HPX-250
Contents
1. I ve even used an HM100 with two shotgun mics to record a live music feature and the results were as good as any dedicated solid state recorder One important feature that gives this camera an edge over its competitors is the inclusion of three 1 4 inch progressive scan CCDs While other manufacturers are moving towards CMOS technology JVC has stuck with charge coupled devices This means the images are not affected by the dreaded rolling shutter artefacts that plague CMOS sensors A Deliberately pushed to its limits at the extreme far end of the lens the HM150 begins to show faint signs of smear in the highlights but nothing too severe 10x magnification at f4 plus ND filter This makes it an ideal choice for high vibration environments like moving vehicles or aircraft However having 1 4 inch chips does mean it will not be able to gather as much light and therefore cope with low light situations as well as a camera equipped with larger sensors without the aid of some form of gain The HM150 has a LoLux mode which provides a significant boost in sensitivity while keeping noise at an acceptable level but generally this camera will perform at its best in well lit situations The lens is an integrated unit manufactured by Fujinon Control is via a Single servo control ring which can be assigned either as a zoom or focus ring It has a maximum aperture of f1 8 and a 10x zoom and is equivalent to 39 390mm in2. It is equipped with three 1 3 inch MOS sensors one each for the primary colour channels A little digging reveals that MOS is not the same as CMOS although they are both based on the same basic architecture The MOS sensor claims to perform more like a CCD but with the advantages of the better low light performance and www gtc org uk Camera review compact handhelds Not all cameras are created equal Every new handheld camera has strengths and limitations they can t all be good at everything lower power consumption of CMOS MOS sensors sometimes referred to as Live MOS are apparently manufactured by Panasonic The HPX250 is most likely equipped with but this is a guess MN34041PU sensors with an active pixel area of 1944 x 1092 The camera uses 1920 x 1080 for the image and the extra pixels are most likely used for measuring picture noise which is then subtracted from the video image thus creating a cleaner picture clever eh Whatever they ve put in this camera it certainly delivers the goods The image is crisp and vibrant with excellent low light performance comparable to a 2 3 inch CCD DigiBeta That s pretty good going for an HD camera and even more so when you consider it only has 1 3 inch A This frame grab of a video file shows the astounding resolution of AVC Intra 100 at 1920 x 1080 25fps progressive When sensors Picture noise is also well controlled and virtually imperceptible But what a
3. a USB HDD and copy the P2 contents across or set the camera to DEVICE and plug it into a computer and it will appear as a removable drive so you can just drag files off would like to say it is this easy on cameras from Panasonic s competitors but sadly this is not always the case it often involves downloading a device driver before the laptop can even see the camera This is a genuine situation that freelance cameramen will increasingly come up against as cameras get loaded with more and more IT protocols You may The HPX250 has something a bit special under the bonnet It is equipped with three 1 3 inch MOS sensors one each for the primary colour channels background is very possible but suspect the main aim is to make the camera as foolproof as possible You could feasibly send out a runner with one of these cameras and be confident of getting back plenty of usable video As far as fixed lenses go this one is more universally useful than most at its widest it is equivalent to a 28mm wide angle lens in 35mm camera terms The controls are smooth autofocus is gentle and accurate and it can be switched between manual auto or push auto the latter of which found the most useful it is designed to be pressed until the camera attains a focus on the nearest central object then released to keep not have the luxury of a DIT on site to do the backing up and you may be expected to handle the data transfer your
4. cover for temporary hire of replacement equipment Terrorism cover can be included upon reguest Allequipment covered new for old Flexible underwriting service j C 01840 213836 C www cornishinsurance co uk 32 Spring 2012 ZERB WAVAWVAL KO 40 FU AA portable hard disk drive can be powered directly from the camera via the USB 2 0 port and the P2 cards can be backed up and verified in MXF material exchange format and is therefore widely compatible with all the major non linear editing platforms either natively or via an import plugin So if AVC Intra is so good why better than you re likely to find on any similar camera but these controls will prove unpopular with professional cameramen who need precise control over the image before it hits the sensor Maybe it s a price point The HPX250 retains the familiar layout of its bigger broadcast brothers as much as possible The main controls are exacily where you expect them to be bother to support DVCPro HD at all Backward compatibility is a major consideration with any new camera DVCPro HD is a good stable format and Panasonic has no intention of getting rid of it just yet It is a format that has been around for years and is Supported by all the main editing software developers and will work with legacy edit systems While AVC Intra brings a new level of video quality to the budget conscious it is currently a processor intensive code
