All things considered the overall image looks great, even with the Fujinon 16x5.5 lens.

I'm sure Canon wouldn't put out a bad lense based on their reputation, so it will most likely be fine. It should make really sharp images.

Thanks for the in-depth review, very nice imagery that will help me convince my NASA video production customer to purchase 2 or more HM 700's.

Thanks. David

That's weird, not getting notifications of replies again...

Am sure both the 17x Fujinin and 14x canon will be way better than the 16x I tried. Am surprised I was supplied with it for the review, oh well...I made the best of it!

It's a shame the Canon is only 14x, having that extra length does make a difference when trying to knock that background out of focus...

Brian, all three are so different and in different price brackets. The Panasonic is probably the most expensive, couple with it's media. Shoot a great codec but has problems with rolling shutter that hopefully will be resolved in the production model.

The EX3 for my money has the best image, 1/2 chips, best low light performance, least noise in image and the great SxS cards, but you don't have the 10 bit of the Panny or the 4:2:2 and the form factor sucks compared to both the JVC and Panasonic. They need to bring out a shoulder mounted EX5 soon!

I like the JVC and if you intend to do lots of fast moving work, like sports, then it is only one to go for as it is CCD and has no issues with skewing. Not great in low light though...

I believe the US version will ship with the Anton Bauer mount and the European one with the V mount. Easy to change though. I have iDX batteries for all my big cameras. Take into account the cost of batteries and a decent charger though. They aren't cheap!

Agreed. Phil's composition and exposure are exceptional.

Phil,

I got the impression you really liked this camera. Having had a play with both the hm700 and the hpx301, ...did you have a favourite?

I reckon these two will be in main competition with each other given the similar price, chip size etc.

Of course. Thanks Phil for taking the time to share this with us. Got sidetracked when I noticed the fringing and forgot everything else.

I'm SO glad I found this forum back when I did the FIRST time and even more glad that when I went looking for an HD solution that I landed here again. You folks have been an absolute WEALTH of knowledge.

Now, if only I could justify the $15k for the Fuji 18x with extender...

Now that would look nice with the JVC. I like both cameras but the Panasonic would probably be my favourite due to its AVI intra etc...mind you, having a camera that you can whip around is cool!

I have the 17x fujinon lens on my HD200, and can assure you it's a significant improvement over the 16x lens from the HD series. Much more glass. The extra zoom range is on the wide end, but not as wide as the 14x canon. The real difference is at telephoto, where the image doesn't deteriorate outside the sweet f-stop range (or not to the same extent anyway!).

Question for you, Phil. In your review you say:
"Can stream DV or HD out of the mini firewire port. Including 35mbps HD."

That was certainly not the impression I had from Tim's review. Is this verified? It opens up the possibility of a "firestore" type hard drive device for long or secondary recording at the all important 35mps.

I especially liked your clear explanation of the pros and cons of ccd vs. cmos. Thanks!

Btw, I just a got a confirmation from E.C. Professional that the JVC GY-HM700 does 10bit 4:2:2 out of the HD-SDI out. Yay!

This is great news. Puts JVC back in contention in the under 10K camera club.

1440x1080 and 1280x720 resolutions at "SP" quality can be streamed as HDV out of the firewire port. As far as I can tell all modes and bitrates can be downconverted and streamed as DV, but I haven't had a chance to personally confirm this.

as Jack would say, looks like I had bad intel...

to make up for it have thrown together those pretties I shot with that rubbish lens into a self contained edit available for download if you join XR

Philip Bloom Battersea: Test shots with JVC GY HM 700

jvc uk said they will do their best to get a 100 to me to test in next couple of weeks. keep your fingers crossed. Got mad idea for a review video!!!

"jvc uk said they will do their best to get a 100 to me to test in next couple of weeks. keep your fingers crossed. Got mad idea for a review video!!!"

Hope you can get to test it's low light capabilities.

I really hope its good enough for reception work, I'm getting old and wanting something lighter than my EX 1 for weddings. (Not holding my breath though).

Cheers ,

Vaughan

I doubt it will be very good in low light. The 700 isn't great and the 100 has even small chip in it...we shall see though!!!

That´s going to be the 3,500-Dollar-question... And what "very good" means. It´s obvious that the Ex1/3 will be better, but maybe LoLux can at least pull off some decent noise reduction? Hopefully. Because, why would you want to have a cam you can use for non-obtrusive shooting if you need to bring a lighting truck at the same time to make the pics look acceptable...