Panasonic AG-HMC 150 discussion

[Jeff Kellam]

Originally Posted by Steve Wolla

The biggest diff to me is in workflow requirements: The Canon A1 requires only the usual HDV editing computing configuration, whereas editing AVCHD requires either transcoding to DVCProHD, or having access to a pretty stout quad core to edit AVCHD files natively. I am going the transcoding route for a while, although this tends to create rather large file sizes.
I use Adobe CS3 and it was cool to be able to mix some 1080/60i from the A1 with some 720/60p from the HMC150. It actually worked. Cut well together, too.

Steve:

What CPU are you running? My primary editing machine has a Q6600. The Q6600 lets me edit the HMC-150 files natively easily using Vegas Pro 8.0c. I have editied 1080i A1 & HMC-150 footage natively on the timeline at the same time from dual cam shoots with no problem.

The current Vegas 8.0c chokes on 720 24P and 720 60P right now. Waiting for an update. But all the other modes are great editing. So for Tom, 720P30 is great on Vegas now, 720P24 is not for now.

Jeff

[Steve Wolla]

Hi Jeff, I am running a PC with:

Intel Pentium D-940
2GB 533mhz DDR
NVidia GeForce 7600GT (256MB)
Several TB's of storage and back-up.

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by Steve Wolla

Hi Jeff, I am running a PC with:
Intel Pentium D-940
2GB 533mhz DDR

Time to upgrade. I have a D930 desktop system which could never quite handle HDV adequately, while my newer laptop with a Core 2 Duo processor does much better.

[Jeff Kellam]

Originally Posted by Kevin Shaw

Time to upgrade. I have a D930 desktop system which could never quite handle HDV adequately, while my newer laptop with a Core 2 Duo processor does much better.

Steve:

I agree with Kevin.

Quad core systems are so inexpensive at this point, you should make the move. Or go all the way to a i7/Nehalem system.

Your editing frustrations will be releaved a lot with a new machine.

Jeff

[Steve Wolla]

Yes, I suppose that I do need a computer upgrade soon. I am trying to put that off another 3 to 4 months for $$$ reasons. Plus my current machine has a pretty decent blu ray burner installed, which I do use, so it could hurt cost wise to change.

[Martin Duffy]

Hi everyone,

I am hoping there may be a 1.4 tele lens or similar for the new 150 Camera. I am considering buying the Sony FX1000 mainly due to its 20X zoom which is great for me as I film alot of sport. That camera also has a wonderful very fast zoom speed critical for "getting in" very fast".

I was appalled at the last Panasonic HD cam (whatever it was) as it had the slowest zoom on earth!

Obviously the new Panasonic is not tape based which sounds appealing but the 13X lens to me is very off putting.

My past experience with tele lens' is that anything past a 1.4 tele gives you the black ring when on a wide shot.

On my Panasonic DVC-62 (52mm i think) and Sony TRV900 (43mm) I have used a Sony 1.4 lens and don not get the black ring. The 1.4 just gets you in there and makes a big big difference to the impact of how gootage looks.

If I thought there was a 1.4 or 1.5 lens that did the job on the new Pana 150 then I might go for it as I can see its a great cam, very light and no TAPE!

What is the mm of the lens?

There seems to be a bit of paranoia about using the card system. Surely any professional video guy would be transferring to hard drive and then transferring to another drive as a further back up.

Hard Drives are cheap these days.

[Tom Alexander]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kellam

I shot a few weddings using the HMC-150 & A1 both in 1080i since they both shoot that mode. The results cut together nicely.

Thanks for the info Jeff. Seeing that you have shot a few weddings with it now, have you had any issues with the clips spanning together properly. With the 4 gb max file size on the SDHC cards, I have heard that there were some issues in some NLE's with regards to them not assembling the clips properly or even dropped frames around the splicing point.

Obviously, it is important for a wedding videographer or for any long form type of video to have a seamless transition as a clip exceeds 4 gb and a new clip is started. Any issues with this yet?

[Jeff Kellam]

Originally Posted by Tom Alexander

Thanks for the info Jeff. Seeing that you have shot a few weddings with it now, have you had any issues with the clips spanning together properly. With the 4 gb max file size on the SDHC cards, I have heard that there were some issues in some NLE's with regards to them not assembling the clips properly or even dropped frames around the splicing point.

Obviously, it is important for a wedding videographer or for any long form type of video to have a seamless transition as a clip exceeds 4 gb and a new clip is started. Any issues with this yet?

