Just got the LS300 camera - very happy so far

[William Hohauser]

I have to agree with that. This is the most capable, comes fully functional camera in it's class.

[Jim Nogueira]

Noa and William are spot on with their comments. The Ursa Mini is a fine camera, but when you factor in accessories, the LS300 is a better deal. I disagree with the statement that the Ursa Mini's build quality is "1000 % better". The LS300 is easier to just pick up and shoot with right out of the box, as Noa pointed out. For event and field shooting, I can live with the LCD and viewfinder, as long as I see that beautiful footage when I get back to the studio. For corporate jobs, I use a separate monitor or recorder/monitor anyway. For me, four of the buttons are a bit small, the rest are fine. I am very careful with the LCD as it does feel like it could be easily broken, but I have felt that way about other cameras I have owned (anybody remember the Sony PD150?). Sure, things can be improved, but JVC has done a good job with firmware upgrades so far, and I feel like a "LS400" may be coming in the future - just speculation on my part, but the camera has been out a few years now, and it wouldn't surprise me. I'll be one of the first in line to buy one if it happens.

[Alex Humphrey]

Well I did it. I just ordered my JVC LS300. My heart was set on a Digital Bolex D16, but they stopped making cameras a month or two ago due. Probably due to the world clamoring for 4K, but to my eyes the Digital Bolex was the one of the best images I had seen under $10,000. I tried some of the footage from the JVC site and editing and pushed and pulled it on my FCPX along with the plug in Color Finale to handle the JVC J-Log Luts as well as have decent color correction on FCPX again. I was honestly fairly impressed. It didn't have the grainy noisy look of my old JVC HD110, but didn't look like clinical video from other Pro-sumer cameras either. A fair compromise. I hope with J-Log and the follow up Luts (already downloaded and installed on my MBP) I hope it will be that much better.

The JVC for being as handy as the Digital Bolex, cheaper to shoot and easier to edit with hopefully pretty good image quality with J-Log and appropriate Luts and my eye on color, I hope to be happy with my new JVC in a week.

So lets just say I'm "Hopeful"

In a side note I still have the original JVC GY-HD10 as well as the JVC GY-HD110. Would be fun to compare them side by side later.

So I guess I'll be coming back to the JVC forum here again. So HELLO everyone. :)

[Alex Humphrey]

I got my JVC LS300 2 days ago. warming up to it. updated the firmware without a hitch. the J-Log along with the plug in LUT for FCPX works flawlessly. My first uneducated thought is that combination would be great for quick to shoot and grade and to pump out the door. Looks like standard rec709 with a few extra stops. Also the some 8 bit grain noise in light mid tones after the LUT is applied. I am wondering if the Ninja Flame 4K or similar 10 bit recorder via the HDMI would not introduce as much digital noise to be exaggerated with the LUT applied. The J-Log (probably discussed ad-nausium elsewhere) seems to have the sharpness (edge enhancement) dialed low to off. More cinematic, less reality show though I hardly noticed the edge sharpening on the trees in the background till I tried J-Log. Then apply FCPX sharpening 2.5 I think (default sharpening) and the subject regained the 4K sharpness, and the background stayed more naturalistic out of focus (Preferred). So J-Log is probably really good round trip for most. I liked the J Log look and might be tempted to simply grade the J-Log a little instead of reworking the J-Log with the J Log LUT applied in post. But each project is different, and I have only a couple hours with camera now.

All in all, very familiar menus as the older JVC PRO-HD cameras and color pallet and gama curves. Though much higher resolution, much less noise, wider dynamic range. Much better kit battery. the extra ND in camera dial (though I keep bumping it) I think it's a keeper and a good B camera for my friends Red Scarlet. Will do experiments together in a couple weeks.

The inexpensive shooting per hour $40 vs $400 per hour for Black Magic or the insane Red ($1,400 for 256g propriety HDD that records 15-20 minutes) I think the JVC so far is an interesting, useful and camera with a workable set of compromises.

I have the Metabones MFT to Nikon F (G) adapter that works flawlessly with my DX and 30 year old Nikon and NIkkor lenses. The Rokinon 8mm is shockingly good stopped halfway down. I am more than tempted to slowly upgrade my lenses to Rokinon cine 2 lenses MFT or Veydra MFT. I have read the Veydra MFT mounts have no vignetting on the super 35mm sensor 25mm and above and one other person said 18 or 19 above is good. No idea on the wide Rokinons.

Anyone have a good recommendation for high and low Histogram? 18% low and I think I picked 80% for high with zebras around 85%, seemed to get good results within the 2 hours of testing.

[B.J. Adams]

@Alex what Rokinon or Veydra lenses where you thinking of getting as I want to build a small set myself

[Scott Berrington]

This lens covers the full sensor and is very sharp, really love using it!


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1047002-REG

[Alex Humphrey]

I would say that's my next one to be sure, probably in the MFT mount.

[Steve Rosen]

I have the 12, 24, 35, 50 and 85. I love the 12 on the Pocket Camera, not so much on the JVC (I'm not a huge WA fan). I tend to use the 35 mostly on the LS, followed by the 85. The good thing about these (I have the Rokinon versions) is you can buy a whole set for about the same price as one Zeiss... and the quality of construction and image is close enough that it would take a side-by-side critical appraisal to tell the difference...

[Duncan Craig]

Regarding Rokinons covering the entire sensor...
The official brochure is here: Rokinon Catalog 2015

From page 42 onwards you can view the DS cine lenses, and it indicates the sensor coverage.

AFAIK the Veydras are designed for MFT whereas all of the Rokinons will cover the entire LS300 sensor and all but two of them are actually full frame.

[B.J. Adams]

So if you want a standard cine cam set like 12, 24, 35, 50 and 85, would you just get those focal lengths, or you would consider the LS300 crop factor, and get a 25mm for 50mm effect, etc... ?

[Noa Put]

A advantage of the ls300 is that you could zoom with a 25mm lens and give it a more usable focal range but there is something to consider, not sure how much you exactly can zoom in but lets say you could zoom in up to 50mm on a 25mm prime lens at f1.4, important to know is that a 50mm prime lens will give a shallower dof at f1.4 if you don't zoom in to get the same focal length. Zooming with a prime lens changes the focal length but not the dof.

[William Hohauser]

I love the the prime zoom feature as it gives me more options with a prime lens while retaining the same aperture which even good zoom lens can't do. However there's a small side effect which I can notice and haven't made decision if I care or not. All zoom lens will increase the DOF as you zoom in but with the prime zoom feature the DOF stays the same which gives a flatness to a live zoom. Adjusting the zoom between shots of course isn't noticeable after editing.

[Scott Berrington]

Originally Posted by Steve Rosen

I have the 12, 24, 35, 50 and 85. I love the 12 on the Pocket Camera, not so much on the JVC (I'm not a huge WA fan). I tend to use the 35 mostly on the LS, followed by the 85. The good thing about these (I have the Rokinon versions) is you can buy a whole set for about the same price as one Zeiss... and the quality of construction and image is close enough that it would take a side-by-side critical appraisal to tell the difference...

Steve, I use the 12mm MTF mount with the VSM set to 86%. I find there is bit too much light fall-off at the frame edges when using 100%...but I wouldn't hesitate if I needed a really wide angle shot. At 86% there is very little distortion and is plenty wide.

I love the Samyang T1.5 35mm in EF mount and use it a lot, along with my Canon 50mm f1.4 lens. Will be getting the 85mm soon!