Robert Lane
February 3rd, 2006, 12:33 AM
The camera came in today I just got the chance for about an hour to play around with it and give it good once-over. The overall initial feeling was, "wow".
Things I like:
- Near flat-black exterior finish is very pro looking; reminds me of my Canon SLR bodies.
- Overall balance is excellent when hand-held, better than Z1 or XL2.
- Real mechanical zoom; solid, accurate and quick.
- Control layout and button sizes are near-perfect, at least for my shooting style which is to shoot everything in manual almost always.
- EVF diopter/focus adjustment is easy and stays put (my Z1 EVF focus would sometimes wander a bit, never knew why); eyecup is better than Z1.
- Iris thumbwheel is a bit easier to use than the Z1 knob; and I like the small detents rather than a totally smooth movement. Feels more like an SLR lens feedback.
- Autofocus is very quick and accurate - and focuses so close I'd just about consider it macro!
- Manual focus is MUCH easier than either Z1 or XL2-s; no competition.
- Shutter speed buttons instead of thumbwheel on the end of the camera like on Z1 - it's near impossible on HVX to accidentally change the shutter speed whereas on the Z1 I would often graze the thumbwheel with my finger while my hand moved about the camera. That's more about my being clumsy than a design flaw for the Z1. (to be fair)
- I/O port access is great and logically placed.
- Panasonic gives you a cool hyrda-cable for component out, BNC to RCA adapters and one all-important ferrite core.
- Unlike other reports I've heard against the LCD display I find it really nice and fairly accurate color representation - although I did change the LCD brightness to the higher setting in the menu. This made a big difference and improved LCD viewing a lot.
Things I didn't like:
- Menu button layout is bizarre; the "move left" button is actually in the camera-front position, which you would think would make it the "move up" button. So to move around the menu you need to reorient your "up/down/left/right" orientation 90 degrees clockwise and then the menu button directions makes sense. Maybe there's a way to change that somewhere deeper in the menu, but so far it's annoyingly different.
- LCD doesn't display a full-screen when in normal 16:9, you get a letterboxed frame. At least the Z1 gives a full-frame 16:9 LCD and would give sidebars when switched to 4:3 mode. That would have been my preference for the HVX.
- Power adapter is difficult to release from the body - the power cable itself is tucked between the adapter and the body. I think the cord should have been coming off the opposite side.
- It took to long to get here! (laughs)
And of course the initial results from the few short test clips? Stunning, superb color - far better than any other digi-cam I've owned, and plenty sharp.
And about the ongoing debate between the HVX and the H1 resolution/sharpness? If you really want a camera that has *significant* sharpness over the HVX then move up to a Vari-cam, HDCam or shoot film. The difference in sharpness between this and the H1 is so insignificant nobody watching whatever final content you produce with it would ever notice - or even care. And if that minute difference IS that important to you, you should be asking yourself, "why?".
I've shot with the XL2-s, DVX100A, Z1 and HD100. I've tested the H1 but not owned one.
Panasonic may have flubbed with how the release was handled (and certainly this latest fiasco with P2 pricing really stings) but this little camera is absolutely a 100% professional-grade body. Period.
I'm one happy puppy.
Things I like:
- Near flat-black exterior finish is very pro looking; reminds me of my Canon SLR bodies.
- Overall balance is excellent when hand-held, better than Z1 or XL2.
- Real mechanical zoom; solid, accurate and quick.
- Control layout and button sizes are near-perfect, at least for my shooting style which is to shoot everything in manual almost always.
- EVF diopter/focus adjustment is easy and stays put (my Z1 EVF focus would sometimes wander a bit, never knew why); eyecup is better than Z1.
- Iris thumbwheel is a bit easier to use than the Z1 knob; and I like the small detents rather than a totally smooth movement. Feels more like an SLR lens feedback.
- Autofocus is very quick and accurate - and focuses so close I'd just about consider it macro!
- Manual focus is MUCH easier than either Z1 or XL2-s; no competition.
- Shutter speed buttons instead of thumbwheel on the end of the camera like on Z1 - it's near impossible on HVX to accidentally change the shutter speed whereas on the Z1 I would often graze the thumbwheel with my finger while my hand moved about the camera. That's more about my being clumsy than a design flaw for the Z1. (to be fair)
- I/O port access is great and logically placed.
- Panasonic gives you a cool hyrda-cable for component out, BNC to RCA adapters and one all-important ferrite core.
- Unlike other reports I've heard against the LCD display I find it really nice and fairly accurate color representation - although I did change the LCD brightness to the higher setting in the menu. This made a big difference and improved LCD viewing a lot.
Things I didn't like:
- Menu button layout is bizarre; the "move left" button is actually in the camera-front position, which you would think would make it the "move up" button. So to move around the menu you need to reorient your "up/down/left/right" orientation 90 degrees clockwise and then the menu button directions makes sense. Maybe there's a way to change that somewhere deeper in the menu, but so far it's annoyingly different.
- LCD doesn't display a full-screen when in normal 16:9, you get a letterboxed frame. At least the Z1 gives a full-frame 16:9 LCD and would give sidebars when switched to 4:3 mode. That would have been my preference for the HVX.
- Power adapter is difficult to release from the body - the power cable itself is tucked between the adapter and the body. I think the cord should have been coming off the opposite side.
- It took to long to get here! (laughs)
And of course the initial results from the few short test clips? Stunning, superb color - far better than any other digi-cam I've owned, and plenty sharp.
And about the ongoing debate between the HVX and the H1 resolution/sharpness? If you really want a camera that has *significant* sharpness over the HVX then move up to a Vari-cam, HDCam or shoot film. The difference in sharpness between this and the H1 is so insignificant nobody watching whatever final content you produce with it would ever notice - or even care. And if that minute difference IS that important to you, you should be asking yourself, "why?".
I've shot with the XL2-s, DVX100A, Z1 and HD100. I've tested the H1 but not owned one.
Panasonic may have flubbed with how the release was handled (and certainly this latest fiasco with P2 pricing really stings) but this little camera is absolutely a 100% professional-grade body. Period.
I'm one happy puppy.