I have heard about these issues in many posts. So far, partially based on the way I shoot, I have never seen a problem yet. I actually don't know if I don't have the problem or just haven't seen it. Since I haven't seen it, Im not sure how bad it is or whether it's a NLE or file/camera issue.

I usually do a two camera shoot. The longest camera roll I do is during the ceremony. Even on this long roll, I cut between the two cameras pretty often in post. So, I never have had a situation where I put a 4GB File break right in the active scene. Not on purpose mind you, it's just never happened so far and I have very few of the 4GB breaks, if any.

If someone was on single camera wedding shoot and there was a noticeable amount of lost frames, that would be a problem. Im sure I could fairly easily gloss the video & audio over, but we shouldn't have to deal with something like that. There is enough work on the edit without camera based issues.

[Jeff Kellam]

Originally Posted by Martin Duffy

Hi everyone,

I am hoping there may be a 1.4 tele lens or similar for the new 150 Camera. I am considering buying the Sony FX1000 mainly due to its 20X zoom which is great for me as I film alot of sport. That camera also has a wonderful very fast zoom speed critical for "getting in" very fast"..

The 150 certainly could use more reach. A positive note is the 150 lens is much wider than the FX1000 or XH-A1. I guess you can't have both. There are tele extenders available for the 150 from Schneider Optics.

Panasonic AG-HPX170 / AG-HMC150 Attachments- Schneider Optics

Not sure about the zoom speed. I would just use manual if you need very fast zoom.

Originally Posted by Martin Duffy

If I thought there was a 1.4 or 1.5 lens that did the job on the new Pana 150 then I might go for it as I can see its a great cam, very light and no TAPE!

The Schneider tele extender for the 150 is a 1.6. It portholes from 1/2 camera zoom and less.

[Steve Wolla]

Martin,

I think the AVCHD codec has distinct advantages over HDV in the way the codecs handle motion when shooting sports that can outweigh that 20X zoom. Since you will be shooting HD on the 150 ( that's all it does) you would have the ability to "zoom in" in post as needed, in a lot of cases, where that 13X zoom range is not enough.

I have shot a lot of soccer from the side of the field, and rarely needed anywheres near the full 20X that tghe A1 offers. What I would have liked to have was a litle wider lens, so when the players are charging along coming right at you, you can follow that action even when they are almost on top of you.

My results in shooting soccer with the A1 were generally pretty good. However I did see an improvement in clarity over HDV, maybe it was due to my improving technique, maybe the cam or both. But that experience has gotten me a job this spring doing video sports resumes for which I will rely primarily on the HMC due to the codec's better handling of motion. I am keeping the A1 as backup, and will use it if that 20X or certain prresets become necessary.
But the codec--AVCHD--is just better suited for sports work than is HDV, so if it were me--I'd nix the Sony based just on that. Especially if you are selling the output to a client.
SW

[Ken Ross]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kellam

The 150 certainly could use more reach. A positive note is the 150 lens is much wider than the FX1000 or XH-A1. I guess you can't have both.

The stats say the 150 is 28mm and the Z5/FX1000 is 29.5mm. Doesn't sound much wider to me unless I'm misreading the info.

[Dave Hagan]

I have a question...
Can the HMC150 hookup to a computer (I know it would have to be USB because it doesn't have a Firewire port) and do a live capture to the hard drive? I have done this with DV and HDV cams and was curious if the HMC150 also had this capability. I have recorded plays or recitals to my computer's hard drive using log and capture as the event happens to save time for editing and meanwhile making a backup on tape simultaneously. Thanks to anyone for the answer to this question!

[Rick Lutec]

I was wondering the same thing and for practically the same reasons.

[Darren Shroeger]

Originally Posted by Dave Hagan

I have a question...
Can the HMC150 hookup to a computer (I know it would have to be USB because it doesn't have a Firewire port) and do a live capture to the hard drive? I have done this with DV and HDV cams and was curious if the HMC150 also had this capability. I have recorded plays or recitals to my computer's hard drive using log and capture as the event happens to save time for editing and meanwhile making a backup on tape simultaneously. Thanks to anyone for the answer to this question!

Only through HDMI which would require a strong computer, an Intensity card and fast SATA drives. Live capturing HD video takes a LOT more bandwidth than DV/HDV over firewire. One benefit that could make it all worthwhile is that it would be uncompressed, providing a better-than-AVCCAM image.

[Dave Hagan]

Thanks, Darren. That's kind of a bummer. Do they make that card in an Express Card/34 version for notebooks? The AG-HMC150 looks like a nice cam and has a nice price, but something's like no firewire on it puzzle me.