HD For Indies

Here we go with another hands of review of the Panasonic HVX200 camera - this time by Jen White, a DP friend of mine I've worked with several times. Jen is more art than techie in my experience, and prefers shooting film to video. Again, this and the other comments in the last week or so are all based on actual, shipping product, NOT on prototypes. So no excuses, this IS the product as you'd get it.

Once again, thanks to Omega Broadcast Group for their generous loan of the camera for several days this week right as they came in. If you are in the Austin Area, don't forget they have a hands on thing with the HVX200 today (Monday). I talked to Allan Barnwell over there, and he said they are expecting multiple more shipments this month, so they (and presumably other vendors) should be able to fill their backorders quickly and deliver new orders soon.

OK, back to review, below is all Jen:

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DVX fans will really like this camera. It looks like an inflated DVX and most of the controls are in about the same place they were on the DVX so making the switch is fairly simple. The menu has a lot more to it and will definitely require some reading, as will information on importing from what Mike has told me. I approached the camera solely from a shooting perspective, curious to see what difference there would be in the image with the added resolution, as well as what improvements were made to the design of the camera. I have a few big issues with the DVX after shooting with it in a wide variety of situations (I should let it be known that I am a Canon girl) including a narrative feature, a few short films, and segments for "Downtown" and "Rollergirls". Here are my thoughts:

STURDIER DESIGN:
- This camera's design is much sturdier than the DVX, beginning with it being built using much less plastic.
- The menu is lot easier to control and navigate thanks to there being actual buttons (vs. the toggle switch on the DVX which I have always thought is a total pain in the ass). - The iris, zoom and focus wheels are wider and more resistant than the DVX. This makes it easier to control slight image adjustments while shooting in documentary situations where your light and focus is shifting constantly. I have found it hard to not overshoot my mark on the DVX because the wheels turned to easily.

NEW FEATURES:
- There is now an Auto/Manual switch located behind the LCD screen which allows you to go from full auto mode to full manual mode with a flip of a switch. This is particularly handy in documentary shooting when you have drastic, sudden changes in your image.
- The focus assist button, located above the manual/auto focus switch, is handy as well. It essentially zooms in on the center of your image so that you can check focus without zooming or reframing (assuming that your focus is in the middle of your frame, which I find is not usually the case, but I like the idea of it).
- What is most interesting to me is the the under and over-cranking feature on this camera. Similar to the Varicam, you can shoot specifically for slow or fast motion instead of doing the speed change in the edit. Anyone who has tried to slow down video footage knows that it can start to look really bad really fast. The test shot that Mike showed me looked pretty great, so I am really excited to play with this function on a project.

IMPROVEMENTS:
- I think there is definite improvement with the lens on this camera, but ultimately you just can't have the flexibility or control with a fixed lens that you can get with interchangeable lenses. The lens on the DVX would not allow for extreme close-ups without a diopter- the problem isn't completely corrected on this lens but it is much better. This lens is wider and zooms further, so you have more flexibility and more control over your depth of field. I think Panasonic can still do better with this lens, but it's a step in the right direction.
- The fixed hard matte on the DVX is gone on this model and I'm happy to see it go- cleaning the lens on the DVX is extremely difficult since you can't actually get to it without unscrewing the hard matte. It's a small thing but makes a big difference particularly on narrative shoots.
- In 16x9 mode, the LCD monitor displays the corrected image, so you can actually see what you are framing without an external monitor.
- The LCD display information is contained mostly in the areas at the top and bottom of the screen, which means in 16x9 mode you can see almost the entire image without display information on top of it.
- The image stabilizer seems to be better than the DVX (which wouldn't be hard to improve on)

RESOLUTION:
- I found it easier to focus in general and to get tighter focus on close-ups than on the DVX. Part may be due to the drastic increase in resolution and part may be the better lens, but I have had problems with close shots appearing soft when they are not.
- The extra resolution seems to help greatly with contrast problems inherent in video. I tested the camera with extreme contrast in the shot and the highlights seemed to hold up much better than with miniDV (meaning less artifacts and greater detail in the highlights). The same seems to be true of the shadows as well, which I am optimistic about since the DVX is notoriously bad in low light situations. Granted I have not seen any of the footage blown up or projected, but from what I could tell on the LCD, it looked pretty good.

ERGONOMICS:
- One of my biggest complaints (the other being the lens) about the DVX is how uncomfortable it is to use handheld. The design of the camera puts all of the weight on your hand (which I've found cuts off circulation to your fingers on long handheld shots) and arm, so generally it's just not friendly for handheld if you don't have an attachment to distribute some of the weight to your shoulder. And since this camera is significantly heavier than the DVX it's even more of a problem now. Low-mode handheld isn't as bad, since you can use the handle on the top of the camera to hold it, but I definitely recommend buying or making a shoulder rig if you plan to do any extensive eye-level handheld work.

Overall, I am looking forward to seeing what this camera can do in a production environment. And I am very curious to get this camera side by side with the Canon XL H1 to see how they compare.

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OK, this is Mike again. Due to time constraints, Jen was unable to view her shot footage on computer screen or broadcast CRT, but I will strive to do so upon my return from MWSF. I was able to go through her footage and view it on a 23" Apple LCD at 100% size, most of her test footage was shot at 1080i60. As with the other footage we've shot (or I've let other folks shoot, I'm not shooter), SO FAR, unless there are settings not being taken advantage of, the images look pretty good if you have PLENTY of light. In interior settings especially, however, anything not VERY well lit shows a LOT of noise in the shadows, which in the end may be the achilles heel of this camera.

I'll have more to say when I can sit down and thoroughly go over this footage, which I have not had time to do. I'm trying to arrange with Chris Hurd of DVInfo.net to host some/all of the test footage shot to date, he's got the DVDs but needs some time to go through it, and he's going to SF as well (I'm having dinner with him tomorrow night in fact).

But so far, in beginning tests, the resolution is quite nice, but the dynamic range, low light performance, and noise in shadow makes me think this isn't the be-all, end-all indie cheapie camera. Which is? I'll be better able to answer that question in about 2 months after my camera test with the sub-$10K contenders from Sony, JVC, Panasonic, and Canon.

-mike