5. full resolution HD video with two channels of 16 bit 48kHz uncompressed PCM audio that doesn t require importing or transcoding The camera has been designed from a professional viewpoint The important controls like gain white balance ND filters and audio are all easily accessible without the need to enter a menu Up to six of the buttons can be reassigned to commonly used functions like focus assist colour bars timecode setting Lolux zebra ok clip mark clip review AE area etc further reducing the need to keep dipping into the menu unnecessarily 34 Spring 2012 ZERB a a r I Trw A Dressed up for a day at the beach the cinematic equivalent of a pair of cool shades a generic 4x4 Chrosziel matte box non JVC batteries and an improved menu layout The GY HM150 with its high end image quality and diminutive size is a handy tool For example it can be easily carried in hand luggage and with the detachable handle removed will pass through Customs looking like a holiday maker s camcorder It can be used as a B camera alongside EX1 or EX3 camcorders as it shares the same codec or as a backup lock off camera alongside a 2 3 inch camera for safety shots for those instances when you need to reframe or change a battery The balanced XLR inputs allow broadcast quality mics to be used for interviews In fact the audio quality often gets overlooked but it deserves a mention because it really is very clean
6. guys in white lab coats manage to squeeze more and more silicon into the hardware are small form factor handheld cameras 30 Spring 2012 ZERB able to rival or even replace the big boys in terms of technical quality and functionality The simple answer is no well not yet but for how long Because the gap Is closing faster than you can say there s not enough D list celebrity reality shows on TV To muddy the waters further not all cameras are created equal Every new handheld camera has strengths and limitations they can t all be good at everything It s important to look specifically at what they do well and decide if that fits your particular production needs Two new handheld cameras debuted at NAB and IBC in 2011 the Panasonic HPX250 and the JVC GY HM150 The Panasonic is an all new AVC Intra P2 based model boasting 10 bit 4 2 2 at 100Mb s data rate whereas the GY HM150 is more of an update of the popular GY HM100 camera Following feedback from users JVC has redesigned the layout updated some of the components and added some welcome functionality PANASONIC AG HPX250 EJ At 18cm x 19 5cm x 43 8cm the HPX250 is larger than other Panasonic handhelds and comparable in size to Sony s PMW EX1 It s surprisingly light though weighing in at a bantam 2 5kgs Both size and weight are an advantage as the camera is bound to spend most of its life as a handheld device The handgrip is mounted in the c
7. 35mm camera terms It could really do with being wider especially as the camera will spend much of its time shooting handheld but there are technical limitations in making a cost effective lens capable of resolving an HD image onto such a small sensor without excessive barrel distortion and chromatic aberration You can of course attach a wide angle adaptor to the 46mm thread on the lens if you need a wider angle So sticking with the lens in hand the images it produces are sharp and vibrant with excellent fine detail and it the ability to macro focus down to 2 inches The lens only starts to show limitations when zoomed all the way to the end of the barrel or when the subject is high contrast or has strong specular highlights like a bronze statue against a bright sky Here you may see some flaring but it is a rare occurrence that most shooters won t encounter in normal situations The HM150 has a standard HDMI port outputting 8 bit uncompressed 720 1080 or down converted SD video It also has component and composite analogue outputs admit do own an HM100 myself and think of it as an EX1 but at half the weight and size and less than half the price For me this is primarily a back up to my 2 3 inch shoulder camera The main attraction is its size can keep it in my kit without taking up valuable space can put it on auto and give it to a runner to grab some B roll or can sucker it to a car windscreen for quic
