JVC GY-HD110 HD in fast action high viabration setting
 

Hi All
I'm getting a new camera, finally after 5 years of my Sony VX2000! whoppee! Anyway one of the cameras I'm considering is the JVC GY-HD110 HD. Seems like a great camera but I'm concerned about the type of shooting I do and this camera. I do technical stuff or railways and most of the shooting in out the front of fast moving trains. Fast action in a rather high viabration area. Mount is in the locomotive. Not a tripod though, it's custom made clamp down type.

Would the JVC GY-HD110 HD be a good camera for this type of work? I'm concerned that it doesn't have any kind of "steady shot" stabilization like the Sony's have. I'm also looking at the Sony HVRZ1U, a HD version of the PD-170 (I think).

Can't quite afford the AE $14000 gyro stabilizer (anyone got a winning lottery ticket? ;-) )

I know the JVC would be great for my legal video work though. Oh yea, I know, 2 cameras!

Also will this HD110 print a date / time stamp on the video?

Thanks for any input.
Allen

Hi Allen,

I have the HD100u and have run into the same concerns. While there is a motion smoothing feature in the camera settings, I prefer to turn it off. The camera does a pretty good job keeping the picture steady when zoomed all the way out, but zoomed all the way in even while it's mounted on a tripod or clamp down, and the slightest touch or breeze will create very noticeable shake. The shoulder mount design is terrific when running around to capture fast motion - and while that in itself will help steady a shot, having a lense stabilizer feature will probably help you. Maybe look at the new, smaller Canon's. While having an image stabilizer on a lense is frowned upon by the pro community, do what's right for you. Otherwise, I will say that I love my camera. I shoot almost entirely outdoor scenics, with some road/mountain biking footage. I'll be on a glacier at 10,000 ft with it in a month :).

Hi Jeremy

Thanks for the info. Actually in my railroad shooting, the camera is on a Hi-Hat mount bolted to a "home made" stand and clamped down on the locomotive. We have a 1" viabration pad under the Hi-Hat board also, and the focus is locked on infinity. All wide angle. No zoom at all.

Do you know if the 110 will print a date-time stamp on a video? I need that for my legal video work?

Thanks but I'm not interested in the Canon's. Have a friend who just bought the XL2 and I'm not too impressed with his picture quality in our shooting enviroment. The Sony and possibly the JVC model can produce a much sharper video. My opinion of the Canon's is they're great for that "film" look, but in the technical stuff I do I need extreme sharpness. Before I bought my VX2000, I looked at the then GL1. The Sony had more features and a better video.

Thanks again
Allen

Hi Allen,

I just went through all of the time/clock settings, but I'm not finding anything in the menu which will print the time stamp. I am new to this camera, so definitely look for a second opinion. Best of luck to you - if you do get this camera, the picture quality is outstanding.

What you can do is set your timecode to free run and set it to the local time.

Thanks Stephan
However wouldn't I then loose my original drop time code for editing? Right now if I need to print a date-time stamp on the video I got to capture it and then first run it through my vDTS software, then do my editing, if any, but you don't edit deposition videos. Just an extra step I don't need for various reasons.

Allen

Yeah, you would still have to add the date/timestamp in post. As far as I know no professional camera (at least none designed for general broadcast work) has the capability of adding any kind of titling in the video itself.

Reality shows run their timecode free run using local time of day. What this does is make it so when a producer or PA is logging an event, they don't have to log any sort of timecode, just log the time of day it happened. The advantage of this is if there are any timecode breaks (i.e. you stop recording at any time) the timecode will still always indicate local time of day.

Allen - my initial reaction to your post is that the JVC is not the right camera for your situation.

It can't time stamp with date and time and it does not feature any kind of optical stabilisation. I'm also not aware of any 1/3" lenses with built in optical stabilisation. If your custom mount was stabilised that would work.

In hi def it only shoots progressive but if you get the 200 or 250 they shoot 60fps so it is going to look similar to 60i for fast moving shots.

A camera like the Sony Z1 may be a better option, although I don't know if you can time stamp with that. It would be similar in ergonomics to your VX2000. You could also look at the newer Sony V1 which uses CMOS rather than CCDs.