This time every year, I start to look at possible equipment purchases and I am in the possible market for a new camera. I currently own a Canon XA20 and G30, the cameras are okay and for a very long time I have favored Canon. I took the opportunity to become aware of other brands and their current offerings. Sadly to say, I feel Canon provides the least amount of "camera" for the money invested. This got me looking at JVC and I came across the GY-HM170. It's appealing, but I did not find any well done video reviews.

Who owns this camera and do you have any feedback, especially if you are are also experienced with other brands.

Thanks,
Chad

Hey Chad, here's a forum topic I recently started after getting my GY-HM170. There's a dropbox link in the first post of some test footage.

Check out the discussion here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/jvc-4k-pro-handheld-camcorders/530867-jvc-gy-hm170-studio-green-screen-test.html

Cheers!

Hi Chad,

I don't own the HM170, but currently have a demo unit in my hands. What kind of work do you intended to use it for? The low light image is beyond useless, so forget it for wedding and event video, stage plays, etc. Best suited for daytime outdoors (but then there may not be enough ND filter) or studio with controlled lighting.

Switching my search over to Sony with a big sensor, like the CX900/AX100 that might capture some light, even though they won't have near the "pro control/features" of the HM170/200 units. Also interested in new Canon G40. Trying to stay in the $1500-2000 range, but need low-light capabilities.

Thanks

Jeff

Hi Chad,

I've owned the HM170 since August 2015 and have used it on several projects. What I've found is the camera is great in certain situations (mostly outdoor and locked down scenarios) and not so great in others (low light, mixed kelvin and changing lighting). The negatives can be reduced somewhat by using on-camera lights and only white balancing manually.

There are a wealth of easily accessible switches and menus to control settings and fine tune the camera. Audio via the handle unit is quite good. Another plus is the HM170 records in nonproprietary codecs and does 4K straight out of the box. But the poor auto white balance (FAW), noisy image above 9 dB gain, and limited useful aperture range at around f/2.5 to f/6.3 (which is a whole topic unto itself) hinder what might be an otherwise decent run and gun camera.

All in all it's a reasonable value, but it seems to be a limited performer in a niche that's better filled by other cameras like the Sony PXW-X70 with it's larger chip, Zeiss lens and better auto white balance. Interestingly enough though, the Sony lacks the slightly larger form factor and readily available controls that I really like about the JVC HM170.

I appreciate everyone's response so far. The majority of my work for such a camera, would be for run and gun projects, such as weddings and other live events. While I like the camera's form factor, there may be other choices for just a bit more money/ I recently came across the Sony NX100 and that has gotten my attention, I like the size and on camera features, plus the price point is reasonable.

Hi Chad,

Thank you for mentioning the NX100 - embarrassed to say I missed that one in my search! Maybe because no one talks about it on the forums. Because it's not 4K probably?! Have been a Sony user for 20+ years and this camera looks ideal for my needs. Includes the 1" sensor, so pretty much has to be superior to the HM170 in low light, which has really disappointed me with the demo unit in my hands - a real deal breaker for an otherwise nice camera.

Thanks

Jeff

I have had a demo unit this weekend. I current own a XA20 and I am a former HM100, HM150 user. This camera is very similar in the menus, buttons etc. Like others have said, you can get good images, but it takes work and you have to set up the camera just right. (Iris 2.0 or above)

Low light - One thing that seems to help is using the WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) feature. I tried it on the three settings, and the "natural" setting seemed the best, but you then can only gain up 6db or maybe 9db and it gets too noisy. I agree with the others, low-light is tough for this camera.

FAW - out of the box it is too green. But you can adjust the FAW feature with the Paint option. Wow, what a difference. My FAW is almost the same now as my Canon AWB.

The slow motion feature crops the image about 20% and is soft. Weird thing is the image was sharper at full telephoto!

I came across the GY-HM170. It's appealing, but I did not find any well done video reviews.

Who owns this camera and do you have any feedback, especially if you are are also experienced with other brands.

Thanks,
Chad

I have owned the HM170U for several months but only of late have tried using it (long story).

My first shoot went well and AVID had no problems importing and editing the HM170 MOV files.

Then something changed (perhaps after I upgraded to an earlier version of the firmware v3; which offers 120fps shooting), shot new videos this AM and now AVID MC7 no longer likes my JVC170U MOV files. After update to the newest 3v firmware the HM170 now provides AVID MC7 and W7 rez 50 support, all is well !

Today, I was using the highest rez MOV file HD settings (50) for QUICK TIME at 30p. But AVID refused to import those files, as well QT player laughed at the highest rez HD 50 MOV files and played only the audio, video was green screen.

Searched WWW and lots of conversion pimp postings.

Only fix so far is to drop the HM170U QT 30p rex to 35, and now all is well; AVID MC7 likes the lower 35 rez, could edit and export ref files with no problems. Heck even Sorreson Sq hated the HM170U 50 files, but Sorrenson Sq loves the lower 35 rez, 30p files.

My advice, don't bank of the JVC high rez 50 rez files being editable on a W7. They might fair better on the Apple ? (which I don't use). NOTE: I shot 4K several months ago, and no problems editing in AVID MC7. So something has changed. I shoot NON-4K Mode because I need the digital-zoom 23x feature which is only selectable in HD mode.

Thanks,
Patrick
HM170


********There is a newer version of the V3 firmware update ! Please ck the JVC firmware download page. the onboard HM170U SD card's PRIVATE folder needs to be updated to latest version of the 3v firmware. Latest v3 firmware is 0311-0215