8. Camera review compact handhelds Compact handheld cameras the latest generation rom a cameraman s viewpoint L good test of a professional camera s basic design is to see how far you can get without needing to pick up the manual Every main feature should be intuitive For example most cameramen or women can pick up a Betacam derived 2 3 inch shoulder mounted camera and be able to power it up set the gain white balance ND filter and shutter without even looking at the unit itself The buttons are laid out in a logical familiar manner and as any good camera manufacturer knows this saves time and increases productivity in the field If you re a PSC cameraman chances are you ve already had a Sony Z1 or EX3 thrust into your hands once or twice It s no secret that smaller more cost effective cameras are playing an ever increasing role in television production as a means of keeping down costs but until now they have mainly been used alongside full sized cameras because they didn t quite meet the criteria for UK broadcast television in terms of technical standards But cameras are evolving at the same rate as computer hardware which is no surprise really since a modern camera is just a computer with an imaging chip bolted onto it Camera development in general is now well and truly dictated by computer technology and IT protocols So as each new model gets ever more sophisticated and technically capable and the
9. arent It has created a camera that provides the best possible chance of gathering sharp usable HD video the 1 3 inch sensors the superior light gathering ability and the intelligent inner workings of the lens all help to attain a deep depth of field in its default setting You can of course fiddle with the ND filters open the iris and zoom in to force a shallower DoF and with 22x magnification available achieving the must have blurred Camera review compact handhelds it there The optical image stabiliser is excellent allowing the operator to perform a handheld shot with the lens zoomed all the way in The result is a gently floating shot not a shuddering earthquake effect how many full size cameras can boast that Hard disk drive But a feature that scores extra brownie points and incidentally this is the point where admitted defeat and reached for the user manual is the ability to back up the entire contents of the HPX250 s P2 cards directly to either a computer or a portable USB 2 hard disk drive HDD which is able to take its power directly from the camera s USB 2 0 port so no need for a laptop The transfer rate is in the region of 20 30 seconds per gigabyte including a verify process that checks the integrity of the transferred files Admittedly being able to use a camera as a big expensive card reader is nothing new but Panasonic makes it easy either set the camera to HOST and plug in
10. c and requires a powerful computer set up to show off its full 1920 x 1080 10 bit potential Looking after your existing customers and providing support for existing formats as well as offering something new to play with is a good move all round The lens admit I m not a fan of this type of lens with a floating focus ring It has no definite stops making repeatable focus pulls very tricky The zoom ring is more conventional with manual or servo operation and has a positive accurate feel The iris ring is again a floating ring with no start and stop point and no f stops printed on it As controller rings go these are decision to keep the camera affordable but I for one would be prepared to fork out an extra thousand pounds or so for a lens with more manual control Perhaps they are protecting the sales of their full size cameras Because let s face it the image from the HPX250 is truly broadcast standard and at around 3800 plus VAT it s way ahead of anything in its price range and size in terms of picture quality You could argue that this camera is destined to fall into the hands of an AP self shooting director or researcher for much of its working life but we all know that the trend to employ cameramen to operate small form factor cameras is also likely to increase over the foreseeable future so catering for them as well would be a smart move With so many other good features on this camera am
11. e new LCOS liquid crystal on silicon screen in the EVF is much better too it can actually be used to make critical focus adjustments now unlike the original The higher pixel density of the LCDs aids the focus assist function too which in itself is a handy feature that uses a kind of colour peaking over a monochrome image to highlight the sharp focus areas The addition of an iris dial by the lens is a welcome feature being much easier to use than the old toggle button at the back And the newly developed rotary optical image stabiliser does its thing very well without introducing lag or image deterioration The camera now supports SDXC cards in addition to SDHC SDXC have greater capacity and the potential for faster transfer rates As well as retaining the continuous relay record function to span recording over two cards for seamless uninterrupted operation and hot swapping the HM 150 now supports dual card simultaneous recording handy for creating a real time duplicate SD standard definition recording is now offered as a 25Mb s DV compatible option along with 5 second pre record function time lapse LANC style remote interface compatibility with I can keep it in my kit without taking up valuable space I can put it on auto and give it to a runner to grab some B roll or I can sucker it to a car windscreen for quick travel shots an incredibly useful and timesaving feature native full frame
