JVC GY-LS300 Advice Needed

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

I never owned a JVC camera before and do not know what to expect as far as build quality as it relates to dependability, durability, and consistency. I run a 3 cam system for my weddings. I'm dumping the Sony FS100's that I have mainly because of depreciation. For me I have to maintain relevant equipment because that is how I upgrade by selling then reup'ing. I'm looking to go strictly 4K this year for control purposes when it relates to re-framing in post for 1080. I have a Red One MX arriving this week and the plan is to use it as my A cam, plus I have have always been a fan of this cam. I have been searching and combing the net for a compliment cam that serves as a B / A2 cam under $3K. I have finally run across the JVC GY-LS300. Been looking at all the videos and specs and for the price point it seems to be a good fit on paper. I wonder if there are any R1 users that have the LS300 and can tell me how they match up in post. I would imagine that it is pretty similar from a b cam stand point but again I do not have the actual cams and looking for some insight.

My plan is to grab two LS300's and the Rokinon Cine (T1.5) lenses to start and continue my 3 cam system. I'm hoping the LS300 will give me:

*A versatile run and gun Cam.
*Indoor & Outdoor transition with little effort.
*Sharp B cam footage and serve as A cam when the R1 is too big to move fast enough to ge the shot.
*Good Image Stabilization (even though I'm primarily a tripod shooter, but good to have the option)
*Good Slow Motion Capabilities
*Also hoping to be able to start stop record through the USB Host with a mod or something (I Can Dream)

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[Jim Nogueira]

The LS300 is a great camera, and i use it as my A cam for weddings. However, based on your requirements, I think that you should probably look elsewhere. It's not really a run and gun camera, and does not offer the image stabilization the you're looking for. Take a look at the Sony Z150 or Panasonic HC-X1.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Thank you very much for the response. I know I did not hear about Image Stabilization on this cam, but it is not a must. Like I mentioned I'm more of a tripod shooter for my weddings. For the price point and the interchangeable lenses and to have a cam that can put out good 4K quality was my main concern (again for the price point I don't see any in it's class). I recognize that the viewfinder is not up to par or the EVF is definitely sub-par.

I mentioned the points in my OP just to see what others who own the LS300 had to say about those features. (I'm sorry I was not clear in my OP) My first requirement is a good compatible imagine quality close to the R1. Everything else Is icing.

Far as I have been reading I like that fact of:

*SD media - Inexpensive media is a plus
*150Mb/s
*Slow Motion @ 120fps
*Sensor for price point
*Cropping ability
*Live Streaming capability (I hope to be able to use that for BTS Footage to my channel)
*(I'm hopping) Image Quality and 4K resolution
*Interchangeable lenses
*Optical Zoom (I had this on my old Sony EA50 I loved it)
*Price!!! When I got my FS100's I got them at around $2300/each. Now I hope to get $1500/each for them. They have dropped quite a bit. LS300 even though it has been out for a few years it is still holding it's valvue.

[Lee Powell]

Those bullet points all line up in favor of the LS300, and if your workflow is standardized, you may find it suits your purposes well. I use mine in a 450-seat theater with a mixture of LED and tungsten stage lighting. It's mounted on a hanger and frames the entire stage at a distance of 60 feet. I shoot 4K in J-Log1 with a 7200K WB and get very consistent results. In J-Log1 mode, in-camera sharpening is turned completely off, and the footage will look soft. It requires significant post-processing to convert LOG to Rec 709 and apply sharpening, typically Unsharp Mask at 100%, radius 1. I've found the zebra and histogram to be good guides to exposure, and the spot meter to be too eratic to rely on. On-screen audio metering is reliable and audio auto-level mode works fine, though it records a bit hot.

