing to me.

I have an HPX170 and it’s slower than an EX1, while still being noisier. With my 2/3″ Panasonic cameras, I always shoot at -3db if possible to keep noise low.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

Phil,

Agreed, Roger Macie is a good resource for camera setup. Many network shooters have used him for years. I’ve sent my cameras to him in the past–he maintained my 2)Sony D600 Betacams.

I have a Sony EX1 in my rental inventory and hated the way it looked in its standard factory default picture profiles. Once I put in some scene files, it transformed the camera.

My HDX900 and HPX2700 came from the factory setup to look good with Asian skin tones, but are deficient in green and cyan saturation. Wonderful when I’m shooting Asians, not so good for other setups. I wish every manufacturer would setup their cameras with a Chroma Du Monde chart as a factory reference.

I remember way back, many people waxed poetically about Ikegami cameras vs. Sony cameras, colorimetry wise. It wasn’t a big deal to match the Sony to the Ikegami by using the matrix, working on the detail circuit. The funniest thing was that when matrix was turned off on both brands, they were actually very close, although the Ikegami cameras used a different IR filter cut which affected red response.

Anyway, anytime I hear somebody doesn’t like the “look” of a digital camera, I just chuckle because I know I can make most any camera look like any other–that’s the point of a digital camera vs. an analog camera.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

John,

I only found one HPX300 clip, which looked similar to the JVC exterior clip. The main difference that I saw was chromatic aberration error with the JVC, due to no having CAC, which the Panasonic has.

The lit interior looked very nice, assume that was the JVC. The low light test was horrid, typical 1/3″ video noise from the JVC, and I’m pretty sure the Panasonic would look bad as well in the same conditions.

I don’t like to make judgments from highly compressed files on the web, but the 300 looked fine on the exterior footage that I saw.

I assume you meant HVX200A that you shoot with for FOX, being that the HPX2000 doesn’t shoot SD.

Anyway, having run a rental house for 27 years, JVC is not a brand I would have on my shelf based upon previous experience up to the HD100. I have not, however, seen the 700, but I am very familiar with the XDCAM EX codec. The best part about Sony XDCAM EX cameras are the 1/2″ full raster sensors, which the JVC does not have.

I do like the fact that the 700 offers Quicktime files natively, that is a nice convenience, if far short of AVC-Intra 100 quality.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

John,

It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind to return the camera and go with the JVC instead–certainly your call. Just odd that you asked for help, but I see no attempt on you part to try any of the settings I’ve recommended. You keep referring to “out of the box”, but what does that really mean with a digital camera? Once you load a preset scene file into the camera, it should have a different look than “out of the box”.

Recommend you try a factory reset. Your terms like “pop”, “crispness”, “murky”, “cruddy”, aren’t easy to translate into technical camera setup changes. Noisy I get, crispness I assume is the detail circuit needing to be raised.

Again, your camera could be defective, it would be worthwhile to put next to another HPX300. Might also be interesting to put side by side with a JVC as well.

Panasonic has some great people that could try to help, but only if you really want to find out what’s going on. You could contact Jan Crittendon, the product manager or Barry Russo, an engineer.

I’m just thinking that IF the camera were defective or could be made to look like what your taste desires, you would have the advantage of the AVC-Intra 100 codec. Even DVCPRO HD is superior to the codecs available with the JVC. The CCD’s with the 700 use pixel offset to get HD pixel count, the 300 uses three native full raster sensors. The five year warranty is nice as well.

The JVC may be the right camera for you and your clients, but it would be interesting to get to the bottom of what is going on with the HPX300–defective or just not your preference in image quality.

Best of luck!

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

John,

This isn’t making sense to me(I’ve only tested the HPX300 once, so I’m making some recommendations based on ownership of HPX170, HDX900 and HPX2700), first you said the scene files weren’t loading properly from the SD card, then you said you loaded them.

If you loaded multiple scene files, surely you saw some differences between them? A digital camera is just hardware looking for the right software and firmware to provide the final image.

The fact that you are a news shooter tells me potentially a couple of things(please correct me if I’m off base):

You want a contrasty image-try HD Gamma or B Press if the 300 has it

You want lots of detail-raise the detail level

You want a bright image-raise the gamma point

I saw that you complained about noise with the 300-raise coring to +2

There may also be black stretch and/or mid gamma options to try out.

While the HPX300 doesn’t have as many menu options as an HPX2700, there should still be enough scope for getting a look that you like out of the camera. We are in the range of the subjective here, that’s why there are so many menu line items for image control.

To say that the HPX300 “is bad out of the box” either means you don’t like the factory setup or the camera is defective. Not seeing differences between scene files, or seeing differences, but not liking any of them seems odd.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

You might try raising chroma level, using HD Gamma vs. Filmlike Gamma,
and lowering Master Ped as a starting point to see if you’re headed in the right direction. These things are more often done in post vs. in camera these days. Filmlike Gamma would be preferable for high contrast exteriors, capturing more highlight detail, but will look flat compared to a normal video gamma.

A more complex set of adjustments would be Matrix settings, best done with a MacBeth color chart or DSC Labs Chroma Du Monde chart with HD vectorscope. Matrix and Color Correction(don’t know if the HPX300 has either circuit) really allows one to specifically attain their preferred look for color primaries and secondaries, both for hue and saturation. It would be much easier to successfully download the Panasonic scene files, find one that is closer to what you like and tweak from there.

Panasonic cameras are known for great colorimetry and skin tones, but, at least for the high end cameras, the matrix settings are deficient in green and cyan.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com