Pana DVX100 Vs. JVC HD100

[Fulgencio Martinez]

Hi,

I´ll be shooting a doc in MiniDV Pal.

I have experience with the panasonic dvx100 but not with the JVC.

I have a good deal for the JVC, it is capable of shooting HDV but i think i´ll go MiniDV.

Wich camera is better for it?

Color & latitude?

Thanks

Fulgencio

[Michael Nash]

They are two completely different types of cameras, and both produce nice images when viewing on standard def. The DVX is a small "palm" corder that's easy for hand holding in tight spaces, and doesn't attract too much attention to itself in a documentary situation.

 

The JVC HD100 is a shoulder-mounted camera that's much more like a small ENG camera. It's heavier than the DVX, although very light and comfortable on the shoulder. You'll want to get a zoom-through wide angle attachment for the stock lens in a documentary situation. Nothing screws up a shot that only happens once like not being able to get the whole action in frame.

 

I haven't compared the latitude directly, but I wouldn't expect a huge difference between the cameras. I've pushed the JVC pretty far with contrasty situations and have been able to tweak the knee, gamma and black stretch to make the most of the image. The DVX has fewer controls for this, but produces a pleasant gamma curve in the "Cinelike D" setting. The Panasonic has what I would call more "natural" looking color, and the JVC gets really saturated in the reds and crushes the shadow levels a bit too much for my taste. The JVC has more image controls than the DVX. I haven't tried the JVC recorded to MiniDV, but I suspect the higher resolution chips will result in a much sharper-looking image in SD than the DVX. You'd have to test that for yourself though.

 

But either camera can produce nice images in a documentary situation. I think the biggest difference to you will be the form factor; you'll have to decide which better suits you needs, a small hend-held camera or a larger shoulder-mounted camera.

[mosh mishali]

hey

 

i just finished a 2 days work with the jvc hd100 and there are few things i learned about it:

- if your'e shooting HDV you'll get a much better latitude then shooting mini dv but i know that there is a capture problem if your'e shooting 24fps (at least in Israel where i live) so we shot 25fps HDV PAL.

- It's realy hard to focus using the camera's LCD monitor and if you use the focus assist than it's hard to expose correctly.

- as for the wide angel attachment i wouldn't recommend it but if you can get the Fujinun 3.5 wide angel broadcast lens it will help you a lot ofcorse it will make the front side of the camera haevier so you'll need to match the weight (we used citytec batterys so it was ok).

 

as for the dvx i think it has better colors and it will preduce a better latitude than the jvc if your'e shooting mini dv but you'll get a bigger depth of field with the divx because of it's lens (which for me is realy important even for a documantry)

 

good luck

mosh