Curiosity finally got the best of me. So I just took delivery of a Pana AG-DVX100. I've been quite busy with other projects lately, and will be for at least a few more weeks. So I've not yet shot anything with it (at this writing). I have, however, been stealing an hour here and there studying the manual, exploring the camera's controls, looking through the ASC's detailed review of the camera and looking through pioneers' threads here.

So far the camera looks fascinating. I can't wait to start shooting with it and to get a good hands-on comparison to my XL1s and GL2.

Right off the bat I'm delighted that it has a 72mm filter diameter and can accept my XL1s' filters and my Chrosziel matte box and flag. A bit disappointed that it does not use a standard LANC protocol controller (ugh, buying another controller).

Congrats Ken. I purchased a DVX100 a few weeks ago and I am loving it. I had a tough time deciding between the DVX and XL1s, but ultimately decided to go with the DVX for several reasons (mainly for the 24p, and the fact that I didn't have the money to spend on all the accessories I would have wanted with the XL1s). But anyways, I hope you have as much fun with your DVX as I have been having with mine.

Congrats, Ken, on your new cam! I'm looking forward to your future observations, etc.

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rub it in, all of you! "I got mine" and "This is the best camera ever!" and "It is soooooooooooooooooooo much fun!".

Any YOU! Mr. Tanaka! "I haven't even opened mine up yet!". You mock me! You all mock me!

Sorry. I'm venting. I'm getting mine in like 25 days. I am so jealous. :(

Nya, nya.

Thanks John for giving me a much-needed chuckle today! It sounds like you'll be an "official" member of the club just in time to shoot a Halloween feature.

As bad as it sounds I do plan to make a ZOMBIE feature. NO, I sware it will good!

I like zombie flicks. Especially some of the old B&Ws.

John, don't EVER, EVER be ashamed of zombie movies! People laugh at them but I love them! And I definately will be doing one myself in the future!

Anyway, to stay on topic, good luck on your camera, and hope it goes well. This panny seems to be all the rage now.

How did you guys who own xl1s, manage to give up the interchangeable lenses?

I've only had my xm2 about 10 months and can't justify an upgrade just yet - house to buy and all that other trivial stuff ;) Maybe the xl2...mm.

Cheers
Aaron

The support on the ZOMBIE comment is great! Thanks guys!

i just came into some money from selling a set of drums on ebay, and am very seriously debating right now whether to get the dvx100 or the pd150. I have used the dvx100 on several occasions, loving it when used in just plain old 60i when documenting political stuff for my politician boss. However ...... when i brought it to a concert here in Chicago to record with some friends of mine who had an XL1 and a pd150, i got all this red color noise and the results looked kind of crappy. Now granted it was very dark there, but my friends footage turned out fine. there was no extra color artificating/noise/whatever you call it. Also another time I was indoors shooting with some soft flourescent lights in a gymnasium with the DVX100 at a press conference, and actually had all the camera men from the local network news tv stations fooling around with it and helping me with the settings, and i ended up also with a lot of red in the final footage. This bothers me. Anyone else have this problem ever ?? Perhaps I should start a thread about very low light and the DVX100, and what other users opinions are. Other cameras I have used are vx2000 and XL1, and with both of those cameras, shooting was a piece of cake. I don't want my inexperience and my OWN mistakes to keep me from buying it. Perhaps I had the settings all wrong. My biggest concern is having a versaltile camera with XLR inputs that can shoot in very low light, but will be great for fooling around and experimenting with for a long time to come. Also, there is of course the K Street factor. the footage from the first episode was so scarily bad, it has almost scared me away from the camera !! :) the footage however from the most recent episode was considerably better, although i think because maybe there was less run and gun stuff. the scenes in very low light though i didn't think looked so great. I would like to be able to shoot weddings and concerts with whatever camera i get.

First off, welcome to the club Ken from another DVX100 newborn.

Gerald: it sounds to me that you had your white balance off. Evidence of this is the flourescents and the low light. Did you manually set the WB, or were you running auto? Auto white balance tends to shift and performs poor in low light conditions. Also, to manually set the white balance in a darker place you should bump up the gain and open the iris as much as possible to get as much light in as you can when you set it. I have not experienced any "red" or other color noise in any kind of situation yet.

I've been very pleased with the low light capability of the DVX100, even with 12db gain it's acceptable and performs very comparable to the PD150. EVen in the progressive modes (Where there's no gain available) it performs much better than I expected it to. Some actually prefer the DVX100's low light look over the PD150, I'm not sure about that yet, I'd still probably give the PD150 the nod but it's very close (in other words, I wouldn't base a decision on it).

And ignore K-street, it really ticked me off. Soderbergh is trying his best to ruin the rep of this beautiful camera like he tried with the XL1s. It's capable of so much more than what he's doing with it.

Gerald,
For just fooling around, given the choices you outlined, I would choose the PD150 or the VX2000. The principal benefits of the DVX100 lie in the adjustability of its imaging under controlled conditions. That's what makes it so appealing for filmmaking.

Damn Ken you have expensive curiosity.

Shhh. It's far less expensive than the AJ-SDX900 (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12986) I'm also interested in!

Ken, I am friends with and work in the same building as a guy who rents out the Panasonic AJ-SDX900. He would give you a demonstration if you wanted I am sure. He also has 3 dvx100s that he rents out as well. SMS productions on the first floor of 676 N. LaSalle (corner of laSalle and Huron). Perhaps renting it once first is the way to go <shrug>. This is the guy who turned me onto the dvx100, letting me borrow it a few times when he first got it in. His name is Man Sun. His web site, with all the equipment he rents out and sells, is www.SMSProd.com.

Gerry

Gerald,
Hey, thanks very much for that. That's quite close to my home so I may well take you up on that offer of introduction later this fall!

Not sur why your getting the red light in your footage. I've shot in low light and its come out great.

Congratulations Ken. I always like to see input from you in any of my posts because of your courtesy and knowledge.

If you knew me you'd think, "what's THAT guy doing with a camera like that?"... 'cause I need a new car and a lot of other things, but I fell in love with what I was hearing and seeing and put all financial logic aside.

I absolutely LOVE this camera, but it's NO understatement that it only REALLY shines under controlled conditions. Haphazard production yields so-so results that could have come from anything, but attention to lighting and set detail is strongly rewarded with this cam...

It didn't hit me until I'd used it for a few weeks. Now it's funny how it's simply a hammer in the tool box. Before there was always a question of what could and couldn't be done because I had no certainty about being able to "drive nails"... now I know I can just get out the hammer and build stuff...

If you have one of these cams then that last paragraph makes perfect sense to you... (but of course ANY "professional" cam can make a great "hammer")...

And as we well know, a man with a hammer suddenly sees a world filled with nails!