HM700 Example Footage - Sunset and Dusk

Rick Bolton · June 13th, 2009, 05:28 PM

Robert - the volume will be low compared to most. The subjects will be varied and the quality MUST be visually high. Distribution will be primarily web and corporate internet / intranet / presentations on high end monitors / projectors.

Subject matter will vary from close in testimonials to small group interviews to cityscapes to nature at her best. Reasonable low light performance will be needed. Prefer to avoid CMOS if I can.

Currently using FC on a Mac Pro - so no issue there. Tape is a no no for me - solid state is here for me.

Bob Richardson · June 13th, 2009, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Bolton

I took some footage utilizing a Canon HF 100. That has a native 1920 x 1080 chip. The results on 42" and 50" monitors is very crisp - and that is with a small" 1/2" sensor on a $500 camera :-0

I've been using a Canon HF10 (same as HF100 but with internal memory in addition to the SDHC slot) for over a year.

I can definitely say that my results with the HM700 are night-and-day better than the HF10 (they ought to be, for the money!) ... the HF10 is terrific for full auto, lightweight convenience, but as soon as you start using the joystick menus to set manual features such as exposure compensation and focus, you'll be wishing you had something with separate dials/rings/buttons/whatever to control those, and the resolution simply doesn't approach that of the HM700.

One of the reasons I finally dropped the big bucks for a pro camera is that even with 4 accessory lenses, a mini shotgun mic, a 3rd-party XLR adapter, high capacity battery, upscale tripod, etc., the Canon became more fussy to deal with than a real pro camera, and was only getting consumer results. (Very good for a consumer camera, though.) With all the accessories, the $500 camera (which was more like $750 back when I purchased it) is really more of a $1200 camera.

The Canon is also CMOS, and you can definitely see the effects of this when panning.

Maybe I'll do some side-by-side shooting and upload the results.

In the mean time, you can see some of my Canon HF10 footage, as processed by Vimeo, here:

New Streetcar Delivery & Unloading on Vimeo

Note that more than half of that footage was shot using an accessory wide-angle adapter which has blurring issues at the outer edges of the frame.

As I mentioned before, Vimeo lets you download the original uploaded file, which will be better for comparison purposes than the flash-encoded web player version.

Robert Rogoz · June 13th, 2009, 06:24 PM

Rick, I would stay away from HF10/100. It is a great little camera, but you will not have the controls for really good results.
For me size of the camera mattered- hauling a shoulder mount up on 1000 ft cliff is a back breaking experience. That's the reason for the switch to HM100. Even new Panny was a bit too big, plus I can't work with AVCHD. However if the size is not that important HMC150 plus Matrox O2 Mini might be the way to go. I think HMC150 is a very nice camera capable of producing quality image. Matrox would allow you to capture in ProRes, with minimal compression. 1/3" chip is way better then 1/4 in HM100, particularly in the settings you might be shooting.

Rick Bolton · June 13th, 2009, 07:32 PM

Robert - fully understood. My HF 100 was just to start my learning curve from still photography. Weight and size are not too critical. As I mentioned in some earlier post - way more control is needed and the small size is really a disadvantage. Focus is so critical, the correct DOF, .........

Rick Bolton · June 24th, 2009, 08:22 PM

Bob - sorry for the delay in also responding to your post - the contents of which I think I understand and agree with.

Trying to adjust anything on the lil Canon is a challenge.

Which of your clips would you recommend as showing the best of the 700's image capabilities?

I will download it - copy it onto my sdhc class 6 card - insert it into my Panasonic BluRay player via the sdhc slot and watch carefully.

Bob Richardson · June 25th, 2009, 10:56 AM

Rick -

I suggest downloading the dusk footage... it was shot without using any gain, and what pleased me about it was how well the colors and overall brightness/contrast (at least in my subjective opinion) matched with reality, basically with just the camera's default settings.

Keep in mind that the file you can download from Vimeo is still not the original raw footage, but rather an H.264 720p30 output from Final Cut / QuickTime. The original footage was shot in 1080p30 (which of course involves some kind of up-scaling by JVC from the camera's offset sensors).

June 13th, 2009, 05:28 PM	#16
Rick Bolton Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Palo Alto California Posts: 110	Robert - the volume will be low compared to most. The subjects will be varied and the quality MUST be visually high. Distribution will be primarily web and corporate internet / intranet / presentations on high end monitors / projectors. Subject matter will vary from close in testimonials to small group interviews to cityscapes to nature at her best. Reasonable low light performance will be needed. Prefer to avoid CMOS if I can. Currently using FC on a Mac Pro - so no issue there. Tape is a no no for me - solid state is here for me.

June 13th, 2009, 06:24 PM	#18
Robert Rogoz Major Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Bellingham, WA Posts: 457	Rick, I would stay away from HF10/100. It is a great little camera, but you will not have the controls for really good results. For me size of the camera mattered- hauling a shoulder mount up on 1000 ft cliff is a back breaking experience. That's the reason for the switch to HM100. Even new Panny was a bit too big, plus I can't work with AVCHD. However if the size is not that important HMC150 plus Matrox O2 Mini might be the way to go. I think HMC150 is a very nice camera capable of producing quality image. Matrox would allow you to capture in ProRes, with minimal compression. 1/3" chip is way better then 1/4 in HM100, particularly in the settings you might be shooting.

June 13th, 2009, 07:32 PM	#19
Rick Bolton Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Palo Alto California Posts: 110	Robert - fully understood. My HF 100 was just to start my learning curve from still photography. Weight and size are not too critical. As I mentioned in some earlier post - way more control is needed and the small size is really a disadvantage. Focus is so critical, the correct DOF, .........

June 24th, 2009, 08:22 PM	#20
Rick Bolton Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Palo Alto California Posts: 110	Bob - sorry for the delay in also responding to your post - the contents of which I think I understand and agree with. Trying to adjust anything on the lil Canon is a challenge. Which of your clips would you recommend as showing the best of the 700's image capabilities? I will download it - copy it onto my sdhc class 6 card - insert it into my Panasonic BluRay player via the sdhc slot and watch carefully.

June 25th, 2009, 10:56 AM	#21
Bob Richardson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 178	Rick - I suggest downloading the dusk footage... it was shot without using any gain, and what pleased me about it was how well the colors and overall brightness/contrast (at least in my subjective opinion) matched with reality, basically with just the camera's default settings. Keep in mind that the file you can download from Vimeo is still not the original raw footage, but rather an H.264 720p30 output from Final Cut / QuickTime. The original footage was shot in 1080p30 (which of course involves some kind of up-scaling by JVC from the camera's offset sensors).