Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

Stock lens on the 370 is very good and OK for most things, the cameras have CAC software to improve things and as long as you stick to f1.6 - f5.6 you will be OK, there are also ND filters on board.

The lens is 4.5 to 77 so is not very wide and like most breathes a bit but for general shooting I find it perfectly useable.

Make sure you set you gain settings as per the BBC document and -3db +3db and +6db will give you an extra exposure margin.

Also note for PAL use the HPX 371 and 251 are the designated models for our region to enable the 5 year warranty.

If the PL adaptor is for a 1/3" JVC camera then it should fit OK.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

I am in the same boat as you. I love my HM 700 but I am wondering if I should make the switch to the HPX 370 for better low light performance. My only fear is the skew with the CMOS sensors. I'll be shooting a lot of fast sports like hockey really tight. Anyone have any sports experience with the 370?

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

Done quite a bit of sport with the HPX371 and it is fine for most things, best to shoot at 720p though.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

Interestingly enough, I spoke to a salesperson today and he told me to beware of the limitations of 1/3 inch sensors. He said they are not as good in low light situations as 1/2 inch sensors, also regarding noise. He felt the AF 101would suit me better coming from 1/2 inch with the EX3. Obviously not to be used as an ENG- camera, though.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

That is a load of crap and you need to read Barry Green's report on the HPX371 as he says it equals and possibly outperforms 1/2" sensors, also the AF101 is no where near as good as the 371 and barely resolves 800 lines and the codec is limited.

This is a still shot from an HPX301 shoot and there are a 100w and a 60w lamp to light the whole scene: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ASTERHDd08.jpg

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

Reading Barry Greens report was very interesting. They sure don`t make it easy for us.

Gary you mentioned that I should buy the HXP371 as opposed to the 370. Looking at the B&H website and also talking to them via their chat line they claim the cameras to be the same, just different regions and that the camera can record to PAL. My reason for looking to the US is because of the very good offer now as the camera is reduced by 2000 USD. Here I can`t even come close to that price tag. Do you think the 5 years warranty in Europe is worth it?

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

All new cameras that Panasonic makes nowadays are world format switchable, the model number simply designates where it is sold. 370 is sold in NTSC regions, 371 in PAL regions, and 374 everywhere else, however there is really no difference to them. This 1/2/4 designation goes the same for other Panny cameras as well.

Buying technology in the US is a very smart move, as long as there won't be trouble from importing it, most people are still surprised for how much I got my 370 over here.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

Buy in the USA if you wish but I doubt you will get the warranty cover, I think the reason the USA camera's are cheaper is because you then buy the warranty as an add on.

Yes they are now the same camera so it's up to you.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

From what I understand, the 5 year warranty is world-wide (I would personally find it very strange if it wasn't) and comes with the camera. All you have to do to get it is rummage around some obscure Panasonic website, register, and add all the serial numbers of the Panny stuff you own.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

Before I make my decision tonight. I have read the specs for the cameras and as far as I understand the AF101 has, as Gary mentioned, 800 lines of resolution, whereas the HPX370 has 1000 lines.

The thing that confuses me is that I thought that a bigger sensor would also give a higher resolution of lines.

Is the only advantage that you getter more DOF with a bigger sensor, but not necessarily higher resolution?

This has leaned me more towards the 370 now as it seems to make more sense to use my PL- adapter on that camera and rather invest in better lenses such as those from Carl Zeiss called CP2. This instead of buying into a new system with batteries, AJA Ki Pro and 4/ 3 lenses.

I know this has been discussed and I have read many articles about 1/3 inch sensors. Do you think this would limit my images in anyway with a PL- adaptor than a 4/3 sensor?

I am a little confused.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

Imo, the difference between 800 lines and 1000 is starting to approach the limit of what can seen under normal shooting circumstances, not counting compression depending on the delivery medium.

As the 5D mark II has shown us, a bigger sensor does not mean higher resolution unless the sensor is properly designed with down-scaling and a strong enough AA filter in mind. What bigger sensors (and good lenses) do offer is higher micro-contrast, which gives an increase in "apparent sharpness", even if not absolute resolution. Also, you get less depth of field with a bigger sensor, not more.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

What is the ghosting I read about on the HPX370?

I have my mind set on the HPX- 370 and HPX 250 as they seem to fit my sort of work perfectly. Different batteries, but the same codec and media. They also seem to be robust cameras.

For a long time I wanted to go with the AF 101, but I think the HPX`s codec and their workflow seem better. Also to invest in the AF 101 seems I would have to buy all sorts of lenses, follow focus and accessories. I don`t think that would suit me and my style of shooting. Good for interviews, though.

To me it makes more sense to buy the HPX 370 now, especially at this price point.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

When the 370 was released, it was claimed as having equal sensitivity to 1/2" camcorders, but apparently it turned out that this was achieved through "temporal noise reduction". Although a sound technique, since the software plugin Neat Video does the same thing and very well too, it's implementation in the 370 was rather poor since Panasonic didn't mention it's inclusion, nor did it allow the user to adjust it's parameters or intensity.

Since temporal NR tracks changes between frames and leaves only constant information, it is effective at reducing noise because digital noise is always 100% random between frames, however if you make it too aggressive then it will begin to erase actual detail between frames if there is enough motion. This can lead to smearing of fine detail when panning, especially when zoomed in. It also causes trails of noise that follow moving objects as the NR hardware tries to catch up.

Ghosting is a more extreme case when the changes between frames are so great that the NR can't keep up and actually blends the previous frame over the next one, this is mainly noticeable when you pan and there is a high-contrast object in the scene or especially while zooming.

Panasonic has since released a fix that lets you switch to PAP mode 2, which either turns off or heavily tones down the effect, which for all intents and purposes makes the camera behave just like the 300 but without the cmos skew. This is probably the preferred setting to use as it fixes a lot of problems, noise can always be reduced later but loss of detail and ghosting can't.

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

And this was most prominent on the 370 not the 371 as I understand it... NTSC not PAL

Re: Looking to buy AF101, HPX250 and HPX370
 

All 37x cameras have this, the last number simply states where it's sold, and the only physical difference between them is the sticker with the serial number on it.

If you mean that this effect is not as prominent in PAL modes, I'm really not so sure. I seem to have tried out all the modes available on the camera, and it seems present to varying degrees regardless of the system mode. Being in PAL territory I have to use 25/50p, but I notice it's effects quite clearly when flipping back and forth PAP modes and using focus assist.

There are other artifacts present in the camera that are affected by resolution and frame rate modes, such as the amount of skew/strobing/jutter/etc. but I'm under the impression that these "anomalies" are a normal part of shooting CMOS cameras in progressive modes.