On the down side, OIS support of Lumix lenses is very spotty. For example, OIS does not work with the Panasonic 42.5mm f1.7 and 30mm f2.8 primes, even though the viewfinder display indicates that OIS is working. Not really an issue in practice, as I prefer the Rokinon T1.5 primes in Nikon mount. They are fully compatible with the Metabones 0.7X Speedbooster and do not vignette at VSM 100% on the LS300. While I've used the camera succesfully with a compact Lumix lens on a monopod, I'd prefer a smaller camera for that purpose, e.g. a Panasonic G85.

In short, it's a great camera for standardized professional use on a solid mount. Here's an example of post-processed 4K J-Log1 footage, cropped and downsampled to 1080p.

eka.boo.button - Misfit Cabaret 3-4-17 on Vimeo

[Lee Powell]

Sorry, duplicate post.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Lee Powell - footage looks great! Thank you so much for the feedback.

I plan to use the Rokinon Cine DS T1.5 Cine Lenses with this cam. However, I'm kind of torn between getting the M4/3 mount or go with the speedbooster and a different mount. Does anyone use the Rokinon without the speedbooster and can tell me how the low light fairs? I thinking of the reception where there is dim light at times.

Looking into a separate EVF now. Should be able to grab one. The Zacuto Z-Finder EVF Pro 3.2 Electronic Viewfinder is going for $369 on ebay currently.

[Steve Ritchie]

I have used the LS300 extensively for run n' gun projects, and I find it to be an absolutely fantastic run n' gun camera, with some limitations. I don't recommend trying to hand-hold it using the "camcorder" style hand strap, as it will dig into your hand before the day is half over, and the weight gets painful, the balance load isn't suitable for using the hand grip for long periods of time - get a good shoulder rig.

I use mine on a shoulder rig with two handles, and the footage is incredibly smooth.
My rig is around 6-7lbs fully loaded.

Battery life is amazing. I use a large battery, and I get about 6 hours of run time. Smaller batteries 3-4 hours.

Tilty flippy screen is great, but flimsy. Be super careful not to leave the screen extended when the camera is unsupervised.

I use the Lumux 42.5mm f/1.7 - The OIS seems to work for me - but Lee, you say that it doesn't work? Can you confirm this? I'm curious to know. I was also planning on getting the 30mm 2.8 ...

The internal ND filters are great for rapid exposure changes. I also shoot with an old Olympus 50/1.4 on a speed booster, giving me an effective f/1.0. I can film low light situations like night clubs with no problems.

The 120fps mode can be set to record into a 24p timeline, so quick review of the footage shows it at 4 times slower than normal speed, nice feature. It will take 4 times as long to review.
Keep in mind 120fps mode has a forced 2x crop (46%VSM).

Hope this helps alleviate some concerns! It's a great camera, for the price, I'm extremely happy with it.
The dual SDXC hot swappable card slots are great.

[Jay P. Kaley]

I've got a similar set-up to Steve and I think the camera can operate pretty well run and gun, that's the style I use came from ENG shoulder land. The "soccer training" video I posted yesterday is a run and gun ENG package, lav mic and a tripod.

-I think it would make a fine B cam, but I've never shot on a Red so I can't offer too much insight on that one.

- I was in a similar position looking for lenses, was interested in covering the sensor without an adapter. I tried the Rokinon also and researched many others and ended up going with the Veydra mini primes. They are similar in that both cover the sensor, but the Rokinon is F1.5 v Veydra T2.2(maybe = F2?). However I found the Rokinon wasn't that great wide open at 1.5, and the Veydra's are noticeably sharper, that could help matching Red maybe.
The Rokinon are a great price for sure and was a solid lens, I ended up investing a little more in the Veydra. The drawback to the Veydra is possibly being stuck with an M43 mount, but i figure/hope JVC won't abandon it too soon, M43 and s35 makes a lot of sense.

-On stabilization, I have a Canon 24-105 with OIS that I use with an adapter and the OIS works great. I considered a speed booster, but was spend-weary and went with the cheaper Kipon smart mount. The auto-focus works, but it's slow and I've never been an auto-focus guy so I don't use it.