12. e CCDs which capture the whole picture in one go When it comes to shooting moving objects this can result in skew Top CCD sensor UVC HM150 Middle CMOS sensor Canon 5D MkII Bottom MOS sensor Panasonic HPX250 We can see that although the MOS sensor s rolling shutter still introduces some skew it is noticeably less than the CMOS sensor in the Canon 5D MkII Fact File Mark Langton started out in television in 1993 in a local Cable TV station near Slough alongside fellow partner in crime Sacha Baron Cohen firstly as a video tape editor then as a studio and PSC camera operator He taught himself cinematography and lighting through reading books studying films and pestering other cameramen He is now an established DoP lighting cameraman with many documentaries and prime time programmes under his belt including Horizon Tomorrow s World and Top Gear Inspired by the Twilight Zone series of the 1950s and 1960s he also has a keen interest in short films and has even penned a few stories of his own With a constant desire to learn he is currently teaching himself 3D computer modelling and match move compositing His philosophy is If you come home from a job without having learned something new your heart s not in it any more Email mark 1080digitalmedia com Spring 2012 ZERB 35
13. entre of the camera body rather than by the lens to provide better WAVAWVA KO 40 FUL At the end of 2011 the BBC approved the new Panasonic AG HPX250 EJ for HD broadcast use pretty good for a camera retailing at under 4000 GTC member Mark Langton has put the camera through its paces and for good measure he also tried out another useful little compact handheld launched at about the same time the JVC GY HM150 E Cameras are evolving at the same rate as computer hardware which is no surprise really since a modern camera is just a computer with an imaging chip bolted onto it balance Your wrists will appreciate that The large size means that the control layout is less cluttered than on a more compact camera This also aids stability since your hands have a larger surface area to grapple with The HPX250 retains the familiar layout of its bigger broadcast brothers as much as possible The main controls are exactly where you expect them to be The menu is intuitive and easy to navigate though the advanced features may have you reaching for that manual The flip out LCD monitor and electronic viewfinder EVF are both high resolution and can be used for critical focus The focus assist function works by digitally zooming part of the picture in a similar way to a DSLR rather than using a form of peaking or false colour process The sensor This camera has something a bit special under the bonnet
14. k travel shots can screw It to a long boom pole for an overhead shot or attach it to a bicycle for a POV or low travelling shot The macro is very useful for small objects and extreme detail shots occasionally use the HM100 with a ground glass 35mm DoF adaptor set up when a shallow cinematic look is required the camera isn t affected by the tiny vibrations from the ground glass motor as a CMOS sensor would be It also has the advantage over DSLRs that it can record excellent sound straight to camera should mention that the camera ships with JVC s ProHD Clip Manager software a standalone program for copying previewing deleting clips etc but to be honest it s unlikely you ll ever use it because the files are so easily compatible straight from the camera It s a brilliantly simple and efficient workflow The HM150 isn t trying to be a replacement for the main camera even The GY HM150 can be easily carried in hand luggage and with the detachable handle removed will pass through Customs looking like a holiday maker s camcorder a Up close the GY HM150 s macro focus is great for detail shots default camera setting at f2 0 though it s very capable of producing great images it complements an existing production set up and will go where bigger cameras can t It s one of those tools you should have in your kit bag wherever you go a CMOS sensors scan the image line by line unlik
15. lity with older edit suites or projects that need to be kept consistent If you re starting a fresh project and can t decide between DVCPro HD or AVC Intra here is a quick comparison in their highest settings e DVCPro HD records 1440 x 1080 4 2 2 8 bits per channel 100Mb s File size at 25P approx 13MB s e AVC Intra 100 records 1920 x 1080 4 2 2 10 bits per channel 100Mb s File size at 25P approx 13MB s So AVC Intra can store much more information than DVCPro HD in the same file size and being all Intra frames it s like working with solid frame based material That will keep the editor happy There are other variations available if you don t mind compromising bit depth and frame size for even lower data rates and more mileage from your P2 card A notable inclusion is AVC Intra 50 go on guess what the 50 stands for It boasts quality equal to DVCPro HD at 100Mb s but half the file size Handy for news gathering corporate events or web content where full video mastering quality would be a bit of a waste The HPX250 wraps the AVC Intra video audio metadata and timecode Camera Cover Designed by Cameramen for cameramen should a security warranty not be complied with cover will still apply Cover within the EL is included automatically and can be extended to other areas of the World Quotes can be for Europe or Worldwide excluding certain counties that can be rewritten back in Free
