Panasonic DVX200 4K is a camera to buy?

[Adriano Moroni]

Hi,
in your opinion is Panasonic DVX200 4K a camera to buy?
Thanks

[Gary Huff]

That largely depends on your needs an what you want to use it for.

[Adriano Moroni]

Documentaries around the world.

[Gary Huff]

How often do you light your scenes/interviews?

[Adriano Moroni]

No interviews.

[Gary Huff]

So you make travelogue videos, not documentaries. Should be fine for that.

[Adriano Moroni]

thanks a lot.

[Robert Bale]

Hi, ok I will add my thoughts out there, history about me we run a porduction company for the last 11yrs, And have grown up with Sony Ex1 all In between up to the pxwx200 and x160. But it was a time for a change I found that I just wants not happy with Sony's and their price point, no more no that, aka have tried a few DLSR canon /Sony that went not where, , ,but loved the Gh4 I use it weekly, Photos and film.(4k) so getting on to the DVX200, 3 day and I was a bit worried, for strange noises, to crazy blacks, and unstable footage, I thought that a had purchased 2 crappy cameras, but, and I mean But !! After 2 day of testing and testing I am getting there ,the cameras are producing breautfull images, we are filming in a tough setup,tonight low lighting, haze for the lighting guys, (makes there lights look pretty) then bright centre spot light, then all red LEDs, it's a circus under the big top. I am going to work on the audio to test it ou also. but I would say so far most people will be happy, we also found some good local aftermarket battery suppliers, Handy, and they are 1/3 the price. Working well at the moment. Panasonic have told
me if I register on line the warranty will be transferred out to 3 years so I will,be doing that for sure. One last think, it will alway depend on what you shoot,I am not a fan of the interchange lens cameras, I just don't have the time to mess around with that, I l a fixed lens fast to setup and shoot, it's a nobrainer, I'll have to post my scene files, as they seem to be pretty good. To the people that say it not a lowlight camera, I dissaagree, I can shoot a stage 1 dancer 1 single down light 3db everything elas blackout, and if looks bloody amazing.
Please excuse my gramma, it's late. But good luck to all, I still have a way yo go, and I hope they start a list for future firmware upgrade that will be needed. Please enjoy .

[Karl Walter Keirstead]

@Robert.. Sounds good.

Re your proposed audio testing, looking forward to your observations.

I do a lot of live stage/music videos - absolutely fed up trying to take signals from sound boards where the operators tweak the sound level during performances for the audience, to the detriment of sound going to the camcorder.

I am toying with the idea of getting the Zoom F8 and doing post synch.

On my AG-AC160A the little volume dials seem to go from too low to too high with very small changes. I have been relying on a Tascam DR100 MKII but it only has 2 channels.

[Robert Bale]

So , Audio, so far, shot a wedding and live show (audio feed from desk)
Wedding - 2 radio mics, like the compressor built into the pana, as a note on the previous Sony EX cameras we always found that the audio level had to be turned upto 8 and 9 to get an acceptable level, now with the Panasonic the level seems to be happy around 5 to 6 with plenty of head room , there seems to be of extra lever, nice and quiet levels, no hiss.


Live show -- The sound came out good, at the show we had one radio Mic plugged into the line output of the mixer and then channel 2 was taking a room what do you feed they have been mixed in post and sound really good , I haven't had a chance to test the line input feed on the camera yet

He's a question --I would like to know the expander focused or focused assist works really well in manual but when you press record function it is disabled is this common on the Panasonic cameras as I have no way of punching in on the viewfinder to confirm brokers , we have that affect on the Sony's work is well and we use it all the time one other function I think is missing from the camera it does not display the colour white balance setting on the LCD screen so sometimes it's nice to be up to see, but I really want option of having focused assist working while recording that is a must

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

Yes, you can focus while recording push the focus button,..you have peaking and an close up overlay,


What hardware version is running in your camera...1.1?

What scene files are you using. Did you find a lot of yellows in Scene 1?

If you have customized scene files, please post them here.

[Robert Bale]

Hey Tim, I mis be missing something, If the camera is in Manual Mode,(Focus) and I press the Focus Assist i See the Magnification, but when I press REC and do the same think nothing happens ?
Any one now ?

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

You get peaking but no magnification while in record. Sorry, my mistake. I checked again. You are right. No focus magnification while recording. Pops back in as soon as you stop recording. AF105A did the same thing!

[Robert Bale]

Well I hope they fix that in a firmware update, it's something I thought every one would need

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

I kind of doubt it....
Are you happy with your scene files.....have you found a good "baked in Look" that you can use in most situations?