Premium Member Rupe Whiteman Posted April 20, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted April 20, 2006 Hi, I've only had a brief look at this camera in the flesh. There were many things I liked about it but I really didn't like the colour view-finder... Can this be changed to b&w? The lens that came with it has been poorly received and I'd love to see some frames shot with the wider lens or with a better lens and adaptor... ... I'm tempted to buy one as I've looked at the hvx100 Panasonic - didn't like the ergonomics - handheld would be horrible without shoulder attachments etc etc (ie more money!) having really liked shooting on the dvx100a... 'Interested to hear more feeback from experienced users... Cheers, Rupe Whitemqan UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 Check out http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=98 They've done a lot of tests on the W/A lens and have user feedback & scene files. I've done some tests on the camera, it's really nice to use and a friend (a former BBC cameraman) who had a Canon XL1 bought the HD 100 and thinks it's great. The V/F goes B & W when you use the focus assist - except for the blue "in focus" . The menus give you lots of options and I was surprised how well the knee held highlights. Looking at the tests on DVinfo the better quality lens makes a big difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Rupe Whiteman Posted April 21, 2006 Author Premium Member Share Posted April 21, 2006 thanks for the link... it does look a good camera... I wonder if the next generation will have a b&w viewfinder to start with though I gues you could always have the focus assist on... It's a shame you can't buy it with the wide angle and not the lens it comes with although I guess it is basically 'free'... Cheers, Rupe Whiteman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kalkarman Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 you can always hit the focus assist button which changes your scene to black and white for viewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Emery Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 you can always hit the focus assist button which changes your scene to black and white for viewing. I own the camera. Although it's a great camera any buyer should know that both viewfinders are pretty low quality. I need to use my monitor all time to check focus and exposure. Also the focus assist is tricky to use and poor in low light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Martínez Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I need to use my monitor all time to check focus and exposure. Also the focus assist is tricky to use and poor in low light. What monitor do you use for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Emery Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 What monitor do you use for that? A Sony HR 9044QM 9" Not ideal as it's only a hi-res SD monitor. A HD monitor is out my price range. But seems to do the trick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tim Partridge Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 I shot with it for a week a couple of weeks ago and I think you can get good results, but it is ESSENTIAL that you have a properly caliberated monitor AT ALL TIMES. The LCD screen and the viewfinder and the rendering of clipped/zebra areas are unrepresentative garbage. Those screens make out you have loads of room in underexposure but immediate clipping if going to overexposure. I didn't have the luxury of a monitor (although I did request one and it was out of the budget) and as a result all the "overexposed/clipped" stuff I thought would turn out garbage looks fantastic with masses of simulated latitude, and all the stuff I shot "playing it safe" is muddy and 2/3s underexposed (at least logged onto FINAL CUT). No doubt this camera slaughters the Z1, but if you are a first time user wanting the best out of it (ie a professional look) you have to fork out for a caliberated monitor. There's no argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Martínez Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 I shot with it for a week a couple of weeks ago and I think you can get good results, but it is ESSENTIAL that you have a properly caliberated monitor AT ALL TIMES. The LCD screen and the viewfinder and the rendering of clipped/zebra areas are unrepresentative garbage. Those screens make out you have loads of room in underexposure but immediate clipping if going to overexposure. I didn't have the luxury of a monitor (although I did request one and it was out of the budget) and as a result all the "overexposed/clipped" stuff I thought would turn out garbage looks fantastic with masses of simulated latitude, and all the stuff I shot "playing it safe" is muddy and 2/3s underexposed (at least logged onto FINAL CUT). No doubt this camera slaughters the Z1, but if you are a first time user wanting the best out of it (ie a professional look) you have to fork out for a caliberated monitor. There's no argument. Can you tell how well we can calibrate less expensive LCD monitors? In my case I 'd have two options: one is a general 9" type B&H used to sell, made in Taiwan, who behaves quite well with DV cameras; the other the 10" monitor on my Philips DVD player, which is comparable to a laptop screen. From what I saw it's much better than the camera's screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji Bakshi Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 The JVC is rugged and ergenomic. Definitely the strongest points. Works and feels like a full size camera - only much lighter! In my experience you need to turn the detail level very low to get good results. Much lower than other cameras. But once it's there, it performs quite well. Obvisouly HDV is severely compressed by nature... In terms of LCD/focus, they're terrible. I use the focus assist. Usually it's pretty accurate. In low light, during rehearsal "gently" apply a scorpion or surefire on talent's face (especially hair or eyes) to get a focus reading. Get the anton bauer battery attachment if possible. Really helps counterbalance the camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Mondragon Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 I got to test out an HD100 today and I must say, I really liked it. A little front-heavy, but of course, the Anton Bauer adaptor will eliminate that problem. I though the focus assist feature was very cool. During regular focusing, the focus ring seemed to be almost too smooth, meaning, when I focused I had a tendency to go too far. I think that's just because I'm used to the Canon lens on my current Panasonic AG-DVC200. A little bit more time on the HD100 would get me used to the Fujinon lens in a jiffy. I was really happy with the placement of the controls, and like Benji Bakshi said, it works and feels like a full size camera - only much lighter. One question since I'm new to HDV that maybe one of you can answer, I took a MiniDV tape with me to the dealer and shot some footage outside and in the office. I made sure to switch the mode to DV instead of HDV. The rep told me I could then take that MiniDV tape containing DV footage and load it into my Premiere Pro 1.5 using my Sony DSR-11 deck without any problems. Well, when I went to view it on that deck, it just gave me a gray screen, although the timecode was still running. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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