16. lot of people want to know is Do MOS sensors suffer from the same rolling shutter jellycam effect as CMOS The answer is Yes but not as bad It took some aggressive side to side waving of the camera to get vertical structures in the picture to bend or skew Vibration will produce the greatest undesirable results especially if the camera is attached to a moving vehicle or anywhere vibration can travel through the support and reach the camera However the excellent optical image stabiliser OIS will absorb many of these otherwise problematic tremors therefore under normal shooting conditions particularly handheld they are not present at all Just for the frame is enlarged we can even see the insect s antennae ynass_8 ENGLISH paipai EHN piipaipanasonit ter now napoipanasont mz Regis A The inclusion of a waveform monitor is just one of many professional features available on the AG HPX250 EJ The codecs It s all very well the sensors doing a handsome job but what good is this if the codec the camera is recording to has to throw away lots of picture information in order to produce a manageable data stream This is where many cameras fall short of their comparison the king of rolling shutter artefacts the Canon 5D MkIl would create a jelly earthquake nightmare under these same conditions so let s not be too hard on the HPX250 At a default 1 50th shutter there is also a noticeable amoun
17. n updated version of the popular HM100 first released in 2009 As well as listening to their customers and adding new functions JVC has also revamped the main processor improved the LCD monitor and EVF and added a dedicated iris dial by the lens The HM150 like its predecessor is a highly portable three CCD professional camcorder capable of recording full HD 1920 x 1080 video to 35Mb s XDCAM EX the same codec used by Sony s EX1 and EX3 camcorders In fact JVC licensed the use of the codec from Sony but instead of using expensive SxS cards the JVC cameras record to SD cards These need to be class 6 or class 10 SDHC or SDXC to ensure the write speed The cost of a 16GB class 10 SDHC card giving 54 minutes in highest quality is currently around 12 making this a very cost effective acquisition medium comparable even to shooting on traditional tape Cleverly JVC has taken the XDCAM EX workflow a step further and Sony should take a leaf out of their book here and provided the option to record the video files to either regular MP4 files for import with Sony s XDCAM Transfer software or in a Quicktime MOV wrapper for drag n drop transfer straight to Final Cut Pro without any transcoding The latter is What s new on the HM150 Well for starters it has an improved LCD flip out monitor This is slightly smaller at 2 7 inches diagonal compared with the HM100 s 2 8 inch screen but it is noticeably sharper Th
18. prepared to accept this sort of lens set up for now It s very well matched to the sensors and has remarkable clarity With the iris wide open at f1 7 and zoomed all the way in this is where you d expect to see either some darkening or fluffy smear as the optics struggle to resolve the image this 22x beauty stands its ground Incidentally getting www gtc org uk the iris to work wide open isn t as easy as you might think since the MOS sensors are so bright found myself working at f4 to f5 6 in a room illuminated only by indirect daylight from a single window Beneath its deceptively simple exterior the lens unit obviously contains precision optics capable of effortlessly resolving an HD image throughout its entire focal range Chromatic aberration is controlled very well assisted by in camera processing There are still occasional faint hints of chromatic aberration but only in extreme conditions In normal shooting situations you would rarely encounter any colour fringing at all Strangely there are no clues as to the origin of the lens Panasonic cameras usually carry the name Leica Dicomar on their lenses but the HPX250 is being cagey about its glass If you look closely though you ll see a thin red line around the barrel maybe a clue That s all I m going to say As you get to grips with the camera Panasonic s reasons for equipping the HPX250 with simplified lens controls and small sensors quickly become app
