Recently upgraded from the PD-150 to the Panasonic HPX-170. When shooting
in film mode can anyone tell me how I can shoot 24p or 30p and not get stutter
when panning slowly?

You use at least 1/60 second shutter speed AND you pan VERY VERY SLOWLY. Basically, you have to treat your video camera as a FILM camera if you use progressive scan.

25f with my xh-a1 is very unforgiving when doing panning movements, as long as the panning is really slow it's OK. That's why I only do 2 types of camera movements, really slow or very fast to go from point a to b. Otherwise I mainly choose a fixed position.
The stutter is just not possible to prevent, the only reason why i stay with progressive for weddings is that when I switch to 1/25th shutter when it gets too dark you hardly notice it. 1/25th shutter also created some kind of stutter but is less noticeable in 25f when going from 1/50 to 1/25 compared to filming in 50i

Yes very slow pans - Filmmakers say that only Clint Eastwood can pan with his eyes when he enters a western bar. All others blink/clip with their eyes. Try yourself to pan your view. If you pan - follow some moving object so the viewer dont focus on the stuttering background. Guess that is why "the lone rider" always is riding towards a farm in a very big shot.
...........Bo

If you want to invest in the ASC Cinematographer's Manual, it actual has all of the panning times listed at all of the different focal lengths to obtain smooth, stutter free pans. You would be amazed at how slow the rates are, especially on longer focal lengths.

As the others have alluded to, if you are panning with a central object in the composition, the eye will tend to follow the object that is most stationary in the frame, ignoring much of the stuttering.

Dan

Lewis, if you got The HVX & HPX Book in the box with your HPX170, you'll find a chapter on controlling strobing in there, and it includes a chart comparable to the one in the ASC manual (but modified for the zoom settings of the HVX/HPX).

Cool Barry, I forgot about your chart. Yes, much more applicable to HVX/HPX users.

Dan