A Proud But Panicked Owner
 

I am an amateur. I know jack about professional camcorders. Which is why I felt (after about 6 months of research and saving) that the JVC GY-HM100 was the camera for me. I am a big Mac fan, and love Final Cut Studio, so the workflow alone drew me to this camera. I've only worked with a Canon HV20 up to now.

I've been shooting video with the HM100 for a couple of days now, and I have to say I'm a bit concerned, especially when shooting in 1080p30, full auto mode. It seems I cannot pan without some serious... what are the terms? Strobing and stuttering? Jerky motion? On top of this, I'm finding green and purple edges on a tree in my yard, as well as grain on the footage (especially tree trunks, telephone poles, etc.) I know that full auto mode is not the ideal way to shoot with the HM100, but viewing this initial footage at full size, it just looks horrid.

Anyway, this all has me feeling more than a little panicked about my purchase. I want to believe I'm just doing something wrong. Everything I've heard, read, and seen on Youtube, etc. tells me this is truly a great camera capable of producing amazing results. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely
David E.

Hi David...............
 

There isn't a semi pro camera made that can take video worth a damn in full auto mode.

I don't have specific knowledge of the camera under discussion, but I think that a little bit of reading in this and other threads on the way to get the best out of your machine won't go amiss.

In the meantime, set the shutter to manual and to 1/60th. Turn off auto gain and set it manually to zero. Set your aperture manually according to the camera's light metre, tho' if you need to go lower than f5.6, kick in a ND filter or two.

Take your pans REAL slow in 30/ 24 fps, 60i looks far better (IMHO).

Bet it looks heaps better already?

Don't worry, it ain't the camera, it's the nut driving it.


CS

PS: I do mean that in the nicest possible way, don't take a fence, you'll only have to replace it.

David.


Don't go shoving your wrists in the chaffcutter yet. Read the good book that comes with the camera.

Then just go out on the patio under the shade with the good book, the camera, your favourite beverage beside you on the table, relax and play with the menus first, then play with what they give you, then pick off everything within eyesight with every different setting you can find to adjust.

To take some of the drudge out of the self-educating process, pull a colleague or your partner in on the act, to read off menus with you or to remember something you forgot. Two brains on the job is easier

You will be glad you did.

The colour fringing on high contrast edges is something that has been around in prosumer cams. If you paid the price required for a camera lens without this vice, you might buy your camera about three times over.

It is a known issue with the older JVC GY HD*** camera family, some lenses better than others so might have migrated to the current generation.

There are sweet zones to stay within which minimise this artifact.

Perservere. Once you get to know your camera, I think you will be well-pleased with what you can fine-tune to and what it will give you.

I don't own a JVC but have worked the JVC GY-HD100 and 111 and very much liked what I could get from them and would have owned one if I had not already invested in another type first.

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice, guys. I have actually been reading the manual quite a bit since I first got the camera, and tried some of the manual settings.
Still, finding the right combination will take some doing, I suppose.

At the end of the day, I agree my results are the fruit of my inexperience. That said, I also ordered Tim Dashwood's DVD on the camera, and looking forward to the hands on training.

Any other advice is still welcome though, so feel free.

David E.

One thing that helps a LOT is reducing the DETAIL setting from 0 to about -8. You will see much less noise and less "shimmering" on straight vertical edges.

You have to hold this camer VERY still. The OIS is ok, but with only 1/4 chips it only helps a little.

Philip Bloom Review
 

I think a lot of my frustration came from watching Philip Bloom's review of the HM100 (go to Youtube, and search for HM100 Bloom). It's one of the pieces that first got me excited about this camera 6 months ago. I know that much of the footage presented here has been graded. That said, the ungraded portions of the footage look so much better than what I'm shooting. And Bloom states twice in the video that he is shooting in full auto mode. I guess I'm just wondering how he managed to avoid all the pitfalls of full auto shooting...

David E.

One more thing when when shooting Auto. I usually set the AE exposure to -1 or -2. The HM100 on auto seems to over expose just a bit. Also, set the knee to 85% This helps also.

Try 720 60p or 1080 60i. Motion is smoother.

Thanks Andy for all your feedback... Will try as you have suggested.

things to think about in no particular order.
 

speaking in generalties (not having used the HM100) you might save yourself some grief and stick with 24p or 60i/p. Also I hear the HM series gets less noise at 720p instead of 1080p/i. The chipset is 720p so the 1080p/i is offset and uprezed which can introduce extra noise and artifacts compared to the 720p. Use manual exposure and get to know your zebra patterns and expose for highlights to just be starting to be over exposed. avoid auto fucos for anything serious or stationary, however you can always check the autofocus on nearly all autofocus cameras while in manual mode. Also the HM series cameras have various gama & color matrix settigns that you can use. I'm probably out of step with most people on this forum these days. I'm getting better results from my older JVC HD110 using the STOCK color matrix and gama settings which makes a flat image, then doing color grading post in my NLE instead of doing it in camera. Just things to think about.

Hi David. I am in the same situation (newbie - first ProHD camcorder) BUT I have been having excellent results on full auto. I shoot more in 720p and for fast pans (rally cars) I turn the OIS off! I also spent a bit on a solid tripod. I have been really impressed with the cam/FCP combo... beats the hell out of DV :-)

Charles

Charles, I too am starting to shoot mostly in 720p. The Final Cut workflow is awesome. Not having to sit there and import bits and pieces of HDV is wonderful. Still, I wish I was more satisfied with the full auto shooting. I'm shooting a lot outdoors, and the contrast of tree trunks are especially giving me trouble. They are almost always noisy, with the green/purple edges, and have a kind of two dimensional quality in the frame. That said, I've gotten some great feedback here in the forum, and am beginning to tweak the camera settings with some better results. Overall though, I bought this camera based on reviews that said Full Auto shot really good footage. My plan was to start shooting in full auto, and venture into the manual settings more gradually. Still, shooting manually was the ultimate goal, so I guess that's that. Thanks for posting.

David E.

In my experience a day on auto gave me good results while another day with full manual and careful exposure gave me poor results. (and I have read the manual).

What I have found is that 720p60 will give smooth video whilst 1080p30 will give jerky motion as you describe. This was filming a street with slowly moving cars. Others understand why 30p in hdv cameras renders movement as jerky better than I. So, I think I'm going to explore 720p60 for while.

The next thing is the fringing. I showed my footage to JCV. They said the (pronounced) fringing was within parameters. But worse than I ever saw on a PD100, I would say. Why is that?

With regards image quality. Bright light produces better results irrespective of gain, which I always have off unless shooting at night or indoors. The footage on good days is clearer and sharper. I also found that generally grass and fine vegetation is treated badly by the compression.

I'm not sure about the detail control – I found that turning the detail down as in the Tim Dashwood DVD produced mush in detailed subjects. I'm not clear why he suggested it.

Clearly a lot of work does have to be done to get consistent good results with this camera but I know it is possible. It just feels random at times. I'm also exploring post-processing.

My problem is focus and I'm going to start a new thread on that question.

David, one more thing.

Even in full automode, you need to use the ND filter during the day/outside. It helps the camera a lot.

Please ignore this. Just the result incorrect timecode base in a FCP sequence. Corrected, the 30fps motion is smooth.

Gy-hm 100
 

Hello there, I would like to put your mind at rest about your purchase ,I am an amateur to ,I use my GY on 720 25 full auto (it's worst setting) and the results are stunning Sorry but I feel you must be doing something wrong ,keep trying and I'm sure it will be OK. Just one thing I am a big PC fan so I am using a different system.