JVC GY-HD110 for wildlife.
 

Hey guys

Well I've become a Canon traitor and bought a JVC110 for the next step in my film making. I've bought it mainly for a 10 minute (at the moment) short I'm producing with a uk scientist this year which will be mostly macro shooting but of course I'll be using it in general and in my uwol films.

I thought I'd post this to get tips/warnings and general chit chat from other JVC wildlife shooters out there !??

As yet pro's are -

Focus assist (Canon really needs something like this...it seems great)

50p (albeit only in SD but still useful)

General build and feel - I really was expecting the build quality to be less than the canon, I have to say I actually feel in some ways its better.

LCD flipout

Cons

Power consumption/battery size....hhmmm!

No auto focus - Although I didn't have it on my EF lenses anyway it was useful on the x20 in a flap with rapidly moving stuff/low light.

You absolutely MUST invest in a better battery system. The Anton Bauer Dionic 90 will run this camera for about 5 hours. If you get the Titan 70 charger, you can also power the camera on AC via it instead of the flimsy pin style adapter that ships with the camera. If you get two Dionic 90s, you'll be able to run all day long.

Personally, I think auto focus is for tiny cameras. This isn't a tiny camera. You've got a real lens on this thing, and no real video lens has autofocus. It's not a lacking feature in that vein.

Regarding the focus assist feature - it's good to have on the camera, and I know some people like it. Personally, though, I never use it. I think it serves to confuse me more than it speeds up my focusing. YMMV on that, of course.

And I'd put the LCD panel in the "cons" category. Not only has mine died... Twice... But, it's of poor SD quality and has no histogram like the one on the EX-1. Now that camera has a righteous LCD filp-out panel!

I hear you on the battery setup!! Its just unfortunate on the pocket huh...i have seen some 8600mAH batteries that are about £60 each and should give a good couple of hours. Its a shock coming from the XL...that things great on power.

LCD- Well however bad it is, try going from a VF only on the XL!

Oh and a BIG pro I missed is the macro ability of the stock lens....very nice especially considering the project I'll be working on this year.

I'm suprised on your thoughts about the FA....I haven't used it much yet but on long lens stuff with big apertures I can see it being a real help. Even in SD I've had things look fine in the XL VF only to find I missed focus by a few inches.