7D vs HMC150 w/Letus Elite

[Doug Marcum]

HMC150 with Letus vs Canon 7D on Vimeo

Link to HMC150 Letus Elite vs. Canon 7D


A week ago I asked a question on the HMC150 board, requesting a technical answer. Several posters expressed interest in seeing a side by side comparison of the two setups.

While many with greater experience may have conducted the comparison differently, this is my contribution.

I hope to add a few well lit shots next week.

Doug

[Roger Shealy]

Thanks Doug. I think the days of the Letus have passed as your demonstration shows very clearly. With careful setup and good light they can produce decent results, but is seems to be at best a clever, but inefficient work around to try and make a camera do what it wasn't designed to do.

One area where the HMC 150 would have fared positively would have been a scene that would cause aliasing on the 7d (front grill of a truck, hounds tooth cloth...). Other than that, the 150+Letus has few if any advantages and many, many disadvantages. Remove the Letus, and there are many ways the HMC 150 is better than the 7D for certain applications.

[Tim Polster]

Thanks for this post.

I have these cameras but only use the 7D & 5DMKII for still work.

I really need to add these to my video toolkit as the images are clearly nice.

Pro audio seems like an issue though.

[Doug Marcum]

Many use the Zoom H4N for audio.

[Bill Pryor]

I use the Zoom H4N also. It has better sound quality than any video camera I've used in the past, including broadcast cameras. Syncing and editing adds a little time but not much. Most higher end productions have always used double system sound anyway, so it's not a great leap.

[Brian Luce]

I am a Tascam DR100 fanboy. I think it's a better choice than the Zoom because of redundant power and separate level controls.

I am not employed by Tascam although I should get royalties for all the hype I give them.

[Corey Benoit]

while low light is better on a 7d thanks to the 2.7 cmos...compared to 3x1/3 ccd's the panasonic hmc150 does seem more "film" like in the street scene shot.....does anyone else feel this way?

[Doug Marcum]

Added 1:40 to front of clip to illustrate well lit differences. The balance of the video is unchanged.

While the 7D did very well in low light, the HMC with it's built in ND Filters make it very easy to maintain a low f-stop to achieve a shallow depth of field in well lit situations. This being said, I did not use the HMC's filters because I do not have filters for the 7D and I tried to compare them on a level playing field. Without external, add-on filters, the 7D is limited to very high f-stop settings or the need to significantly increase the shutter speed to bring the light levels down to usable levels.

The original test, mainly in low light settings, highlighted the strong points of the 7D and weak points of the HMC150. The added clips help illustrate what a great camera the HMC150 really is.

I believe both cameras are excellent in their own right, but together they provide a great double punch for the well lit and not so well lit settings.

[Corey Benoit]

i had a choice between a hmc150 used for 2400 or a new 7d for 1900...i went with the 7d, and i am starting to regret due to "auto gain control" on the 7d, and its really shaky hard to stabilize...

the picture quality can be customized, including exposure on the 7d so that post edit is more clean...and looks very similar to red one picture..

but the hmc150 has a very cinematic "film" look to it....and i really dig that tho...

my main camera will be a ex1r, and backup is now a 7d....unless i take it back

[Robert Turchick]

Very interesting. but kinda expected those results. The HMC is pretty decent at low light for a 1/3" CCD but no way is it going to match a DSLR's performance with a proper lens. The daylight stuff I thought was comparable with a different feel between the two, both very useable. The low light however, with putting extra stuff on the front of the 150...forget it. Not a fair comparo.
I will be using my T2i as a b-roll/DOF monster with my HMC-150 (no adapter) for general/long-form shooting with pro audio.
My first lens for the T2i (other than the kit) is a 50mm f1/4 which is simply awesome. I think that having both cameras in my "bag-o-tricks" is going to be extremely useful.

[Corey Benoit]

what do you think was a better choice of combo...

main camera = sony ex1r
backup alt = panasonic hmc150

or

main camera = sony ex1r
backup alt = canon 7d

[Brian Luce]

Originally Posted by Corey Benoit

what do you think was a better choice of combo...

main camera = sony ex1r
backup alt = panasonic hmc150

or

main camera = sony ex1r
backup alt = canon 7d

I think the 7d is a far better back up. It can do things the EX can't.

Btw, a monopod will give you effective stabilization for $30. I don't find them cumbersome at all, sure, a $1800 Red Rock is more convenient but it's $1800!

[Corey Benoit]

im getting the ex1r, i was just making sure that the 7d makes a better backup than the hmc150....

[Roger Shealy]

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

I think the 7d is a far better back up. It can do things the EX can't.

Btw, a monopod will give you effective stabilization for $30. I don't find them cumbersome at all, sure, a $1800 Red Rock is more convenient but it's $1800!

I've found the Bogen 560b-1 monopod with fluid foot ($130) combined with a Velbon PH-368 head ($35) a great combination. Just lock the pan knob on the head so the Bogen's fluid foot does the pans and use the Velbon's tilt. You can also tilt the monopod in conjunction with the tilt on the head to get some minor "crane" type movements when shooting closeups. Small enough to strap to a backpack and weights about 4 pounds.

Surprisingly good kit for such a small investment.

[Corey Benoit]

links to this product? also any links to where i can buy those focus sticks, the ones with the knobs so you can focus with a shoulder mount?

and the cheapest matte box, lol