-as stated, the slow-mo is 120fps and looks nice (example of slo-mo is the goalies in that soccer video on a 60p timeline), but it does crop the sensor to 43% so the field of view isn't as wide.

-The mount really is very flexible, it can mount almost anything with adapters and the VSM easily adjusts to match, including a B4 long zoom lens if there is a nice HD one laying around and you needed that sort of thing.

-The viewfinder is pretty much unusable, should be a way to remove it cleanly actually, but the LCD provides a fine image, it's main drawback is the location and flimsiness of the flip-door, should be treated with care. I've mounted a 7" LCD for the form mostly, the LCD is out of position on the shoulder, and it works well but borders on being too big functionally, a 5" LCD is probably perfecto if need that.

It's a cool little camera, has a lot of interesting features together.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Jay & Steve thank you so much for the feedback. Yes that does help me. I found a used JVC GY-LS300 on B&H and ordered it. It should be here today. I have have to get a lens or an adapter in order to use it. My good glass id Canon mainly. I have some sony e-mount glass but I'm selling all the sony stuff off as I move toward 4K.

I finally got the Red One Mysterium-X but I need media to record on and it is pretty expensive. However I found a 640gb hard drive on ebay that is on the way. So now just grab a Canon EF adapter and I can shoot on both cams and compare.

Jay I will go and check out your soccer video and see the features of the slow motion.

[Jay P. Kaley]

I feel your pain having to get media cards for Red, those prices hurt. I understand the need for capturing RAW, but it is nice having the "shoot all day" factor and more reasonable price of SDHC/SDXC cards on the JVC.

[Lee Powell]

Originally Posted by Steve Ritchie

I use the Lumux 42.5mm f/1.7 - The OIS seems to work for me - but Lee, you say that it doesn't work? Can you confirm this? I'm curious to know. I was also planning on getting the 30mm 2.8 .

I have both of these OIS lenses, as well as the Lumix 45-175mm motorized OIS zoom and the legacy Leicasonic 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 OIS zoom. When I tested the real-world OIS performance of these lenses a few months ago, the LS300 failed to detect the OIS features of the 45-175mm and 14-50mm zooms, but did enable the in-camera OIS switch for the 42.5mm and 30mm primes. However, I was unable to spot any visible effect of enabling OIS on the 42.5mm and 30mm primes on the LS300. The 14-50mm zoom, however, has an OIS switch on the lens barrel, and I could readily verify its effect in stabilizing the viewfinder image, both handheld and panning on a tripod.

Panasonic recently updated its Lumix lens compatibility web page with new firmware releases for the 30mm, 42.5mm, and 45-175mm lenses to make them compatible with the G85 and GH5's dual-IS IBIS/OIS features. After downloding and installing the updates for all three lenses, I double-checked my OIS test results. Sadly, the 45-175mm remains unsupported by the LS300, and I saw no visble improvement in the OIS performance of the 30mm and 42.5mm primes on the LS300. If anything, both primes appear to be MORE sensitive to camera body vibration when mounted on a tripod with OIS switched on rather than off. To test this, I tapped the top of the microphone mount on the LS300 handle while watching the image in the viewfinder. If you want to test this as well, I'd be interested to hear your results.

Joint update service for Four Thirds body and lenses | Download | Digital Camera | Digital AV | Consumer Products | Support | Panasonic Global

I tested the OIS performance of these lenses on the Panasonic GH2 as well. With all four lenses, improvements in image stability were readily apparent when OIS was switched on.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Originally Posted by Jay P. Kaley

I feel your pain having to get media cards for Red, those prices hurt. I understand the need for capturing RAW, but it is nice having the "shoot all day" factor and more reasonable price of SDHC/SDXC cards on the JVC.

Agreed! I'm almost at the home stretch... Waiting on the Red Hard Drive.