Jeff Regan
Forum Replies Created
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Joe,
My choice was the 2700, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for you and your clients. Here’s a 2700 review, in case you haven’t seen it:
https://digitalcontentproducer.com/cameras/revfeat/video_panasonic_ajhpx_0901/index1.html
Best of luck–hard to go wrong with either camera!
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
https://www.ssv.comJeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
Many commercials call for overcranking or undercranking. The 2700 is rated at 640 ASA, 3000 is around 500 ASA. 3000 doesn’t do 720P, power consumption is a bit higher. Film-Rec goes up to 600% dynamic range with the 2700, 500% with the 3000. There are 3000’s available for $20K or so, including viewfinder, so it’s a lot of camera for the money.
I bought the 2700 because of its flexibility, but the 3000 is a very good choice and used value. I don’t believe the 5 year warranty is transferable, however.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
https://www.ssv.comJeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
I believe it allots more bits to the lower IRE information, but does not seem to harm high IRE areas. It seems like shadow areas are most likely to show compression artifacts with DVCPRO HD. Not sure if this works or is needed with AVC-Intra 50 or 100.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
https://www.ssv.comJeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
I know some HDX900 and Varicam owners who are using the nanoFlash. A DIT told me yesterday that it was a bit buggy. It’s a good way to extend the life of tape based cameras or improve the recording codec for an EX1 or EX3.
However, it’s still 8-bit, and at the minimum bit rate needed for I-Frame, it is not more efficient than P2 cards in Native frame rates using AVC-Intra 100 at 1080/24PN, 10-bit, full sample 4:2:2–both are 40 minutes per card. nanoFlash is MPEG-2 based vs. AVC-Intra which is h.264/MPEG-4 based and I’ve read the latter is twice as efficient at the same bit rate, meaning less compression.
A 32Gb CF card costs about $200 vs. $600 for a 32Gb P2 E card. If shooting over 100Mbps with the nanoFlash, you have to use a special 16Gb card.
Panasonic P2 cameras can hold five cards, or 200 minutes of 1080/24p with 32Gb cards, 400 minutes with 64Gb cards. Having internal solid state recording is more convenient, very reliable and five 32Gb P2 E cards is about the same cost as the nanoFlash, assuming one owns a P2 camera already.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
Thank you Tony, yes it was “Temp Pre Sel SW” in VAR instead of 3.2K/5.6K.
Some cool things I found out about from Barry Russo, a very helpful Panasonic engineer:
Color Temp. can be put on a user switch, push the menu wheel and you can change color temp in 200K steps by turning the wheel.
VFR ON internally, push menu wheel, use syncro scan buttons to change frame rate.
VFR ON at whatever selected frame rate, User SW frame rate to select a different frame rate mid-take. It was changing exposure at 180 degrees, but in 1/60 or 1/100, exposure change not evident, giving seamless frame rate change.
Firmware update from June? allows for audio in VFR modes, side crop in 4:3 downconversion mode.
Cool camera, AVC Intra is so natural looking compared to DVCPRO HD, and quieter.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
I often hear people say, “until P2 cards are the same cost as tape, I won’t buy into it”. My take on this is that the solid state media used for tapeless workflow was not intended to be used as an archival media. When I hear this, I think the person doesn’t understand the tapeless workflow concept.
P2 or SxS cards aren’t designed for archival anymore than a FireStore FS-100 is designed for archival.
I can record 400 minutes of 720/24PN footage with 5)32Gb P2 cards, which represents 12)33 min. tapes, about $144, similar to the cost of a 500Gb Firewire hard drive. Of course, that 500Gb hard drive can hold 37)33 min. tapes worth of footage, about $444 worth of tape. That’s three 500Gb Firewire hard drives for archival redundancy. Then there’s the cost savings of not buying and maintaining a studio deck, or the time wasted doing realtime ingest.
The only people I hear complain about P2 workflow are those who don’t use it.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
3)2/3″ 1080X1920 CCD’s would reqire a lot of power and possibly overheat in a one-piece camcorder form factor at 720/60p. Were that not the case, Panasonic would have come out with a single P2 Varicam, not both a 2700 and 3700, the latter of which is limited to 1080/30p as its highest frame rate and no 720p.
I’m happy that native frame rates are available in 1080/24p and 30p with AVC Intra. I don’t know why that’s not the case with DVCPRO HD.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
Jennifer,
The HPX2700 does not have a 1080X1920 full raster chip set, it is a native 720X1280 chip set, like the Varicam 27F/H, HDX900, HPX2000. To get a full raster CCD camera, you would need to buy an HPX3000 or 3700.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
Update on my HPX2700, the Panasonic director of sales called me today to address my concerns. Hope to have the camera PASS registration issue taken care of early next week, which was my concern due to the 30 day window Panasonic normally allows, that is up next week. I have no doubt Panasonic will make good at this point and appreciate somebody from high up taking notice.
So, if I can just figure out why my preset is cold, 2.6K vs. 3.2K, I’ll be a happy camper. I do believe Panasonic is more responsive to customers than many. Jan Crittendon-Livingston has always been great and I’ve had good response from Panasonic engineers in the past. I apologize to Steve Cooperman if I missed his responses to my emails somehow.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com -
Steve, yes, Panasonic’s recent 50% reductions in price of the 3700 and now 2700 risk angering many good customers who bought in at the old price, shows how overpriced the products were and will affect resale value of all Panasonic 2/3″ cameras. I’ve known for years that my large rental house competition has been paying half price, just as TV stations do.
I’m lucky that I bought an unopened B-stock 2700 in mid-September that was a good deal relative to a new 2700 before the current trade-in. Unfortunately, I’ve been trying for two weeks to register the camera, but it’s already been registered supposedly to Panasonic engineering and repeated promises by my salesman to address this have not materialized. I will be examining all options available to me next week, be it with American Express and/or my attorney.
So, not being able to register a camera that has just been reduced by 50% in price just adds to the frustration. I will have to think long and hard before ever buying any expensive Panasonic product going forward. My emails to the 2700/3700 product manager, Steve Cooperman have gone unanswered. It’s a shame, I used to think Panasonic was more responsive than other camera manufacturers. The 2700 is a great camera, though.
Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com