From IBC 2014. Looks very interesting

JVC Professional will have the GY-LS300 working prototype on display at the Content and Communications World show being held on November 12 and 13 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. A number of lenses and adapters will be on hand to test.

For those planning attend, JVC Professional is providing free exhibit passes. Simply go to the CCW registration web site ( https://www.xpressreg.net/register/ccwe114/attendee/reginfo.asp ) and enter VIP Code NY212.

Hope to see you all there!

- Craig

Interested in the sort of lenses that will be available. A par-focal zoom for less than $2000 would be nice.

Our next stop with the GY-LS300 and GY-HM200 prototypes will be at the New York Lounge at the Sundance Film Festival. The New York Lounge will be located at 751 Main St., Park City, UT, and JVC will be there from January 23rd to the 26th. This will be an opportunity to get up close to the camcorders, and we will have a number of lenses to show with the GY-LS300, including Olympus and Rokinon. We're currently looking through some mounting accessories as well, and will have some at the event.

The JVC Camcorders will also be used to stream sessions being held in the lounge. I'll post the viewing sites once they become available.

- Craig

PS: Videomaker Magazine awarded the GY-LS300 as the "Best Camcorder of CES 2015": JVC GY-LS300 4K - Best Camcorder at CES 2015 | Videomaker.com (http://www.videomaker.com/videonews/2015/01/jvc-gy-ls300-4k-best-camcorder-at-ces-2015)

Can the HDMI out send 4K to the Atomos Shogun?

The HDMI 1.4 connection does have a live 4K output, but we have not tested it with the Atomos Shogun yet. We're due to be testing in both Japan and here in the US as soon as we receive our evaluation units. I'll post our findings as soon as we have the results in.

In the meantime, we have learned that the Convergent Design Q7+ can record the 4K 3840x2160 output from the GY-LS300CHU.

- Craig

Thanks Craig!

Atomos is positive about it working. Atomos said via email: "we will work very well with this camera"

What about power options? I see it's the same battery as the GY-HM600/650 so I am guessing there will be a D-TAP to power block or D-TAP to DC in. Wondering about Switronix or Bescor.

Anyone considering this battery:

BLUESHAPE Bubblepack (http://blueshape.net/index.php/products/batteries/bubblepack/bubblepack-detail.html)

with this adapter?

BLUESHAPE P-Tap Power Adapter for Connecting BLS-BPA 018 B&H


Reminds me of the ELIPZ days with the HVX200.

Craig, can you clarify a couple of things for me.

With the LS300, OIS button do anything other than custom 6? The zoom rocker currently serves no purpose? F rating of the sensor, f8@2000 etc?

And while (if) I have you here, f rating of the HM200? The specs say f5.6 sensitivity. Is that f5.6@2000?

Thanks!

Paul

Will this camera support AF with an adapter?

With the LS300, OIS button do anything other than custom 6? The zoom rocker currently serves no purpose? F rating of the sensor, f8@2000 etc?

And while (if) I have you here, f rating of the HM200?


The OIS button can be programmed for a number of functions through the camcorder's menu.

The zoom rocker works with lenses with power zoom capability and communication through the MFT mount connectors.

The sensor performance for both camcorders are still being rated, but independent tests are showing impressive results.

Will this camera support AF with an adapter?

It will if the adapter passes through the AF signals to the MFT contacts. The contacts on the GY-LS300 mount is fully compatible with MFT specifications.

Do you think JVC might include a histogram in a future firmware update?

A histogram is not within the specifications of the GY-LS300. We will consider it, along with a number of other features being mentioned in the forums, for future product planning.

Hello, Craig -

I'm very pleased to see you are interacting directly with Q&A here on the forum.

I owned a GY-HM700 for 3 or 4 years and overall I was very happy with it. The form factor was always very comfortable for me. I would up selling it last year because I wasn't doing very many ENG-style gigs and most of my clients needs were being met by my DSLR-style mirrorless M43 cameras, of which I own three. (I can go into brand and model details if you like, but I'm happy to keep this discussion about JVC products for now.)

But I still find myself missing my HM700 especially in the areas of direct XLR inputs, built-in ND filters, dual slot recording, and servo zoom. The ability to have a rapid setup and little/no need for extra gear for a corporate/industrial-style shoot. (And there's always that subset of clients that's very impressed about the look of a big camera body, as though that were more important than image quality.)

But I digress...

I have upcoming productions than can benefit from 4K. I'm considering new camera purchases as a result. I could stick with an M43 mirrorless/DSLR form factor, but the JVC LS300 is enticing me due to the ND filters, XLR inputs, dual card recording and the new streaming capabilities. (I realize that traditional B4-mount servo zoom lenses aren't controlled (yet?) by the LS300 body).

My concern is that the footage I have seen posted so far online suffers from two symptoms that diminish my initial enthusiasm for this camera:

1. Highlights appear too harsh/clipped, even if the rest of the exposure seems proper. And a number of examples just seem terribly over-exposed, but that could be due to operator error. This is most obvious in areas of sunlight/shadow, but also in case of car headlights/taillights, and even in the specular reflections in the glass-blowing video.

2. There is some kind of sharpness/edge/detail enhancement that seems artificial to me. (For example, in the "heist" short film.) I've viewed 4K footage from other platforms that didn't exhibit this problem, so I don't think it's merely a matter of extra real-world detail.

I'm not the only one to have noticed these issues, and on some forums out there you could say that the response has been more blunt and less polite than the way I'm putting it. :-)

So my questions are:

1. Is JVC aware of the highlight-handling criticism, and what is the response?

2. Is some kind of detail-enhancement going on by default and can it be turned off to achieve a softer look. (I know, talking about "softer" and 4K at the same time is a contradiction, but I hope you can understand what I'm getting at. Let's call it "harshness".)

Another reason I decided to sell my beloved HM700 was the highlight-clipping and color-balancing issue. I simply got better images out of my little mirrorless cameras.

The LS300 samples I've seen so far would be positively delightful to experience on the evening news or in a reality show, but would seem problematic and even out-of-date in a narrative film production.

Please allay may fears. :-) I want my ND filters, XLR inputs, and all the other goodies. But image quality has to take a very high priority.

Thanks very much!

1. Highlights appear too harsh/clipped, even if the rest of the exposure seems proper. And a number of examples just seem terribly over-exposed, but that could be due to operator error.

I did notice the same behavior of the metering on HM200. overexposes in daylight and underexposes in low light. Hard to explain, but that's how it is. I compensate with EV using this scientific algorithm : If I am outdoors in daylight then I put the EV down, and if I am shooting at night then I push'em up.

about the dynamic range I did use the function (in the menu), but only indoors with some bright wall or similar: it works. I believe that it crushes the whites and blacks. But it works.

Bob-
Did you get a chance to see our test footage?:
EVS’s test footage for the JVC GY-LS300 4K super 35 Cinema camera - YouTube
We purposely tried to push the shooting situations....I think our backlight shots were quite telling...in getting the faces right, one would expect the background of sand, ocean & sky to be blown out and they weren't. We mixed 24p (with vivid cine gamma) and 30p (with subdued cine gamma to get a "logish" look) in a variety of shooting situations (daytime, sunset, night). If you look at it, stop it and set the rez to 1080 a give it a sec to load.

Jim Martin
EVSonline.com