Moving From HMC150 to EX1?
 

I currently have a Panasonic HMC150. It's a fantastic camera, but I'm considering moving up a bit. The EX1 has some great things for me, specifically the larger sensor, the real focus ring (pana's is AWFUL), and the (I believe) higher sensitivity.

I'm wondering if anyone has made the switch from HMC150 or HVX200 to the EX1 and how they have felt about it.

My one worry is the rolling shutter because I don't know if the work I've been doing would have looked differently (in terms of CMOS reaction) if it had been shot with EX1. I've been primarily doing short films, and am trying to figure out what camera to shoot my thesis (another short film) on. I would much rather own a camera I knew how to operate (EX1) than spend $650 a day on something I had never used (Red ONE, etc).

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I suggest doing a lot of testing and comparison before pulling the trigger, it's entirely subjective, but the switch to EX might not represent a quantum leap in image quality. Let your eyes judge.

Look at them both on a big 1920 x 1080 monitor or projected on to a big screen with a true HD projector then you'll really see the difference. Look at compression artifacts during slow pans across high detail, look at the true resolution (don't get confused by heavy detail correction and artificial sharpening). Look at the color response.

You'll see a night and day difference.

Am I biased towards the Sony, well yes, but that's because IMHO at the moment they are making the best cameras on the market.

i can add to this. I just SOLD my EX1 to get another HMC150. Both cameras do some things good, and other things bad. I can tell you this much, the image from the EX is cleaner, noticeably cleaner. Having that extra resolution really helps. I felt the HMC 150 has better colors, it is lighter, it is easier to shoot with, and costs nearly half as much.

I have had to change my 150 settings because I found the image looked artificially sharp to get it to match the sony. In low light, I found the sony to be about 1 stop better. dont ask me why I economized, it makes me too sad.

At the same time, try also to compare with your intended display medium, the grander the scale the more the EX will shine. But if you intend to deliver mainly to the web, you might re-evaluate. I've seen shoot outs on Vimeo where hvx200 looks as good as 35mm.

I've heard conflicting things regarding the EX's low light speed versus 1/3" sensors, anything from half stop to two full.

I like to think my delivery will be to bigger screens, with festivals being the biggest. Of course everything ends up on the web, and I understand that that levels the playing field (especially when everything is going to H.246).

You can always take quality away - you can never put in what wasn't originally there. The EX may be overkill for web delivery, but better that than the other way round.

How big is the difference?

Try shooting the same scene in 1080 and 720 modes with the HMC150 if you have one, then compare the results on a 1920x1080 screen. Don't be fooled by detail enhancement, but you should find that the 1080 mode has no extra real detail compared to the 720 mode. Practically, the 720 mode appears better because it offers the compressor an easier job for the same bitrate.

Now compare that against an EX (in 1080p mode) and ..... wow! It's not just the extra resolution for it's own sake, it means it can run with lower detail enhancement levels than the HMC150, so have a more film-like "natural" sharpness.

That's just image quality, but the EX has a much more controllable manual lens, better screen, and a whole host of other factors that are much nicer than the HMC150. Don't forget the codec differences - AVC-HD effectively needs transcoding to edit, the EX footage doesn't.

But the EX is a lot more expensive than the 150. You get what you pay for.
If you can afford the EX, get it.