We are going to test one! ... your questions needed
 

Dear All,

I work at the University of London and we are going to have a hands on test with a working JVC HD100 this Thursday. What general things should we be looking at ... I'll obviously post a response here ....

Thanks,

Tim Young

Full resolution screenshots
 

I'd love to see where the noise/compression artifact floor is.

How does the camera perform in low light situations?

How does the camera handle extreme highlights and over-exposure?

Please provide full resolution screenshots if you can.

Thank you.

I think what a lot of people are interested in is the "motion smoothing" feature. How much does "motion smoothed" 25p look like regular PAL interlaced television? And if you can get some footage on tape -- I think everyone wants footage on tape.

low light
 

How 'bout some shots of the city at night? Especially compared to an existing camera.

If you can't provide footage, at least some screenshots would be great.

I'm also interested in low light but indoors.

If you could get us more info on what gamma curves it offers (at least a few if it has too many) I would be very thankful.

I'd like to see what kind of latitude it has, ie., how it handles high contrast situations with strong highlights, etc. And, say you pan with a person running through the park...what do the trees in the background look like?
Also how the lens feels, does the back focus adjustment lock down tightly, does the focus ring feel tight or sloppy, how is the zoom?
How do the wide shots look?
I dont' care all that much about low light--it's a 1/3" chip camera and is going to behave as a 1/3" chip camera.
I'd like to see a comparison between the 24p and 30p modes, as well as how it downconverts (if it does) HDV to DV.

I'd be curious to see the image of two resolution charts; one as we know it, and another one same thing printed on GREY BG (as black on grey) or print the black as grey on a white BG. The major contrast should make a difference about the color shift at the boundary between different brightness surfaces. Most of the time, the lenses take the blame for it (and, IMO is the CCD's inability to accommodate a big contrast ratio) Lights levels should allow for lower and higher reflecting surface.

I'd like the camera put through its paces on the colour control front. What's adjustible, what isn't... etc.

Things to look for:
- gamma curves
- sharpening filters
- saturation controls
- contrast controls
etc.

I'm also interested in how well the JVC 6-frame GOP handles fast pans.

-Steve

I'd like to see some mvoement. You know, as if you were shooting inside quite a fast paced scene, where the camera was shifting from actor to actor as they moved around a room or something.

It's the artifacts I'm scared of.

Aaron

I think the #1 concern for many is going to be the potential MPEG artifacts in high-motion/high-detail situations. Any image samples from that type of scenario would be super. A resolution chart shot would be great too, since there seems to be quite an interest in the resolving power and quality of the included lens (though considering the resolving power of the little HC1 lens, I'm not sure there's cause for concern).

Hey, we'll take whatever we can get. Looking forward to your results.

Philip Williams
www.philipwilliams.com

Hello Phillips, you mentioned University of London, may I ask which particlular University (I'm a Queen Mary student), I'd love to come down (one day) and have a look!!

Anyway My quetion would be if you could post a short raw .m2t file of various modes , low light and MOST importantly cine gamma/ "cinema" modes


Thanks in advanced

Anhar Hussain Miah

P.S how did you manage to get your hands on one, I thought they are not shipping till August?

I would love to see a small screenshot or footage of a blue screen or green screen. Maybe just bring a small piece of blue or green poster board and shoot your hand or something.

Don't worry about the lighting because I specialize in difficult blue screen shoots. Good lighting would look decent on any camera. Bad lighting is where we see how well the camera holds up.

I would also however like to see some low light footage with and without full gain.

In terms of handling the camera shouldn't really be a mystery to those of us that have shot with a pro camera. Most lenses of this type focus, zoom and adjust iris in the same way.

Can you confirm if the camera will output live from the head uncompressed SD video?

Finally can you check if the edge enhancement can be adjusted or turned off to get rid of any ringing? Besides color space issues this is the 2nd worse thing to have to deal with whening keying blue screens because it can leave a white or black ring around your subject. Using a matte choker doesn't give you a realistic edge but makes the footage more look like it was rotoscoped than keyed.

Since you are in the UK, you'l probably get a PAL machine, right?

Please post your comments on the "motion smoothing" option for 25p. I would like to know if this is enough to simulate 50i for possible event and news coverage.

Thanks for your thoughts so far ...
 

Hello All,

Thanks for your thoughts so far ....

It seems that there might be some agreement about the things to be looking at. I will take on board as many as I can and post a summary here tomorrow evening if I have time.

Tim

My question is about how good/bad the included shotgun mike is. Also how easy is it to define audio channels on the XLR inputs. Is it intuitve about how to mix the two? Or are you better off with your own shotgun on one of the mic inputs.