19. self at the end of the day s shoot There may not be a good 3G signal in the middle of Cumbria to download a device driver while the director is impatiently hovering over your shoulder you get the picture The HPX250 gets a gold star for being truly plug n play As far as connectivity goes you re spoilt 10 bit HD SDI and HDMI plus analogue PAL outputs are all available so you ll be able to plug in a whole range of monitors Or you may want to use the HPX250 in a multi camera arrangement feeding HD SDI to the vision mixer and using the HDMI or 72mm fei b PAL output for an on camera monitor The camera can accept genlock in and also send and receive timecode via BNC ports On the top of the handle are two standard 3 8 inch and one 1 4 inch thread for accessories The camera has available four 16 bit 48kHz audio tracks It has two professional XLR inputs with 48V phantom power and rotary dial controls This is one area felt didn t even need to dig into because it s Panasonic and well the audio quality is bound to be excellent ore Mt yie ND FIL l Wa 1 64 ee a E 1 r g i j yo i FOCUS ASSIST 1 gt 7 i a F gt 1 i ee 1 FOCUS j i In summary the Panasonic AG HPX250 EJ is a lot of camera for the money With AVC Intra 100 effortlessly handling ample data the recorded picture is well ahead of the competition The lens is e
20. t of motion blur with fast moves In most situations motion blur is kinder on the eye and it probably helps distract the viewer from any bendiness The MOS sensor also has a flash band eliminator circuit which claims to detect and remove the undesirable dark horizontal stripe problem that camera flashes create promises They typically throw away information in the dark areas and subsample the colour to keep the bit rate down but not the HPX250 Those of you who ve been keeping up to speed on your codecs will know of AVC Intra Not to be confused with the lower grade codec AVCHD or A feature that scores extra brownie points is the ability to back up the entire contents of the HPX250 s P2 cards directly to either a computer or a portable USB 2 hard disk drive which is able to take its power directly from the camera s USB 2 0 port AVCCAM AVC Intra is the daddy of all H 264 based codecs Basically although all AVC codecs were born to the same MPEG 4 H 264 mother just like in the movie Twins AVCHD is the 24Mb s 8 bit longGOP Danny DeVito and AVC Intra is the 10 bit exclusively Intra frame Arnold Schwarzenegger Those extra two bits per colour channel along with the 100Mb s data rate make AVC Intra so good it s suitable for broadcast video mastering Here are the sums 8 bit colour palette will give you 256 colours Multiply that by 3 one for each of the RGB channels 256 x 256 x 256 16 777 216
21. total colours 10 bit colour palette will give you 1024 colours 1024 x 1024 x 1024 1 073 741 824 total colours Spring 2012 ZERB 31 Camera review compact handhelds That s a big difference And if you add in Panasonic s excellent noise reduction this translates in real world terms as no blocky lego brick artefacts and no mosquito noise in the shadowy areas of the recorded image Smooth gradients plus ample colour information for grading and CSO green screen effects Admittedly all that recorded data may be overkill for some tasks like shooting the handheld B roll for Celebrity Boot Sale Chef Factor Makeover You re not likely to notice any artefacts or banding if the camera is constantly moving On the other hand if you want to shoot an evening sky with smooth gradation through the indigo blues all the way to the reds and oranges at the horizon you need to record a 10 bit signal otherwise your video may look like it s been posterised as the different colours separate into visible bands If there is movement such as waves or swaying grass in the scene this will only make things worse as the compressor steals bandwidth from the sky in order to process the moving elements thus making the gradients look even worse That s where you ll really appreciate the 100Mb s and 10 bit colour Incidentally the HPX250 retains the ability to record to various flavours of DVCPro HD providing backward compatibi
22. xcellent but the design of the controls is a matter of personal taste Currently CCDs are still considered superior because of their ability to handle fast motion and be unaffected by vibration but in all other areas Panasonic s MOS sensors surpass them with their impressive low light ability and low power consumption bv 14 16 FEBRUARY 2012 EARLS COURT 2 Di WWW VERS je STAND F50 7 A BE AT THE TOP OF YOU GAME FOR THE OLYMPICS As a global leader in HD fibre optic and Triax interconnection systems LEMO offers a wide range of connectors cable assemblies converters and accessories that enable broadcast customers to be at the top of their game in HD fibre infrastructure studio and stadium installations and OB van applications e Connectors contacts and accessories Standard and customised HD fibre and Triax cable assemblies Stocks of SMPTE HD fibre cable assemblies ARIB SMPTE hybrid fibre cable Media converters for HD fibre links SMPTE HD fibre cable assembly repair service Maintenance equipment Termination and maintenance training LEMO UK Ltd Tel 01903 234543 Email uksales lemo com www lemo co uk broadcast Spring 2012 ZERB 33 Camera review compact handhelds www gtc org uk www gtc org uk Camera review compact handhelds JVC GY HM150 E Don t be fooled by its size there s a whole lot of technology shoe horned into this powerful little 1 4kg camcorder The HM150 is a
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