Another LS300 review

[Alex Humphrey]

pretty hideous grain. any idea what ISO it was shot at? 5,000 or so? I get a little with the JVC LS300 at about 1,600 on J-Log, though it is not nearly as noisy as that frame grab is. I normally keep mine at 400 (Manually overriden ISO to lower than default J-Log)

[Marcello Mazzilli]

Yeah.
The point I alrrady own a good camera at 400 iso, BMPC.
Now I am looking for something run n gun (hd) that needs to be brighter, faster to setup, but with footage that can sit next to BM's or can replace it in my corporate things (4k)
Wull LS300 work for me?

[Duncan Craig]

I'm coming round to the idea of buying a GH5 now.

Moreso since Newsshooter uploaded three really informative videos, this one in particular:

YouTube (Short URL)

I don't think that frame grab is at all representative of normal shooting. Just look at the 'Ice' documentary, lots of handheld with available light. Looks really great, even at 4k60p with a 180 degree shutter.

[Marcello Mazzilli]

Ok. Want to sell it?

[Noa Put]

Are you looking to buy a second hand ls300?

[Duncan Craig]

Sell the JVC you mean? No the LS300 will be my main camera for a few years at least.
I'm talking about the GH5 as a second camera.

I bought a Zhiyun Crane gimbal recently and while my a6000 works well on the gimbal

YouTube (Short URL)

the picture isn't amazing and there's no Log option. Also I'd need something better than the kit lens (probably the SEL16F28).

The a6300/6500 seem to have major problems with overheating and rolling shutter.

I'd considered the GH4R as the price has been as low as £740 recently, but I think the lower noise, better autofocus and in camera stabilisation will make the GH5 a better option even though it's a lot more money. Obviously I already own the 12-35 and 35-100 so I won't need any new glass, and the older lenses will have a firmware update to bring them up to date with the GH5 dualIS II. The XLR audio interface looks pretty good too.

[Marcello Mazzilli]

Funny because you can find many used c100 and c300, FS5 and FS7, Gh4, AS7m2 etc.... but it serms that all JVC LS300 camera owners want to keep theirs!
:-)
Must mean something good

[Duncan Craig]

It might mean that sales of the LS300 are incredibly poor, and the resale value is really low!

Seriously though, there's enough demo material around to show what the camera can do.
If you think it will work for you, then go for it!

[Noa Put]

I might sell mine, I have used it mainly for weddings last year and only to cover the ceremony or a occasional speech but I do prefer smaller camera's, like the GH4, just because I carry a few of them in a backpack and they are much easier to move around and set up and also much easier to shoot handheld now with the IBIS.

I find the image out of my ls300 better then my panasonic camera's, the color looks more natural which sometimes gives issues matching it up with my gh4 or gx80, as soon as I got a taste of working with IBIS on my gx80 and a g80 that arrives next week I knew that this is what I actually need for my kind of work.

Of all my camera's that I use now at a wedding, the ls300 gets used the least which is why I"m having doubts if it's worth holding onto it.

[Marcello Mazzilli]

Noa.
You are in Europe so it could be easy to get it here in Italy.
Let me know if you sell it.
My email is marcello.mazzilli@gmail.com
Maybe it could be good for both to speak noe about the price even if you are not sure yet to avoid kerping up an option that might not work for one of us. Let me know.

[William Hohauser]

My camera kit, in one bag, is the LS300 as the main camera, a GH3 as the second camera and space for my GH2 if I really need it. Plus extra batteries, camera mikes, compact LCD light and AC adapters. I can pack my tripods into one case as well.

I have a job soon where a musician/programmer is doing a concert using an iPhone app he created to generate sound so I'll set it up with one GH locked down on the iPhone which will be on a stand, one GH as the wide shot and I'll operate the LS300 as a handheld on a SpiderBrace shoulder mount. He'll later edit the footage to create a promotional film for the app.

I skipped the GH4 as it didn't add much that I needed (V-Log is nice but not compelling) and the GH5 still holds the DSLR camera form factor, which after using a real video camera like the LS300, I am not interested in it. The GH cameras are very, very good cameras and you can get excellent results but the LS cameras are designed for video work.

A friend who I work with on occasion got the GH4 after seeing what I could do with the GH3 and he usually uses it in 4K as an unmanned camera while he uses his Canon 7D as the main camera because that was what clients were demanding for awhile. Now his corporate clients are less interested in the Canon and are actually interested in his standard video camera which is a JVC HM700!

[Marcello Mazzilli]

Great William!
What lenses do you have in your magic bag?

[William Hohauser]

I rarely take the LUMIX 20mm off the LS300 camera and if I do it's usually for the Olympus 45mm. I use the Virtual zoom extensively. That gives me enough range for my main work which is filming interviews or doing handheld. I also have the LUMIX 14-140 lens, a 14-45 OIS lens and a 12-42 zoom. The 14-140 is terrible on the LS300 but works fine on the GH3 outdoors. The 14-45 OIS is for handheld in decent lighting conditions but it has to be treated with respect, it doesn't behave like a video camera OIS. The 12-42 lives on my unmanned B-camera for wide shots of performances and sometimes interviews.

[Marcello Mazzilli]

@Duncan

Hi've paused my LS300 purchase for now.
Got a deal with another camera and I'm going to test it. If it ends up not working for me I think I can sell it in a few month and even make money on it and then go back to think at the JVC.

Guess which camera is it?
4:2:2: 8bit 4K in camera 300mbits
Fixed 10x lenses
Log file