John Cummings
Forum Replies Created
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“As freelance camera operator, I’d rather spend time shooting, not doing the job of the editor…”
Nicely put, Nick.
Ok, I’ll pile on…how about a more affordable playback-only deck?
From what I can gather here, on other boards, and by talking with fellow freelancers, it appears Panasonic is selling A TON of these HDX’s. If Panasonic is indeed committed to supporting their tape-based buyers, offering an affordble playback deck does seem like a slam dunk for sales…especially since it seems most deliverables ultimately need to be on some flavor of HDCam…not DVCPro HD.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
George-
I suspect most of us HDX owners will have fully realized our ROI (and much more) with these cameras by the time Panasonic finally pulls the plug on tape and HDX support. That little firewire plug alone should help prolong the HDX’s viability by a couple of years.
By the time we’re done with these cameras, we should see dramatically longer runtimes as well as much, much lower prices on solid state media.
With all the drama and angst among other freelancers over what format to buy, I actually feel pretty smart and satisfied about my HDX purchase.
I also agree Jan is a wonderful asset to her company and a valuable resource for all of us here on the cow…even when she tells us things we don’t want to hear…
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
Hi George-
There is a big difference between the second channel pins being “not enabled or not used” and the pins being “not wired.”
If “not wired” is indeed the case, obviously no firmware update will fix that.
Yes, you’re right, using the SR mounted outboard will still be somewhat better than hanging a couple of 401’s off the side of the camera, and that’s what I’ll probably do.
I own two cameras (a HDW Sony and an HDX Panasonic) that accept slot receivers. The attraction for me was to have one receiver that I could use with either, for links. What a wonderful concept.
The reality is that the dual channel Lectrosonics SR does not work, as advertised, with either camera.
I say shame on Lectrosonics (and their dealers) for either:
Not adequately testing this product,
and/or failing to disclose the SR’s incompatibilities to customers in the SR product data sheets.I’m done now.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
“the Lectro guy that I spoke to was the guy that developed the receiver and he thought that it would work with everything but a Sony…”
He thought?
Ken, I find it extremely hard to believe that the people at Lectrosonics do not actually test these products using real cameras to see if they actually work before they put them into production, and then ship them to dealers, who then sell them to unwitting nitwits like myself. But it does make one wonder what cameras the SR actually does work in…
“I’m sure that your are really more angry about it than you are showing.”
You are very perceptive, Ken.
Now quit trying to get me all riled up again.BTW, I’m not mad at Jan. But her cohorts at Panasonic support never did return my call.
That makes me mad.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
I will shut my mouth now and cross my fingers.
Jan, thanks for your insight and your help.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
Yea, I talked with the Lectro guys about that. It’s a whole new receiver, not a retrofit. And it won’t ship for awhile.
You’re right, it is goofy…kinda like this whole unislot situation. It gets even worse with sony, who of course only wants to sell sony slot receivers.
Too bad nobody is sharing any clear product information so buyers can make informed decisions. Lectro should post a compatibility matrix, but they didn’t…my audio dealer should have known better, but he didn’t…and panasonic shouldn’t have two channel pins in a connector with only one channel enabled, but that’s what they did. Now, it sounds like the fix (if there is one) may only go to the P2 models.
That would make me feel all warm and fuzzy about panasonic and my two-month old camera.I assume this unislot is licensed by ikegami, but apparently there’s no standards involved. And the slot pin configurations vary by manufacturer. There’s no “uni” anything here.
Right now, my unislots are a great place to warm up my pop-tarts…
Sorry…I’m tired and annoyed.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
Just off the phone with Lectrosonics, and they indicated that the 2 channel functionality might be enabled via a firmware update. I have contacted Panasonic, but have not received a call back yet.
I’ll be happy to share that info when I get it.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
Thanks, Jan.
That’s unfortunate. Is that the case right now for all Panasonic cameras with Unislot?
I’m sure other Panasonic owners would like to know the deal before they drop a lot of cash on dual channel receivers.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
I haven’t seen the portbrace case. I might check those out.
Right now it lives all snuggly in a pelican case.J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv -
I’ve had an LH80 now for a few weeks and overall, I like it a lot.
I bought it thinking I would use it mostly mounted on the camera, but find it’s just too heavy and bulky to run mounted for all but the most controlled shooting situations. That’s a bummer, and so my search continues for a small, lightweight HD monitor I can run on-board.
I like the red focus function but find I really don’t use it because it’s plenty sharp to check focus. I find the waveform function to be almost unusable. Off-axis viewing isn’t great, and forget about using it outside. But it puts out a good picture and I quickly found I could trust it. I self-installed the HDSDI option card and it wasn’t too hard.
I like that I can stick a small Dionic battery on it and it seems to run forever. For a compact HD monitor that travels well, I’m happy with it.
I haven’t used it’s bigger brother, the 900. I never really considered it because it’s not 16X9 native, and it was a little larger than what I wanted as well as more $$ than I was willing to spend.
J Cummings
DP/Chicago
http://www.cameralogic.tv